Double Bass Falling Grace

[Whousedtoplay]

Definitely no Marc Johnson, more like Steponmy Johnson....

It's sad that the bass is buried "somewhere" in the recording.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Here is the original from 1966

"Strangely enough, after all these years, "Falling Grace" is still kind of a work in progress. [Guitarist] Mick Goodrick was kind of decisive in the evolution of that tune. I have tremendous respect for his knowledge of harmony. There's a chord in the eighth bar that for years I'd notated as C major seventh. One day Mick came up to me and said, "You know, Swallow, that's not a C major 7, it should be a dominant seventh." I said, "Mick, I wrote the damn thing, it's a C major 7." He insisted that it should be a dominant chord. I was kind of angry at his presumption and spent a few days thinking about it. I came to the conclusion that he was right; it should be a C7. I had to humble myself and tell him that he was right. A few other changes have happened over long periods of time. Steve Swallow"

Expert Testimony: Steve Swallow

Expert Testimony On free lead sheets and gigging in Europe. Given by bassist and jazz composer Steve Swallow to Mark Small

college.berklee.edu

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Falling Grace - Steve Swallow - Gary Burton (feat Pat Metheny) live 1976

 

[lurk]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I'm getting a handle on this beautiful tune. One thing - and this may be a touchy subject - I did a Spotify search (already touchy!) and found a slew of recordings of Falling Grace and made a playlist so I could drench myself with the tune. Lots of great versions by great people. At some point I realized that every musician on every recording with one exception, Jack DeJohnette who plays on Lyle Mays' version, is white. Is jazz still African American music? Have different schools developed? If so, is this a good, bad, or inevitable thing?

 

[Bob_Ross]

At some point I realized that every musician on every recording with one exception, Jack DeJohnette who plays on Lyle Mays' version, is white. Is jazz still African American music?

The first thing that comes to mind in response to this line of thinking is "Is 'Falling Grace' jazz?"

 

[lurk]

The first thing that comes to mind in response to this line of thinking is "Is 'Falling Grace' jazz?"

Yeah... what is jazz anymore?

 

[DoubleMIDI]

The first thing that comes to mind in response to this line of thinking is "Is 'Falling Grace' jazz?"

More than a lot of what I hear (or don’t want to hear) or see announced at festivals around my place.

But it always depends on what one sees as jazz and what not. And it also depends on how it is played.
You can always arrange things in a way that hardly has something in common with the original which can be as well good and bad (bad hardly at the same time to the same arrangement).
And even that depends deeply on personal taste.

 

[matthewbrown]

The first thing that comes to mind in response to this line of thinking is "Is 'Falling Grace' jazz?"

Jazz is what jazz musicians play - whatever their race. A quick glance at standard jazz repertoire is sufficient to discover that a tune doesn't have to start out as jazz for jazz musicians to turn it into a jazz standard.