New fretless jazz solo - rough demo

[Mike Flynn]

Hey - just made a little recording this morning - it's a bit crappy on the quality side, unfortuinately using my looper for the chords created a lot of hiss in the mix - but I was working on my phrasing - so feedback in that respect is welcome - I know I need to leave more space at times and I'm trying to play more melodically too - let me know what you think. There are quite a few mistakes on the head - but it was all in one take etc.

Very Early solo
http://www.munkio.com/music/victor/veryearly_new.mp3

Cheers

Mike

[bobbykokinos]

Sounds great man.. If there was ANY advice I could give, you've already hit it.. Don't be afraid of some space. But, if thats not your style of playing, then thats cool..

Other than that, I like it!!

[Mike Flynn]

Cheers Bobby - Gary Willis played the most incredible version of this (on the Allan Holdsworth album None Too Soon) - so I really need to try and follow his structure on the solo - but thanks for the positive comments too.

M

[blackreverend]

how did you learn this? is there a transcription out there?

[Mike Flynn]

Originally Posted by blackreverend

how did you learn this? is there a transcription out there?

Hi Rev - it's a Bill Evans tune that if you didn't already know, is very popular among jazzers - it's got a great chord sequence that doesn't really resolve, or rather it does, but cycles round and round in a rather unique way - I got the music from a Real Book and learnt it - it's not that hard but the chords are a bit of a bugger...

M

[James Hart]

Mike.... just wow! (as usual)


I've saved that to my collection of "Bassists I know online that prove I should quit trying myself and just be a fan" tunes.

[Tony G]

Damn, i love your fretless tone. I wish my carvin LB75F sounded like that. Do you have a little reverb or delay on your solo sound? What do you use for that? I'm thinking of picking up some type of reverb effect for live solo's on my fretless, but I'm not sure what. To date, I usually just plug straight to the amp, and use no effect.

[Mike Flynn]

Originally Posted by xgabriel

Damn, i love your fretless tone. I wish my carvin LB75F sounded like that. Do you have a little reverb or delay on your solo sound? What do you use for that? I'm thinking of picking up some type of reverb effect for live solo's on my fretless, but I'm not sure what. To date, I usually just plug straight to the amp, and use no effect.

Yeah my fretless - and my fingers - are really starting to get a consistent tone these days - it's definitely a Marcus-ish thing - er I'm nowhere near as solid as he, but you know what I mean. I didn't use any reverb when I recorded this, but I did add some afterwards in Garage band - just one the plug ins it comes with. I do own an EBS Dyna-Verb which is an excellent reverb box with a very high quality reverb circuit in - that I've been told is the equivalent in quality to most decent rack-mount units - but I'm not personally qualified to prove this! I definitely recommed you try one though - they really are good.

Here's my lovely bass if you haven't already peeped it:
http://www.munkio.com/jeffchapman/flynn_fretless.html

Thanks for the good vibes people.

M

[Big nebula]

Originally Posted by Mike Flynn

Hey - just made a little recording this morning - it's a bit crappy on the quality side, unfortuinately using my looper for the chords created a lot of hiss in the mix - but I was working on my phrasing - so feedback in that respect is welcome - I know I need to leave more space at times and I'm trying to play more melodically too - let me know what you think. There are quite a few mistakes on the head - but it was all in one take etc.

Very Early solo
http://www.munkio.com/music/victor/veryearly_new.mp3

Cheers

Mike

Kinda heard it all before Mike? A bit Pastorius,very much choral and with nice slow melody, does sound good but like I said,very tentatively,heard it all before?

[James Hart]

Originally Posted by Big nebula

Kinda heard it all before Mike? A bit Pastorius,very much choral and with nice slow melody, does sound good but like I said,very tentatively,heard it all before?

not for nothing, but you should have... it's a jazz standard.

-=-=-=-=-
"Very Early," as its name implies, was composed while Bill Evans was a young man; it dates from his period of military service following college, and it was his only composition older than his well known "Waltz for Debby" to remain a part of his regular repertoire throughout his recording career. This usually briskly played piece was always a highlight of any live set in which it was included. Often kicked off by the pianist with an impressionistic solo, "Very Early" also was a potent feature for individual solos by some of the talented bassists who worked with Evans, especially Eddie Gomez and Marc Johnson. First recorded by Evans for Riverside in 1962, very few musicians recorded this challenging song until after the composer's death in 1980. In additional to numerous excellent live versions available on various CDs by Bill Evans, particularly rewarding versions include those by Phil Woods, Stan Getz and Joe Locke.

