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Barry Harris seems to have been a sideman on loads of records in the 1950s/60s so some of them were bound to be hard bop. Some more I can think of are Hank Mobley - The Turnaround, and Dexter Gordon - Clubhouse, and Gettin’ Around.
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03-10-2021 06:50 PM
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This is a good one. Not quite hard bop perhaps but ample blues feeling on many of these takes
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Damn, just pulled up that album.
Clifford Jordan is a HELL of a player.
Check out Cliff Craft.
Anyway, we all forgot something in our solos and presentation...
The obvious... quoting Black Gospel songs and hymns in our playing. That's a big part of Hardbop, the soul and gospel of it all.
I still want to give it a go with that in mind. That said, hopefully quoting gospel tunes in a jazz improvisation instead offensive... I'm agnostic myself, but I don't want to sully someone else's beliefs.
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Okay, here is what I was talking about...
Much harder than I thought. I don't like thinking about stuff when I improvise, at that point I want my ears driving the bus. Thinking is for when I can take things outta time and SLOW them down--can't think that fast.
I was really thinking of these melodies before I played them. Can anyone name them all?
The first and last melody lend themselves naturally to the tune. The major based ones were a harder lot.
Anyway, at least I didn't sing on this one
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I just read somewhere that Work Song was inspired by Nat Adderley’s childhood memories of seeing a convict chain-gang singing while they worked outside his house in Florida. Something else to think about when playing it!
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So this is my final effort on this tune before moving on. I have to say, I enjoy playing this. I wish that joy translated into more creative playing, but still, pleasure counts! I also am making a lecture video for one of my classes dealing with the oppression, bondage, and deliverance of the Hebrew from Egypt, and I am going to use "Work Song" as an intro and outro for that lecture.
Any final words of advice are appreciated.
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Ah, man, it ended right as you were getting really into it. Those double stops and the sweep picked stuff sounded great!
Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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Right! What I was missing was accentuating important key notes, especially in the head's melody. it's a tune that needs some balls in my humble opinion. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Are saying I got no balls?? Wanna take it outside? (KIDDING!) I thought I was emphasizing fine, but I guess not. Originally Posted by TOMMO
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I'm pretty sure you've got a proper set... Originally Posted by lawson-stone
well, it's probably just me who's missing it...
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I will confess I haven't listened to a lot of performances of the tune. Ive also always been impressed by a quote I read somewhere about B. B. King when he did a recording with Gary Burton. Evidently folks were worried B.B. would play such a hard blues feel that the quality of the recording as a "jazz" date would be lost. But the comment was something to the effect that B.B. played with a bluesman's passion but a jazzman's reserve." I have always thought of jazz as using the blues, but bringing a certain reserve to it. I'm not B.B., SRV, or any other blues player. I'm an aspiring jazz player, so I don't try to play like a blues man. Does that make sense? So I just tried to play the tune with accents that came out of my sense of the melody. That doesn't stop it from being lame or weak, of course! I would have listened to more performances if we had longer than a week, but I do this in spare minutes between classes or on breaks from research and writing, so there isn't a lot of time to explore. Originally Posted by TOMMO
I'm pretty sure you've got a proper set... well, it's probably just me who's missing it...
I'll try to think about that, though, going forward.
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Absolutely. Call me an aspiring jazz player just as well but I come from blues playing it for thirty plus years as a professional so I tend to interpret blues based tunes in a certain way. Originally Posted by lawson-stone
Sorry: I didn't mean to say that your playing was lame or weak... Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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It's still Thursday so here's a final blast.
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Just kidding a little, no worries. I did learn this pretty much off the lead sheet with a bit of remembering how it went from just hearing it, so probably I do need to work with the phrasing more. No offense taken, I appreciate your feedback. Originally Posted by TOMMO
ON the other point, I tend to think a tune like this is 75% jazz and 25% blues, so I use blues ideas to resolve things, but try to build up to it with something that sounds more scalar or jazz influenced. At least that's the idea: climb up the mountain with jazz and bop ideas, swing up to the summit with a blues lick.
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I hate to plague you guys with Yet Another Clip, but this tune has been digging at me somehow. I felt really good on this one, though that doesn't mean the music is any better.
To simplify, I decided to make my reference simply Ab Major. It keeps me from hanging out on the F note (minor root) all the time. Thinking in Ab Major also sends me away from tired blues cliches (though I still love them!) and some different ideas that don't come to me when I'm "thinking" minor or blues.
So... I swear, this is my last Work Song. I'm over-worked, worked out, and worked through.
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I like it Lawson!
I also dig the snarkier 175 tone, especially on the low notes.
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I liked that much better, lawson! Like Jeff mentioned: the tone of the ES 175 may have to do with it but to my ears it's also playing some notes staccato and employing some slides into target notes (especially in the head / theme) that puts some tasty spice into it - well done! Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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thanks to Matt Jones for suggesting I post this here. I haven’t actually listened back to this since the day it went on YouTube, so I hope it’s decent. Well, Matt thought so
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