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BOTM Dec 2018 - I Want to Talk About You

GCinCT

Seeker of truth and beauty
Café Supporter
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Oneonta, NY
I was honored to be asked by @nigeld to host the December BOTM. I happily accepted!

I chose a very pretty tune that I worked on in an improv class a couple of decades ago. It's the Billy Eckstine composition, "I Want to Talk About You". My mother is a big Eckstine fan and as today is her birthday, I think it's fitting on that level too.

A big thank you to @nigeld for locating the sheet music and providing the backing tracks which you can get here:
Dropbox - BOTM December 2018 - Simplify your life

In addition to the notes and backing track, the Band in a Box and MuseScore files are there for anyone who would like to change the tempo or key. The backing track is at a nice 60 BPM ballad tempo in the original key of concert Eb, which works nicely for Eb or Bb saxophones. The backing track plays through the progression twice. There is also a track with a vibraphone playing the melody that you can give a listen to.

I'm really looking forward to hearing what the talented musicians in the Cafe do with this wonderful tune.

Here is a version by the composer himself, the incomparable Mr. B:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah6Gig3QFNU


Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlxadNp8nlI


And John Coltrane loved this tune, recording it numerous times. Here is one:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4cQkkObYDY


I hope you all enjoy my choice! Thanks again, @nigeld.
 
Beautiful, that Coltrane version from Soultrane, circa 1958! Very different from the one I've listened to dozens of times, Live at Birdland about 5 years later. An intense study of how his style changed over those years. I can't wait to hear your versions. Start your engines recorders!
 
Beautiful, that Coltrane version from Soultrane, circa 1958! Very different from the one I've listened to dozens of times, Live at Birdland about 5 years later. An intense study of how his style changed over those years. I can't wait to hear your versions. Start your engines recorders!
Yes, the Live at Birdland is incredible. The cadenza is longer than his solo!
 
One of my favorite ballads, really a classic which does NOT get enough accolades. It's melody is dang MADE for sax, too !

Nice choice !
 
One of my favorite ballads, really a classic which does NOT get enough accolades. It's melody is dang MADE for sax, too !

Nice choice !
I agree completely. Very underrated ballad.
 
What an excellent tune and a new one to me. The only version I have in my iTunes collection is this fine recording by Cecli Payne on baritone. It starts at about 24:23 if the link below doesn't take you to the correct place.


Rhys
 
What an excellent tune and a new one to me. The only version I have in my iTunes collection is this fine recording by Cecli Payne on baritone. It starts at about 24:23 if the link below doesn't take you to the correct place.


Rhys

Wow! Thank you for that, Rhys. What a great recording! This tune sounds nice on bari. Hmm, we have some bari players in the Café, don't we? ;)
 
This is one live version with the cadenza mentioned above by @GCinCT.
It starts at around 5:00. A critic once described this kind of Trane's playing as "a man going for broke".

 
Great tune love the Coltrane version(s) Ella version is sublime too, look forward to hearing Cafe versions
 
Nice one! @GCinCT

This is my favourite version, and how I would sound if I recorded it myself ( well it doesn't hurt to fanaticise does it?).
View: https://youtu.be/f18cFeDnFTg
I had never heard that version, thank you so much. Beautiful! If you're going to fanaticize, go all out. I'll always be an alto player first, but there is something magical about a ballad on tenor.
 
Beautiful, that Coltrane version from Soultrane, circa 1958! Very different from the one I've listened to dozens of times,


The main difference, I notice, is that the early one is less in tune at the start but he does get round to off key noodling in the later one. A man going for broke? What broke? The horn? :rolleyes:. Does cadenza now have a new meaning. Self indulgence without regard to audience or band. I'm not a fan.
 
The main difference, I notice, is that the early one is less in tune at the start but he does get round to off key noodling in the later one. A man going for broke? What broke? The horn? :rolleyes:. Does cadenza now have a new meaning. Self indulgence without regard to audience or band. I'm not a fan.
Maybe not being blessed with great ears is a blessing , it sounded blessing great to me
 
Does cadenza now have a new meaning. Self indulgence without regard to audience or band. I'm not a fan.
I think that's the same idea of a cadenza Itzhak Perlman would play at the end of a Tchaikovsky Concerto except those were written.
I think those patterns and that way of thinking melodically/harmonically were a little more familiar to him by then. You can hear it being born on the SoulTrane version.
I also think the audience of Birdland ate it up, it's the Trane they came to hear and see. We can disagree, I love it as an exploration and a definitive Trane. I may not ever be even a decent saxophonist, but in 50+ years of listening I can hear, and that is the sh*t! It was a gift to all of us who loved his playing, since it was recorded for us. I never got to see him live. The concert I heard from the same tour is even more focused and amazing.

"To go for broke", to bet everything you have. In my mind, it's the opposite of "phoning it in". Does that make sense, or were you joking about not knowing the expression?
 
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