CM Set List

[Goldie295]

Hey all, I am new to CM and was wondering if you could please share with me your CM set lists and give me an idea of how long your CM sets last so I have something to work towards over the next few months before getting out there and gigging solo myself.

Also, what equipment do you take with you and what sort of venues to you tend to play/approach for CM gigs.

Thanks.

Cheers,
Phil

[mr. beaumont]

I happen to have my last set with me here.

It was a 2 hour gig, I played 2 sets with a short break in between:

Foggy Day
My Old Flame
Embraceable You
You go to my Head
Nardis
Body and Soul
Darn that Dream
My Foolish Heart
'Round Midnight
Mahna de Carnival
Here, There, and Everywhere (Beatles)


My Funny Valentine
Wave
My one and only Love
Days of Wine and Roses
Girl from Ipanema
Cute
All the Things you Are
All Across the City
Here's that Rainy Day
Suicide is Painless
Night Lights (Gerry Mulligan)
The Way you look Tonight

[Goldie295]

That is awesome thanks. It should only take me two lifetimes to get all of those down and be ready for my first gig! lol

Will get cracking on Foggy Day this evening.

Tell me, do you play the Head and then improvise a bit of chords; a bit of bass line; a bit of single line a la Joe Pass?

Also, would it be too much of a bind to ask what keys you do the tunes in?

Cheers,
Phil

[mr. beaumont]

Yeah, the head is a loose arrangement that I can improvise on a little, then I go into a few choruses of soloing--I use aany and all available ideas--stop time, single notes, chord solos, mixing and matching, a little walking bass here and there--gotta keep it interesting!

As far as keys

Foggy Day F
My Old Flame F
Embraceable You G
You go to my Head Ab
Nardis E
Body and Soul Dm/Dmaj
Darn that Dream G
My Foolish Heart Bb
'Round Midnight Ebm
Mahna de Carnival Am
Here, There, and Everywhere (Beatles) G


My Funny Valentine Am
Wave D
My one and only Love C
Days of Wine and Roses F
Girl from Ipanema F
Cute C
All the Things you Are Ab
All Across the City Dm
Here's that Rainy Day G
Suicide is Painless Bm
Night Lights (Gerry Mulligan) C
The Way you look Tonight Eb


and I totally forgot one, I did "Someday my prince will come," and I do that one in G.

[Goldie295]

Thanks so much - I really appreciate your help and time with this.
phil

[SteveCarter]

Originally Posted by Goldie295

Hey all, I am new to CM and was wondering if you could please share with me your CM set lists and give me an idea of how long your CM sets last so I have something to work towards over the next few months before getting out there and gigging solo myself.

Also, what equipment do you take with you and what sort of venues to you tend to play/approach for CM gigs.

Thanks.

Cheers,
Phil

I discuss a lot of these things in my Gig Journals at:
http://frogstoryrecords.com/
Some include sound clips recorded on the gig.
See, for example, the journal for Foobar.
Some in the list are duo and group gigs, but most of the gig journals further down the list are from solo gigs.

Steve

[Billnc]

I play to back up a singer in a duo situation. The sets usually have a few chord melody things thrown in. I draw from this list right now.
All The Things You Are
Blue Monk
Blue In Green
Django
I hear A Rhapsody
Michelle
My Foolish Heart
My Ship
We'll Be Together Again
What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life.

I'll improv some CM during solo breaks from the vocal set too.

I use a Polytone Minibrute III and put the preamp out through a Carvin PA sounds good and I can keep the amp below feedback level for the archtop.

Our gigs range from an hour to 6 hours, clubs, restaurants, festivals and wineries. Just getting back into jazz guitar. The venues are usually fairly intimate.

[woyvel]

I do a solo chord-melody thing that's not just what we normally pigeon-hole as jazz. I use a few modulation and delay effects to set a more ethereal mood. My set includes:

Things Ain't What They Used To Be
St. Thomas
So What
Come Away With Me

Working on:
All The Things You Are
Over The Rainbow
Stompin' At The Savoy
Bright Size Life

My set has more from the "that's not necessarily jazz" category...
The Rain Song (Led Zeppelin)
Time After Time (Though Tuck and Patti do it)
I Can't Make You Love Me
Something
Norwegian Wood
My Girl (a slow version based on something I heard John Hiatt and Loudon Wainright III do)

I also worked up an an Aerosmith jazz/blues medley

[mr. beaumont]

Originally Posted by woyvel

So What

I'd like to hear how you do that! find songs with few changes very challenging to do as a solo arrangement.

