The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
Reply to Thread Bookmark Thread
Posts 1 to 22 of 22
  1. #1

    User Info Menu

    Modal à la Coltrane with an E pedal/drone? More "traditional"... somewhere in-between?

  2.  

    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

    User Info Menu

    If somebody called this at a jam I'd go get a drink.

  4. #3

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by mr. beaumont View Post
    If somebody called this at a jam I'd go get a drink.
    Me too … I’ve heard this two or three times at jams, every time during the Christmas season, every time a train wreck.

    Though I guess the seasonal application would imply that the answer is “more traditional.”

  5. #4

    User Info Menu

    Cowards

  6. #5

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Peter C View Post
    Cowards
    Lol.

    I've actually never heard this called, so there's no telling how cowardly I'd actually be. I mean, at one time I DID transcribe all of McCoy Tyner's piano voicings for guitar...now, if I remember them...

  7. #6

    User Info Menu

    Brian Setzer Orchestra version!


  8. #7

    User Info Menu

    Come on guys, this is easy. It'll be the changes in iReal.

  9. #8

    User Info Menu

    This tune is in a jam setlist. If I hear the pianist laying down some McCoy Tyner quartals, I'll know where I am (that's a relative statement).

    Where can I see the iReal chart?

  10. #9

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by mr. beaumont View Post
    If somebody called this at a jam I'd go get a drink.
    So you're saying this song is not one of your favorite things?

    Well then, how about brown paper packages tied up with string? Please don't tell me they're not either!

  11. #10

    User Info Menu

    Topic hijack, I guess.

    When I get invited to jams, the players generally know the top 50 jam tunes, give or take, that you usually see on tune lists. By that I mean they don't need charts for those tunes.

    But, nobody wants to play them except maybe as a warmup tune. People want to play more novel and challenging material. Not everybody knows those tunes by heart, so the books come out.

    I was at a jam yesterday. We warmed up with I Love You, after which it was Isotope, Ana Maria, Sidewinder (which somebody mentioned and we didn't play), Peri's Scope -- and then everybody wanted to dive into obscure (to the uninitiated) Brazilian tunes and odd meters. We played Tempestade, Baiao Pro Eliseu, Batida Diferente and one more widely known tune, Chega De Saudade, called by the drummer and counted off faster than I'd ever played it -- which was great. Clearly, I'd been playing too slow. I've forgotten a few we played, but that's sort of the gist of it.

    So, I'm curious. Are there actually jams where advanced players want to play everything from memory -- and everybody knows enough tunes, beyond the basic 50, to keep it interesting? If so, I guess I can see why I don't know about them.

    Is my experience unusual?
    Last edited by rpjazzguitar; 04-22-2024 at 06:14 PM.

  12. #11

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar View Post
    Topic hijack, I guess.

    When I get invited to jams, the players generally know the top 50 jam tunes, give or take, that you usually see on tune lists. By that I mean they don't need charts for those tunes.

    But, nobody wants to play them except maybe as a warmup tune. People want to play more novel and challenging material. Not everybody knows those tunes by heart, so the books come out.

    I was at a jam yesterday. We warmed up with I Love You, after which it was Isotope, Ana Maria, Sidewinder (which somebody mentioned and we didn't play), Peri's Scope -- and then everybody wanted to dive into obscure (to the uninitiated) Brazilian tunes and odd meters. We played Tempestade, Baiao Pro Eliseu, Batida Diferente and one more widely known tune, Chega De Saudade, called by the drummer and counted off faster than I'd ever played it -- which was great. Clearly, I'd been playing too slow. I've forgotten a few we played, but that's sort of the gist of it.

    So, I'm curious. Are there actually jams where advanced players want to play everything from memory -- and everybody knows enough tunes, beyond the basic 50, to keep it interesting? If so, I guess I can see why I don't know about them.

    Is my experience unusual?
    Yeah they exist in New York, DC, and probably a handful of other pretty big markets.

    We also established that you’re generally talking about going to living room sessions rather than open sessions at a bar or whatever, right?

    Thats a way more inviting situation in which to be pulling out cool obscure charts and stuff, for whatever that’s worth.

  13. #12

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by pamosmusic View Post
    Yeah they exist in New York, DC, and probably a handful of other pretty big markets.

    We also established that you’re generally talking about going to living room sessions rather than open sessions at a bar or whatever, right?

