When You Wish Upon a Star + Stella By Starlight (a "Stars Medley" live)

[JazzPadd]

When You Wish Upon a Star and Stella By Starlight are two well-known jazz standards. I first heard When You Wish as a solo guitar by Joe Pass but there are so many wonderful versions done by the greats. Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett have sublime piano takes, Dave Brubeck almost adopted it as his theme song. Similarly, Stella has been done numerous times, from Bird to Miles, and vocally by Ella and others. When You Wish as far as I know first appeared in Disney's Pinocchio (1940), while Stella appears in the film The Uninvited (1944). I love that about jazz, musicians appropriating beautiful melodies to do their own thing with them. Both songs stood the test of time. Bill Frisell did a wonderful version of When You Wish on his 2016 album of the same name (w/ Petra Haden singing), while Stella is a jam session staple (where I live here in Japan), usually getting called in Bb.

When an opportunity arose for me to do a solo guitar set, I decided to combine the two songs together as a "Stars Medley." The above version of the medley was recorded by an audience member live at a small local venue as part of a 40mn set. I was using my 1980s Fender Japan Telecaster through a pedalboard and directly into the venue PA. I transposed both into a key that encouraged me to use more open strings and harmonics. The medley begins with a kind of ambient texture, then into When You Wish. As a segue, I loop a two chord vamp, using the old fusion thing of picking two chords that have most notes in common, but with one or two that differ. The tonal center is A major with a flatted 6th. I used to call this the "Beatles thing," but it's pervasive in classical, pop and rock. I like the sound of using G# in the same phrase as F. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks!