Tale of the Fingers

[Johnny L]

So I've got a transcription of Chambers' Tale of the Fingers, and I've got a recording of John Goldsby playing the song with a sax and drums (very cool!).

Goldsby makes room for a sax solo while accompanying with walking lines in the back before he pulls the bow out to do his own solo. On the Amazon teaser recording Chambers does the beginning himself (no sax doubling) and then keeps on going with the bow. Does he do the entire song with the bow or does he do what Goldsby does and have others solo and so on?

Just wondering. I'm going to learn this and record it next for people to hear and critique and try to learn some things...knowing what Chambers and his band did would be interesting.

Man this is so cool to, say, look at Bmaj7 and compare the solo line and see how all the note choices support Bmaj7...and then go to Bmin7 and see how the 3rd and 7th are flatted and then look at the solo line and see that get supported.

Amazing

[Mike Goodbar]

Is that tune based on the chord changes to a standard tune? I thought I could detect "S'Wonderful," but it seems to veer off.

[Johnny L]

beats me I'm a newbie...but I'm gonna see if I can find that song on Amazon and take a peek

[Michael Glynn]

Originally Posted by Mike Goodbar

Is that tune based on the chord changes to a standard tune? I thought I could detect "S'Wonderful," but it seems to veer off.

I think it's "Strike Up The Band."

[chop_1992]

Hi Johnny, Thanks for checking out "Tale of the Fingers." Michael's right -- the changes are based on the Gershwin standard "Strike Up the Band," which is a nice set of changes to blow on. On P.C.'s version, he plays the melody, arco solo, then there's one chorus of piano, then one chorus bass/drum trading. On my version, after the bass solo, we use quotes from the first chorus of P.C.'s solo -- unison with bass/alto to trade with the drums. Have fun with it! John Goldsby

[Johnny L]

Hello John, thanks for recording "Tale of the Fingers"...and thanks for publishing your jazz bowing book it's a blast to work through!

[thomasrhoward]

I've been working in this book for a couple of weeks too. I borrowed it from the library to check it out. Now it's at the top of my purchase list. Thanks John!

[Marcus Johnson]

+1. Great book.