The Reharm Room

[SK]

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 am not sure of the purpose here- get gigs, be hired as an arranger-

 

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.

[gangsu]

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.

 

Now that's funny. Go Johnny!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2iv_E-Fn9E&feature=related

 

Imagine those "ladies in pink" adding their vocal stylings to your arrangement, Hardway. The first sign of a real reharm. Enjoyed that.

[gangsu]

What's with all this "more I see you" $#!! anyway. You talkin' to me?

 

Come on DH, anytime in this decade if that's not asking too much.

 

 

Nice job, SK

[SK]

Nice job, SK

Thanks Sue.

 

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

[Floyd Tatum]

Hardway, that's nice, you did a kind of Norah Jones thing with it.

 

Good job of the more I see you, Steve

 

Here's my solo piano rendition of My Buddy. There's a bit of reharm in it, but it's not mine, the arrangement comes from a Chet Baker recording. The piano's a Yamaha C7. This is from a solo piano recording I did a few years ago.

 

Divshare - My Buddy

 

[SK]

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)

[Floyd Tatum]

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)

 

It's a recording... of me! My post was a bit vague, sorry. I lifted the arrangement from a Chet Baker recording, but that's me playing my buddy. It's from a studio recording I did a few years ago.

[SK]

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

[Floyd Tatum]

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

Accepted - thanks!

[Dave Horne]

OK, just for gangsu ... The More I See You ... and I included the verse.

 

http://members.home.nl/davehorne/mp3/TheMoreISeeYou.mp3

 

This was the most frustrating recording I have ever done. I lost count of the number of takes - they were all marred by electronic noise. I think I solved that problem and disabled a brand new anti virus program I just installed on my wife's laptop. Once I disabled it, the random noise stopped. I really wanted to play an arrangement but simply settled for a play through.

 

The only part that I would consider a reharm would be the bridge.

 

I'll get around to redoing this sometime .... but not now. My mind is fried from trying to narrow down this problem.

[gangsu]

That's really pretty, Dave. I barely have time to do any listening today but I couldn't resist an invite like that.

 

So you're not ALL about swing. Glad to hear it.

 

BTW, I had no idea this was a standard. Who sang this as a pop song in the.. 60's?

[SK]

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.

[Dave Horne]

The versions of The More I See You I know were by Chris Montez and a classic B3 version by Richard Groove Holmes.

 

I saw Richard Groove Holmes in a Philadelphia jazz club when I was in high school or college. His young kids were running around the club while he was working. He really was a great player.

[SK]

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.

[kad]

The versions of The More I See You I know were by Chris Montez and a classic B3 version by Richard Groove Holmes.

 

I saw Richard Groove Holmes in a Philadelphia jazz club when I was in high school or college. His young kids were running around the club while he was working. He really was a great player.

 

That was really nice Dave. You have a tendency to add enough "reharm" to make it interesting, while remaining faithful to the original changes - nicely done. Regarding "The More I See You", the Singers Unlimited version is really wonderful.

[Dave Ferris]

Great Dave. Keeping in line with the other things you've posted..tasteful and musical.

I like those chromatic chords you used on the first ending. I like the verse too. Usually I'm not big on "verses", this one is memorable. Nice touch ending with the verse. Bravo!!

 

Richard...."My Buddy" was nice man!! I always liked that song.

The way you changed keys on that was a nice effect.

Smooth time feel and groove, it moved right along there.

There was a clarity the whole time in your playing that really made it for me.

 

I don't think the average musician or even "keyboard player" has an appreciation or understanding of what's involved with the art of solo piano. Talk about putting yourself out there naked without the aid of bass and drums.....

The time feel or lack of is the thing I notice first when listening to solo piano.

[Floyd Tatum]

Richard...."My Buddy" was nice man!! I always liked that song. The way you changed keys on that was a nice effect. Smooth time feel and groove, it moved right along there. There was a clarity the whole time in your playing that really made it for me.

 

I don't think the average musician or even "keyboard player" has an appreciation or understanding of what's involved with the art of solo piano. Talk about putting yourself out there naked without the aid of bass and drums..... The time feel or lack of is the thing I notice first when listening to solo piano.

