Need a song!

[Jazzbaby_1]

Hi everyone! Hope everyone is doing good in here, lol. I am about to go into a pageant of some sort and I need a alto sax solo for it. No piano or anything just sax. I don't know what I should do-it has to be jazzy and fairly difficult. Any suggestions? If you do please tell me the name of the song and who wrote it. Thanks everyone!



Jazzbaby_1

[Kryssi]

I think you should play That's All. It's very pretty! I really love that song. It's simple, but not too simple. It's a really nice ballad.
Or you could play what I'm playing at my manhattan audition...
Round Midnight by Thelonious Monk. It's actually an easy song and it is very beautiful. Those would both be nice solo songs.
Have you looked into Charlie Parker's transcribed solos yet? Those could be very impressive.

[JFitzGenius]

How about "Take Five," by Dave Brubeck? Paul Desmond's breathy alto really shone on that one, and it is difficult enough yet familiar enough to make an impression.

[Kryssi]

I agree with JFitzgenius-
that would be the perfect song to play for exactly the same reasons that he gave. He should probably disregard my answer.
Keep in mind if you take a solo on that tune you should definetly learn how to solo in 5/4. I've heard a lot of high school kids try and use the same licks they use in 4/4 on that tune and it doesn't really do 5/4 any justice. Especcially if you play it solo, you want to remind the audience of the metric division in 5/4.

[clifton]

Perhaps something by Ornette Coleman, a blues like "Ramblin'" or "When Will The Blues Leave". Or one of his ballads, "Dawn" or the classic "Lonely Woman".

[Jazzbaby_1]

Thanks a bunch you guys. I will probably check into getting all of those solos. Sounds good!

Jazzbaby_1

[Kryssi]

Hey, Summertime might be nice too.

[Jazzbaby_1]

Awsome! who wrote Summertime?

~Jazzbaby_1~

[LAL]

George and Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward composed the tune and lyrics of Summertime - for the opera Porgy and Bess.

May I also suggest Benny Carter's recordings on the Verve label (e.g The Urbane Sessions) for examples of an alto style you may want to try out.

[Tenorman]

I think Summertime is the better option, since Take 5 really needs the piano and rhythm to make it work. Summertime is easy to play the notes, but difficult to make it sound original. I originally used it as a practice piece for bending notes on the alto, but it a great piece for wandering off in to flights of fancy. I played around with it along with a band when I was in my 20s and wandered off into Misty, just to make it interesting, then came back on to Summertime. Wish I had kept the arrangement

[Jazzbaby_1]

I will check them all out. Thanks a bunch. Keep em' comin'! ^_~

~JAzzBaBY~

[Kryssi]

Tenorman-
The arrangement you described sounds like it would be creative and beautiful. How specifically did you make it work? I'm very curious, so even though you didn't keep the arrangment can you share what you remember, it just sounds so interesting.
I usually play Summertime up tempo and I use a vamp of Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7 at the beginning and through the first 4 bars or so. It really picks it up a bit and gives the piece a sense of movement. I also wrote an interesting bass line that goes along with that. The only other interesting thing I tend to do with it is play a lick that uses an A7#5#9 arpeggio at the end of the first ending to bring it back to the first measure of the second repeat. I got that one from Wes Montgomery's recording.
I still haven't mastered how he managed the latin jazz feel so appropriately. Has anyone heard that specific recording?
I think I might be off topic. I apologize.

[Tenorman]

Kryssi,
That was near enough 30 years ago. But the arrangement was done as a slow blues, by one of the guys in the band when he heard me noodling around while we were waiting to start practice.

[DreaMaiden]

if you need something technic,
i'll recomend you to take something of Parker's.
Confirmation, or Donna Lee,
sounds good and really complicated

[Jazzbaby_1]

I have been thinking lately on the solo ordeal. I started to think about playing the clarinet instead. But I dunno. Does anyone have any good suggestions on clarinet solos? Or maybe a suggestion on which instrument I should play? lol this is harder than I thought it would be........
Thanks,
~JAzBabY~

[Kryssi]

Play the one that you are most comfortable playing.

[Saundra Hummer]

Originally posted by Kryssi
Play the one that you are most comfortable playing.

I agree, not being a musician myself maybe I shouldn't be in on this, but a lot of musicians jumped back and forth from instrument to instrument, and did just fine.

Maybe it is that you need to do both, just follow what Kryssi says.

I like the way "They Can't Take That Away From Me" can be jazzed up, slow to uptempo, and still be something that people can relate to. Lots of Gershwin seemed to have that ability.

[JFitzGenius]

Here's a radical idea...why not try playing a contemporary tune "jazzed" up? Remember, many great jazz tunes were made from shopworn standards, or modern tunes. "My Favorite Things," for instance. Don't be afraid to take something common beyond the pale. Make them hear something familiar for the first time.

