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WooF Member Recording Thread

I've heard some stuff from the MS jazz band. You guys aren't bad for a bunch of engineers. Hell, that's exactly what our band is. Whole sax line are either mechanical or electric engineers.
There are at least 5 music majors in the MSJ at any given concert. Two are from Berkelee and believe you me, with as little as we practice, that doesn't hurt. :cool:
 
Al: Really liked the edgy, dreamy tenor tone. I didn't go back and try to compare it to other things you've posted, but this one was nice.

However, the bass was distracting for me. It sounded metallic - almost groan-like. To my ears, there's nothing like a superbly played acoustic double-bass violin - no amplification, just let the instrument speak its own voice. This one didn't sound that way to me. DAVE
 
However, the bass was distracting for me. It sounded metallic - almost groan-like. To my ears, there's nothing like a superbly played acoustic double-bass violin - no amplification, just let the instrument speak its own voice. This one didn't sound that way to me. DAVE

That's what happens when a deaf guy mixes his own tracks. :)
 
Deaf from playing in loud bands? There but for the grace of gawd goes any of us.
I have logged a lot of bandstand time with big bands and dixieland bands. But the doc told me years ago my hearing loss was probably caused by all those hours flying old crates without using earplugs. They didn't tell us back then we ought to wear protection. Same thing with firearms.
 
Adding some tunes to my project described earlier in this thread:

http://www.alstevens.com/alstevens/tunes/mp3s/moonglow.mp3

Whenever I play Moonglow, I can see Kim Novak coming down those stairs at the park pavillion. Every guy in school was in love with her.

http://www.alstevens.com/alstevens/tunes/mp3s/tenderly.mp3

I played Tenderly on piano in a high school talent show.

http://www.alstevens.com/alstevens/tunes/mp3s/talkofthetown.mp3

Talk of the Town is a tribute to my high school piano playing pal, Charlie Baxter. We were playing this tune at a dance, and he made the unexpected modulation to G during my trumpet solo. I got lost. I play the modulation now just to remember Charlie.

http://www.alstevens.com/alstevens/tunes/mp3s/justyoujustme.mp3

My high school band director, Mr. Steinbach, was also a jazz pianist. He used Just You Just Me to demonstrate how many different tunes use the same chord changes.

As usual, comments are welcome.
 
Come on, folks. Get back into the studio and add to this thread. I went back and listened to all the earlier postings. Some really good stuff, so I tried to resuscitate the thread yet another time. The silence is deafening. Was it something I played? :)
 
Come on, folks. Get back into the studio and add to this thread. I went back and listened to all the earlier postings. Some really good stuff, so I tried to resuscitate the thread yet another time. The silence is deafening. Was it something I played? :)

Hey Al,

I noticed your new tunes the other day. just had no time listen yet. I getting hitched this week :) so lots lots of family stuff happening. I posted my version of Skylark in another thread. I tried posting it here first. But, for some reason it said I didn't have permission at the time? Here's the video;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJrR_6h3beI

I'll listen to your stuff when I can get a half second to myself. Looking forward to it.
 
How 'bout an alto sax solo in a strange arrangement of "Fiddler on the Roof".
I prefer that "strange arrangement" to the one our community band (http://communitybandofbrevard.org/) did in the 9/13 concert. It is a medley of only the dance tunes from the show. Nobody recognized most of them and everything was in a minor key. Depressing.

In the next recording of "Prelude in C" by Chopin I a try playing the soprano. I now have official established my status as hobbyist with a long way to go. :cool:
Join the club. I stopped going there and sold my soprano. For you, I think a touch of classical-style vibrato would help. By the way, that's Prelude in C minor. You had me wondering. I play both preludes on piano (or used to) and could not imagine an instrumental version of the Prelude in C. Very pianistic piece.

http://www.8notes.com/scores/2703.asp

It's doable, I suppose, and I'd like to hear it, but I think the flow of the piece depends on a two-handed keyboard approach. It's my favorite of the Chopin preludes.
 
TJ, there are places in the melody (1st chorus) of Skylark where you rush the line of a phrase. In at least one place you do it in unison with the guitar. It doesn't sound like an improvisation or interpretation. It sounds like a mistake, but you repeat it in the clip. I suggest that you look at a sheet and get the head down. It also helps to know the lyrics. The meter of a melody matches the lyrics, and knowing them helps you interpret the melody.

I wonder where you got the harmonization for the 5th measure (Dmi7 - G7). It's the same changes I play; I got them off a Getz recording years ago. The way Hoagy wrote it is not very good, and the way most chordal players changed it is not as pleasing (to my ear) as how we play it.

Hoagy's changes in the bridge are awful. Jazz players fixed that shortly after he published it. :)

Here's a clip I made of Skylark several years ago.

http://www.alstevens.com/alstevens/tunes/mp3s/skylark.mp3

(Pay no attention to those 5th bar changes the first time. I must have been trying something else.)
 
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Al,

Thanks for listening. I used the v32 "Ballads" Aebersold book for the changes. I did listen to a few vocal versions of this tune. Each one had a pretty wide interpretations from each other. I just went with a feel that sounded cool for me. They say if you repeat a mistake it's no longer wrong in music. Right ;) To quote Pee Wee Herman, "I meant to do that".

I can't hear your version where I am right now. Will do later.
 
Al,

I gave a listen through your project postings. All very nice playing on both tenor and piano. Just some ideas for you. In "Moonglow", play some more improv with the head early. For me, it gets a bit stale until you start jammin'. For "Tenderly", the piano needs more breathing room to let the tenor come through. It's somewhat busy and distracting. Let the piano build up as the track goes. "Talk of the Town" is just fine like is. I like the modulation. Don't change a thing. You're swinging hard with "Just You Just Me". How about getting some drums and bass with it? That would be awesome.

Again, high compliments to the chef overall :emoji_relaxed:

btw, Pee Wee was on Jay Leno last week. Guess he's on a comeback :emoji_rage:
 
Thanks for the comments, TJ. This project has no bass/drums. Sax/piano duo in the spirit of the tracks that Satch and Fatha Hines made in the 1920s.

Re: the busy piano player. Don't tell him. He gets sensitive. Seriously, it's a challenge to record an accompaniment track in the dark (without the horn playing). Nothing to play off of. But, something has to go first. I might re-record some of the accompaniments when I have all the tunes laid down.
 
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