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Songs You don't want requested


medjuck

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There was once a discussion of this here and as I remember it the songs musicians didn't want  to have to play were "in the Mood" and a slow instrumental blues I can't remember the name of.  Any one remember (or any guesses)?  BTW I think the rock equivalent is "Mustang Sally".  The drummer in my wife's bar band just refuses to play it. 

Edited by medjuck
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I don't want anything requested in the form of a demand or an expectation/entitlement. Other than that, feel free to request anything.

Cover bands don't suck because they're cover bands. Cover bands suck because they don't use imagination. I propose a cover band that covers anything, but only the remix.versions. Remixers are the ultimately reality check for cover bands who bitch about being cover bands.

Go away drunks.

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re?"Mustang Sally"...that's only a drag when a band disregards the pocket of the Pickett record, which is deep and layered and built for the long haul. People don't get that anymore, not that they should, but when in doubt, build from the bottom up and then reinvent as appropriate.

imo, this is wrong:

 

this is right:

You pull the groove out, you don't try to hammer it in.

Old people only seem to move slower. They really think less because they have lost patience, and therefor information. The good ones condense and codify, the rest just...get stupid.. And drunks just drunk. These people should not be encouraged any more than they already encourage themselves. And ideally, less than that.

Speaking of In the Mood, I heard the Edgar Hayes "original" (such as it is) version on the radio one evening on the way to a gig and phrased it like that instead, straighter eights and less accented syncopation and the fucking wedding band fell apart, literally fell apart, stopped and started over,with some strong glares directed at the tenor player. So much for really "being there when you play". I mean, sure, chicken-peck a la Ray Stephens, and hahaha funny, but introduce a different a little different type of eighth note and it's like Martians Have Landed OH MY GOD!!!!

My request - for everybody in the world to get that Jimmie Lunceford Mosaic and think about eighth notes.

I mean, if you get one of those requests of one of those most-hated songs, fuck with 'em. Just becuase you have to play the song doesn't mean you can't fuck with ;em. And if you need a good groove to steal for Mustan Dally, take this on. I did it one night when the singer refused to sing it, so hey, I'll do it, but gimme THIS to do it with, ok? Just slow it down a notch, and don't worry about the standard bar count, we'll go to the IV & V when we get there.

Gotta have a musically literate rhythm section, but this one did. Everybody loved it but the singer who let it be known to never to THAT again, fuck it, he'd go ahead and sing it anyway.

Most people - especially musicians, look at options in terms of what should not be done rather than what could be done. Fuck that.

 

Hell, use this groove for "Mustang Sally".

 

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The problem seems to have existed for many, many decades. Some seem to have found a way to cope with it, though. I remember seeing a 40s photograph from one of those old New Orleans dance halls in a book or mag I have seomewhere (but can't quite remember which one so can't retrieve it right now) where a cardboard panel on the wall to the side of the bandstand anounced the rates for playing requests. A number of standards had a tag of 50c or $1 but HIGH SOCIETY was $5!! :D

 

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3 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

The problem seems to have existed for many, many decades. Some seem to have found a way to cope with it, though. I remember seeing a 40s photograph from one of those old New Orleans dance halls in a book or mag I have seomewhere (but can't quite remember which one so can't retrieve it right now) where a cardboard panel on the wall to the side of the bandstand anounced the rates for playing requests. A number of standards had a tag of 50c or $1 but HIGH SOCIETY was $5!! :D

 

IIRC there was a sign like that at Preservation Hall re: Saints Go Marching In. 

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I think it depends on where you play. I remember when I was a youngster sometimes we got a gig somewhere where the audience wasn´t really used to jazz or to what to expect from a jazz performance. Most people who were not so much associated to jazz, had heard and had liked one single tune "Take Five". It seems that this was something that appealed to people who said they didn´t really like jazz but liked "Take Five".

Others "Mercy Mercy Mercy". Well I could do more out of "Mercy" than of Take Five".

"Take Five" and me , "we" had the wrong start, we never became friends......

On very rare occasions where someone had a request which really was not a "jazz associated" tune (I think it was a country melody or something like that and the only thing I ever knew is "jazz") I had to explain it in the kind manner, somehow like "look it´s like food, if you want pizza, you go to a pizza place and if you want chinese food you go to a chinese place and that´s what most people understand, that you can´t cook on anything....

The most ideal requests happend if a fan asked for a tune that you haven´t played yet but might go into the direction you play. If you are lucky you somehow know the tune and can execute it.

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I am reminded of the story of jazz violinist Joe Venuti opening the floor to requests and a woman promptly asked for "Feelings." His response was "'Feelin's'? Why that's the worst $%^&!!! song I ever heard. That's it no more requests!" I am pretty sure that story appeared in Bill Crow's Jazz Anecdotes.

"Feelings" has had a lot of competition for worst song over the past 4 plus decades...

 

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5 hours ago, BillF said:

Did Charlie Parker really want to play "White Christmas" and "Slow Boat to China"?

Well "White Chrismas" was a request on air. But I think Charlie Parker was hip enough he would play any tune with nice changes so you can blow on them. That was Bird, the tune was just a blowing vehicle. So if Bird was in a mellow mood and I´ve heard he had his mellow sides also, he just wanted to be kind and anyway he did his very personal version of that tune. And really: Both White Chrismas and Slow Boat have changes any bop freak can blow on them.

I´m not a professional musician and do only some club dates, sometimes I´m lucky I have occasions to play or jam with good professional musicians also, but I´d say for myself if I´d get  a request "White Chrismas" or "Slow Boat" I´d be happy to please the person who asked for it.

As for "Feelings", yeah I´ve heard a lot of guys  refuse it, but what can happen worse than do a short version, I think a slow bossa or something like that, on it just not to hurt the "feelings" of someone. If it´s a club gig and you can be flexible, and it´s the last set, why not. If we are on pressure of time and most folks came to hear other stuff, it might be impossible......

Anyway, at least in my case it´s a question of age: When I was young and more arrogant, maybe I declined a request in a more direct and harsh manner, but now, it´s more important for me to have happy faces in the audience and not to hurt anybody´s feeling if possible. if we can manage to include the request without completely destroying the general conception , there´s nothing wrong I think.....

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2 hours ago, JSngry said:

"Slow Boat To China" has great changes for "bop" playing, they flow logically and are not extremely/overly cyclical...what's the form, ABAC?

Sonny Rollins played the hell out of it early on.

I am old enough to remember it in the hit parade, so I guess everyone was pleased. :cool:

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"White Christmas" is an ultra corny song that most of us are sick of, but it has nice blowing changes, and Bird's (live) version of it is great - another sow's ear turned into a silk purse. Another on with tasty changes is "When I Grow Too Old To Dream", recorded by Diz with Lucky Thompson in early 1946, and again by Stanley Turrentine with Jimmy Smith in 1960 with excellent results.

There are many well-known tunes that I would refuse to play because they have been worn out by overuse. Like Miles, I don't like tunes with too many chords. They get cluttered up. A prime example is "There Will Never Be Another You". Yechh!

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A great musicians joke when it comes to requests:  Guy comes to a party, sees a piano, sits down on the bench and begins to play very lyrically, up and down the keyboard, but nothing recognizable.  Hostess comes over, says "You really play well, do you take requests"?  Guy replies "I only know two tunes".  Hostess: "Which ones"?  

Guy: "Happy Birthday" and "Lush Life". :D

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