Joe Muscara Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 [Hey, look at me with the Stepay-like thread! ] I was wondering if any of you commonly quote any songs or melodies in your solos. I don't (yet), but my guitar player does, often it's the Simpsons theme, sometimes some other tunes. Billy Payne often quotes stuff like Gershwin as well as other old Feat tunes, and I've heard lots of guitar players play that "Day Tripper" lick. So what about you? "I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck "The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnegrad Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Since my solos are performed spontaneously without any forethought or planning, any and all quotes happen on the spur of the moment and can include anything that I've ever heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Sometimes I do silly quotes like TV songs. Leave It to Beaver, Brady Bunch, Green Acres, Andy Griffith...stuff like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonglow Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 I will sometimes quote a quick segment of Copland's "Hoedown" when playing a rock organ solo over a major cord. The more up tempo the song the better, a la ELP. "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real MC Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 I play "Hoedown" for the organ solo in "Gimme Some Loving", "Peter Gunn" theme between verses in "Pink Cadillac". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Zero Two Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Guilty of playing Freeway Jam in a lot of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trill Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Usually,I have no idea what is about to transpire upon the audience. I hardly ever play the same thing twice . I wish I was gifted enough to pull it off. It is very interesting when someone sneaks stuff in. I used to play with a pianist who could throw things in that were very recognizable in the middle of a choir song. Maybe Linus and Lucy or Peppermint Patti,It was all we could do to keep from laughing,especially when he would turn his head away from the audience and toward us and make a crazy face and cackle then turn back all serious. More than once when the choir director was making annoucements to the congregation he would pad and much like a good ballgame organist or old time movie pianist he would play something to parrallel the annoucement that would crack up the congregation or completley fluster the poor choir director who would have to turn and laugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moj Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 I'll quote anything that comes to mind. I'll play pop or classical themes on chord progressions that fit. For example, I'll play a bit of Fur Elise on a i - V7 progression or the fast section of Bach's Toccata in Dm on an extended minor progression like Coltranes's Impressions. I read an interview of jazz trombone legend Trummy Young where he mentioned that he knew over a thousand riffs and quotes that he used in his solos. They were so ingrained in his memory that he would often play a string of riffs/quotes effortlessly in a solo. He was one of the early pioneers of jazz and said that "back in the day" he was just playing the popular music of his youth. BTW, at a jam session a while ago, I was playing Samba De Orfeu and I "dropped" a quote of a tune that's well-known, but I can't recall the name of it. Does anyone know the name of the tune in the audio file below? It's at the 30 second mark. Just wondering. Thanks. NAME OF THIS QUOTE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazerkeys Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 We do an uptempo version of Neil Young's "10 Men Working" .. and the guitarist allows me one of the very few keyboard showcase solos ... LOL - which I drag out according to audience receptivity .. and always throw in a little "Moondance" just before I race up the keyboard, throw the Leslie into fast (OK, KBR-3D !) .. and put on a big finish PC1x, Hammond XK1c, Deep Mind 6, MS500 (gig rig) Kurz PC4, Mini Moog Model D, Little Phatty, Hammond M3, Leslie 145, viscount op-3, Behringer model D, Roland GAIA.. (home studio) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobadohshe Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Mojazz isn't that the beginning of the 'Popeye' theme? Kawai C-60 Grand Piano : Hammond A-100 : Hammond SK2 : Yamaha CP4 : Yamaha Montage 7 : Moog Sub 37 My latest album: Funky organ, huge horn section https://bobbycressey.bandcamp.com/album/cali-native Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobadohshe Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 You know who was an excellent quoter of material was Dexter Gordon. Charlie Parker was also said to be a master of that, although I haven't really heard any recordings where he does it. People are entitled to do whatever they want when they solo, but if I'm playing a serious jazz gig I rarely quote stuff because it's cheezy. Sometimes I'll quote someone else's solo or quote a standard that has the same changes, but that's it. Kawai C-60 Grand Piano : Hammond A-100 : Hammond SK2 : Yamaha CP4 : Yamaha Montage 7 : Moog Sub 37 My latest album: Funky organ, huge horn section https://bobbycressey.bandcamp.com/album/cali-native Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niacin Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Some folks will quote a song in the intro to fool the audience and then of course it turns out to be a different song. I've been guilty of that. One of our singers managed to quote the first 2 verses of one song while we were playing another. Might have had more to do with the bottle of white he more or less skulled before the gig than with any sort of talent for quoting stuff though. We hit the chorus and he turned around with a "wtf are you doing?" look on his face. Gig keys: Hammond SKpro, Korg Vox Continental, Crumar Mojo 61, Crumar Mojo Pedals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnegrad Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Brubeck & Desmond were infamous for this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Summers Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Two that pop up with me are "Flight of the Bumblebee" or "Turkey in the straw" (which I stole from ELP of course!) "Music should never be harmless." Robbie Robertson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legatoboy Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Lately for some strange reason I've been quoting Mungo Jerry's - In the Summertime...... in some of my blues/roots solos...I did it on New Years Eve and people noticed, mostly the old hippier types like me! The main beginning melody to the words: "In the summertime when the weather is hot you can stretch right up a touch the sky, When the weather's fine You got women, you got women on your mind ..." I must be trying to tell me something in my middle age! I love Bud Powell's piano quotes in his