"Come Fly With Me"; which version is this?

[ricobasso]

Our big band plays this tune from charts marked "Barton Music Co. Ltd" at the top and "A London Orchestration Arrangement" at the bottom. The intro is in Ab and there's a vamp 'til ready in Bb. It then stays in Bb to the end. I'm told it is an arrangement from a recording by Frank Sinatra but no one has a copy .

I can't work out how to interpret the bass intro which has the accent on beat 4 of bars (measures) 2, 4 and 6. I've looked at the piano part and it's not in unison with that.

I'd really like to hear the recording to hear how it should sound, but, which Sinatra album is it from? I've listened to lots of samples on Amazon, etc. and downloaded many different versions but none of them have this intro.

Help!

[ricobasso]

If forum rules allow it, I'll scan the first 4 bars of both piano and bass parts and post them. Maybe then someone could point me to the appropriate Sinatra recording?

[Febs]

Originally Posted by ricobasso

I'd really like to hear the recording to hear how it should sound, but, which Sinatra album is it from?

Have you tried this one? http://www.amazon.com/Sinatra-Sands-...2591114&sr=8-1

[ricobasso]

Originally Posted by Febs

Have you tried this one? http://www.amazon.com/Sinatra-Sands-...2591114&sr=8-1

Thanks for the suggestion but unfortunately, that clip does not have the intro, so it's difficult to tell, but I don't think it's in the same style

[ricobasso]

Finally got round to scanning. Here's the first few bars. Anyone recognise the version?

[nickbass]

Hi. Don't recall the version, and it does look as though the piano and bass parts aren't in unison. However, if it's in swing feel, they might be! If the piano part has been written in even quavers (but assuming them to be swung) and the bass part follows that awful old practice of writing swing quavers as dotted quaver + semiquaver, then even though there doesn't look as though there's unison, the piano Eb and bass top Eb are played together, on 3and (swung). Hope this is clear. If the arrangement has an even feel, of course, then that's a different story!

[ricobasso]

Thanks to those who've replied. The way I'm reading this, it looks like this arrangement is not well known. It most likely has never been recorded. May just have been cobbled together by some house arranger so the publisher would have a version to sell.

[KSB - Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by ricobasso

Finally got round to scanning. Here's the first few bars. Anyone recognise the version?

Around 1971-'72 I worked with 'Jr., his son. We had all of Frank's original charts for the most part. Same arranger and nearly the same format. Those were some nice Bass parts. Mostly every note was written out and it was well written.

Try U-Tube of Sinatra. There is quite a bit of stuff out there to play along with and listen to. The band always swings.

[Gornick]

Is that tempo mark correct? quarter = 42? or is that a 1 and not a n open parentesis?

[KSB - Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Gornick

Is that tempo mark correct? quarter = 42? or is that a 1 and not a n open parentesis?

looks like it says 142 bpm (beats per minute). Kind of fast. listen to Sinatra and mark his tempos. That's what swings. Highschool bands and broadway shows as well have no clue about swing.

[Febs]

That bass line is an exact transcription of the recording from Sinatra at the Sands that I linked to earlier in the thread, the only difference being that on the Sands recording, there are two bars of drum in front. The part in Ab is Frank's introduction: "The Sands is proud to present a wonderful new show, a man and his music, the music of Count Basie and his great band [horns enter] ... and the man is Frank Sinatra." There's a shout chorus, and then the vamp in Bb, where Frank jokes with the audience, "how did all these people get in my room?" and then enters with the vocal.

I don't have a metronome handy, but the tempo on the Sands recording feels like it could be around 142. It's definitely brighter than a typical medium swing.

Your arrangement may not be the same one, but the introduction that you've posted and the general structure of the beginning of the chart certainly corresponds with the Sands recording.

[lfh]

All scores from LO I've seen have the tempo marked as (X BPM) where X actually is the tempo in Bars Per Minute! Apparently this notion is common in the dance-world, see for example this site

http://www.danceelegance.com/dances.html

where one can read "The tempo of Standard Foxtrot music is 28-30 BPM."

As to this particular arrangement, Lush Life also has a transcription, see this excerpt

http://www.lushlifemusic.com/arrange...ly_with_me.pdf

I don't have the recording, but LL's stuff is IME generally of high quality, so this should be pretty close to what's actually played. Hence, it looks like nickbass is right: The piano and bass parts make sense together in this notation. (BTW, LL state that the tempo is 160, which is fairly close to 4x42 = 168)

[Febs]

My band plays the Lush Life arrangement, and it is generally pretty good, though I do wish they would write the changes in bass parts like this one rather than just writing out a line. For example, I'm not particularly fond of the line they have written in measure 10 of this arrangement, where they have the bass playing a C natural on the downbeat of measure 1 over a Db7 chord.

[Gornick]

All scores from LO I've seen have the tempo marked as (X BPM) where X actually is the tempo in Bars Per Minute! Apparently this notion is common in the dance-world, see for example this site

Dancers have trouble counting beyond 8 so you get in the hundreds it it just goes out the window, right? That is some silly logic right there... sometimes things just plain baffle me.

[ricobasso]

Originally Posted by Gornick

Is that tempo mark correct? quarter = 42? or is that a 1 and not a n open parentesis?

I think it's BARS per minute

[ricobasso]

Originally Posted by Febs

That bass line is an exact transcription of the recording from Sinatra at the Sands that I linked to earlier in the thread, the only difference being that on the Sands recording, there are two bars of drum in front. The part in Ab is Frank's introduction: "The Sands is proud to present a wonderful new show, a man and his music, the music of Count Basie and his great band [horns enter] ... and the man is Frank Sinatra." There's a shout chorus, and then the vamp in Bb, where Frank jokes with the audience, "how did all these people get in my room?" and then enters with the vocal.

Sounds like you know it very well. OK, well, worth a punt if I can get it at US prices. Amazon UK say it's import only at £20++

[ricobasso]

After all that, the singer decided to to "The Lady is a Tramp" and "Luck be a Lady" on the gig. Ho hum, that's the way it goes. Great gig though. The joint was jumpin'

[KSB - Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by ricobasso

After all that, the singer decided to to "The Lady is a Tramp" and "Luck be a Lady" on the gig. Ho hum, that's the way it goes. Great gig though. The joint was jumpin'

Similar tempo and feel. Just different songs.