SK

Yeah, just basically triads on those chords I mentioned. Bass notes played in octaves down low. Like a D triad (A on top, F#, D in right hand) with F# bass. It's one of those rare places where the simplest chords sound strongest. If you try it and have a question, send me a PM and I'll try to answer when I get back here.

Possibly.

No problem there, Leberwurst. Still, give those chords a try sometime and see what you think. If you don't like them, that's an absolutely excellent reason not to use them. Good luck on your music, and thank you for your explanation.

Yeah, the bridge you have there is pretty standard and works well. The one I mentioned is an unexpected simplicity (basically triads with the 3rd in the bass) that sounds strong in a different way.

Sue, love for you to contribute. It's been slow going in here but I think we might pull off an interesting thread. The more the better. So, duh, ya'll got vocals... and stuff? Looking forward to hearing some of your ideas, Sue. Leberwurst, just for the heck of it, one thing you can do on Black Orpheus: on the 'bridge' where it goes to Dm (key of C) play Dmaj/F# (D over F#) G7 C7/E bass Fmaj7 Dm E7 Fmaj7 E7 (a bar each) and back to Am. A pseudo-authentic classical groove. And here's a rough, rush job on Beautiful Love, inspired by Carlo's use of major chords and montuno on this song. I didn't do it the way I had wanted... I wanted to make it simple, but it's just another one with a bunch of chords. I played it sloppy. I also like the montuno in 7 - but I didn't record that. http://www.divshare.com/download/4134461-7ed

Nice changes on Blue Bossa there, Linwood! Dave - I like your treatment on 'Soul Eyes.' Some DEEP moments in there. Sounds great, man. Way, way OT: One time a guy came up before I started a gig. He said "You in the band?" I said "Yeah." He said, "what kind of music do you guys play?" I said, " Well, it's a jazz trio." Then he asked, "Ya'll got vocals and stuff??" Y'ALL GOT VOCALS AND STUFF?? Just hit me - I should use that for my signature.

Thanks Linwood. And looking forward to your audio. Never heard you play anything that didn't sound great. A thought: Players have to learn chords. But they have to get the sounds in their heads too, so when they look at a chord symbol or voicing, they can hear it before they play it.

BTW, from the thread views, it seems people are reading here. To make it clear to anyone reading, the idea of this thread is NOT for a competition. Everyone wins who participates, because we're only sharing ideas on existing material. It's not about playing ability; it's about ideas, or a single idea. One of the best things that happened to me as a young musician was sitting down with other piano player friends and sharing ideas on the same tunes. Even if you have just one chord you like that's different on a song you do, please share it with everybody. It's a rare chance. You'll get a lot in return with top players like Marino and Dave Ferris to share things back.

Well, for my next reharm of Beautiful Love, I'll certainly have a LOT of harmonic ideas to choose from - from you guys. Dave, I like your mysterious version. Mysterious Love. There were several things I liked. One was where you changed up the melody note and chord on the 6th bar from the end (those descending voicings from the E melody note that resolve there.) Pretty rich and hip. Carlo, thanks for those changes. I was playing through yours last night (fortunately I could hear your voicings) and was inspired. I started making headway on a new version but I fell asleep, tired after a trio gig last night. Now that I can read it, it makes it easier. What I'd like to do is distill all these ideas into a more simple piece with the new 'flavor.' No promises I will, but if/when I finish, maybe we can work on what could become a community reharm. "Beautiful New Love" or something. Then we can co-publish it and become rich and famous.

I love what you did with that. Nice the way it resolves to D major in a couple spots. The last 6 bars before the montuno are basically the same chords in the version I did. Very nice, Carlo. Just great. For the fun of it, now I want to try a reharm based on your reharm. There's a beauty in trying to make it more majory. Credit to you for pulling that major aspect out of the tune.

Oh yeah, James Williams. I'd forgotten about him - I never listened to him much. About the original "I'll Take Romance" - it's just a very 'majory' tune, corny and dated. Carlo, absolutely - I agree everyone's an ear player to some degree. In my case, I may rely on it more. Flattering that you detect some classical in my playing, but I didn't take lessons. I absorbed what I could from records and gigs with musicians, and just working at the piano. I copped various pieces by Milhaud, Hindemith, Ives, Bartok, Ravel, Bach, Mozart, Chopin, etc. from records, but mostly from jazz records. I learned to read music from a book. Yeah, I wish others would participate, I'd love to hear anything. Kanker, you said you'll post something when you get off the road. Hope so. The more the merrier, everyone has something to offer. Dave Horne, let's hear some of your reharms, please.

