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May 2019 Sotm Funji Mama

trimmy

One day i will...
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Firstly thanks to @Colin the Bear for hosting April SoTM as always he’s done a great job.

@nigeld asked me to host this months SoTM and so here i am, throwing this great tune at you lovely members !

A song by Blue Mitchell from the 1965 album ‘The Thing to Do’ on the Blue Note label.
It’s a jazz calypso feel and can be played at varying tempo, 220bpm i think is the original version !
With the help of Nigel and @rhysonsax we have a few tempos for you to try out.
Nigel has kindly put together all you need here (Thanks Nigel)

Rhys has put together this lovely package (great backing track)
Fungii Mama - Box

Below are a few versions which are my faves, search YouTube for more inspiration.
View: https://youtu.be/9FvHCUoF5AM


View: https://youtu.be/FQJMKen8KqI


Hope you like the choice and we have some contributors to May SoTM
 
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Great tune - the Blue Mitchell original has been my ring tone for ten years or more. I always love getting a call.

A few other nice versions:

Kenny Barron:

Robert Jospe:

Alan Barnes and Bruce Adams:

Rhys
 
coincidentally, I just last week downloaded a Fungii Mama backing track, from a jazz clarinet grade 5 book, via Amazon for 99 pence.
I swear it has a weird extra bar or two in the structure, though it's played by pros.... can anyone confirm ?
 
I bought that ABRSM backing track too. It matches the chart in the AB Real Book and so has:
  • 2 bar intro
  • 32 bar head (AABA form)
  • 16 bar solo section (4x first four bars of the A section)
  • 1 bar (last bar of the A2 section) leading into ...
  • 8 bar bridge
  • 8 bar (last A section)
I spy an extra one (turnaround) bar after the solo section, leading into the bridge for the final time.

Does that make sense ?

Rhys
 
Just to explain the backing tracks in my Box.com directory: Fungii Mama - Box

Both backing tracks can be used with the same Bb or Eb lead sheets as they are in the original key of concert F.

The backing track called "Fungii Mama - Samba 185bpm backing with intro & stops V7.mp3" was made in BiaB (BiaB *.MGU file also provided if you want to play around with it). There is also an mp3 track with an electric guitar playing the melody on the first chorus only so you can hear an example of the melody line. This backing track has the following form:
  • 12 bar Intro with 4 bars percussion, add bass for 4 bars, add piano for 4 bars
  • 32 bar chorus for the melody - backing has stops in the same places as the Blue Mitchell original
  • 2 x 32 bar choruses for improvising on
  • 1 more chorus, including stops, for the melody, On the last A section there is an outro where you repeat bars 5-6 twice and then finish on bar 7

The other backing (Fungi Mama.mp3) was recorded for me about 12 years ago by a very good jazz pianist in the USA. He played it at a similar tempo to the original Blue Mitchell recording (fast !) and it has the following form:
  • Two bar count-in (in 2)
  • Straight into 32 bar chorus for the melody - backing has stops in the same places as the Blue Mitchell original
  • 3 x 32 bar choruses for improvising on
  • 3 x 32 bar choruses where the piano player improvises a solo (really well !)
  • 1 more chorus, including stops, for the melody, On the last A section there is an outro where you repeat bars 5-6 twice and then finish on bar 7
I'm looking forward to hearing what people do on this fun, but challenging, piece.

Rhys
 
I bought that ABRSM backing track too. It matches the chart in the AB Real Book and so has:
  • 2 bar intro
  • 32 bar head (AABA form)
  • 16 bar solo section (4x first four bars of the A section)
  • 1 bar (last bar of the A2 section) leading into ...
  • 8 bar bridge
  • 8 bar (last A section)
I spy an extra one (turnaround) bar after the solo section, leading into the bridge for the final time.

Does that make sense ?

Rhys

yeah it's that extra bar I'm tripping over, when playing the head from memory / soloing: I'm expecting 32 bars, 8+8+8+8
 
Nice take Rhys :thumb:
That’s a great start to the month
 
You wanted beginners to post in SOTM? I first put my lips to an alto mouthpiece not quite 16 months ago. (Yes, disclaimer, I've been playing other instruments for 50+ years.) This is the first day I worked on this and obviously, the melody is "modified", i.e., I can't play it exactly because I don't sight read. It isn't that I can't hear the right melody, it's that I can't remember it! Getting old is a mutha. Meanwhile, here it is, warts and all.

View: https://soundcloud.com/randulo/fungii-mama
 
@trimmy thank you, that's always nice to hear. I find this actually deceivingly hard to play. In fact, as a relative saxophone beginner, I find literally everything deceptively hard to play! With ballads, it's the long notes and sound, but with this kind of diatonic melody, it sounds easy but the first note followed by the 4-note staccato burst is really hard to to sound good on in the early days of studying.
 
I recorded a soprano version that I like even more, but I'll post it after a few other post theirs.
 
Enjoyed that Al, very good :thumb: very nice tone out of that alto also liked what you did with the improv
 
just got back from a little holiday, which included a little excursion to buy a saxophone...so here is its maiden recording. You can tell it's the first take from the very abrupt ending - out of the corner of my eye I saw the backing track coming to the end in audacity and panicked! Fun tune that I hadn't heard before, great choice Trimmy.

 
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