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BOTM April 2020: It might as well be Spring

B Flat

B Flat

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Well its the eve of April 2020 her in Australia, so I thought I'd better post April's BOTM as I wont have time in the morning.
Firstly a big thank you to randulo for his hosting duties throughout March 2020.
And of course to those who posted their efforts as well.

I've looked through the past BOTM tunes and didn't see this one, so I assume it hasn't been done in the past.

"It might as well be Spring" by Rodgers and Hammerstein.

There are many wonderful vocal versions of this on You tube.
And some great saxophone versions also.
Below is a link to sheet music and a backing or two, but more backings are available on you tube also.
I hope to see as many of you get involved as possible this month.

Box

app.box.com app.box.com


View: It Might As Well Be Spring - Tenor Sax


View: It Might As Well Be Spring

View: Houston Person - It Might as Well Be Spring
 
The key signatures for Eb and Bb Horns may look a little intimidating (being E major and A major respectively) but after only a few run throughs, I’m sure you’ll find that it actually falls under the fingers well.
So don’t let this prevent you from giving this lovely tune a go.
 
B Flat said:
The key signatures for Eb and Bb Horns may look a little intimidating (being E major and A major respectively) but after only a few run throughs, I’m sure you’ll find that it actually falls under the fingers well.
So don’t let this prevent you from giving this lovely tune a go.
Click to expand...

If the key bothers you consider buying 101 Jazz Songs (Alto Sax) from Hal Leonard (ISBN 978-1-4950-2339-2), the notation is in D major . (There is also a tenor version.) You would have to use Audacity or something similar to alter the backing track key but the book is not expensive (Ca$20.50) and has 104 jazz tunes in it in straight forward keys and arrangements, ( I think Wave is the only one in E)
 
Alternatively you can ask me to transpose the notation into the key of your choice, but you’ll need to work out the backing to suit.
I use muse score to transpose, so it’s not a big deal.
Personally I like it in the original key.
 
The song has an A A B A C structure of eight bar sections, so 40 bars for the form.

It can also be done as a bossa or other Latin feel at what seems like double the tempo, but the melody is still the same. So each section is 16 bars and the whole form has 80 bars.

The Stacey Kent recording I posted above has that sort of feel and is in concert C, which is the same key and same structure as one of the common Real Book lead sheets.

I made my own lead sheets and got Band in a Box to play something similar to Stacey kent's recording. There is a four bar guitar intro and the melody comes in at the end of the fourth bar, just before the drums and vibes.

I also made a sample recording where the melody is played on the first chorus. Here it is for anyone to use.

It Might As Well Be Spring - Box

Not a ballad, but a nice way to play it and a slightly easier key for anyone who wants to give it a go.

Rhys
 
Thanks to all for their submissions so far, but can you all just slow down with the posting of them as it’s becoming difficult to listen to them all.
Joking aside this is a lovely tune to play and well worth the effort of getting to know.
 
I transcribed the Stacey Kent recording with Jim Tomlinson's tenor sax and then made a BiaB backing track with the same sort of guitar backing that Colin Oxley provided for her. Because you wouldn't want to hear me trying to sing like Stacey, I transposed her vocal line onto soprano sax.

The guitar backing on its own sounded a little bare so I tried adding some drums and vibraphone but couldn't decide which mix I prefer. Let me know what you think.

It Might As Well Be Spring - Rhys sop + tenor Mix 1 with trio.mp3 - Box

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It Might As Well Be Spring - Rhys sop + tenor Mix 2 with guitar.mp3 | Powered by Box

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This was the first vocal that I have tried to transcribe and it's quite a challenge capturing the exact start and end of some syllables and some of the vocal inflections are different to what a saxophonist would probably use.

If anyone would like to see the transcriptions I did, here they are:

app.box.com

It Might As Well Be Spring - Stacey Kent & Jim Tomlinson V5 - Stacey Kent (Vocal).pdf | Powered by Box

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It Might As Well Be Spring - Stacey Kent & Jim Tomlinson V5 - Soprano Sax (Vocal line).pdf - Box

It Might As Well Be Spring - Stacey Kent & Jim Tomlinson V5 - Jim Tomlinson (Tenor sax).pdf - Box

Rhys
 

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