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There's no trap. Ignore those who only come here for a fight.
Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
It's true I may have been listening too casually (it was quite late at night) but I only started to recognise the tune after it had passed the 2-something mark. I'd no idea what I was listening to for a very long time.
Once you know about the intro, of course, it's all much clearer, but bear in mind I didn't know at that point.
You yourself said the intro wasn't in any of several usual references. The original score link shows one page of the song and that shows two lines of lyrics and not the chorus ( 'The very thought of you'). So the complete intro (verse) is not even complete in that picture. Nancy Wilson only sings the first line anyway.
That's a long time to wait for the song to start. If I missed the start of the chorus, sorry, but you must admit the delivery wasn't very clear on the melody. As I said at the time, with so much embellishment it was hard to know where anything started and finished.
Note that I've never knocked your playing skill, quite the contrary. Very well played but pretty confusing if you didn't know about the intro verse.
As for not valuing, or knowing about, intros for standards, that's absurd, of course I do. I rarely do them myself here but I certainly don't need a tutorial. Good lord!
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08-03-2023 10:14 AM
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Incidentally...
Verse: In many older standard songs, an introductory section, often rubato, that leads up to the 'chorus' or main strain, which is the tune as generally recognized. Jazz players (and fakebooks) usually omit the verse, though singers like to use them.
https://www.apassion4jazz.net/glossary.html
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What’s everyone’s favorite recording of this one?
Know the tune, but I don’t think I’ve ever played it. Started working on it the other day.
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The linked original score is just the sample page. You have to pay to get the rest of it, and TBH proving this to you simply isn’t worth the cost to me. With your extensive knowledge of music, I assumed you’d understand that the first page proves that the intro is in the original score, but you apparently need the rest of it to be convinced. Originally Posted by ragman1
Nancy Wilson absolutely does sing the entire intro on Yesterday’s Love Songs, Today’s Blues. It’s the first 34 seconds of a 2:15 track. I learned the lyrics and the tune from the original vinyl, which I still have and listen to often. The guitar player you can hopefully hear behind her in the intro is almost certainly Joe Pass, since he was with Gerald Wilson’s band at the time.
I’m trying hard to be gentlemanly about this. But if you can’t hear the entire intro by Nancy Wilson, it puts your prior comments in new perspective. See if you can hear it all in this 1934 original -
Last edited by nevershouldhavesoldit; 08-03-2023 at 11:04 AM.
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Well in the great game of standards oneupmanship I always dread the moment when the band leader says ‘and the verse?’
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Never, I'm not fighting you. I know it's a sample page. There's no 'proving' or 'convincing' something, I'm just saying it's a long intro if you sing both lines of lyrics. Al Bowlly in your vid up there doesn't either, does he?
No one's attacking you. I know it's the first page of the original score. I don't really see what all this is about, honestly. There's no issue about this tune having an intro, most of them do.
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Aha! Now I understand what you’re talking about. Both Wilson and Bowlly do one full run through the intro, which is what I did in both of my tracks. Neither does it again with the second set of lyrics - and neither did I. Originally Posted by ragman1
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You've got it :-)
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Here is an interesting long solo piano cadenza instead of an intro....:-)
Great stuFF!
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And here's a cool tutorial and how to come up with intros:
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Unfortunately, he leaves out what’s probably the most important single thing to do when bringing in a vocalist with an intro. No matter how good or how experienced they are, many need to hear their first note either on its own or prominently in your last chord in order to start singing the right note without hunting or hesitation. Originally Posted by CliffR
Complex harmonies and extensions in that leading chord can really throw them off. You have to go over what you want to do with them beforehand and make sure it’s OK - and you have to remember to play exactly what you said you’d play, once the vocalist agrees.
The impromptu “set me up” requires simplicity and predictability for most singers. It’s no place to get wildly creative.
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Had a look through my CD collection and found this nice version by Harry Allen, with Joe Cohn on guitar.
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Personally I think those original intros can be great and are largely forgotten today.
Every once in awhile you'll hear one you haven't heard and it can be a pleasant surprise when the main theme begins.
And yeah some of them are kind of long, but so what, still ok in many instances in my book, things like that can separate you or a singer from the usual fare and really enhance a performance.
And +1 w NSHSI on q'ing vocalists.
Even some experienced ones either need or like to hear that first note or chord to get them started, like maybe a simple Bb7+5 to set them up in Eb.
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This is my quick recording of this beautiful ballad. I listened to most of the instrumental versions of this song on youtube.
I really liked the other chords in Kenny Barron's version/Eb Key/.
Best
kris
Box
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Wow, that was beautiful!! Originally Posted by kris
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Well done, Kris. It is a tricky tune to do slowly. I avoided it by doing my first version, which admittedly was fun, but I thought I ought to knuckle down so here it is. There's lots of talent hereabouts and I'm sure they'll do it a lot better than me!
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Sarah Vaughan with Barney and Joe Comfort. Originally Posted by pamosmusic
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I've always thought so. I've also thought that the verse is a much neglected resource for guitarists tasked with playing an intro - why not just play the verse, or at least part of it? Originally Posted by Christian Miller
I haven't been able to find a book of Standards which includes the verse. Anyone know of one?
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Houston Person blew my mind by playing it as a swinging med. tempo tune at the Phil Woods Memorial Concert. Originally Posted by pamosmusic
I went on you tube and found it, and wrote a big band arr. of it. He plays it at 118bpm.
Everyone else plays it as a ballad. I saw Hank Jones play it entirely rubato and it was great, I was gonna rip off Hank Jones' version for my arr., but then I heard HP's version, and it works much better for BB.
I used to play it with this tall gawky chick as slow rubato every time I worked with her. She sang the schist out of it.
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My favorite is the Nancy Wilson track in post #6 of this thread. In fact, that’s one of my favorite albums of all time. Originally Posted by pamosmusic
I also get a real kick out of Albert King’s version (!) -
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Thank You Originally Posted by alpop
best
Kris
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Long time lurker, first time participant in this thread.
I created the backing track in Logic using the MIDI info from ireal pro as a starting point and then I changed the instruments and added effects. The guitar is a 1995 Epi Joe Pass with a Bare Knuckle Stormy Monday in the neck going into a Helix preset featuring the Stone Age 185 and JC 120 amp models.
This was my third take (today) and I'm reading the melody.
https://youtu.be/saYfzEDvmbw
Hope you enjoy it as much as I am enjoying everyone else's takes.
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We have only you bloody Europeans to thank for those bloody verses. Originally Posted by Christian Miller
In the Musical Theater course I took in Graduate school, we learned that musical theater was NOT an American art form, and we have Operetta to thank for all the traditions of verses, patter songs and the like.
Jazz is the only American art form, and thankfully did away with operetta conventions like that, and left them for the stage, where even Sondheim carried out the operetta traditions up till the end.
Only guys like Bucky Pizzarelli carried on the operetta traditions,and played the original operetta-like changes, because he wanted to impress the wealthy theatergoers and make a lot of money playing for the wealthy patrons of the Manhattan hotels he regularly played at.
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