Nov 2016 - Summertime

Okay, let's try again..

hehe...and again, and again and again :) at least that's what I do :)

...I find this piece (that's supposed to be harsh and brash) to be far more expressive, too.

Yeah, tbh I agree with both statements, it's definitely harsh and brash, but does seem to be expressive too. Maybe that's the way you play it though. I've tried a few mouthpieces, and currently always go back to my Berg (105 2, SMS).

I had a pay with a Link for a while, but don't really like it's 'fat' sound, I'm sure I sounded dead on it. The slightly thinner more focussed Berg seems to suit me way better...at least at the moment. (although I have also tried at least half a dozen other Bergs, metal and hr, and none of them sound anything like as good as the first one I got).
 
You may have seen on another thread I started that I have been transcribing a version of Summertime by the great (but underappreciated) Budd Johnson. I sort of got through the transcription, but the double-time chorus he plays is too darn hard for me to get close to playing. So I have recorded this cut down version missing out that and the piano solo by Earl Hines.

Summertime - Rhys sop V01a.wav - Box

I still need to tidy up the transcription, but do check out the original. I hope Budd doesn't spin too much in his grave.

Rhys
 
It's personal I know, when you feel it's ok to let neone else hear your playing, but my story is that I've tried to learn several time in that past and always gave up after a couple of months. It really is just the postings I've made on this site that has made me carry on this time.

I don't think there's a lot wrong with either version and the second was a vast improvement on the first so if you can up it that quickly what will happen after a few practice plays and your really comfortable with it.
I thought your tone was great with very little wobble on the long notes and you made the impro very interesting and still part of the tune to me it was a very good rendition and your making it look quite easy what more can you want
 
Still sleet and greyness here. Really missing the warm rain of Summertime'

I guess it wasn't a 100% appropriate song choice for this time of year...in my defence, I had just returned from the Maldives, so was still in a holiday from of mind :)

Good version Colin, I'm currently going through other versions, seeing what idea I can take from them.
 
...and the second was a vast improvement on the first so if you can up it that quickly what will happen after a few practice plays...
One of the things I love about being a beginner is that pretty much every time I play it sounds better. Sadly I think I've now reached the stage where this is no longer quite so obvious. Of course I'm still improving, but now the changes are a bit more subtle.

Actually interesting (read 'embarrassing) to look back at some of my early attempts, the timing was funny, I was playing the same tune as the backing, but at a different speed :)
 
I still need to tidy up the transcription, but do check out the original. I hope Budd doesn't spin too much in his grave

Hey Rhys, that's pretty good. I may have another go on sop myself before the month is out, but I need to play it a bit (lot) more before it doesn't sound painful and the dogs won't let me :)
 
That's pretty good eunza, really smooth. I think you can push it a bit more....but maybe that's because my ears are a bit deaf from SCUBA diving yesterday :)

Some diving friends of mine just got back from Mexico, just approaching summer is a good idea to go, maybe I should check the flights.
 
One more version. I was really quite happy playing this, it's far from perfect and in fact there are a definite couple of mistakes in it, but more about things like understanding where I was in the backing track. Hearing the chord progression work with my playing etc. Hearing where the beat was, all that stuff that just a few short weeks ago I had absolutely no idea on.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97346875/Summertime20161124.mp3

So, maybe this isn't an example of my best work, but it's a reasonable sample of where I am now compared with last month, or maybe even last week :)
 
One more version. ............................................... of where I am now compared with last month, or maybe even last week :)
It feels like the lullaby it is in the opera, which is a lot more than can be said for Mindi Abair's version which I defy any baby to go to sleep to.
 
Thanks, I'm copying the version from Stuart at Woodwind Exchange which definitely has that feeling (and obviously manages it far better than I do). However I don't mind people doing something else with a tune, it doesn't always work, but at least they tried something different. And if people only copied what went before then we wouldn't have Jeff Buckley's amazing version of Cohen's Hallelujah:)

I still want to try Mark Maxwell's 'smooth jazz' version of this. I don't actually like it as much as the version I've been playing, but it is something different to try. Also I think my setup is more suited to that than this lullaby version actually (that's my excuse neway :))
 

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