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Originally Posted by zdub
I imagine the farther you move away from "background music" / "pickup band" situations, towards gigs with real bands who are the main attraction, the less likely you would want to play warhorses from the Real Book. Or at least play them in "faked" arrangements, off the cuff.
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10-14-2019 03:26 PM
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Originally Posted by 44lombard
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Originally Posted by 44lombard
The old fashioned way can sound good, if the players are good enough but I usually hear that sort of thing at a place where the venue but not the band has a following. And, it tends to appeal to an older crowd.
In my visit to NYC last week, the shows I saw at Smalls were great, but followed the basic format described above. There were many younger people (younger than the musicians, anyway). I couldn't tell if they were local jazz fans or tourists, or what.
Then, I heard Robert Glasper at the Blue Note. His set defied virtually all of those conventions -- despite the fact that he played a version of Stella and quoted Body and Soul and a few other standards. Again, I couldn't tell how he attracted that audience. I did notice that at my table of 12, everybody, including us, was visiting NYC. The audience skewed older, but the Blue Note is much more expensive.
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Originally Posted by John A.
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Originally Posted by John A.
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Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
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I suspect you are also going to disagree here, but I think Kurt comes up with great melodies. It's just that they are sometimes pretty unconventional, often tinged with a whole tone meets pentatonic vibe. Certainly not pop songs. But I think he often goes melody first. Zhivago is a good example, extremely motivic, catchy melody.
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Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
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10-15-2019, 07:11 AM #34joelf Guest
I live in Philly---a college town. To establish myself here I've had to make jam sessions with Temple and other students 1/3 my age. The good news: I've gotten 3 gigs in 2 years as a result. Why, I figure by age 107 I should be working 2-3 nights a week! Just hook up the aqualung and dialysis machine and get to the gig. Oh joy!Seriously, ladies and germs, what is quite disconcerting about these nice, baby-faced fledgling jazzers is their lack of knowledge of the American Song Book. I mean meat and potatoes tunes one must know to get through the average paying gig. They play the same 'hip' jazz standards: Straight Street, Solar, Minority, Herbie/Wayne tunes. The few standards they know are MAYBE There Will Never be Another You or Invitation. This is not true across the board, but it IS a disturbing trend. What are these guys gonna do on a gig w/a vocalist w/o charts? Scratch their asses and either sit down---or bring out the dreaded (by me) apps. Where are they ever gonna work if they don't know tunes? Door gigs playing those 'hip' tunes they were taught in school? Try feeding a family on that sad $. I have a student, a multi-reed player and a shrewd article. I love this young man b/c he soaks up knowledge like a sponge, and approaches music as both art and business. B/c he's playing all kinds of gigs, including rock, shows and swing gigs he came to a lesson one day and I had written titles of must-know swing and early jazz tunes---everything from That's a Plenty to Sleepy Time Down South to After You've Gone. Turned into 8 pages, both sides. At 22 in 10 years, b/c he composes and arranges and reads shows down this cat is gonna OWN this town. It is gratifying to me to have been able to help. There are other sincere young players I'd like to work with, on these tune gaps and other weaknesses, but one has to be careful approaching people b/c they already have teachers and you also don't want to come on strong---like YOU'RE the shnizzle. When I do get young musicians' ears I tell them my approach to learning standards: go on youtube, find Doris Day or Jo Stafford--NOT a jazz singer we may love---b/c those gals will sing the MELODY and the chart will be close to the composers' changes in most cases. I sing it to myself, sometimes for a week, internalize it. Then I write my own lead sheet. I have file cabinets full of these sheets. The songs, though, are in my head---and that's the point. So, yeah, learn Beatrice and Fee Fi Fo Fum or Voyage, but do not sleep on the songs that are the plasma of our musical contribution. Not if you want to be accomplished and not feel embarrassed---and especially if you want to WORK...
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Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
But I used to know The Beatles "Birthday" and in my youth it was a big hit and got everybody up dancing, in fact there were nights when nobody had a birthday but our youthful rock band would call out the birthday song for (insert a name here) just to play it. And we would also call out special requests that were non-existent but since we knew the tune and it was on our set list people would think that we could play anything on demand...
Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end...
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What's really emabassing is what you need to tell the landlord when he comes hunting for the rent, because you thought knowing a bunch of 70 year old tunes would get you gigs...
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Truthfully though, if all the things you are is boring...it ain't the song's fault.
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Inagadadavida.
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From a fairly evangelical standards'n'bop vibe, I've basically downgraded my expectations to - it is good if a musicians knows a repertoire of songs. The more songs the better. Obviously in jazz, it is important to have some songs in common, hence standards. Quite a lot of jazz guitar students don't know any songs at all.
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When you go to a jazz jam these days in Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona or Milano and expect to "survive" on the bandstand then you better have a good understanding of jazz harmony, good ears and TIME .... the level of musicianship is rising steadily and sessions are increasingly becoming more of a showcase event than a friendly get-together of some nerds.... there are session leaders, prepared setlists and an un-experienced player will have major difficulties keeping up.
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Originally Posted by geogio
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Originally Posted by christianm77
She tells this story around the 6:30 mark of this video.
Jazz is a way of playing. If you don't know some tunes other players can be assumed to know, what will you play when you get together?
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Originally Posted by Jonah
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Originally Posted by grahambop
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I like it when they have nice melodies.
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All the Things You Are was from a movie musical. Quite a few years ago I happened to see the scene it was in, it was a crooner number for the male lead. Very, very, stiff, corny, and schmaltzy. It's a wonder it was adopted as a jazz standard.
I first learned it probably 40 years ago, and boy did I get sick of it. I didn't play it for a long time, but I put it back in my repertoire about 5 years ago, in case some young kid called it at a jam session. Which happened. I don't go there much anymore.
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Originally Posted by JGinNJ
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Originally Posted by christianm77
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Originally Posted by JGinNJ
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