Yeah, just blame it all on me. Hey, I look forward to your latin "Beautiful Love." Doing this, listening to you and Dave, has opened my ears in some different ways, which I try to address some in these reharms. That's the big point of this anyway, to stretch our ears. Hearing vast classical influences in your great playing has reminded me of some of those influences I'd forgotten and needed to draw on more. I see it all just as music, not jazz or classical. I'm strictly an ear player, so once I know a tune, I have to improvise on it. I can't sit and play a song verbatim and feel like I've really played, unless it's some beautiful composition that I admire. I can 'exist' at a piano however, without becoming more physical with it... it depends on the music. Composing is as fulfilling to me as improvising. When I was a little kid, there was a lady at church who played stride piano and loved to show off her technique. So I worked at stride until I could play it faster than her (the way kids are more adept at video games/eye to hand coordination I suppose) and I played for her one day. She said "That's good, Steve" and never spoke to me again. Then I heard an Art Tatum record and was humbled to see how complex it could be. So we have a pact - no strides at all. No interest there since I was a kid. (No stride "Beautiful Love" either.)

Here's an old, extravagant arrangement of "I'll Take Romance" I did for trio. It's an older groove I don't play in anymore, except to revive it here. The vamp out front is a dark variation of the quirky 3rd and 4th bars of the tune - the part of the song that interested me. I play on the vamp here more than the tune itself. Obviously I didn't consider the lyrics at all. And it changes key on the second bar of the melody. Outside of that, it's practically totally normal. http://www.divshare.com/download/4118127-1aa or: http://www.megafileupload.com/en/file/55884/-ll-take-romance-aiff.html

Thank you, Carlo. I never consider myself a solo pianist since I work in trios and quartets most of the time. But it's always fun trying! "Them There Eyes" put a smile on my face. Nice, clever and humorous. I can see it now - the 'Stride Thread'. I learned to play stride before I hardly learned anything else. I'm sure I suck at it big time now though. So don't worry... no mad scientist stride Giant Steps will be forthcoming. Or Lucy In The Sky With Jelly Roll Webern (or Willie 'The Lion' Schoenberg or Fats Hindemith.)

You're too kind, Dave. I was inspired for about 20 sec. out of the whole thing, around the top of my solo. On a real piano, I might have gotten that up to 60 sec.

Have a great trip, man! Never heard of anyone who went to Hawaii who didn't. (Like "Yeah, Hawaii sucked.") Just a short sample of some musings on Beautiful Love. I clipped it 1/3 of the way through so the file is smaller. http://www.megafileupload.com/en/file/55666/Beautiful-Love-aif.html or same file: http://www.divshare.com/download/4111474-c4c

Hey, that's so cool Marino! The resolution at the end was one of the highlights. Hmm... I believe I detect a little 'mad scientist' in there too. Thanks for sharing that. Definitely meets all requirements for reharm. I just did a 'past life regression' version of Star Eyes. "Traditional" jazz this time, just playin' the tune. Two links to pick for download (and smaller file): http://www.megafileupload.com/en/file/55382/-s-Star-Eyes-aif.html http://www.divshare.com/download/4103911-085

Here you go Dave... http://www.divshare.com/download/4103627-39a I like your version better - I just did this to try something different.

Weird - it worked for me. Well, thanks - I can put it on Divshare. So far, none of these upload sites seem to be ideal.

Dave's version of "Star Eyes" is more true to the mood of the tune. Here's an alternate universe version, overly reharmonized. I played it poorly because I was trying to remember all the chords while I played, so it was hard to get under my hands. But this one's nothing better than a mental exercise anyway - doubt I'll play it again (hopefully.) http://www.megafileupload.com/en/file/55356/Star-Eyes-Wars-aiff.html

Yeah Dave - I really like that extended bridge on Star Wa.. uh Star Eyes. I did a strange reharm of that tune yesterday, but it turned out more as an intellectual exercise, 'why bother?' type result. Maybe I'll post it anyway. Those are some cool reharmed chords on the last 'A' of Rainbow you have there.

The reason is - I'm still a novice at uploading, so I'll have to get a converter program. Sorry again for the size of that download. Drums - Mike Smith, a great friend and musician who passed away almost a year ago. Bass - Paul Langosch We played a few gigs, but mainly played for ourselves in Paul's basement regularly for years, every time he'd get off the road with Tony Bennett. The whole tune will be on my CD. It was too long to upload it all. Thanks, Carlo. Glad you liked it.

Trying again from another site, here's "It's You Or No One" again.: http://www.megafileupload.com/en/file/55049/-s-U-Or-No-1-aiff.html There's a dumb 28 sec. wait and then click download.

That was COOL, Bobadohshe. Reharming bop tunes is a whole 'nother area. Good to hear you... you sound good.

Man, I'm sorry. I don't have that problem there myself, not sure why. If anyone can suggest where else I can upload, I'll reload 'em all up in one post.