Not so standard tunes

[RudyC]

I love standards!! But i love not standards!! My group just did EGAD off of Christian Mcbrides Number Two express. I am in university so my ensemble leader handed it out and i just fell in love with the idea of playing things mabye no one but Christian Mcbride and his cats have played before! So i went and did pretty memory by nat addrerley off of his work song album then i did caribbean cuttie off of cannonballs first album... my album cover just says presenting cannonball adderley. I have the changes to heyoke off of gnu high kenny wheeler! all of these things are just awsome to play i dont know why.. but i jsut get more enjoyment out of playing EGAD than i do woody'n you.

lol thereare my thoughts

what are yours?

[Michael Fitzgerald]

As with everything, moderation is key.

I have spoken passionately here in favor of cultivating a knowledge of repertoire - and not enough people do as you have done, digging up gems that have been ignored. I can't even begin to list the amazing stuff that is out there, never recorded twice. Transcribe yourself a whole book of "unplayed" things - then to make your set lists, combine these with standards, originals, and completely improvised pieces.

Mike

[RudyC]

has any one else done a bunnch of these tunes?

[marcello]

As Michael said, there are a lot of gems out there and they are the real joy in this music.

Myself, I'd rather hear new music, expertly played and arranged, than hear a standard that has been beat to death; and underexposed older works are a joy to hear also.

[RudyC]

this comment i agree wtih, but cherokee on live at blues alley/wynotn marsalis!! is a version that is just out of this world!i listen to that on my palmpilot almost everyday!

[AllenLowe]

Mike is 100% correct, and I'm about to get spanked about my feelings on this subject in another thread -

[RudyC]

i cant find where this thread went to, i know iposted in it before but i cant find it and i wanna see what there is to say!

[jazzypaul]

I fully concur that we must know standards so that we can play with others at jam sessions and on wedding gigs and the such.

However, when I pay $20-30-40 to see someone, and they play There Is No Greater Love, they deserve to be beaten upon the head and face. I didn't pay to hear you play something that I've got on a Jamey Aebersold CD.

That said, my band does some standards. However, when we do them, there must be two criteria met...

1) We must do something absolutely odd with it. And the more well known the standard, the more we must mess with it. Therefore, on the gig where we decide to do Body and Soul, be afraid, be very afraid.

2) Standards must be done differently every time. Re-harms on the spot, different rhythms, retoolings of the melody, whatever can be done.

We do try to play some pretty obscure stuff. We're also big on doing pop covers by our favorite artists, and we've also got our very out and very weird version of Free Bird in case the nutcases at some of the places we play decide to be hecklers.

If I believe in one thing in jazz performance, it's this: learn everything by the book. Then burn the fucking book as fast as you can.*

*actually learned from a buddy, whose fake book was burned by none other than Fareed Haque for daring to read from the real book on a gig.

[RDK]

1) We must do something absolutely odd with it. And the more well known the standard, the more we must mess with it. Therefore, on the gig where we decide to do Body and Soul, be afraid, be very afraid.

2) Standards must be done differently every time. Re-harms on the spot, different rhythms, retoolings of the melody, whatever can be done.

Glad to hear this. I like the accessibility that a standard tune offers, particularly from an unfamiliar band, but I really love when they're shaken up and turned inside-out.

[RudyC]

anyone have any obsecure tunes they wanna share? I have some i just have figure out how to scan them!