Double Bass Your favorite real book tunes, and how you approach them?

[Beast]

The quartet that I play in is looking for a few new tunes to expand our repertoire, and I thought I'd ask you guys what your favorite tunes are, and if you have a special way of approaching them, or any nuances you like to put throughout the piece.

A few of our favorites are "Footprints", "I've Never Been in Love Before", and "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing".

We play footprints with a drum/bass solo intro, with a mix of tiny bits of the melody, and the printed bass line.

I've never been, we take once through as a two feel, and then bust out into a common time feel with a trumpet solo, and then back into a giant melody. We always try to make our solos as "singer-like" as possible on this song, as it's a broadway tune.

It don't mean a thing, I make extensive use of pedal points. It really opens it up for the rest of the group, and adds solidity to the structure IME.

Go for it!

 

[Ed Fuqua]

Not to unduly harsh, but I wish I had a 5 second mpeg of me putting my forehead in my hands and shaking my head slowly.

Cranky old man stuff aside, I am happy that you are finding some joy in playing this music that brings me so much joy.

This, too, shall pass...

 

[chancletarock]

quiet now - if you want to make some people weep after the "college tunes", bust this one out.

other than that, i think you just have to go see other bands, search on youtube, etc. and see what approaches people take. then take that with the tunes that are common in your scene and do somethin' different. like, autumn leaves as a bossa for example (KIDDING)

 

[Adam Booker]

The key is to learn as many tunes as possible, period. Then add your own nuance. Also, it doesn't hurt to listen to and try to learn the arrangements of the past (ie, Miles intro on Autumn leaves, Jamal's arrangement of Moonlight in Vermont, etc.) The larger your vocabulary from an historical framework, the more your music communicates with other players. In short, do your homework!

 

[Jack Clark]

I've especially liked this tune since hearing PC's version of it. It has a catchy, lilting, haunting sort of melody that is somewhere between upbeat and melancholy, if that's possible. You'd have fun with the bass opening and closing heads, if you play it like PC did.

 

[ole Jason]

like, autumn leaves as a bossa for example (KIDDING)

LOL I once got hired to play with a steel drum band group at a golf course and sure enough they pulled this one out!

 

[ilovemy79pbass]

"Come fly with Me"
"Autumn Leaves"
"Fly me to the Moon"
"Continuum"
to name a few

 

[Epi833]

If you like ballads: Horace Silver's Peace is probably in your Real Book. His Lonely Woman (not Ornette's) probably isn't, but you can hunt it down.

Since you like pedal points, why not Aisha?

 

[Ed Fuqua]

You mean, NAIMA?

 

[Epi833]

Yes I did. D'oh!

 

[Touch]

Blues For Alice and Solar are a couple of my favorites.

 

[Huy Nguyen]

lol. Just arrange it however it makes you feel excited about playing it. Inversely, it's kinda of a drag watching guys playing music they're not into as well as playing with them.

At times I feel playing jazz is kinda like guys pretending they're their own basketball heroes. Kinda like reliving a childhood fantasy or something. "Oooh look at me, I'm Ron Carter burning it up with my buddy who is playing Jim Hall's part". Of course I'm nowhere nearly as good but it's can be fun to pretend.

 

[Beast]

lol. Just arrange it however it makes you feel excited about playing it. Inversely, it's kinda of a drag watching guys playing music they're not into as well as playing with them.

At times I feel playing jazz is kinda like guys pretending they're their own basketball heroes. Kinda like reliving a childhood fantasy or something. "Oooh look at me, I'm Ron Carter burning it up with my buddy who is playing Jim Hall's part". Of course I'm nowhere nearly as good but it's can be fun to pretend.

I totally know what you mean! I wasn't looking for huge detailed arrangements of all of your favorites, I just wanted to add some ideas to our musical vocabulary; all part of growing, yes?

 

[chancletarock]

At times I feel playing jazz is kinda like guys pretending they're their own basketball heroes. Kinda like reliving a childhood fantasy or something. "Oooh look at me, I'm Ron Carter burning it up with my buddy who is playing Jim Hall's part". Of course I'm nowhere nearly as good but it's can be fun to pretend.

uh you are the man. that totally sums up my more cynical approach to the jazz scene. i have other approaches, too (including really positive ones), but this is the one that manifests after you play with cats like the ones you mentioned. aaaaaaaaaaaamen.

 

[ding_man]

I won't be a grumpy cynical jazz musician

Why not see if any jazz books you have have lists of essential tunes.

 

[TroyK]

Go to the library and check out some CDs, listen and see what songs you like. Or get together with your bandmates and listen and see what everyone likes. That's where the magic is. It makes no difference what we like.

 

[rcarraher]

The quartet that I play in is looking for a few new tunes to expand our repertoire, and I thought I'd ask you guys what your favorite tunes are, and if you have a special way of approaching them, or any nuances you like to put throughout the piece.

A few of our favorites are "Footprints", "I've Never Been in Love Before", and "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing".

We play footprints with a drum/bass solo intro, with a mix of tiny bits of the melody, and the printed bass line.

I've never been, we take once through as a two feel, and then bust out into a common time feel with a trumpet solo, and then back into a giant melody. We always try to make our solos as "singer-like" as possible on this song, as it's a broadway tune.

It don't mean a thing, I make extensive use of pedal points. It really opens it up for the rest of the group, and adds solidity to the structure IME.

Go for it!

I haven't played the tune in years, but I haven't played a strictly jazz gig in years, but we used to have a lot of fun with Rahsann Roland Kirks Blues Underneath (Funk Underneath). The tune starts out, if I remember, in a major mode and kind of morphs in to a blues progression. Our sax man did a great job on it, and we'd turn the middle of the tune in a funky blues.

 

[RBrownBass]

The quartet that I play in is looking for a few new tunes to expand our repertoire, and I thought I'd ask you guys what your favorite tunes are, and if you have a special way of approaching them, or any nuances you like to put throughout the piece.

A few of our favorites are "Footprints", "I've Never Been in Love Before", and "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing".

We play footprints with a drum/bass solo intro, with a mix of tiny bits of the melody, and the printed bass line.

I've never been, we take once through as a two feel, and then bust out into a common time feel with a trumpet solo, and then back into a giant melody. We always try to make our solos as "singer-like" as possible on this song, as it's a broadway tune.

It don't mean a thing, I make extensive use of pedal points. It really opens it up for the rest of the group, and adds solidity to the structure IME.

Go for it!

This is a lot easier to approach when you're playing a lot of the same tunes with the same people fairly often. I don't know that the similarities that can emerge when we've been playing like that are necessarily a good thing.

Everyone's take on jazz is a bit different, but most of the time I'd prefer to hear what's going on when the tune is being played and work with that. Might take away some of the possibilities I had in my head when the tune was first called, but others replace the ones that aren't there anymore.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

I'm not sure if you were asking this - but if you are looking for interesting tunes in Real Books - one that struck me was Harold Land's "Rapture" from the Sher book - such a nice tune that I sought out the original recording on CD and was very pleasantly surprised!

(Waits for withering comments .... )

 

[Beast]

I'm not sure if you were asking this - but if you are looking for interesting tunes in Real Books - one that struck me was Harold Land's "Rapture" from the Sher book - such a nice tune that I sought out the original recording on CD and was very pleasantly surprised!

(Waits for withering comments .... )

Exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. I'll be sure to check it out!