[woyvel]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

I'd like to hear how you do that! find songs with few changes very challenging to do as a solo arrangement.

While surfing iTunes I ran across Bert Carlson. I found his versions of Bright Size Life and Norwegian Wood quite interesting. He took some rather straight-forward songs, not known for the usual CM styling, and turned them into something without any accompaniment. That's sort of where I go with So What, though not quite to his accomplished level.

[woyvel]

Originally Posted by Goldie295

Also, what equipment do you take with you and what sort of venues to you tend to play/approach for CM gigs.

I've just done a couple real small places: A little cafe and an art shop. I'd like to get out to some other small and intimate places, maybe an old folks home too.

I can travel kind of light. All I really need is guitar and amp, but I go a little more complicated. I take my guitar(s) [Tele, Ibanez Artcore, Gibson L6S], Line 6 M13 (stomp box modeler with looper) and 2 amps. I use stereo out of the M13 and go to 2 of 3 amps: Polytone 1x15 bass amp, Vox AD30VT and a Vox Mini3. Both places I played are small enough that I can use the Mini3. Being stereo I can fill the room with sound at a low, comfortable volume.

For kicks I used a wireless so I could walk around the cafe. I think I'll be taking a drum machine with me next time too.

[mr. beaumont]

Originally Posted by woyvel

While surfing iTunes I ran across Bert Carlson. I found his versions of Bright Size Life and Norwegian Wood quite interesting. He took some rather straight-forward songs, not known for the usual CM styling, and turned them into something without any accompaniment. That's sort of where I go with So What, though not quite to his accomplished level.

I'll make sure to check him out.

[Goldie295]

Originally Posted by woyvel

I've just done a couple real small places: A little cafe and an art shop. I'd like to get out to some other small and intimate places, maybe an old folks home too.

I can travel kind of light. All I really need is guitar and amp, but I go a little more complicated. I take my guitar(s) [Tele, Ibanez Artcore, Gibson L6S], Line 6 M13 (stomp box modeler with looper) and 2 amps. I use stereo out of the M13 and go to 2 of 3 amps: Polytone 1x15 bass amp, Vox AD30VT and a Vox Mini3. Both places I played are small enough that I can use the Mini3. Being stereo I can fill the room with sound at a low, comfortable volume.

For kicks I used a wireless so I could walk around the cafe. I think I'll be taking a drum machine with me next time too.

Blimey! You do not do things by halves! lol

Great set-up.

[woyvel]

Originally Posted by Goldie295

Blimey! You do not do things by halves! lol

Great set-up.

No, doubled! Stereo , ya know. Actually I'm rather frugal. The wireless, drum machine, and the Polytone are all pawn shop finds: $10, $12, and $75.

[JohnRoss]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

It was a 2 hour gig, I played 2 sets with a short break in between:

Wow, twenty-three songs in 120 minutes, over 5 minutes per! I'm sure you can make it work, in my gigging days I just wouldn't have dared. I never did more than three choruses, usually two and slow things just one.

It's partly because I basically learned in a 6-piece band: chorus or two in, 1 or 2 solo choruses per instrument, chorus or two out, often totalling 10-15 minutes or more, but audiences can bear that because the format has built-in variety. And partly because, well, that Charlie Parker quote which goes roughly "I know the tune, you know the tune, so why should I play the tune?" simply doesn't work in most settings - you have to at least play the tune in so people understand what you are doing, and then you probably have to play the tune out so they know you are finishing, by which time it's getting to be almost an imposition on your audience, so extending yourself in the middle is chancy (if you're as mediocre as I was, at least).

Truth is, even practising to myself, these days, I like to keep it short and sweet, e.g., start improvising halfway through the first chorus and go back into the tune at the same point in the second chorus.

[mr. beaumont]

It's actually about 105 minutes of playing, I took a 15 minute break.

But yeah, lots of ballads, I go about 5 minutes a song, some go a little over. I'm background music at these gigs, so I have some fun and stretch out...most folks don't realize when one song ends and the next begins!

Unless you play something Sinatra sang (Hence the WYLT closer...always means tips...even if I feel a little dirty doing it because I know it'll work)

[ronjazz]

Nothing wrong with manipulating a little loose change out of the audience, given the way club owners pay. Tip-getters: Malaguena, House Of The Rising Sun, Classical Gas, any Elvis ballad.