[Jazzbaby_1]

Hey JFitzGenius, that sounds like a good idea. humm what to play, what to play............. oh well. thanks everyone for your help it is greatly appreciated! If you have any more suggestions go right ahead, lol.

~JaZzBAby~

[Kryssi]

Mac Gollehon did some crazy jazzed up Jimi Hendrix. He can make his trumpet sound like a distorted electric guitar. Crazy.

[Saundra Hummer]

I loved to hear Frank Rosolino play "Pennies From Heaven.", Miles playing Porgy and Bess. April in Paris was a good one, just a lot of "Old" good tunes, hard to think of comprable ones that are new. Music has changed so much, but JFG is right, just because I don't know them doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of good tunes out there that people know as new, that they could relate to. I just don't know what they are, where I am sure other people on this site, will and do, as you probably do yourself.

[Noah Peterson]

Harlem Nocturne.

It's the best.

[bubber]

Originally posted by Noah Peterson
Harlem Nocturne.

It's the best.

Way back, I used to put on Illinois Jacquet's version of Harlem Nocturne when I wanted to get the panties off some lady friend.
Sometimes it worked.

[Jazzbaby_1]

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't been lately, but anywho.... I have been trying to get ahold of any of these solos and I am having a hard time getting what I want. Example: I tried to get Rhaspody and Blue from my local music store and got a crappy student version. Does anyone have any suggestions on websites or anywhere I can get good arangement solos that I need?

Thanks,
~JAzZBabY~

[bubber]

Since you're talking Raphsody in Blue - have you decided to play clarinet?

If not, asking for transcriptions, www.lucaspickford.com/transsax.htm
has quite a few good ones, some leadsheets and (mostly)improvisations.
You'll have to transpose, however, as they are for tenor and I seem to remember you play alto. But I guess that's just good exercise :)

[Jazzbaby_1]

Thanks Bubber, I checked out that site, exactly what I needed. A friend of mine suggested Rhaspody in Blue on my clarinet and it sound like a neat idea, its just the fact I can't get a good enough version of it. I also really like Countdown by John Coltrane that I have found on that site. I might get that one, as for transposing it-piece of cake lol if not I'll just play it on the tenor.

Thanks again,
~JAzzBaBY~

[bubber]

Glad I could be of help, and good luck!

[Noah Peterson]

Call around to some of the local sheet music stores and tell them what you're looking for, they should be able to order what you want or refer to someon who can get it. Check online as well. I have a store in Portland that has an online database that they can download songs they don't keep in stock. It's fast & cheap and you get music you want. Of course, it's not about which "version" you have, it's about how you play it.

And do Harlem Nocture - It's made Bubber's panty collection better!

[Saundra Hummer]

Oscar Levant did a recording of Rhapsody in Blue. He was the cigaratte smoking hypochondriac that used to go on the Jack Parr show back in the early 60's. Someone gave it to me, but I can't remember how it was, think it was like his kinetic self. Flurries & flights all over the spectrum if I remember correctly, which this tune lends it'self to. Lots of room to get emotional in, and with.

A song I always really liked and tried to get some of the guys to play, which they did do for me a couple of times, but not when I asked them to, but after they did a little practice time on it elsewhere, was "Slaughter on 10th Avenue." I don't know if there are any jazz recordings of this song or not, and if any of you have heard of one, let me know, as it was always a favorite of mine, after seeing Gene Kelly dance to it in a movie when I was pretty young. Love that song. That would be another tune to really make your own.

[Jazzbaby_1]

I really want to thank everyone here soooo much! I would have never been able to get through this lol. I have been thinking a lot about it and I think I am going to play rhaspody in blue, just because I am familiar with that song, and since this is my first time doing this pageant, I want to play something that I am cofident that I can play. I will write all these songs down and keep them for further pageants. But thanks again everyone, you have all been such a great help.

(wish me luck :wink2: lol)
~JaZzBAby~

[bubber]

[i]Originally posted by Noah Peterson

And do Harlem Nocture - It's made Bubber's panty collection better! [/B]

I never collected any in concert - only in private.

I've heard they used to throw panties at Tom Jones and other pop/rock stars during concerts, though. Never happened to me.

Might have something to do with the fact that I'm one of the audience at most concerts.

And if I were on stage, I'm not sure panties would be what the audience would throw at me. Rather eggs and assorted fruits, maybe.

[JEMathews]

Oh one thing you might wanna do is buy the charlie parker omnibook. Parker's mood is a nice slow but impressive solo in there.

[Kryssi]

The omnibook is a must. I love mine, I use it all the time.