Help with a jazz song

[lojo]

Hi

I've no reading or theory skills beyond basic chord charts , but I can play some jazz standards well enough to please the trained people I have played with (all be it low level fun)

However most songs follow a pattern I can commit to memory (AAbA type stuff)

I've been given a song "me and my shadow" , and whilst I can work out the feel and timing from the track , I cannot see any patterns and therefore I don't know how I am going to commit it to memory ?

I might be trying to punch above my weight , but I how do you guys do this without relying on reading?

[darkandrew]

I am a "rock" player with a very broad definition of "rock" that goes from pop to death metal, so when I had to play the bass parts for a production of Bugsy Mallone I used tab and a music stand but if you don't want to do this, then your best friend is interpretation - as long as it sounds alright then what does it matter? Will the audience know? Probably not, as long as (and here's the biggest secret of all - don't tell anybody else), as long as you play it in time. Honestly, if what you're playing is in time and sounds good then 99% of people aren't going to notice, and the other 1%, well, you can even win them over if you play with passion - after all by interpreting the piece you are demonstrating your own artistry and creativity and there's nothing wrong with that. Just play in time, be confident and relax - everone's come to have a good time, so enjoy yourself and everyone else will enjoy themselves too.

Edited August 30, 2016 by darkandrew

[ambient]

Do thye not give you lead sheets ?

Jazz bands are usually pretty cool with musicians having charts on stage.

Here's a copy of the lead sheet for it.

[attachment=226679:unnamed-1.jpg]

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Apologies for the reflection on the photos. Screen shots looked a lot better, but the site wouldn't upload them, so I had to faff and take photos with my phone. If you want to PM me, I'll email you the PDF.

Edited August 30, 2016 by ambient

[Dad3353]

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1472535255' post='3121833']
Hi

I've no reading or theory skills beyond basic chord charts , but I can play some jazz standards well enough to please the trained people I have played with (all be it low level fun)

However most songs follow a pattern I can commit to memory (AAbA type stuff)

I've been given a song "me and my shadow" , and whilst I can work out the feel and timing from the track , I cannot see any patterns and therefore I don't know how I am going to commit it to memory ?

I might be trying to punch above my weight , but I how do you guys do this without relying on reading?
[/quote]

I'd suggest that the 'secret', if secret there is, is 'immersion'. There are more than a few versions, by very different artists, out there, and the interpretations can be just as different. Compare, for instance, the arrangements made for the exuberant Sinatra/Davis Jr big band stuff, and the more sedate Judy Garland rendering. Much more of a traditional format, the latter, from which one can then realise just what liberties the Sinatra one has taken. Go back as far as the original, from 'Whispering' Jack Smith for a charming piano-only accompaniment, easy enough to work out. To hear what the bass could be doing on this, go to the quirky Peggy Lee version. Hard to listen to, I find, except for the bass line; it's almost a solo.
Of course, to many (including myself...) the definitive version is that of Morecombe and Wise, on the album 'The Greatest Novelty Songs', and fondly remembered from the TV shows of the day ("Bom - Ooh - a-Yakatatah..!").
Anyway, s'not that hard, if you listen to several, on Y'Tube or elsewhere. Don't over-formalise it, it's just as 'simple' (or just as 'complex'..?) as any other. Good luck with it...

Edited August 30, 2016 by Dad3353

[lojo]

Thanks all , I got sheets and have no issue working out the lines and timings etc. Its more about committing to memory something to me which runs like a script with no repeats rather than 2 lots of 16 bar sequences repeated in sections for example

So really asking, any tips to make this progression simpler to remember as I cant see patterns and repeats (which is how I normally approach music)

I know this sounds thick, I am untrained.

Edited August 30, 2016 by lojo

[ambient]

There's quite a few 'jazz songs', that don't break down into sections, and are maybe 32 bars that just just keep repeating.

Why are you trying to commit it to memory ?

Maybe analyse it, and break it down into how it's formed. I'd do that with anything before playing it, as you play more jazz, your ability to do that speeds up.

So, it's in Eb for a start, that's useful to know. Also there are quite a lot of II/V/Is, which are a really common element in jazz composition, e.g. Fm/Bb7/Eb, that's a II/V/I in Eb. That actually repeats quite often. Often the song is just moving between the V and the I, the V chord being played for 2 bars, that's what you get in the first 6 bars, so Eb to Abm, and Fm to Bb7, then you have Eb for 1 bar, and then a II/V/I in Eb, so that's the first 9 bars.

Break it down, learn a couple of lines at a time.

[Dad3353]

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1472571561' post='3122236']...any tips to make this progression simpler to remember...
[/quote]

In that case, I'd fall back on my tried and tested method from theatre acting. Learn the piece, starting from the end. Play the last few bars. Get them down 'pat', then go back a few bars and learn them, continuing through to the end; you'll be playing with confidence, as you've already got it down 'pat'. Once these two sections are ingrained, go back a few more bars... Rinse and repeat. Once you're get to the beginning, every time you play you're playing into territory which is more and more familiar, as it's been gone over so many times, and in its right context, too..! It can't fail, whatever the (apparent...) complexity of a piece, as long as one takes it in small 'chunks', and adds more only once the previous part is mastered. I doesn't take long for a shortish piece such as yours. As a bonus, any formal structure inherent in the work will become more and more evident as you repeat its performance, but that's just a bonus. Try it..? It can't fail.

Edited August 30, 2016 by Dad3353

[spencer.b]

It's a 2 16s tune ( the 2nd most popular standard form after AABA) so if it seems like a longer form it'll be reharms in the arrangement your doing. I remember bluffing my way through it on a trad gig recently, all pretty diatonic but the 2nd 4 bars of the 2nd 16 are different from the first which is a bit unusual as most 2 16s only differ in the 2nd half of each 16

[spencer.b]

Just had a look on ireal book app it's on the trad forum, look like pretty decent changes, if you haven't got the ireal book app I'd strongly recommend it (I'm not saying you shouldn't commit tunes to memory before any one starts!), it's particularly useful when you get handed an 8 page piano vocal chart of 32 bar tune you don't know

[lojo]

Thanks, all good stuff