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March BOTM - 'My Funny Valentine'

Hi,
I feel very honoured, thanks. You know, Alto is the hardest instrument to play for me. Maybe because it's the instrument I care about the most. And still I struggle...
BTW: 1 is Selmer Mark VII, 2 is Selmer Reference 54, 3 is Yanagisawa 992.

Cheers,
Guenne
 
I`m afraid to say I`ve been the victim of a very uncharacteristic GAS attack in the last week or so , a new £20 mic and an old £180 True Tone stencil which only just plays thanks to "pledge lemon" and here it is after only 40 mins playing in the pledge polish.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_music.cfm?bandID=1241900

Comments on the great takes and singing this month will be forthcoming I promise. They are all excellent
 
@Clivey A very nice sound and a 'polished performance' . Glad of your post, as the initial exhuberence seems to be on the usual wane, a whole weekend passed without a single post! Maybe everyone was off gigging?
 
Nothing like a bit of 'spit & polish' to get things right Clive:thumb: You make it sound very good, still sounds like you though which is a good thing:) Also is that the mic Colin was talking about??? Sounds good as well, what do think about and how do you rate it??
 
Nothing like a bit of 'spit & polish' to get things right Clive:thumb: You make it sound very good, still sounds like you though which is a good thing:) Also is that the mic Colin was talking about??? Sounds good as well, what do think about and how do you rate it??
@Chris. Just home from work .Yep it`s the same as Colins.A BM-800 condenser using phantom Power. I bought it on the strength of his vocal recording. My electrovoice ND 257 is not as good in my opinion,. re sax recording I`ve not had enough time to really try it fully but it feels like it`s got potential.
 
Very nice jbtsax,

did you produce the Backing Track in BiaB?

Cheers,
Guenne
 
@Clivey I'll be interested to see how you get on Clive, I've got the 'SamsonC01' at the moment, so a change might be on the cards.
@jbtsax now that was a cool version John, nice Desmondesque feel on the solo as well. I presume you used BiaB for the backing. If you ever want to try 5/4 using the realtracks. Put the song in 3/4 and use the f5 button to edit the bars to give 3 beats and 2 beats every pair of bars and enter the chords to fit. Any music you print off looks very wrong BUT it does sound ok..


Had some time for a 3rd version, thougth less would be better and more space, but trying to play wrong from a sheet is harder than it looks..

:w00t:"Odd Funny Valentine":w00t:

Chris...
 
But that just give you midi, if you then change the individual tracks Biab will play them in 4/4 not 5/4, the only true 5/4 instrument track are the RealDrums. The best way to get 5/4 is as i posted above Colin..
 
Thanks for the compliments all and thanks Chris for the 5/4 tip in real tracks. I was wondering if that would be possible to do that.
 
- 'My Funny Valentine' (Four 8* JvW - La Voz medium - 2013):
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12526490

Hope to record a new version of this tune later this month with another backing and mouthpiece.

I wanted to try an alto version (I have that urge about once a year!) and took my Otto Link 9* alto mouthpiece with me to the recording room of a friend that I can use once a month. He has a Yamaha Custom alto that I'm allowed to use, but (fortunately for you!) I could not get it in tune without the risk of completely destroying the neck cork.

So I used my tenor and an old tenor Otto Link mouthpiece from my collection (a 1940's Tone Master, refaced from 5 to 8) for my new take. Still sounding dark and old school (which I like), but this time not as stuffy as the 2013 version on the 1930's Four**** mouthpiece posted above.

I used the nice backing of Chris (thanks again my friend :)), from which I found the piano a bit loud this time. Here is my first (and only!) take, recorded without much preparation (as usual!):

- 'My Funny Valentine' (Tone Master 8 - Plasticover 2 - 2015):
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13072988
 
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Peter, enjoyed the tone and the way you played the main theme to this one. Also you seemed a little more restrained on the solo section?:)

Sometimes I think just jumping in and recording something is great practice in itself. It gives you no time to work things out and you have to rely more on your ear. It almost becomes genuine improvisation rather then a remembered solo. It would have been good to hear an alto version from you, as if I recall you still have that really nice tone on alto as well:)

Chris..
 
Thanks Chris :).

I was indeed in a more restrained mood yesterday evening when recording and the smaller tip mouthpiece (I normally play 10*) also helped (I will post another example recorded yesterday on SOTW B&I thread soon)!

Actually all my submissions here and on SOTW are quick and dirty because I don't have much time to prepare and play the horn. Positive side is that they are spontaneous and fresh (sometimes!), but downside is or can be that all solo's are sounding alike using the same licks or paterns too frequently. That's what I hear often in my own playing, but it is like it is!

Thanks again for your comments and for all your efforts here and on SOTW to give us the opportunity to play and record with your very nice backing tracks. It's much appreciated, what would we be without you :).
 
@jbtsax nice Desmondish feel to playing. Just goes to show what an adaptable bunch jazzers are!

@Chris I agree with Trimmy your best take 3 yet.

@mrpeebee liked the considered feel of your latest post. Like Chris would have liked to hear an alto take, beg borrow but please don't steal one, you'd probably sound graeat on a $10 chinese crapophone.
 
@mrpeebee liked the considered feel of your latest post. Like Chris would have liked to hear an alto take, beg borrow but please don't steal one, you'd probably sound graeat on a $10 chinese crapophone.

Thanks :)!

I actually have an alto myself, but it's an old unknown brand from the 60's (Klingsor) that urgently needs some technical attention! But since I only play it once a year at max I don't give that much priority! Using the alto of my friend would have been a nice option, but as mentioned I couldn't get it working with my alto mouthpiece. Might try it next time with his mouthpiece, but he is into Candy Dulfter kind of stuff using a high baffle mouthpiece, so that will most probably sound a bit strange when played by an old school Texas Tenor wannabe player like me (without alto chops)!
 
It's gone rather quiet and I've been away for a few days so I thought I might encourage a few more posts by doing another myself.
This is on one of my first proper saxes a Leblanc Rationale 100 alto which I did try to sell but failed, it hasn't had much playing of late and could probably do with a bit more playing in.

 
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