Here's That Rainy Day

[JazzPadd]

Excerpt from the well-known jazz standard with part of the theme followed by my ad-lib. There appear to be several ways to play this song, including some that are featured on the forum. I'm playing the version in Gmaj that moves from G to Bb7-Ebmaj7-Abmaj7. Here in Japan, we use the Jazz Standard Bible (something like a Real Book; you can see the two volumes of the JSB in the foreground), and that's the chart that's commonly used. It gets called at jam sessions here once in a while and since we're not in a rehearsing band and mostly "amateur" musicians (in the sense of Merrifield, the "pleasures of doing what you love"), using that chart for better or worse becomes a temporary arbiter. Given that, the style of playing is variable. The song got on my radar after seeing Wes Montgomery's version from a European set, which was done in a kind of bossa groove. But to use his lovely arrangement would require rehearsals. I don't use everything from his take, but it works nicely as a bossa. My ad-lib is nothing fancy, basically playing the changes. This video was from a transition from playing with a pick to thumb playing. At the time, I was moving between the two (although these days it's thumb only). I was also paying close attention to my time, which can sometimes rush. So, I tried to be more conscious of that rushing, with the unintended consequence of giving it a kind of lagging feel on some parts (which I think, counterintuitively, actually works). I also got into using a major 7th interval with a rhythmic hook. By the way, on that European set with Wes, he flubs a chordal part near the end and shrugs it off with an impish grin. And I guess that's the spirit I appreciate while playing jazz live, have fun, don't stress out. I have played with these musicians, but we don't rehearse, it was spontaneous and fun. I hope you enjoy it.

Edit: Fixed error in chord progression.