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Pardon one last W&R - my other one wasn't a reharm. Just trying an approach somewhere in the middle of all the different versions here. Not as adventurous as some, but there were not many chords left to choose from. I had to manually switch between the piano and Rhodes buttons, so I played it slow. http://stashbox.org/521444/just%20another%20W%26R.mov

Oh man, Lush Life would be utterly ridiculous! I'll 'think' about it...

Thanks BeeBoss, W&R was excellent, and good to hear you back on the thread. Some of your reharms have (for lack of better words) an intriguingly somber, almost monastic quality to them which I enjoy. You let W&R exist in its more natural state, while pushing it to a deeper level. I may try another version - I'm hearing something else on it now. The tune is so interpretive, there can be no definitive version of it. Hard to believe W&R would revive the thread.

Really nice, Dave. Some unique and beautiful voicings in there. Among several others, I liked that G13 on the last E melody. Your version is very harmonically compressed with lots going on - you successfully gave it a new and more profound mood. I guess that's the thing about this song... it's been a standard because of all that can be done with the progression and solos, more than the melody itself. I may try a bonafide reharm of it too, but I think we have a good cross section of approaches already. Just got off a series of grueling gigs on Wed. Fri. and Sat. Saturday alone, I had 3 gigs on an out of town festival, and was outside in the heat from 11AM to 8PM. So if I attempted a reharm of W&R now, it would be all triads.

Well thanks Carlo, but no, at best, I have 'fickle perfect pitch'. Other instruments don't always register, but with piano it's usually close to perfect. The string harmonics of a piano note make it easier to identify, especially when played in relation to other notes. A chord, like a major ninth, is just a single recognizable sound to me - the inversion doesn't matter. Not the best reader like most of you here, I've had to rely more on ear. I used to stretch my ear training as far as I could, learning classical piano pieces I liked off records by Ives, Ravel, Milhaud, Hindemith, Bartok, whoever. If it was played on piano, I developed some confidence I could 'get to it'. I never wanted to be thrown by a sound and not know what it was. It was useful in the wide variety of improvisational situations I found myself in. (Sorry, in trying to be clear, obviously way more info than you need.) Interesting details, thanks, which brings up an academic question about approaches I might PM you, to avoid boring everybody in the room. Whether I remember to send it or not - just listening, the pleasure was mine.

Well, I didn't actually ask for another W&R, but I'm glad you did it! That's one of my favorite things you've done, Carlo. Very original. The concept works perfectly, the harmonic ideas are all over the place, and I really liked it. Favorite chord again: may have been the G maj9 at the top of an A section, followed by descending whole tone voicings, which made the melody poignant. Also an Amaj7 under the Db melody note, ordinarily a Bbm or Eb7 chord. If it was sloppy, I couldn't tell. When the concept is right, nothing else much matters. The one chord I sort of expected to hear slightly differently was the chord on the last highest E melody note - which I imagined might be an extreme unresolved voicing (possibly whole tones) as a climax to all that went before it. Not a criticism at all, but it just led my ear there. Beautiful. I listened to it once, but I'll listen again.

What a gorgeous version of Wine & Roses, Carlo! (kidding) Nooo... I knew it was Solar but for a second my brain was still expecting to hear W&R. The sax player has a lot of Eric Dolphy influence. He's really assimilated a lot from him and other players - good chops. That was fun to hear, although I wish I could have heard you better. And it's almost nostalgic... I've done quite a bit of that type of intense free playing over the years. Thanks for letting us hear it.

Thanks, man. That's a very positive spin you put on the tune, Zeph, considering you were "forced" to do it. Nice job. Thanks Carlo. Yeah, add me to the membership of the W&R Haters Society, but I liked Linwood's because of the voice movements. ("The Days Of Whine And Rhodes")

Linwood, really nice voicings - I love that kind of stuff. Tremolo or not, the Rhodes sounds great. Definitely a much more respectful version of the tune than mine.

Hey thanks, it's just another academic clash of the concepts. I forgot about Proud Mary! That was the first song parody I ever tried. "Killer" version it was - to kill off an overly popular song by making people sit through it as an instrumental. High energy, extended vamp, drops into a soft baroque style flute/bass melody, followed by loud, dissonant guitar/moog solos.

