Body and Soul

[Littlewailer]

Been learning this tune for years. Decided to give it a go finally and my son starts to accompany me with various squaks and bangs.

Over all I think the sound quality has gone up from the previous clips. I'm learning a thing or two in Garageband.

I wanted to play the Melody and the First Chorus pretty bang on and then from there try and stretch out and play more like I would normally.

DeadAudiolink Removed

Enjoi.

 

[Wade Cornell]

Nice having Sean Jr singing and playing along. Always impressed by your technical improvement. Shows that a lot of practice is going on. Interesting choice you've made as this is very slow, a ballad, and quite long. You’re at your best playing up-tempo where technique and screaming altissimo convey excitement and urgency. Full marks for recognizing what may be hard for you and where you probably need to be pushing yourself into less comfortable territory.

The head is well played and your tone sounds good (even though you are still using that crap microphone?). The initial improvisation was a surprise as it was less of a contrast, but very firmly stated, had good ideas and space. Excellent stuff. After that it was a mix of keeping some of those elements and (seemingly) finding the need to throw all your technique at it. On the positive side you were able to find and execute lots of variations without repeating yourself. On the negative side it was more of a catalogue of technical playing than telling a story filtered through your voice/instrument. Cut down to half the length you could get away with this. At nearly 9 minutes it's a bit too much. Altissimo (IMHO) is a tool that should be used very sparingly when it sounds like screaming. You had a couple spots where you hit these notes cleanly which are just high notes. Too many other times it's a scream within a ballad with little or nothing being communicated other than the fact that you can play that type of screaming altissimo. This is a case of the technique playing the player. Would you have sung this piece this way?

Once again I heartily applaud your taking on what seems to be outside your comfort zone. You are 100% right, this is where you need to work, but it may require leaving behind 90% of all that technique you've worked so hard on. Underneath all of that what I heard was excellent. The phrasing was good, there was feeling behind those notes and the potential to sing. Don't cover it all up with a lot of unnecessary glitz which distorts and distracts from the essence.

 

[Littlewailer]

Oh Wade,

"You can't play over body and soul Like THAT!" He says.....

Yeah, at almost 9 minutes I probably would start screaming. But I get what you mean. I just thought it was a little funny

I started lessons with Tim Price and this is one of the tunes he's getting me to do studies in. I've been managing to get all my practicing done too which is good. But it means a lot of practicing standards and I know how you feel about those especially since it is not my forte. Well I'm trying to make it more my forte and perhaps even My fortissimo.....

But in regards to the altissimo. I think it's a matter of how it sounds. IE clean vs Gritty. I don't think there's any reason not to use altissimo in a tune like this. It does however need to sound cleaner than what I'm doing in some spots on this tune.

 

[daveysaxboy]

I agree with Wade.As you know i think your a good player and enjoy your funk stuff alot.I personally think you should ask Santa for a better microphone.The 1 you got is killing your sound.You sound a different player on youtube,much nicer tenor tones.I still think you need to play alot less on your jazz blows.Your style and technique is great but again for my thoughts just needs tamed some.Still its a great recording,some lovely runs,ideas there.This is just my opinion and i know we all like,hear our own thing which is the most important thing.If we like thats all that matters they say.

 

[Chris]

Loads of good things going on Sean. But it takes a lifetime to learn to play the space. Learn how to say things without playing a note, let the pause ride a little longer to build tension. I know it depends on who you are playing for, jazz based audience might want loads of ideas. The dinner party might just want an embelished melody.. It's all good, trick is knowing when to play what..

Chris..