Just curious. If you are given 1 tune as your bass feature at a jazz jam, what tune do you normally choose?
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Double Bass What One Tune Do You Pick at a Jazz Jam?
- Thread starter mikeln
- Start date
My best tune - the tune I play the best on. Once I've established the bar, it's all downhill from there, but at least they know I can play something.
I was taken off guard sitting in with the house band when the leader ask me that. This is the first time I recall ever being offered a feature in a jam. Usually,it's just accompany the other players, with a solo chorus thrown my way periodically. My first though was Have You Met Miss Jones, one of my favorites, but it isn't really a bass feature. I guess Sister Sadie would have been a more bass oriented choice.
ALWAYS come armed with one or two tunes. For me it's usually something I can play the head to: Solar, Nardis.
For whatever reason I like to have a ballad on hand. Stella usually.
For whatever reason I like to have a ballad on hand. Stella usually.
+1.
I love playing 'Giant Steps' as an achingly slow ballad bass feature, tempo ala Shirley Horn.
I love playing 'Giant Steps' as an achingly slow ballad bass feature, tempo ala Shirley Horn.
I've been known to play "The Bare Necessities" from Disney's The Jungle Book as a bass feature. Though that has been in a band context, not an open jam.
- Dec 13, 1999
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- Chuck Sher publishes my book, WALKING BASSICS:The Fundamentals of Jazz Bass Playing.
Generally, when I get asked at a jam session what I want to play I always respond "Well, I only know 2 songs. HAPPY BIRTHDAY and I REMEMBER CLIFFORD..."
Commonality is great, agreed. I also do LUSH LIFE and THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER.
My favorite song. I sang it in a talent show when I was 6 and now I play it bluegrass style.
UNCAP, PUKESPRAY, You guys ever just start launching into the tune after a song is over and see what the other guys do? I suppose some dudes would get pissed...
Not all the time but sometimes I'll just go for another tune in the set list and skip the dead air. Nobody seems to mind so far.
Not all the time but sometimes I'll just go for another tune in the set list and skip the dead air. Nobody seems to mind so far.
Blue Skies or Paper Moon and I play the head in and out. Frankie and Johnny to get a blues going, again me playing the head. TV Spiderman or I Dream Of Jeannie theme is also fun.
Sure, I do this all the time. Especially when backing a chick singer when she's on her period.
I've just done a couple of gigs with a sax player who likes to do this. It's fine as long as I know the tune well enough not to need the chart, though he also has a tendency to launch into things in different keys than we played them in last time. Still, I guess it's a bit of a learning experience for me.
Some of my favorites are Nardis, Black Orpheus, First Song (in A minor), Body and Soul (in G major), Alone Together, and if it's appropriate Lonely Woman. For me, if I'm going to play a bass feature I love being able to use open strings as a way to accompany myself.
- Apr 19, 2004
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- Endorsing Artist: Conklin Guitars (Basses)
In a Sentimental Mood
Mood Indigo
Green Dolphin Street
St James Infirmary
Autumn In New York
Straight No Chaser
Blue Monk
Now is the Time
Someday My Prints Will Come
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
My Foolish Heart
Night and Day
Stella by Starlight
Dolphin Dance
Whichever one struck my fancy in the context of the set and the crowd.
These are the ones I can play the head arco, solo arco or piz, and walk off the top of my head. I want to add another 5-10 this year to the list.
There are a bunch of non jazz/rabbath rep that I could do too if the pianist knew them.
So yeah. I've been busy.
Mood Indigo
Green Dolphin Street
St James Infirmary
Autumn In New York
Straight No Chaser
Blue Monk
Now is the Time
Someday My Prints Will Come
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
My Foolish Heart
Night and Day
Stella by Starlight
Dolphin Dance
Whichever one struck my fancy in the context of the set and the crowd.
These are the ones I can play the head arco, solo arco or piz, and walk off the top of my head. I want to add another 5-10 this year to the list.
There are a bunch of non jazz/rabbath rep that I could do too if the pianist knew them.
So yeah. I've been busy.
Reviving my own thread... after many many jazz jams..
Rarely known but my first go to call: Three and One (Thad Jones).
Then, when everyone says..huh? Yardbird Suite, Dolphin Dance, Beatrice, My One And Only Love
Rarely known but my first go to call: Three and One (Thad Jones).
Then, when everyone says..huh? Yardbird Suite, Dolphin Dance, Beatrice, My One And Only Love