 

Thanks so much, Dave, for the encouragement, much appreciated. You're so right, getting a good time feel is harder than it looks. Um, sounds.

 

I like the way that arrangement changes keys, too. It actually changes twice - the intro is in a different key, which you don't hear very often! It was one of the things that appealed to me about that arrangement.

 

[gangsu]

disclaimer - grumpy mood. Violinist just left after paying me for a recital last night. He tried to haggle me out of TWENTY BUCKS less my fee. ?!?!?

 

There's about as many different approaches to playing in this thread as there are tunes. What an education. Overall, I'd say Dave Horne nails the simple "make it sound good" approach. At the other extreme there's SK turning everything you thought you knew about what you liked upside down. Kafka! I'm ticked that I threw away my Norton Anthology of Western Literature 30 years ago. I thought you sounded bored and there were too many notes. Talk about ignorance.

 

Life goes on.

 

Marino. Where are you? Don't beat yourself up about metronomes robbing your excellent feel at the end of a weary day when you're improvising on the fly. Nobody else would have even tried.

 

And BTW, since my original photo disappeared with the link to SK's video, I thought it only right and good that all traces were removed.

 

I feel better now.

[SK]

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.

[gangsu]

Seriously I think you already have a place on that list of musicians who will inspire the next generation. It's just cool to hear you before we're both dead.

 

Hah, I dug up a Youtube video of "The More I See You". Dave's right, Chris Montez's version is the one I remember. He's not sounding too good these days. We were due for a reharm!!

[linwood]

Sorry I'm late to the party. Great stuff guys. SK, loved your take on the tune. Wonderful...and Dave, loved it as well. Both very musical, but different approaches.

 

Richard, man...you always sound great. You've got the chops cover a lot of different things/styles.That's what I really like about your posts. In my living room, I use to have a beautiful old Victrola and on it always sat an old 78 of My Buddy. A good friend of mine use to love that thing and I ended up giving it to him as gift.

[Floyd Tatum]

Richard, man...you always sound great. You've got the chops cover a lot of different things/styles.That's what I really like about your posts. In my living room, I use to have a beautiful old Victrola and on it always sat an old 78 of My Buddy. A good friend of mine use to love that thing and I ended up giving it to him as gift.

 

Thanks, Linwood! Cool Victrola story. Would that have been Al Jolson doing My Buddy? I think he had the first big 'hit' with it, must have been on a 78.

 

[linwood]

If you hadn't asked, I could have told you who did it. Now I can't remember. It was some old big band and when you heard it, it took you back to the 20's/30's. it was very cool.

 

Here's something different. I started this arr this past Saturday for a female singer. This ISN'T finished. No where near...no mix at all. The drums are just a 4 bar loop to play to instead of hearing click, I'll replace them with a brush kit, the bass was just a pass with a mini moog and i'll play upright later this week when I get time and the piano is a scratch that I'll replace maybe with a rhodes. I played the melody on a flute patch just so I'd have a reference, that will be replaced with a girl singing in a few days. This thing is kind of bossa/ 60's /Austin Powers. Very randy. It's an old S. Mendez from the mid 60's, but I'll throw it out there in all it's rawness. hit me band

[cnegrad]

Beautiful Linwood. Wow, your orchestral writing is coming along beautifully! Always loved that tune. Stick a harmonica solo in there!!

 

Always wanted to do something with "Velas" and "The Dolphin" too....

[linwood]

Thanks Mark. I played it on harmonica just sitting at the computer and maybe I'll record it that way just for grins. In the back on my mind, i wanna do Setembro and play it on chromatic....I need more time/less jing, but wait, I need to eat.

[cnegrad]

I don't that I'm acquainted with Setembro. Recommend a recording of it?

[linwood]

You know it

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPLTm9EG04A

 

 

or

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dKVjFza5NM

 

[SK]

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.

 

 

 

[cnegrad]

Ah...I knew it as "Brazilian Wedding Song". Love it...

[linwood]

Steve you could do that junk in your sleep. You just need the software. I use DP and a few sample libs. You'd be dangerous. Like Gil Evans on crack.