Chord melody problem

[AllanAllen]

. His own playing of it over the years is far from the tender ballad most of us imagine, that came after the words were composed (by someone else) and matched to the already-widely-played tune.

Not sure about that part. This is the original 1954 release, that's a ballad if I ever heard one.

[jameslovestal]

Not sure about that part. This is the original 1954 release, that's a ballad if I ever heard one.

Uh, what was said was "His own playing of it over the years is far from the tender ballad most of us imagine,,,".

Over the years. (thus not the original release).

[AllanAllen]

Uh, what was said was "His own playing of it over the years is far from the tender ballad most of us imagine,,,".

Over the years. (thus not the original release).

Yeah, buddy.... you can't just cut out the part you don't agree with by tossing in an ellipse. The quote continues to say the ballad feel came after lyrics were added. My point being, it was a ballad first.

Now I'm wondering if Lawson was saying it went uptempo after the ballads success and I'm interpreting him wrong.

[lawson-stone]

I'm just saying that Garner's own performances don't uniformly match the "slow tender ballad" description. Even when the tempo is slow, the ornamentation, substitutions, fills, and variations on phrases go far beyond what the Keepers of the Flame on here think is canonical Misty. I notice that generally, the better someone plays, the more flexible and imaginative they become about how even the great tunes can be treated. It's the beginners and middling players (like me!) who are often excessively fixated on a single type of performance of a given tune.

[Bobby Timmons]

Hi. Thank you for an answer that's related to my question, you are one of the few :-) I started of with jazzguitar.be and now I want to go on further that's why I got the book that holds standards that I like. :-) Because this website is 10+. No offense to the others whom seemed to have some inside discussion were I'm totally lost! And just for your information, I live in Prague, Czech Republic and there really isn't any chord melody books in the music/book shops here, surprise but a fact.

Why do you need a book? There are countless demonstrations on youtube. What is it that you object to about youtube? Is it the fact that it's free, or more convenient, or better demonstrated with a video?

[jameslovestal]

I'm just saying that Garner's own performances don't uniformly match the "slow tender ballad" description. Even when the tempo is slow, the ornamentation, substitutions, fills, and variations on phrases go far beyond what the Keepers of the Flame on here think is canonical Misty. I notice that generally, the better someone plays, the more flexible and imaginative they become about how even the great tunes can be treated. It's the beginners and middling players (like me!) who are often excessively fixated on a single type of performance of a given tune.

The nice thing about jazz is that you can interpret a tune any way you want. Purists might object but that's too bad, the tune is not their possession.

[garybaldy]

The nice thing about jazz is that you can interpret a tune any way you want. Purists might object but that's too bad, the tune is not their possession.

Many of the older tunes adopted by jazz musicians were written in 3/4 time.

[lawson-stone]

The nice thing about jazz is that you can interpret a tune any way you want. Purists might object but that's too bad, the tune is not their possession.

And what's odd is the focus here on "Misty" but in fact a ton of jazz standards were originally ballads and became wildly up-tempo barn-burners. "All the Things You Are" is a great example. A very tender ballad, with really sweet words, but we play it pretty much in "Donna Lee" territory. And again, often it's pretty hard to "hear the melody." But for some reason in this thread a line was drawn around "Misty" and a pretty nice chord-melodic improvisation on the tune, incorporating phrasing from the tune, was said to be "murder" and the musician characterizes as not a very good player. Weird indeed.

[Bobby Timmons]

^ Calm down with the straw manning of the entire thread there. ragman said that. To my reading, everyone else explained their taste about the issue without drawing a line or saying it was a bad rendition by a bad player.

[AllanAllen]

People play ATTYA faster than the Parker Gillespie version?

I’m always amazed at the bubble I’m in.

[pamosmusic]

People play ATTYA faster than the Parker Gillespie version?

I’m always amazed at the bubble I’m in.

That one runs the gamut. Pretty common anywhere between 100-200. Not unheard of faster or slower either. Was a ballad originally as aforesaid.

[lawson-stone]

People play ATTYA faster than the Parker Gillespie version?

I’m always amazed at the bubble I’m in.

Among guitarists, Hank Garland recorded it at about 235, Tal Farlow took it a bit quicker at 240-250, and Pat Metheny well north of 250.

[jameslovestal]

People play ATTYA faster than the Parker Gillespie version?

I’m always amazed at the bubble I’m in.

[lawson-stone]

And of course there is the VERSE.