playing! lb CP-50, YC 73, FP-80, PX5-S, NE-5d61, Kurzweil SP6, XK-3, CX-3, Hammond XK-3, Yamaha YUX Upright, '66 B3/Leslie 145/122 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobadohshe Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Originally posted by niacin: Some folks will quote a song in the intro to fool the audience and then of course it turns out to be a different song. It is said that Rachmaninoff used to do this. He got so sick of playing his C#m Prelude, that when it was requested he would start it then suddenly launch into Chopin's 'Fantasie Impromptu', which starts the exact same way. Kawai C-60 Grand Piano : Hammond A-100 : Hammond SK2 : Yamaha CP4 : Yamaha Montage 7 : Moog Sub 37 My latest album: Funky organ, huge horn section https://bobbycressey.bandcamp.com/album/cali-native Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Bennett Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 There was a local guitar player that always used to throw in "nanny nanny boo boo"...very annoying after a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Nightime Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 I'll throw in "Eleanor Rigby" in "The Thrill is Gone," and "Use Me (Till You Use Me Up)" in "Feelin Alright" It's funny how no one seems to notice, but me. "In the beginning, Adam had the blues, 'cause he was lonesome. So God helped him and created woman. Now everybody's got the blues." Willie Dixon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Pierce Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 I don't quote much, but it's something I've been meaning to start working on. I do cop a lot of Gregg Rolie licks, but it's not really quoting because they're only recognizable to other keyboardists. I know a guitarist who quotes a lot of stuff -- when he ends a solo with the Twilight Zone bit it always cracks everyone up! --Dave Make my funk the P-funk. I wants to get funked up. My Funk/Jam originals project: http://www.thefunkery.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Nightime Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Our guitar player will go into "Oye Como Va" during his end solo in "Smooth." In order to make it even more obvious, I'll grab the single note rythmic organ part that Gregg Rolie played on the original. Really simple, really cool, and very effective. "In the beginning, Adam had the blues, 'cause he was lonesome. So God helped him and created woman. Now everybody's got the blues." Willie Dixon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmp Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Originally posted by The Real MC: "Peter Gunn" theme between verses in "Pink Cadillac". One of the guys I play with a lot runs those together. Good fit. I like to do this stuff a lot. TV themes, hooks from other tunes, whatever. The sillier the better. If the bride is dancing some nice civilized waltz with her dad, see if Manic Depression works with those changes. --wmp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon May Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Originally posted by Mr. Nightime: ... and "Use Me (Till You Use Me Up)" in "Feelin Alright" It's funny how no one seems to notice, but me. Snap! I have done the opposite by playing "Feelin Alright" as the basis for "Use Me..." (which I didn't know so well) "I'm well acquainted with the touch of a velvet hand..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
area51recording Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 I have several faves. "Straight No Chaser", the lick from "Rhapsody In Blue", "If I only Had A Brain", "There's No Business Like Show Business". I like to play the opening lick from the piano solo in "Sweet Home Alabama" when I solo on "Werewolves Of London" since it's the same changes in the same key. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrokeys Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 I don't quote much but the piano solo in Maroon 5's "Sunday Morning" just begs for a bit of "Linus and Lucy". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon May Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 I've started a solo during "Girl from Ipanema" with the opening phrase from Desafinando. It made me smile to hear a pianist do just that in a bar in Havana! Theres probably some "degrees of separation" thing working here where, somewhere in the world, someone is using the same musical references as you. Its a beautiful thang! "I'm well acquainted with the touch of a velvet hand..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnH Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Ah tons. In the middle of Folsom Prison I launch into a country instrumental theme plus solo from Steve Morse's Major Impacts II, plus G,Bad Ugly. Rock It from Herbie Hancock in the middle of Brickhouse if I'm not doing Getting Tighter from Deep Purple in the middle of the song. Hoedown also makes appearances during Folsom. Favorite things in the middle of Light My Fire, but that's how the Doors did it live. Make up my own stuff most of the time. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanS Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 I stick Tubular Bells in Miss You, right after Mick sings "people think I'm craaaaazy" What we record in life, echoes in eternity. Montage M7, MOXF8, Electro 6D, XK1c, Motif XS Rack, PolyEvolver, Voyager, Cobalt 8X, Univox MiniKorg. https://www.abandoned-film.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosendorphen Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 We do an original tune called "Janice" in which the end section is 5/4. So I quote "Eruption" from Tarkus, the theme from Mission Impossible, "Take Five" and anything else I can think of. During Traffic's "Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" I do the opening synth riff of Genesis' "Eleventh Earl of Mar." One of our guitarists is constantly quoting classic rock bits in his solos which is fun and keeps us on our toes as we listen and try to figure it out. Very talented guy (and has almost the least ego of any musician I've worked with.) "The devil take the poets who dare to sing the pleasures of an artist's life." - Gottschalk Soundcloud Aethellis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKeys Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 I will play about anything anywhere, like many I never know what's coming. I sometimes will do something in a song regularly if I find something cool and can remember it the next time. CRS... Like Rider's on the storm. On organ I will do some Gregg Rolie (Santana) or maybe Booker T Time is Tight. Or Greg Allman from way back, even a lame attempt at Joey D. Piano, it could be anything from Billy Joel to Woody Woodpecker. I had a guitar player who woul throw in lots of cartoon themes and it was a hoot. Jimmy Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others. Groucho NEW BAND CHECK THEM OUT www.steveowensandsummertime.com www.jimmyweaver.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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