    That's a way more inviting situation in which to be pulling out cool obscure charts and stuff, for whatever that’s worth.
    That's a good point. I'm talking about living room (read: by invitation) jams. I've rarely gone to public jams. When I have, and it's a "no books" situation, then the tune choice has been the usual suspects. Exceptions usually involve some particular lineup of players within the jam who know each other and collectively know something less common. "Evidence", comes to mind as a tune I first heard in that kind of jam situation.

  14. #13

    User Info Menu

    There are players who report knowing a thousand tunes.

    How does that happen?

    Warren Nunes claimed that if he heard a song once on a jukebox, he knew it for the rest of his life. I never heard him stumped on a standard.

    For the rest of us, I wonder if it goes more like this. You're at a session or a gig and somebody calls a tune you don't know. So, you make a note and you return to the tune later and learn it from recordings or charts. But what happens at that session? You sit out? You open a book? You lay out until you've figured out the tune? Do people play the tune without you? Can you really memorize it from the recordings, or do you have to play it a few times to get in ingrained?

  15. #14

    User Info Menu

    It's not about knowing or not knowing anything...this tune invites overindulgenge.

    You ain't John Coltrane.

  16. #15

    User Info Menu

    I too would be looking for the door if someone called my favorite things. Maybe soloists can sound good on it, but I doubt a random rhythm section is gonna produce the energy of McCoy, elvin, and Jimmy, which is kinda the point of the tune lol.

    People call some obscure tunes at the Brooklyn jams I go to, but they're also pretty friendly to irealpro. I read hey it's me you're talking to not too long ago. Great tune, but not a fun one to read haha.

  17. #16

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by mr. beaumont View Post
    It's not about knowing or not knowing anything...this tune invites overindulgenge.

    You ain't John Coltrane.
    Yeah, so I really don't know which way it will go; it may just depend on who's up on stage. As you may remember from the lockdown jams, I tend to just dive in and see what happens. Meanwhile, I'm listening to this guy.

  18. #17

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Peter C View Post
    Yeah, so I really don't know which way it will go; it may just depend on who's up on stage. As you may remember from the lockdown jams, I tend to just dive in and see what happens. Meanwhile, I'm listening to this guy.
    I'd be fine with listening to where you take it...but I know your playing and know you'd sound good.

    Strangers? I'm having a Black Russian. Tall.

  19. #18

    User Info Menu

    You ain't been to a jam until you get up on stage and there's an endless 20 minute modal slog that's also too fast.

  20. #19

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by AllanAllen View Post
    You ain't been to a jam until you get up on stage and there's an endless 20 minute modal slog that's also too fast.
    Bonus points if it starts too slow and then rushes until it’s too fast

  21. #20

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by mr. beaumont View Post
    Lol.

    I've actually never heard this called, so there's no telling how cowardly I'd actually be. I mean, at one time I DID transcribe all of McCoy Tyner's piano voicings for guitar...now, if I remember them...
    Just imagine, a 19 or 20 year old laying down a masterful chordal take on piano like Tyner did. His imagination was mind boggling. In the piano world this recording made Tyner a piano god.

    As to whether MFT should be called on stage, why not challenge yourself to see what you can do with a tune previously etched in jazz stone.

    I’m biased because I feel the tune is strongly benefited and played by a “qualified” pianist.


  22. #21

    User Info Menu

    I dunno, I just think it's bad form to call something at a jam that's likely to go on so long. I mean, if you really know and trust the players, all good. But if it's an open jam and a lot of people signed up, calling something that has an open form is kind of bush league. Like calling a super slow ballad and taking more than one chorus.

  23. #22

    User Info Menu

    So I asked the pianist if they were going to go all Coltrane on this, and he just smiled. No. They actually ended up singing it and I played a solo off the cuff, which people seemed to appreciate. No trainwreck in sight and also no footage because my, ahem, camerawoman was otherwise occupied.

    Jammed The Jody Grind first with a B string which had decided to detune itself while I was waiting to go up, so I was getting an "interesting" Bbm-semi-b5 while comping. Must get one of those luminous digital headstock tuner thingies. Ironically, the resident guitarist, generous guy that he is, would have lent me his Fender Robben Ford, which I'm sure was 100% in tune.

    Anyway, you gotta play, right?
    Last edited by Peter C; 04-25-2024 at 08:59 PM.