Jazzing up old country songs?

[sgosnell]

The Eck Robertson recording is Texas fiddle music, called a breakdown. Bob Wills came from that tradition, but he expanded it to jazz. Much of Wills' repertoire is old fiddle music, but played as jazz. Members of his band jammed with some of the best jazz players of the era multiple times. If you want to hear old country tunes jazzed up, listen to Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. The multi-CD series called the Tiffany Transcriptions is some of his best, IMO, everything from old fiddle breakdowns to then-current tunes from the big swing bands.

[neatomic]

^ absolutely...wills tiffany transcriptions are amongst the best western swing recordings ever...a treasure trove!! "ah-ha"

cheers

[cosmic gumbo]

Whit Smith - Hot Club of Cowtown

Bruce Forman - Cowbop

More Sonny.....

[ragman1]

The OP seems to have vanished from his own thread. He did actually ask whether anyone here did jazzy country songs, specifically Hank Williams, but it seems to have become a post-your-favorite-YouTube thing instead.

Maybe that's why he's gone, although I think I doubt it :-)

I wanted to ask, has anyone on here ever tried to take an old Hank Williams song and try to make it sound like a jazz or swing song?

[ragman1]

It is interesting, though, the attraction a lot of jazzers have for country-type music. Even Joe Pass succumbed :-)

[ragman1]

Anyway, in case he does ever return, here's Your Cheating Heart with the ordinary chords:

C - C7 - F - %
G7 - % - C - %
C - C7 - F - %
G7 - % - C/F - C

F - % - C - %
D7 - % - G7 - //
C - C7 - F - %
G7 - % - C/F - C

Then there's the jazzed up version. If the OP wants to know how to do it this is the standard way. The idea is to provide a more interesting background with some movement and embellished harmonies, which it does. Once you've got that it can basically be applied to anything.

What it's not, however, although the same elements exist in that too, is modern jazz harmony and extremely sophisticated chord voicings. Modal it is not. It's just basic swing, really. It looks pretty fearsome on paper but it's not that hard once it's understood.

C - C9 - F/FM7 - F6/F#o
G7 - Dm7/G7 - C/C#o - Dm7/G7+
C - C9 - F/FM7 - F6/F#o
G7 - Dm7/G13b9 - C6/Fm6 - C6/C9

F6 - F#o - C/CM7 - C6
D7 - % - G7/Go - G7//
C - C9 - F/FM7 - F6/F#o
G7/Dm7 - G13b9 - C6/Fm6 - C6

Soloing over the ordinary chords is really just the tune; the chords don't seem to want much more than that. When the harmonies change, however, one finds oneself automatically wanting to embellish the soloing, so one has to find out how to do that.

I've kept the solo fairly quiet and the background louder so the chord sounds are more audible. For what it's worth.

[Greentone]

I play in a vocal trio (guitar, piano, vocal). We've been doing a jazz/lounge version of Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart" for some time now. It works very well as a jazz or cow bop rendition.

I channel Hank Garland on this one.

[ragman1]

Thing about Hank, though, was that he not only wrote great lyrics ('I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry' is heart-rending) but seriously memorable tunes as well. Extraordinary talent.

[Greentone]

thing about hank, though, was that he not only wrote great lyrics ('i'm so lonesome i could cry' is heart-rending) but seriously memorable tunes as well. Extraordinary talent.

amen!

[Ukena]

To be fair, I'm an Old Cowhand isn't in the same vein as Hank Williams – it's by Johnny Mercer, written for Bing Crosby. The first commercial recording of it was by Bing with Jimmy Dorsey, neither of whom were what you'd call country performers... or western performers, either, even if the Western Writers of America included it in the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

[fathand]

You might try extending some of the chords - 6ths to 13ths, 7ths to 9ths, etc. "Crazy" has some nice chords as is. Just keep it swingin'.

Here's a chart for "Crazy", Willie Nelson's arrangement. It's not perfect but it's easy and you can easily create some new changes over it! Old Country was some of the first music I heard going out to clubs with my fake id at the time, back in the early 1970's, great memories!

[janepaints]

The Eck Robertson recording is Texas fiddle music, called a breakdown. Bob Wills came from that tradition, but he expanded it to jazz. Much of Wills' repertoire is old fiddle music, but played as jazz. Members of his band jammed with some of the best jazz players of the era multiple times. If you want to hear old country tunes jazzed up, listen to Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. The multi-CD series called the Tiffany Transcriptions is some of his best, IMO, everything from old fiddle breakdowns to then-current tunes from the big swing bands.

yep! i done knowed all that stuff--when not playing kinda-mediocre-but-aspiring-to-improve jazz i been winning prizes at fiddle contests and even playing in combos with grammy-winning OT musicians!.....i LOVE fiddle music and fiddle tunes....and busking with fiddle: best paying gig for the least amount of hassle ever....

