SK

Thanks Dave! The tune's older than 1980, so it could be the same song. Learn it and record it... I'd like to hear another version. Definitely an underplayed song.

I don't know, cnegrad. Brazil '66 did it, and I 'think' he wrote it for them, but I thought it was an awful version - melodramatic vocals and too slow to hear the movement of the chords. I learned it from a Brazilian recording in Portugese (cassette tape) I was given to do a chart years ago for Charlie Byrd. So I took the liberty of memorizing it. I changed the chords a lot here - the original is simpler - like instead of ending on Db minor, it ends on A maj7 as the last chord and first chord of the next chorus, like a round. And thanks, you're very kind - I should have redone a simpler, complete version for the thread. Maybe I will later.

Thanks gangsu. Way too kind. Thanks for listening through all that disjointed stuff.

OK, here's the very poor man's Linwood. Like I said, just excerpts. I probably shouldn't even put this up. I did this when I first got my FP4 and first tried to layer instruments without any click or drums, so time got weird between instruments = epic fail. It's a reharm of "When Summer Turns To Snow", a rarely played Dave Grusin latin song - my attempt at a suite version of the song done in a variety of tempos and sections, and I lost control of it in spots. The original is 12 minutes long... so I just stuck short, incomplete excerpts here, to give some idea of some different sections. (It'll start and stop.) I spared you the uptempo and longer solo choruses. Linwood, this proves you're right - I need some software to do a decent job. http://www.divshare.com/download/4702194-5f6

Well, the crack part I'd agree with - my attempt on to do an "orchestration" on that song without drum or click track sounds like I was on crack. But I might post a few flawed excerpts if I can find it.

Man Linwood, I haven't played or heard "So Many Stars" in years. Beautiful job. I actually didn't recognize it until I saw the title, and then I suddenly remembered the whole tune. Reminds me... a tune called "When Summer Turns To Snow" that Sergio Mendes also did, written by Dave Grusin. Unfortunately, the Brasil '66 version was overdone and too slow to hear the chord relations to each other. I learned it years ago to write a chart on it for Charlie Byrd. I wish I had your recording/layering chops. A few months ago I tried to give it the same type of treatment... but it had too many recording errors to post it. Again, great job, Linwood. cnegrad - "The Dolphin" is another of the great latin songs. I have a trio version around here somewhere.

Sue, I did it as a slow ballad, so I understand how I may have sounded bored, when I actually wasn't. Hey, sometimes when radically changing the character of a tune, even one note can be too many notes. To me, the thread is an experiment to discover and share new ideas, and to change the perspective on known material. I could play it safe and play any of these songs in a normal, pleasing way - but it's a 'free gig'... so I take slightly broader chances. And for the first time, I played a reharm room tune last night on a quartet gig - "The More I See You". Reaction ranged from some apathy/confusion to surprisingly positive.

Groove Holmes - A general announcement (as though anyone cares) : I decided it was time to remove that video of me at a substandard gig, but the post was no longer editable. So I received kind help to do it from "the management", although removing it leaves a bit of a gap in continuity when you're reading through the thread. So if anybody ever wants to see that video, send me a PM.

Sue, the song was done by a lot of people, but usually as a more upbeat tempo - like a happy tune. Nice, Dave, The descending chromatic chords you use fit well. The ending has that surprise element, as most of yours have, which I like. The ending almost had a little bit of a Johnny Costa feel to it - remember him? Legendary pianist from the Mr. Rogers show. And good contrast to mine, which was more like an arrangement by Kafka - 'the less I see you'. Speaking of unwanted electronic noise - most of my previous recordings here were plagued by that as well - and drove me nuts trying to figure it out. I had to EQ the top highs off my recordings to get rid of the buzz. I thought it was caused by a microwave in another room. The mystery is apparently solved... it was my digital CABLE BOX for my computer and TV. They upgraded my cable box, and suddenly my mouse doesn't get jittery on the computer anymore, the computer monitor looks better, the TV looks better, my DP sounds better AND the buzz on my audio interface is gone. Hard to believe, but it must have caused a general electronic interference throughout the area. It would never have occurred to me.

Oh. HA... ok - then I WAS right, so please accept my first post.

Yeah Richard. Now that's an old song! Before everybody's time, including me. Nice groove, execution, and excellent recording. (OOPS - just saw you said it IS a recording... duh)

Thanks Sue. Yeah Hardway, now I can hear your new chords. Thanks for sharing that.

