My first Big Band Transcription/Reconstruction (I Love Paris Dita von Teese Version)

[Webby]

Last year I was able to make a dream come true, when we landed a gig with a big enough budget to blow my own Swing Band up to a full Big Band. To us it was obvious that we didn't want to only play commercially available Arrangements, but instead wanted to use as mich of our own material as possible.
And that is how I found myself in the position of having to write for a Big Band for the first time in my life.

Around the same time that I started preparing the charts my girlfriend took me to show of Dita von Teese's Glamonatrix tour, and I instantly fell in love with a lot of the music used in those performances, especially one beautiful arrangement of "I lova Paris". Back home I tried to find a recording of that version, but al my efforts were futile. Apparently those are all custom arrangements for Dita's shows, and she seems to keep them for herself, except for small snippets like this one:

[Warning, the clip is probably NSFW]

By that time I had that opening riff stuck in my head, it really started to trigger my ambition, and so I searched for all the small pieces of that version I could find on youtube, and did the best I could to transcribe them and then tried to make a whole tune out of it by filling all the gaps I still was left with.

I've never done a project like that, but I'm really happy about how it turned out, so I wanted to share our rendition:

I had sooo much fun reconstructing that arrangement, and looking back it was a kinda cool challenge

Paul

[setemupjoe]

I’ve worked with Dita on a number of occasions. We were planning on doing her latest show with a live big band for New Years Eve in LA. I orchestrated it all but Covid hit and it was put aside. Maybe we’ll do it at some point in the future. Her birdcage routine is terrific.


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[Webby]

I’ve worked with Dita on a number of occasions. We were planning on doing her latest show with a live big band for New Years Eve in LA. I orchestrated it all but Covid hit and it was put aside. Maybe we’ll do it at some point in the future. Her birdcage routine is terrific.


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Wow! That is a dream-gig!
What's it like to work with her?
I was really impressed with the amount of detail she put into her show. I feel that working in a setting like that should be amazing!

Paul

[setemupjoe]

Thanks. The first time I played with her was when she was still married to Marilyn Manson. She did a show to promote her cover in Playboy Magazine. I was playing with Royal Crown Revue, and she had always been a big fan of ours and used to come see us at the Derby. We played the Henry Fonda theater in LA and I remember seeing Manson backstage and thinking “who’s that kid dressed up like Marilyn Manson” because he looked so small.
Dita is the best at what she does. Her shows reflect that. All her music is written or arranged for her specifically. It’s mostly written with synth instruments so we were excited to bring it all to life for the first time. I’m hoping one day we can finish the project.


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