it took me awhile to warm to bob wills--those hee-haw shout-outs drove me nuts...once i got past them, it was deep love

hey--yer in OK--if ya dont already know him, seek Glenn Godsey--both a truly amazing oldtime fiddler AND a way-gifted multi-instrumentalist, especially in the gypsy-jazz and western swing idioms....he's in Tulsa (methinks)...Glenn and I share a passion for BRUSHED drums, and he's a wiz at them....anyhow, here he is fiddling some:

[janepaints]

Hello,


I am trying to find a way to combine Blues, Country, and Jazz together, and I am a solo artist so I feel its really tough, but I wanted to ask, has anyone on here ever tried to take an old Hank Williams song and try to make it sound like a jazz or swing song?

here ya go, an off-the-cuff thing done 5 minutes ago on piano....solo on top anyway yer ears & fingers say to do it....'your cheating heart', key of C

cheatin' hart - Clyp

[cosmic gumbo]

I play in a vocal trio (guitar, piano, vocal). We've been doing a jazz/lounge version of Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart" for some time now. It works very well as a jazz or cow bop rendition.

Tony Bennett and Nora Jones each did a jazz cover of the tune, also.

[ruger9]

More required listening in this genre:

Jimmy Bryant
Jim Campilongo - especially his 10 Gallon Cats stuff, the Little Willies albums, and the album Last Night This Morning with Honeyfingers
Roy Lanham (and the Whippoorwills)

[janepaints]

Whit Smith - Hot Club of Cowtown

twelve thumbs up for hot club of cowtown

saw them open for jimmy ray vaughn and bob dylan, up in pittsfield mass, way out in the country

guess which combo with the smallest amps and no drummer stole the show?

[ragman1]

You can jazz up anything out of oblivion if you want to :-)

[ragman1]

I think these guys are really good. Is that the local sheriff up there? And the dog, the dog...

[sgosnell]

Jane, another group you might like is The Western Flyers. Easy to find them on YouTube. Fiddle, archtop guitar, and bass, playing western swing. Joey McKenzie, the guitarist, used to be with the Quebe Sisters, which you also might like. Katie Glassman is a top-notch old-time fiddler.

[MaxTwang]

I am trying to find a way to combine Blues, Country, and Jazz together, and I am a solo artist so I feel its really tough

Have you checked out Chet Atkin' solo work? Great for technique. Swinging his arrangements is fair game to make them your own. Chet's album Almost Alone might be of interest for a solo artist. Sheet music book is also available.

Also check out Willie Nelson as Willie's a big Django Reinhardt fan (check out his vocal and guitar phrasing).

Tommy Emmanuel is another picker who's been known to mix jazz and country. Another great solo player.

And finally, or should be firstly, Herb Ellis' Texas Swings is an outstanding listen.


Here's a couple of Chet's instruction videos - the course is Guitar Of Chet Atkins

Herb Ellis with Willie Nelson

[ragman1]

We've probably done this now but I wanted a last blast. This is Cold, Cold Heart. I got tired of trying to fit jazzy chords - the same old sounds - onto it so I've just syncopated the melody instead. Probably more interesting in the end.

It's actually quite a tricky tune if you do it the way Hank Williams sung it. He puts an extra bar in over the F and skips one at the end for a quick turnaround. You have to think where you are. I've also noticed that professional covers aren't doing that, which is interesting... but not as interesting as the original :-)

[jumpnblues]

I'm a pretty good bluegrass flatpicker, if I do say so myself. I've been pretty intensely studying bluegrass flatpicking the last 10+ years or so. I was in a swing jazz/jump blues band before that. I brought a lot of phrasing from those genres to bluegrass flatpicking and vice versa, especially jazz chromatics. Gives me a somewhat unique bluegrass flatpicking style. As a matter of fact, I will often play a bluegrass flatpick break at home, lay my dreadnaught down, pick up my archtop and play the same exact break using jazz chords and it not only fits the song, but sounds totally like jazz.

As you may know, bluegrass guitar players use capos a lot, probably about 70% of the time if not more. While playing a jazz or even blues solo I will sometimes employ a capo to allow me easier access to certain notes and especially chromatic lines. It allows me to play some jazz and blues phrasing using the open G chord shape and other open chords, up and down the neck. Bluegrass flatpickers use a lot of open strings for their lead breaks. Using a capo really enhances that. And it can also help playing over some chord changes. It's just something I discovered while studying bluegrass flatpicking. I know it's not original. I'm sure there are a significant number of players who do the same thing. But it helps to be a bluegrass flatpicker as there is phrasing that makes bluegrass sound more like, well...bluegrass. Just like there is phrasing that makes jazz sound more jazzy. Anyway, give it a try. It's fun.

[ragman1]

I can safely say I've never used a capo on a jazz tune... :-)

No law against it, though

[fep]

[MarkRhodes]

Willie's stuff is often great for this..

Agreed. "Night Life" is another good example.