Ray Brown "Corcovado"

[Marc Decho]

any of you cats happen to know the changes or riffage on this classic tune ? i've been listening to the Oscar Peterson trio version of this tune on the album "We Get Requests" and damn! it's the most brilliant i've ever heard a bossa be played, the licks are so tasty and huge.... Ray Brown never fails to surprise me over and over again

[anonymous0726]

It should be pretty easy to snag offen the record. The first chord is a II7 with the fifth on the bottom.

[KSB - Ken Smith]

On of my favorite all time records...

[Marc Decho]

I pulled off a rough lead sheet for "Corcovado" from some corny website, went through the changes and nothing sounded like it matched, one of these days i'm just going to get some "slower downer" software and transcribe everything I want, I can do it with anything moderately slow, but Ray's just blowin' through this one.....and yeah Ken i've had this record for about a year and it's in that catagory of all time fave's for sure!

[jmpiwonka]

well, if i remember correctly this chart has alot of bars that have two chords per bar so that might be why it seems like ray is flying through it....well i haven't heard this particular recording so he might really be flying through it too .
i remember when i was first getting the hang of playing through charts (still am, lol) my teacher would have me play through this chart and it seemed like........nevermind, i started thinking about you saying a bossa nova and i am actually thinking of jordu...... , that was a good while back

PM me and i'll email you a chart for corcovado, might be in the right key.....unless of course you want to transcribe it.

[Bruce Lindfield]

I've played Corcovado many times as a slow bossa - not that many chord changes - but the thing to bear in mind is that singers often want it in a different key to horn players - so you will possibly find it transposed into several different keys.

[anonymous0726]

C is the standard chick-singer key. This one doesn't seem to get moved around as much as others.

D7/A | |Abo
G-7 |C7 |Fo |F

1.
F-7 |Bb7 |E-7 |A7
D-7 | |Abo |

2.
F-7 |Bb7 |E-7 |A7
D-7 |G7 |Bb7 |A7
D-7 |G7 ...and back to the top 2 bars early.

There's an intro as well. I don't know it well enough to spill the changes out of my head (I usually just play the melody at home, and no one seems ever to do this on gigs. My excuse.)

[anonymous0726]

Oh -- and these are just stockish changes. I don't have the recording that you mention, so I don't know what they're doing on there. Also, the last two beats of the last measure of the second ending can be a G#o (kind of an E7 over the 3rd) leading back to D7/A

[Marc Decho]

[quote=Ray Parker]C is the standard chick-singer key. This one doesn't seem to get moved around as much as others.

D7/A | |Abo
G-7 |C7 |Fo |F

1.
F-7 |Bb7 |E-7 |A7
D-7 | |Abo |

2.
F-7 |Bb7 |E-7 |A7
D-7 |G7 |Bb7 |A7
D-7 |G7 ...and back to the top 2 bars early.


Hey Thanks Ray! i'll give her a run through and see how she fits....I don't even think I have the original version...i've got a nice Sarah Vaughan version, but it's quite different than the OP Trio's.....damn! I love bossa's! maybe it's just me, but man I really get a kick outta playin' stuff all broken up....we do lotsa latin/bossa stuff in the duo form and dammit who needs a drummer anyway!

[fraublugher]

from the montreal book

ll D9/A l.... l Fdim/Ab l.... l

Gm7 l ..F#7 l Fmaj F6 l Fmaj7 Gm7 Am7 Gm7 ll

ll Fm7 l Bb7 l Em7 l A7+5 l

D9 l lDm7 l Fdim Abdim ll

first eight again

ll Fm7 l Bb7 l Em7 l Am7 l

lDm7 l G7b9 l Em7b5 l A7+5 l

lDm7 l G7 lC l ll

[anonymous0726]

The last two bars of C aren't there.

[Brent Nussey]

Originally Posted by Ray Parker

The last two bars of C aren't there.

They are on the We Get Requests version.

Ray (Parker)'s changes are basically right for the OP version, although they play D-7 in the 7th bar of the 1st ending, *then* Abo in the 8th, and E-7b5 in the 7th bar of the second ending instead of the substitution Ray used.

I play often with a pianist from Brazil, and once when we played this tune, I went back to the top "2 bars early" The pianist looked at me and smiled and said "OK." I got the point and went back to having the 2 bars of C at the end. He later told me that in Brazil they play the C resolution. Beats me.

Anyway, We Get Requests is one of Ray's great records. You probably would also dig his playing on the Poll Winner's records.

Brent

[anonymous0726]

If you go check out the Jobim recordings, he does a lot of the tunes differently every time. I suppose he either couldn't make up his mind or did things as they seemed right at the time.

[Brent Nussey]

I have checked out the Jobim recordings, and I'd agree with you. But the post I first replied to sounded pretty absolute ("the last 2 bars of C aren't there"). It's also possible that someone else suggested a different ending when making a certain recording, etc. You said you didn't have the recording, and I do, so I thought I'd help clarify those little spots.

[anonymous0726]

NP. When I was a youngster in Toledo, the two bars of C was the way we played it (Real Book). As I traveled around and lived in different places, the only time I've been called upon to play those bars is with old beboppers. Including my Brasiliuan pals. I guess as long as everyone does the same thing

[Brent Nussey]

Ray - What's NP? No Problem? Neils Pederson? Anyway, I understand where you're coming from now. If you played the Real Book version, and then found out later that most folks play it differently, and also the original recording is different, that can easily make you dislike those changes. I don't know what's in the Real Book version, I only included my experience with the Brazilian pianist to say that there are people who know a lot about this type of music who like to play the resolution to C. Not that it's the "right" way, just that it's not necessarily wrong, as some of the stuff in the real book truly is.

Marc - after posting about the changes on that version, I pulled out my copy and gave it a listen again, to make sure I wasn't misleading anyone. One little mistake. The last 2 bars of the first ending are |D-7 |G7 | I usually play it the way I wrote (|D-7 | Abo |) or | D-7 |G7 Abo | so I guess I forgot. Of course, all these variations are very similar sounds/function, but I thought I'd mention it, just so you don't get confused when transcribing Ray's line (that is what you're doing, right?)

Just for a fun aside, this was one of the first albums Ray made with his French bass. Until 1964, he played a big bass, supposedly Italian, but some knowledgable people think it's a big German bass. Anyway, around 1963 or so, he got this smaller French bass, which supposedly sounded better with metal strings, which he was switching to. On this record Ray plays a lot of notes, sometimes I think maybe too many. Very busy playing, and much more in the high register than usual. I think this is a direct result of his changing to a much more playable instrument. On the other hand, the big bass doesn't offer as much agility, but the sound is huge, so it's fun to just play one big fat note. It's an interesting case of the bass (and maybe strings) influencing the way someone plays, although he of course always sounds like Ray Brown, and is great whatever he chooses to play.

Good luck,
Brent

[anonymous0726]

NP=No Problem in this case.