[darkblack99]

I like it...Get a little brushes in there and it'll swing...But what was that funny business at measure 184?



Good stuff

[Mike Flynn]

Originally Posted by darkblack99

I like it...Get a little brushes in there and it'll swing...But what was that funny business at measure 184?



Good stuff

Whoa - you actually counted that far in? Blimey - well there are defintely some slips of the fingers here - couple of slightly dodgy runs and the head isn't perfect - but there's some nice bits as well - thanks.

M

[Mike Flynn]

Originally Posted by James Hart

not for nothing, but you should have... it's a jazz standard.

-=-=-=-=-
"Very Early," as its name implies, was composed while Bill Evans was a young man; it dates from his period of military service following college, and it was his only composition older than his well known "Waltz for Debby" to remain a part of his regular repertoire throughout his recording career. This usually briskly played piece was always a highlight of any live set in which it was included. Often kicked off by the pianist with an impressionistic solo, "Very Early" also was a potent feature for individual solos by some of the talented bassists who worked with Evans, especially Eddie Gomez and Marc Johnson. First recorded by Evans for Riverside in 1962, very few musicians recorded this challenging song until after the composer's death in 1980. In additional to numerous excellent live versions available on various CDs by Bill Evans, particularly rewarding versions include those by Phil Woods, Stan Getz and Joe Locke.

That's the exact reason I love this tune and beleive me if you can play over this and make it sound half way musical then you're definitely getting somewhere - it's not that easy - while my version is nothing new I hope it at least sounds like I know what I'm doing - sort of - anyway if you don't dig it no problem - thanks James BTW.


M

[nordicjazz]

Greetings from Norway!
Very well played. Love your sound!

[darkblack99]

Originally Posted by Mike Flynn

Whoa - you actually counted that far in? Blimey - well there are defintely some slips of the fingers here - couple of slightly dodgy runs and the head isn't perfect - but there's some nice bits as well - thanks.

M

Hey mate, it's a counting game, break out the fake book and watch the bars tick by ...Besides, it's jazz, a little loose is OK, kudos to you for taking a tune like this head on...Pickford has a piano solo transcription of the tune up on his site, for others who want to give it a go.

[Mike Flynn]

Originally Posted by darkblack99

Hey mate, it's a counting game, break out the fake book and watch the bars tick by ...Besides, it's jazz, a little loose is OK, kudos to you for taking a tune like this head on...Pickford has a piano solo transcription of the tune up on his site, for others who want to give it a go.

Pickford's site is wicked for transcriptions - and you're right - I probably need to count more - and yes I still find actually remembering the last 12 bars of this tune a complete nightmare - but overall it is definitely about developing melodic ideas a little slower than I try to at the moment - thanks for the feedback.

M

[darkblack99]

Ah, you had it going on...AAB, 16 bars per section, 5 times through with the head played first and last...Measure 184 is where the fourth note of the melody (B flat) got pinched...But you know what? Who cares?
Beats playing Hell's Bells, right? (unless you're Cliff Williams doing the job's worth)



Which transcription were you using? I have two that I know of..Wetzel's (from the Bill Evans Fake Book), and one from The Real Book (bass clef).

[Mike Flynn]

Originally Posted by darkblack99

Ah, you had it going on...AAB, 16 bars per section, 5 times through with the head played first and last...Measure 184 is where the fourth note of the melody (B flat) got pinched...But you know what? Who cares?
Beats playing Hell's Bells, right? (unless you're Cliff Williams doing the job's worth)



Which transcription were you using? I have two that I know of..Wetzel's (from the Bill Evans Fake Book), and one from The Real Book (bass clef).

+1 to all of that - hehe - you have discovered my exstremely methodical methods of 'mastering' a jazz tune - er, make that trial and error, many errors!

I think the transcription is from the 'official' Real Book - but I have it on a CDrom - so I just printed out the page I needed.

M

[darkblack99]

I compared the two last night...Wetzel's has slightly more explicit extensions than the Real Book version that I have, 6's and flat 9's mostly...And Aebersold's is another kettle of fish altogether, but 'chords is chords'.

Too right, that tune walks right up to 'not resolving', but there's lots of fun to be had depending on how 'out' you want to take it.

Once you lay in a beat that emphasizes the 'and' of 2 in 3/4 time, a.k.a the wacky jazz waltz groove, all will be revealed.

[darkblack99]

It occurs to me that I never got around to the 'putting up' part...

So here's my version of Very Early.

Once again..Thanks for bringing out the tune, Mike.