Here's Wine & Roses. I wrote this different melody years ago for a quartet. We played it maybe 3 times, and not since. It's an eccentric piece, in different time signatures and keys. I wanted to remove the sophistication of the song, so I made it tongue in cheek, part Western and part bop. Much in the style of Richie Powell, who wrote Clifford Brown's witty arrangements of things like "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" and "I Get A Kick Out Of You. A rough track here - guitar and flute added afterwards. I played the trumpet patch for melody and solo in the right hand while I played the split bass lines, and no click track, one time through. So time is precarious, but it's only a quick sketch of this thing. http://stashbox.org/511762/Days%20Of%20Wine%20%26%20Wagons.mov Oops, should have gone under compositions - oh well.

Thank you, Vic. Sounds like you put a lot of thought into those chords yourself. Nice job. I'll resurrect my Wine and Roses melody soon and post it. It's a throw away melody, just something different to use the chords with.

Thanks Dave. Maybe you can 'remodel' Misty too, to add to the collection we started a page back. Haha, you're right... coming out of the gate on my solo, I heard a C major and just played it, because it seemed to sound right. I didn't know where the solo was going, but from a major chord it had to go somewhere, hopefully up from there. Good luck on the kitchen.

Interesting chords on your Wine & Roses, vicsant. I wrote a sick alternate melody to that song once. Maybe if I get the nerve sometime, I'll post it.

We associate sentimental with the past, but the actual definition just means with feeling. I agree you shouldn't conjure past feelings when you're playing in the moment. The feeling should be coming from what you're hearing and playing at that time.

Thanks for listening folks, and for the kind words. BTW, sentiment basically being "feeling"; I wouldn't know how to avoid it.

A blonde lady motorist was about two hours from San Diego when she was flagged down by a man whose truck had broken down. The man walked up to the car and asked, "Are you going to San Diego?" "Sure," answered the blonde, "Do you need a lift?" "Not for me. I'll be spending the next three hours fixing my truck. My problem is I've got two chimpanzees in the back which have to be taken to the San Diego Zoo. They're a bit stressed already so I don't want to keep them on the road all day. Could you possibly take them to the zoo for me? I'll give you $100 for your trouble." "I'd be happy to," said the blonde. So the two chimpanzees were ushered into the back seat of the blonde's car and carefully strapped into their seat belts. Off they went. Five hours later, the truck driver was driving through the heart of San Diego when suddenly he was horrified!! There was the blonde walking down the street and holding hands with the two chimps, much to the amusement of a big crowd. With a screech of brakes he pulled off the road and ran over to the blonde. "What the heck are you doing here?" he demanded, "I gave you $100 to take these chimpanzees to the zoo." "Yes, I know you did," said the blonde," but we had money left over---so now we're going to Sea World."

Nice, close moving stuff, Linwood. Like a short burst of endorphins. You're getting good at this.

Nearly forgot... a slightly more serious effort, here's the "Dolphin Dance" variations I tried the other night: http://stashbox.org/504237/impressions%20on%20Dolphin%20Dance.movClick on file name if it doesn't load. I put it through some different paces/concepts and more traditional jazz. Bass added mostly afterwards. The 'world's most omnipotent bass player', since the left hand knew what the right was doing. I'd really enjoy hearing any different versions of this song from the reharm gang.

No, no... LB, your playing wasn't weird at all. I just mean't when I hear the straight tune now, it sounds stranger to me than the reharms. I think I sort of stretched the tune out of my head. Yours was more of an ethereal version - I enjoyed it. Sorry I wasn't clear about that. I agree Carlo, Errol Garner was his own thing. kanker, right. It predated "Misty", but I'd forgotten it was Billy Eckstein. Coltrane's musical voice on the various versions of that tune was so full of integrity, it almost sounded like a totally different progression. For anybody interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR9ixWP-P9I

Oh, I respect Errol Garner. I wouldn't call his version cocktail exactly - it was really just Errol Garner. It became a cocktail piece by every working piano player because of it's popularity - sort of like the 'National Anthem' of night clubs and bars for years.

What makes for a cocktail version of Misty is the way the melody is played. The changes themselves are nice. The same basic changes Coltrane played over on "I Want To Talk About You" where a different melodic angle opened up the song.

Yep, I edited my post above. Thanks LB- I liked it.

That was cool, LB. A few surprise voicings I really liked. It's weird... a straighter rendering of the song actually sounds more bizarre to me now. You know, we're now heading towards a KC Comp CD called "The Misty Files". Who else is in? :grin:

LB, darn, I downloaded it but it doesn't seem to play.