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jazz musicans playing the same set each night


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it seems more times than not, when i see a series of shows on a thurs-sun run, the same set will be played,-- ive always thought maybe musicans were trying to 'hone' the set or sometin, like trying to perfect it.-- i know in the old days that wasnt always the case, like if you saw bill evans live and the VV or something....

do you have experiences with hearing the same set night after night, and maybe reasons why your band you saw, was doing that?

Edited by chewy
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Many musicians, when they get older tend to play the same tunes.

I remember many Miles shows between 1985-1988 with almost the same set. They started with "One Phone Call" from "You are under arrest", followed by "New Blues", and then "Human Nature" and so on.

From 1986 on, "Tutu" was on each show.

And I remember the mid seventies Mingus-Concerts, always starting with "For Harry Carney", followed by "Fables of Faubus" and then "Sue´s Changes".

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01 - No fusion No confusion Intro
02 - Blues Walk
03 - Wee
04 - What a Wonderful World
05 - Fast and Freaky
06 - Whiskey Drinkin' Woman
07 - Alligator Boogaloo
08 - Star Eyes
09 - Cherokee

10 - It was a Dream

11 - Bye Bye Blackbird

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01 - No fusion No confusion Intro

02 - Blues Walk

03 - Wee

04 - What a Wonderful World

05 - Fast and Freaky

06 - Whiskey Drinkin' Woman

07 - Alligator Boogaloo

08 - Star Eyes

09 - Cherokee

10 - It was a Dream

11 - Bye Bye Blackbird

The guys a hundred years old FFS.

It's an achievement just being there.

What's that old George Burns joke....?

Q. Are you glad to be here?

GB's At my age, I'm glad to be anywhere.

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Lou did a somewhat different set when I saw him at the VV in 2010. There was only one song - 'Whiskey drinking woman'. And I remember him doing 'Fine and dandy', oh and 'Gravy train' instead of 'Blues walk'. 'Everything I play is gonna be funky' was in there, too. Sure, all old favourites but so?

MG

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01 - No fusion No confusion Intro

02 - Blues Walk

03 - Wee

04 - What a Wonderful World

05 - Fast and Freaky

06 - Whiskey Drinkin' Woman

07 - Alligator Boogaloo

08 - Star Eyes

09 - Cherokee

10 - It was a Dream

11 - Bye Bye Blackbird

Lou Donaldson !

Will see him on July 8th and Porgy and Bess in Vienna.

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We had Teddy Edwards play here, early 90s(?) on a couple of occasions when he was touring as a solo playing with local rhythm sections. Basically the same set on both occasions. As an older player it's reasonable to expect him to play safe with what he's comfortable with. So no complaint here.

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I caught Steve Kuhn with Buster Williams and Joey Baron on Thursday and Friday at Birdland. As far as I can remember, the two sets were entirely different. I expected there to be some material repeated, and I'd be curious to learn what they played on other nights.

Regarding Lou Donaldson, when I saw him last month, the set list included 'I'll Be Seeing You', 'Body and Soul', 'Gravy Train', 'Things Ain't What They Used to Be' leading into 'Wig Blues', a trio version of 'I'm Getting Sentimental Over You' and 'Cherokee'. When I previously saw him 3.5 years ago, he played 'Things Ain't What They Used to Be'/'Wig Blues', 'Cherokee', 'Blues Walk' and 'Alligator Boogaloo', among others (including maybe 'Everything I Play Is Gonna Be Funky' and 'Whiskey Drinkin' Woman'). Regardless whether he plays much of the same material from night to night, Lou Donaldson is still fun to see live.

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Johnny Griffin's last tours included many of the same of the same songs with many of the same introductions. The intro to "The JAMFs Are Coming" was supposed to be funny... Maybe it was the first time I heard it. Johnny always got a big laugh out of it.

JJ Johnson played pretty much the same sets two tours in a row near the end of his life. It's because of this that I skipped what turned out to be his last tour through Boston.

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Later Basie Band sets seem to be similar, that's why say for 1977, one record of a live gig is enough. Jimmy Smith had similar sets with "It's All Right With Me" being pretty much through composed. Pat Metheny plays similar sets although tunes from various eras appear on each tour, and in many cases rearranged. Many tunes get shuffled the beginning of each tour so they see what works or not.

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Johnny Griffin's last tours included many of the same of the same songs with many of the same introductions. The intro to "The JAMFs Are Coming" was supposed to be funny... Maybe it was the first time I heard it. Johnny always got a big laugh out of it.

JJ Johnson played pretty much the same sets two tours in a row near the end of his life. It's because of this that I skipped what turned out to be his last tour through Boston.

Yes I remember I saw Griffin the last time in 2004 or 2005 and "The JAMFs Are Coming" was part of the set, as was "Lester Leaps In", "These Foolish Things", "All The Things You Are".

I remember during the early 80´s his original "Soft and Furry" was almost on each concert.

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It is possible to play the same tunes, but very differently. Miles' bands from the 60s used to play the same sets often, but each time it was a revolution of sorts. Alternatively, it is possible to mix up the set list, but still play more or less the same thing every night, i.e. not vary the approach or solos every time a certain song is played.

Edited by John L
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I remember some accompanying musicians complaining that David Newman played the same solos on the same songs every night. He sounded perfectly fine to me the one night I was there. If you like what you're doing, why not do it again?

According to Pepper Adams, he got fired from Miles Davis' group, because he used to play Miles' solos along with Miles every night.

In other words, Miles was playing the same solos every night when he played with him.

A friend of mine saw Bill Evans play in Boston once, and sat right next to the stand, so he could hear them talking to each other.

They finished a tune, and then they didn't know what to play next.

Eddie Gomez said, "Gee, Bill, we just finished the last tune on your list of tunes; what do we play now?"

Bill seemed dumbfounded, "I don't know Eddie; what do you think we should do?"

Eddie said, "Why don't we just go back to the top of the list?"

Bill said, "That's a good idea, Eddie."

And that's what they did. :rofl:

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great Bill Evans story

King Crimson in 1982 on the Discipline tour in Boston (at the Music Hall if I remember correctly) played probably the whole Discipline LP along with two older tunes - Red and Larks Tongue in Aspic, part II

for the encore, it was *again* Larks Tongues in Aspic, part II

ran out of tunes to play. I suppose - I was hoping they had planned to reprise Fracture fromt he earlier incarnation of the band, but it was just the two above tunes - very odd to hear it repeated, but if I recall it was still fantastic.....

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Not as good as the Neil Young story.

Played the whole 'Tonight's the Night' album to a bewildered audience expecting 'Harvest'.

Announced that they were now going to play some music the audience had heard before and everyone relaxed and got ready for 'Heart of Gold'.

Young and the band then played 'Tonight's the Night' through for a second time.

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