Dave F, thanks man. I don't have one - I just played and recorded it, but I could do a lead sheet on it easy enough. Could make for a nice vocal version of the tune too. Do you have an audio interface for recording that new GX when it gets in? (yeah, more money, ugh.) suraci, thank you... I wish. We just reharmonize or do new versions of tunes in here for comparison, for the challenge and the fun. There's a lot of music in these 70+pages of posts. Thanks again, and you or anyone are welcome to contribute songs if you like. Welcome Hardway. Like DH, I'm not familiar with the original piece, so it's hard to appreciate how you've changed it. If you'd post a comparison, thanks.

Guess I'll go ahead and put up "The More I See You." Hope Dave Horne can add his because this one is a contrasting style to the original feel. It'll be fun to see different ways the song can be played. This is sort of a slow latin ballad, without the percussion instruments... a different groove from the other stuff I've posted here. I didn't play much on it - just a new version of the old tune. Oh, and afterwards I added fretless bass (patch) to it for something different. http://www.divshare.com/download/4664861-5d5

Wow, the intro/head was scary - Chick's reharmed/revamped later version of Spain - note for note - so I thought he was going to do Chick's solo too! That would have been too much. Yep, talented.

LB, that story almost made me jealous. I did a quick excuse for a reharm on "The More I See You" tonight. Dave Horne mentioned earlier that he's doing a version of it, so I'll wait to put mine up after he does his. He's probably played it more recently than I have, so he should get the first shot.

It's always amazing to find those advanced, talented youth who seem to have it all together. It's invigorating to be around them... like an old soul in a kid's body.

YEAH. LIKE THAT!

Thanks Richard and NY Keys. That Kawai is over $11,000, and it responds a lot like a piano. It has speakers in the soundboard and woofers underneath, so you feel the vibration when you dig in. The piano sound is pretty good, but a bit thin and bright - not as much body as what I get from my FP4. And the design is awful... buttons too close to the keyboard that are easy to hit (suddenly I'm playing saxophone, etc.) and a CD drawer on the bottom right corner that I've hit my knee on about a dozen times. When I said "surface playing", I mean where the feel stays in a rigid swing without the air (or dynamics) to take it to new places. Vintage standards played in a straight ahead way lock it into that one bop vocabulary. And it isn't very harmonically challenging either, but that's what happens in a jam session setting, which is what this turned into. It forced me to play in a style I don't play in much today. I like things where they can dynamically go from a pin drop to an explosion at any moment, instead of rolling along like a steam engine. Open dynamics give you endless options, which you don't have in a hardcore, traditional swing. Now, that might not have made it clearer either, but maybe.

The More I See You - another great overlooked tune. Later I may even try one on that.

"Michael Bolton doesn't live in your universe." That might be my favorite, although he still manages to infiltrate the speakers at the grocery store.

No, that was me. Thought I'd try it out - I think it helped. http://www.divshare.com/download/4622197-b63

Yeah NY Keys, I love what David did with that. Carlo, I'm so glad to hear that TTT passes the test of a a semi-modern classical approach. I had no idea if it came across musically or naively ambitious. And wonderful feel on "Only Have Eyes." This thread's rolling along. I'd browsed the issue but missed it. Thanks Linwood for pointing it out, and to Keyboard Magazine for thinking of it. Linwood, your chordal ideas are GREAT - post here anytime. At least "George and Mildred" didn't wander into THIS club on their 2nd honeymoon:

Right Dave, you had an innocent question and I answered it - my answer was "no unwritten laws." My reply is readable on the page - I won't repost it as it takes up too much space to rehash this. I acknowledged a technical error in the spirit of total honesty. One number tempo different, no big deal, which physically would be possible for me to play anyway - nothing extreme there. I COULD have not said a word about it, but I thought it was slightly amusing because it baffled me. We exist on an honor system here. If there must be any rule, I'll make it - NO RULES. If someone uses a technical aid, it's up to them to mention it or not. The only thing that matters to me is the music.

Ok. So if I happen to use a metronome again (very unlikely), or to record in a couple of different stints instead of beginning-to-end, I'll let you know. I still think it's a silly thing to do, but if this is the general consensus, no problem. No Carlo... that's not what I was saying. Like you, I don't care to know when anyone uses a click. Why would I? You and I are on the same page on that. I was agreeing with Dave H that if we use "aids" or tools (beyond a simple click track) - whatever that might be - that it's "nice" to mention it in the post as a matter of courtesy and thoroughness, but not mandatory. Now if someone wants to say "I edited two takes together", that would be informative and more worth mentioning - but STILL not required. But if somebody was creating an absolute 'Frankenstein' performance of pieces of things they couldn't actually play, it would be disingenuous not to mention that, and we'd know it right away anyway - but NOBODY'S doing that. When I say "no rules", I mean NO rules. We've done fine without rules, and rules could breed distrustfulness. We know each other's playing well enough to know our natural playing and to trust that it is truly us. If we have to have rules to post our playing, I wouldn't post one more note.