Too many ballads!

[Aaron Saunders]

Let me first say this:

I love playing ballads. I can't wait until the next gig when I can crack out a fretless slab solo on The Nearness of You, and playing a simple two-feel chorus after chorus is incredibly satisfying. I look forward every time with a strong sense of anticipation everytime we crack out Nature Boy or Embraceable You.

My quintet has 18 songs. 3 Bossas, 4 swing, and 11 -- count 'em, 11 -- ballads. We've got another gig coming up and another opportunity to add more songs, but all I can think of are ballads! We've got a singer, but the majority of the uptempo jazz I listen to is completely instrumental, and I'm the one who suggests almost all of the tunes.

Out of the 7 tunes we can add, another is a (slow) bossa, 4 ballads, and 2 swing (It Don't Mean a Thing and Caravan.)

The other more uptempo songs (uptempo being relative -- we're not playing Donna Lee here) we already have are Route 66, Fly Me To the Moon, If I Were a Bell (Miles changes,) and East of the Sun.

Believe me -- we don't need any help in picking more ballads. Actually, I'm intentionally ignoring a LOT of them while picking songs, because we can load up our entire set with ballads quite easily. The challenge, at least for me, has been finding uptempo tunes with vocals.

I've got a bit of an idea of where to look -- Duke and whatnot -- but do any of you guys have any particular favourite tunes to do with vocalists? Or, rather, for most of the people here...what songs do you hate doing the least with a vocalist?

[Chrix]

Here's a few med. tunes I like to do with or without a vocalist.

Secret Love (Usually done up, but works well medium and actually can be a beautiful ballad)
Stella
All The Things
Almost Like Being In Love
Let's Fall in Love
Witchcraft
Bye Bye Blackbird
Can't Help Lovin Dat Man
Come Rain or Come Shine
Devil May Care
Don't Get Around Much Anymore
Easy To Love
Falling In Love With Love
Fine Romance
A Foggy Day
Good Bait
Have You Met Miss Jones
Hello Young Lovers
Honeysuckle Rose
I Could Have Danced All Night
I Hear A Rhapsody
I Love You
I Thought About You
It's Only A Paper Moon
I've Got The World on a String
Like Someone In Love
On a Clear Day
Makin' Whoopee
My Romance
Night And Day
A Nightengale Sang in Berkley Square
Old Devil Moon
Sunny Side of the Street
Sleeping Bee
Someday My Prince Will Come
The Song is You
The Old Feeling
There Is No Greater Love
There Will Never Be Another You
You Make Me Feel So Young


Obviously, this is a pretty short list of the great number of tunes you could do. Personally, I think it's great that you're putting so many ballads (and many of the tunes I listed could work great as ballads as well as med. swing tunes). Many young students, not to mention guys in bands I've played in, never seem to dig on playing ballads. Keep it up.

[Doug Ring]

You don't say if your singer is male or female, but what about some of Louis Jordan's material? A lot of his earlier stuff is more bluesy than the later jump jive stuff. Since you're already doing Route 66 it would fit quite well with that.

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by PHAROAH SANDERS

Believe me -- we don't need any help in picking more ballads. Actually, I'm intentionally ignoring a LOT of them while picking songs, because we can load up our entire set with ballads quite easily. The challenge, at least for me, has been finding uptempo tunes with vocals.

I've got a bit of an idea of where to look -- Duke and whatnot -- but do any of you guys have any particular favourite tunes to do with vocalists? Or, rather, for most of the people here...what songs do you hate doing the least with a vocalist?

Years ago, when I was still a pianist and my socks were a lot younger, I had a steady gig with a decent singer whose set list included a ****load of ballads. The guys in the band made it a challenge to let the singer do her thing, then change the feel for solos, then change it back to lead the vocalista back in. Truth told, not only did she kinda dig it, but we all learned a lot about the "mutability" of jazz on that gig, and I count it as a great experience. For instance, a ballad head can turn into:

a bossa
a long meter samba
a waltz
a slow walk
a "big booty" 12/8 groove
a fast long-meter walk
an afro-Cuban groove, either long meter or not
etc.

Until you guys figure out more up tempo tunes, why not try some of these options? You never know - maybe your singer will even dig doing some of the heads that way. For ideas, check out Cedar Walton's arrangements on the Etta James record, "Mystery Lady - Songs of Billie Holiday"...most if not all of the tunes are ballads, but the band takes 'em a lot of nice places.