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I have a vague feeling I may have asked this question many years ago somewhere (maybe on a sax forum?), but there's always been something special about this little solo, deceptively simple in one sense, and highly sophisticated in another. Not to mention how it's also just so darn drop dead cool ...
But here's the thing, we all know it's just: I maj7 - IV maj7, fine. But If any of us blow over these 2 chords, I highly doubt your choice of weapons for the IVmaj7 would be from the world of iv min7 ! Yes, I know some of you are probably thinking "so what's so unusual about forcing F blues over Fmaj7", but It just isn''t that at all (please listen to the solo at the end to remind yourselves). It's almost as though Ronnie Ross was told the 2nd chord is Fm7, and the guitar was down in his headphones or something! OK I think that's highly improbable, but boy, what a great call, what a sound!
So, was this ever a "thing", or was it a one off? I can't say I've heard another solo quite like it, not even from R.R. but I'd love to know if he stole the idea from somewhere. Oh, while you're checking it out, just remember that this song is now 50 years old! And how's the sound of that bari !! I can never understand sax players falling over themselves to get to the tenors and altos, but no love for the bari ? WTF?? It's to die for... And yeah, one of the coolest songs ever, from probably the coolest songwriter that ever lived. RIP Lou.Last edited by princeplanet; 02-28-2023 at 10:06 AM.
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02-28-2023 09:16 AM
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yes it’s a totally killer solo !
Ive never sat down to transcribe it
I might do that tonight tho !
sounds like Ronni is thinking
||: C | Fm. G7alt. :||
(but maybe without much G7alt)
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Originally Posted by pingu
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That solo knocked me out too when I first heard it. I even remember that I was in my friend's house, and we were listening to the Velvet Underground Banana album, which he inherited from his brother who OD'd in the basement.
It's a few things:
The great timbre that RR had against the bass and guitar ostinato in tenths. When have you ever heard that before?
A Bari sax against electric bass and guitar in tenths!
The great bluesy feeling RR played with that at the same time sounded playful. It was like a guy playing out on the city streets'.
The fact that he was subbing Ab against the A natural in the bass ostinato and the polyrhythms he was using gave it a hip dissonance created that hip bluesy sound that you could even say represented the Warhol scene back then.
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A long-time favourite solo and song. Great to hear it again. The only problem with the solo is its length - should have been five-minutes long. Is there a cooler song in the universe?
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It strikes me that he's hearing it as a backdoor cadence. At any rate, Ronnie's solo indicates how all the dominant-related subs (Db7, Dm7, Dm7b5, Fm7, G7, Abm7, Bb7, Bm7b5 etc.) can be mixed freely and lead back to I (C).
Here's a bit of RR in action (2'25"):
... and a snippet from David Bowie on how Ronnie came to be on the WOTWS session:
Anecdotage
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Originally Posted by PMB
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Originally Posted by PMB
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Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
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Originally Posted by sgcim
Mind you, he picked his guitar players wisely - guys like Steve Hunter, Dick Wagner, Robert Quine etc so he wasn't entirely clueless musically, but no way could he have thought to use Herbie Flowers or Ronnie Ross on that date. Kudos to Bowie though, now there was a hip dude!Last edited by princeplanet; 03-07-2023 at 12:33 AM.
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Maybe I’m too theoretically ignorant, but I was able to transcribe it in comfortably in my F blues zone.
The real question is how does the upright bass slide up and down at the same time.
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Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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Originally Posted by princeplanet
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Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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He's switching back and forth major and minor, but doing it deceptively with ghost/grace fades... most sound like he plays a bold major line, then "echos" it minor but the minor note(s) come faint or fast faded. He definitely gets it that music is an illusion; he's not just playing the sax, he's playing with your musical mind.
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Originally Posted by PMB
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Here's a nice video where Herbie explains how he doubles his intro part on electric bass a 10th up from his upright part. Wild side indeed.
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Originally Posted by Flat
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Originally Posted by princeplanet
He goes after everyone, even sacred cows like George Martin and especially John Barry.
Grant Green, What is This Thing
Today, 01:59 PM in Ear Training, Transcribing & Reading