A Flower is a Lovesome Thing (Strayhorn)

[joelf]

That's a feature too---last track on the LP. (One side trio, other quartet)...

[ragman1]

Just got it! Lovely condition and a snip at £10.

[2bornot2bop]

Thanks, Marinero. Thing is, Strayhorn was a pretty mixed up fellow, all kinds of issues there. I mean, if you're going to write about lovely flowers, why use a 7b5 chord? It immediately puts a tension and conflict into it.

So I thought, okay, if that's what you want, let's do it... so I went altered all the way through. So that was the idea there. Joel Fass didn't like it and wanted it pretty so I did the other one, pretty well diatonic. But I was struggling with that feel, I have to say

Well, one could argue at one time or another we’re all mixed up. So I don’t see Strayhorn’s mixupism significant. How’s about celebrating the mans genius? Or are you just a critic? What you’re criticizing is irrelevant for Strayhorn’s genius stands on its own.

[ragman1]

Well, one could argue at one time or another we’re all mixed up. So I don’t see Strayhorn’s mixupism significant. How’s about celebrating the man's genius? Or are you just a critic? What you’re criticizing is irrelevant for Strayhorn’s genius stands on its own.

It's not a criticism, it's an observation.

The question was; If you're going to write about lovely flowers, why use a 7b5 chord? Flowers are supposed to be pleasing, aesthetic, uplifting, beautiful, etc, etc, but a 7b5 chord is harsh, it grates.

I think that's strange, don't you? Unless you can think of a rationale for it. You may call the juxtaposition of two conflicting things genius but I'm really not sure, it's too cheap a trick.

Don't misunderstand me, I like Strayhorn generally. Chelsea Bridge is an all-time favorite. He used a lot of 7b5 (7#11) chords there too, but that was about gloomy bridges and it suited perfectly. But this one's about lovely flowers and not the same thing at all.

I did this about 5 years ago, just dug it out. You'll like it :-)