Double Bass Softly as in a Morning Sunrise...

[Tom Lane]

Started focusing my attention on this tune today. I see it's been recorded a lot... Coltrane, Chet Baker, etc, a show tune that took on more significance as more sophisticated musicians embraced it. I've played it a half dozen times or so and always got through it but always felt that there was much more I could bring. Here's a basic chart:

The bridge is roughly the bridge, but the first 16 bars are essentially just a C Minor tonic and listening to a few of the seminal recordings, that's what I heard: 16 bars of C Minor. Some of the bassists plant that C every eight beats but others are like, C Minor is as C Minor does.
It looks as though the tune has legs - Latin, swing, fast, slow, all are game; I can even see a case for a modal version of the tune. I could easily imagine peddling a G through the A section.
So, here's my question, to those of you who feel comfortable with the tune, what's your favorite bass line(s) and how do you like to interpret the harmony and do you have more than one?

 

[nogbert]

gotta post this one. great bass solo (Wilbur Ware)

 

[oliebrice]

Yep, the Rollins / Wilbur Ware is the iconic version for me (actually there are two takes available if you get the double CD version).

 

[kinnon64]

Started focusing my attention on this tune today. I see it's been recorded a lot... Coltrane, Chet Baker, etc, a show tune that took on more significance as more sophisticated musicians embraced it. I've played it a half dozen times or so and always got through it but always felt that there was much more I could bring. Here's a basic chart:View attachment 3535249

The bridge is roughly the bridge, but the first 16 bars are essentially just a C Minor tonic and listening to a few of the seminal recordings, that's what I heard: 16 bars of C Minor. Some of the bassists plant that C every eight beats but others are like, C Minor is as C Minor does.
It looks as though the tune has legs - Latin, swing, fast, slow, all are game; I can even see a case for a modal version of the tune. I could easily imagine peddling a G through the A section.
So, here's my question, to those of you who feel comfortable with the tune, what's your favorite bass line(s) and how do you like to interpret the harmony and do you have more than one?

I believe on one of those Coltrane at the Vanguard recordings (maybe one of the takes they didn't originally use, but got released a few years ago), they do pedal G over the A sections midway through either McCoy's or Coltrane's solo! It's been a while since I've listened to that record, but I distinctly remember mimicking that idea on many gigs during college. To me it always added energy and tension.

I would also add a vote for the Sonny Rollins recording. I think it's Wilbur Ware on bass? His solo is so simple yet it says so much. And of course, Sonny Rollins is so inventive

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

 

[Steve Freides]

Funny, to me, to hear that feel since the lyric starts "Softly" and that's a pretty un-soft take on the tune.

My vote, for what it's worth, goes for slower. But, hey, my vote isn't worth much.

-S-

 

[notabene]

 

[Carl Hillman]

Started focusing my attention on this tune today. I see it's been recorded a lot... Coltrane, Chet Baker, etc, a show tune that took on more significance as more sophisticated musicians embraced it. I've played it a half dozen times or so and always got through it but always felt that there was much more I could bring. Here's a basic chart:View attachment 3535249

The bridge is roughly the bridge, but the first 16 bars are essentially just a C Minor tonic and listening to a few of the seminal recordings, that's what I heard: 16 bars of C Minor. Some of the bassists plant that C every eight beats but others are like, C Minor is as C Minor does.
It looks as though the tune has legs - Latin, swing, fast, slow, all are game; I can even see a case for a modal version of the tune. I could easily imagine peddling a G through the A section.
So, here's my question, to those of you who feel comfortable with the tune, what's your favorite bass line(s) and how do you like to interpret the harmony and do you have more than one?

A variation: I've heard Jerry Bergonzi play Softly with the last A section down a half step.

Maybe he just got tired of all that "C".

 

[Neon Scribe]

1972 Ron Carter


1961 Ron Carter

 

[Neon Scribe]

The original sheet music is marked "Tango tempo", so the Latin rhythm goes all the way back. This song has had incredible staying power for a tune from "Broadway's last hit operetta" in 1928. "Lover, Come Back to Me", another standard that was covered a lot in the 1950's but has faded since, came from the same show.

The New Moon - Wikipedia

 

[Neon Scribe]

My personal experience is a pretty cornball Latin version in A minor with a singer, including a dramatic stop before the bridge.

 

[damonsmith]

 

[Schlyder]

 

[chuck3]

In the jazz quartet I play in, the piano player has his own arrangement, but this aspect will work in any arrangement I think - try descending chromatically in half notes on the main theme. It works.

 

[Don Kasper]

Guitarist Sylvain Luc is a....a....how you say b** m*********** in French?

 

[sean_on_bass]

I tend to outline the minor 2 5 pretty literally during the head but open up to a free C minor walk on the solos for some contrast.

 

[jjqq123]

Hi!, does anyone know a more "free" version of this tune? I´m looking for a vibe simmilar to Coltrane at the Village Vanguard, simmilar to the rest of the tunes, not the exact recording of softly that is in the album.
kinda like :

or

or


Thanks!

 

[Roger Davis]

We used to play this in the sixties. We would announce it as Quickly as in a Shop Doorway. Just sayin'

 

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

As others have said, it is C minor. From the top, try on 1 and 3 a descending line starting with Eb. Eb,D,C,Bb and see where that leads you. You can think Eb or C minor as it's the same notes.
The bridge is often played chromatically Eb,E etc.