Season 413: Jazz up you Standards

Cheers for hosting this one mep. Here's a quickie from me that I'm fairly familiar with before I head off to work ………..

 
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Wow, this Season is a bit of a revelation to me. When I think of jazz, I think of difficult chords, improvisations, modulations and transitions where I have no idea what's going on, crazy stuff way above my ability as strummer/singer. Much more than my usual repetitive intro/verse/chorus/outro stuff. But then I started looking at the lists provided here, and saw lots of songs I could probably play, and some I already know, although I didn't think of them as jazz. Fun stuff! Here's Summertime by George Gershwin.

 
..... When I think of jazz, I think of difficult chords, improvisations, modulations and transitions where I have no idea what's going on, crazy stuff way above my ability as strummer/singer. Much more than my usual repetitive intro/verse/chorus/outro stuff. But then I started looking at the lists provided here, and saw lots of songs I could probably play, and some I already know, although I didn't think of them as jazz.

Not to get off topic, but when you think about it, most "standards" started life as a pop song. Jazz players take them and add their own unique vocabulary or chords with jazz voicing, extended harmonies, chord substitutions, etc. That is what gives each version its own unique flavor and allows a player to make it his/her own.

Check out this site that gives the "vanilla" changes, or the basic harmonies to the song, without all of the additions. http://www.ralphpatt.com/VBook.html

A number of years ago, Herbie Hancock did an album called The New Standards, where he took familiar pop songs and gave them a treatment as one would do with an old standard.

 
Here's my entry.
The song "When I Fall In Love" was written by Victor Young (music) and Edward Heyman (lyrics). First hit version was by Doris Day in 1952, but the one I always connect this song with is the great Nat King Cole.
Ukulele is the cheap Schaepe, still my fav uke.

 
Season of The Ukulele 413:
Jazz Up You Standards

A wobbly uke and piano instrumental jam to a classic Nina Simone song. British viewers may recognise the tune as the BBC's theme to Film 75 , 76 etc insert year of choice. And why not ?

 
I had a few that a fancied doing today but then had another scan of the Wiki list and this title jumped out at me.

Existentialism from Tin Pan Alley? Surely not.

It wasn't. But I listened to Billie and then Ella sing it and thought damn what a song.

No chord sheets or tabs to be found so I do what I normally do in that instance, go on chordify, make note of a couple of chords used and then ignore it and make s** up. Pretty happy with what came out.



(hoping to get some Ink Spots in before the end of the week because that is an opportunity that should always be taken)
 
Oops, I wrote 412 in the video... It meant to say 413!

I hope it is okay.

I only recently heard this song, and I have been looking for a season to do it since.
"A Sunday Kind of Love".
Not all the jazz icons have done it, but I think there are enough versions still to call it a standard.



Also, first video shot with my "new" 2. hand camera.
That continous focus doesn't work as well as I had hoped.
 
These kind of songs are right up my street. Love the artistry and craft that goes not only into the music of these songs, but also the lyrics. There’s no finer example than that of the great team of a Rodgers and Hart, the latter being the lyric writer for Rodgers before Oscar Hammerstein. So many superb songs of theirs to choose from, and I know I will only get time to do one of them this week. Was tempted to do Bewitched, or My Funny Valentine. Lorenz Hart was such a gifted lyricist, but also quite a troubled man, plagued by his own personal demons. Went for this one in the end because I love, just love, Blossom Dearie’s version. If you don’t know Blossom Dearie, I recommend her. You’ll either find her voice a little bit girly and twee, or you’ll just think it’s perfect. The little descending riff at the start is pretty much as her version, though taken down a step or so. So I could solo, I first recorded the chords on baritone, which is great for that style of jazz comping, then played it back on one computer while I added the vocal and tenor uke over that. Not very high tech, but hey.....Anyway, here is Thou Swell :)
 
Entry number two, I've decided to terrorize you with my tonsils ………

 
The Lonesome Road. I found this in a copy of "101 Jazz & Blues Hits for Buskers" I bought some years ago. It is credited to - music: Nathaniel Shilkret and lyrics: Gene Austin. Wikipedia also gives the same credits, dates it to 1927 and adds "It was written in the style of an African-American folk song."
The version in the book only has one verse with the chorus repeated twice. I felt there had to be more lyrics so I went looking. In the process, I came across a book by a collector who had been collecting in rural America during the 1920s and claimed they had collected the song from an African American singer. Given the way many of the "collectors" behaved at that time, it seems quite likely that the credited "songwriters" found a song and "adapted and arranged" it. Maybe it really is an African American Folk song. Who knows? The online book gave me more lyrics, though.

Anyway here is my version. The photos date from 1969/70 when I was living in West Cumbria (it was Cumberland then). When I digitised the original slides, the colour did not come out well, so I've turned them into b&w which I think fits well with the song.
 
Some really great performances so far. Just what I was hoping for when I thought about the theme for the season. Keep them coming.

The playlist should be updated until this point.
 
And here is one from this weeks host.

Misty - in a slow ballad version. The aNueNue Moonbird UC200 Tenor Ukulele came through the door this morning so it was the perfect opportunity to try it out.

 
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