bassace

That is quite a question and, as Bilbo said, the list is endless. I have a CD loaded with eight various fake/real books and the iReal Pro loaded on my iPad lists 1300 numbers. Jazz, though, breaks down into all sorts of genres. A Dixie band will play all the old Trad numbers but will not be above including some up to date stuff. Assuming it's got a clarinet, there won't be many gigs without someone asking for Stranger on the Shore! A pickup jazz trio will play mostly stuff from the American Songbook, the old Gershwin/ Cole Porter/Jimmy Van Heusen et al stuff. Safe numbers that all the musos, even though they haven't played together before would be able to handle there and then. And a singer would have his or her favourites that could bolt on the front. Last night I played in a five piece. We did stuff by Miles, Sonny Rollins, Adderley and four by Benny Golson whose stuff I enjoy very much. The sax player brought charts along for all of us to make it easy and although it was not quite the safe standard stuff usually played it was a thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying gig because it stretched us a bit. Just a quick PS re the standard American (and a few British ones) show tunes. There are some sublime old shows that compare favourably with the guff that gets on the stage today - see also the dire stuff Elaine Page puts out on a Sunday. What makes a tune adaptable as a good/great jazz standard needs a whole more discussion. Hope this helps.

OK, I'll try. In a four in the bar tune you're not counting a regular 1234. The 2 and four will be syncopated, they'll be slightly in front. That gives rise to the whole in front of the beat discussion. It is this 2 and 4 snap that gives the tune it's swing or energy and by clapping on that you're fuelling that energy. That's the analysis but you should be able to feel it, a bit like riding a bike without considering how you're actually doing it. But consider the Strictly sig tune; that's got a two in the bar feel to it, it's not meant to swing. So the audience appropriately clips on those two, which is 1 and 3. Although I'm sure I saw Carol Kirkwood clapping on 2 and 4 on Saturday.

As the lady said.............'oh dear'

It was all summed up brilliantly during a recent interview in a BBC Prom concert devoted to swing. Singer Elaine Delmar was asked to define swing. She said something along the lines of 'you know, you meet the man of your dreams and the music starts. He starts tapping his foot on one and three and you think................oh dear'.

Quite a few Pumas at the SE Bash yesterday. I recall at least (probably more) a BonaFide, a 900, three 500s and a 350. It's fast becoming my default amp for DB. Such a clean sound with the right eq easily achieved.

A great day seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Thanks for everything, Nik and Colin. We were very lucky to have such a great venue. Looking forward to next year, the Tenth. PS, thanks for the great eats, Sarah.

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1443180400' post='2872867'] Definition of perfect pitch? [/quote] You throw a banjo in a skip and it hits an accordion.

He's tried to write something atmospheric and in the process it's become tuneless and formless. Won't be remembered as one of the good ones. IMO, of course.

And bass fours as well! Well done Spencer, sounded good.

[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1442350439' post='2866348'] I laugh at your white four way mains, I use a white six way . . . ha! To be fair though I use one of those aluminium hop-up things to put my amp on, I put a black flag over it before the amp goes on..... [/quote] Is this a hark back to Victorian times when they used to 'dress' grand piano legs to avoid the possibility of the family/guests harbouring unseemly erotic fantasies?

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1442311213' post='2865884'] You'd love my black mains splitter then .... into which I plug my two orange mains cables. [/quote] Orange?!

One of the joys of jazz is that bands often come together as freelances. At best, the leader/fixer will set up a PA with leads routed sensibly round the back of everything where possible. But very often each guy will turn up with his own kit: the saxes usually have individual AERs on sticks and mains music stand lights, keyboard player a massive amp twice the size of the bass amp and completely overkill. Mercifully the drums seldom mic up but by the time all this is set up there's spaghetti everywhere. My only priority is to find a couple of square feet on the stage to stand where I don't find a cable under me. And don't get me started on the clown who turns up with a four- way mains splitter - IN WHITE........... I long to go back to the days when I played in a name band with everything all organised and a techy to sort it all out.

Do I win the cuddly toy?

In pitch, not volume.

As in wow and flutter. The music on my telly has been going up and down in pitch recently. Mainly repeats on the minor channels but today the link and trailer music on BBC Breakfast has been a bit painful. I always understood that it was down to unstable turntables and tape machines but didn't happen in the digital age. Can anyone explain why this is happening?

Got mine an hour ago, thanks Alex. I put it under a Puma 500 and plugged the DB in. It's very clear with a lot of bottom, much of which I eq'd out. Early days, everything sounds good in my room only to sometimes disappoint on the gig. I'm playing next Tuesday at a funeral after-party - yes, really - and I'll take it with me. Very much looking forward to gigging it. If it can equal a 12" for power handling and performance it may be my go-to cab. It's amazingly light. Watch this space.

I seem to remember a youtube of Toto doing it live with Lee Sklar. Can't find it tho. Anyone?

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1441879056' post='2862486'] This sort of thing pops up across most of the different decades and musical styles. I was a little taken aback to read about the battle of the trad jazzers vs the modernists at the 1960 Beaulieu Jazz festival: [url="http://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/jun/19/popandrock2"]http://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/jun/19/popandrock2[/url] You don't get that much of that with Jazz audiences these days! [/quote] Probably not, but in the fifties when jazz was king a toxic mix of squaddies - Brits and USA - and teddy boys meant that fights were not uncommon. We were on the same bill as the Humphrey Lyttelton Band at Oxford Town Hall and the whole crowd broke out into a massive fight. The few that didn't want to get involved got up the stage with the band. Afterwards Humph gave me a thumbs up and said his band always played better when there was a fight going on. A social club in Bracknell had to abandon its Saturday night do because, as one guy wryly put it 'there were too many dances during the fight'.

Great, thanks Bilbo. Quite a while since I've played that tune, great chord sequence to improv on.

Yes, we had a great big band in Reading in the sixties. Lead trumpet was a young Derek Chops Watkins, later of James Bond fame. There's nothing like playing in a BB although of course it's an expensive animal to get paying gigs with. We had some original Buddy Rich charts, one of who's time sigs was 'orgasmo furioso'. When I queried this it was explained that it meant ' go like f**k!

When I've got mine I'll do a back to back with a Wizzy 10 on a DB and post it here. If it arrives in time I'll bring it to the SE Bash.

Well, you nearly had me fooled there, HJ. I was ready to tell about my new chiropractor.

Just ordered no 0001. Been waiting for that for my DB.