 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: wjk
Date: 2005-02-14 18:21
For an upcoming gig with a small combo---we've been instructed to "play some be-bop" Any suggestions/set lists?
Thanks!
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-02-14 19:30
Get the Jamie Aebersold "Bird" (Charlie Parker) training recording, and pick some of those tunes.
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Author: Gardini
Date: 2005-02-14 19:59
Paquito D'Rivera does a amazing version of Coltrane's Giant Steps on "Who's Smoking" - you can find a good tenor pdf. transcription on the web. It is way too hard for me. I hope to work out a clarinet version of the be-bop standard "Moose the Mooche", maybe someone already has. It is a beautiful tune. I like Bradford Marsalis's version on the Dirty Dozen's "Voodoo" CD.
This site has loads of free Jazz trumpet solo transcriptions (in the right key though trumpet fingerings can be tough on a clarinet.
http://pubcs.free.fr/jg/jazz_trumpet_transcriptions_jacques_gilbert_english.html
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Author: ned
Date: 2005-02-15 06:00
''For an upcoming gig with a small combo---we've been instructed to "play some be-bop"
Does the customer actually know what he/she/they want? If you have a job coming up soon and it seems you don't really know what to do, you won't be able to learn the genre overnight you know.
If you really want the job, to play it safe why not work up a bag of blues in different keys and tempos and variations on the 32 bar theme of " I Got Rhythm" and play REALLY free and laid back solos. It's basically what the early beboppers did anyway. And...........hey.........I hope I'm not offending any of our bop colleagues out there.
The other option is to own up and tell them that you just don't play that stuff, you might save a night of embarrasment. I play jazz, but I wouldn't attempt it.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-02-15 11:32
lI would tend to agree with the above that the person making the request may not have the slightest idea what he/she is talking about. Question: "Like what, for example?"
Bob Draznik
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Author: wjk
Date: 2005-02-15 13:09
The music will essentially be background music. I may actually play the "be-bop" riffs on guitar as they tend to fall into patterns that "sound good" and are not that difficult to play---just my opinion. I'm hoping I can work in some Goodman/Shaw/DeFranco tunes (and play clarinet) since many in the audience will probably want to "swing" a bit.
Post Edited (2005-02-15 13:10)
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-02-15 14:30
It's been my experience that those who make such a request are generally at sea, and that they don't really know what they want.
Usually, they have picked up a musical term somewhere en passant as it were, and are just throwing it out to try to relate to a world that they don't really understand. Put yourself in their shoes: they are dealing with a person (you) who (at a minimum) understands the basics of music performance, has a prepared repertory, and is used to playing in front of others. That's why they hired you, and they most likely only have the vaguest understanding of the dynamics of your group, instrumental music in general, what you have done in the past, and what you are capable of doing.
Anyone who told me to "play some be-bop" without any further qualifier would be gently questioned as to what tunes they would like to hear. I'd be ready to offer to them the materials that I had in the genre, and just as willing to "work something up" if there was time before the event.
We did a wedding a while back where the blushing bride was a big fan of Nora Jones. Now, Nora may be a great musician (but she doesn't seem so to me), and she may sing wonderful uplifting songs (but they all read like dirges; what do I know?), but one thing that our little Nora ain't is a producer of dance tunes. (Well, unless you are talking some sort of funereal procession two-step...)
That's where the experience of having attended hundreds of weddings (only two of which were my own), and having played thousands of hours of "wedding music" came in handy. I gently steered the young lady in the direction of "Nora Jones isn't danceable", pointed out that I could have few of my vocalist do a couple of her tunes during the dinner set, and knew that (whatever we did on the Jones tunes) she wouldn't have a moment's time to worry about just what Nora Jones replica we were offering up.
As predicted, the whole thing went very well (and I got a five hundred dollar tip to substantiate that claim to boot). My one girl singer, who actually likes the music of Nora Jones and can do a reasonable facsimile of her work, sang through the three tunes during dinner, all the while with me watching the bride to see if she even noticed. She did not, although her mother noted that I was observing to see what reaction was raised. (Her mother is, needless to say, not a big fan of Ms. Jones.)
These sorts of requests crop up occasionally no matter how careful you are in your marketing materials. And, truth be told, there are a lot of groups who/which are purposefully vague in their marketing so as to not turn away any potential work. That works well enough if you have the flexibility and time to reconfigure, but if you don't it's dismal failure time in a hurry.
Incidentally, the four Nora Jones tunes sit in the library unused to this day. But, I'm ready, just in case...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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