Alembic Guitars Club

Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: David Houck on March 02, 2009, 08:26:41 PM

Title: 50th Anniversary
Post by: David Houck on March 02, 2009, 08:26:41 PM

Today is the 50th anniversary of an exceedingly important tune in the history of music.
So What (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEC8nqT6Rrk)

Title: 50th Anniversary
Post by: adriaan on March 03, 2009, 01:05:41 AM

Dave, exceedingly important as it is (arguably) the first tune where the bass takes the lead?

Title: 50th Anniversary
Post by: terryc on March 03, 2009, 01:19:02 AM

I totally agree and there have been a few cover versions...Ronny Jordan does a funky version with a cool swing part in the middle.
Played it many times, the arrangement sometimes catches other people out if they miss the semitone change to Ab.
A great tune that has stood the test of time.

Title: 50th Anniversary
Post by: adriaan on March 03, 2009, 01:33:14 AM

It will also catch the bassist out if you're playing it at the Ronny Jordan speed, and you forget that the theme starts just after the 1 on the very last measure of the AABA form. Ah - the memories ...

Title: 50th Anniversary
Post by: pas on March 03, 2009, 05:19:56 AM

Check out the version by Brian Melvin on his disc Standards Zone...more upbeat than Miles version.  Oh, and they have a bass player on that session who is not too shabby...Jaco Pastorius.

Title: 50th Anniversary
Post by: 3rd_ray on March 03, 2009, 07:35:46 PM

Excellent tune! I like these old videos...
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8QhjwVy7Ng&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8QhjwVy7Ng&feature=related)
 
Too cool!
 
Here's Ronny Jordan's version (I never heard it before)...
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPAQUpW-wdc&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPAQUpW-wdc&feature=related)
 
I wasn't able to find the Brian Melvin version.

Title: 50th Anniversary
Post by: hydrargyrum on March 04, 2009, 04:24:21 AM

I'll never forget the first time I heard Kind of Blue.  I was about 20, and in college, and I think I went through one of the greatest musical revelations of my life within the period of about an hour.

Title: 50th Anniversary
Post by: David Houck on March 04, 2009, 07:40:33 AM

Mike; that Miles and Coltrane video is very cool!

Title: 50th Anniversary
Post by: terryc on March 04, 2009, 11:57:27 AM

The Ronnie Rordan version is excellent, there is a second version where the swing middle part is extended with Ronnie playing a nice solo.
One band I was did that version...was always a winner as most audiences know the original version by Miles..which is really hard to beat at any time!

Title: 50th Anniversary
Post by: dadabass2001 on March 04, 2009, 05:07:14 PM

Thanks for both of these links , Mike.
I got turned on to So What by a keyboard player (Lisa) at a jam in Aurora about 8 years ago.  
Okay, I was sheltered (perhaps blinkered) as a child.  
Frequently when we get stalled on-stage (waiting for sound check or a broken guitar string) I'll softly start All Blues just to see if anyone in the (young) crowd notices
 
Mike

Title: 50th Anniversary
Post by: southpaw on March 04, 2009, 06:45:41 PM

Terry, a question; you mentioned Ab change in So What.  I have always played it in the key of Dm with the bridge moving up a half step to Eb. Everything I have read supports that too, including this months Bass Player Magazine with Paul Chambers on the cover.  Perhaps the Ab was simply Ronnie Jordan's version?
Thanks.

Title: 50th Anniversary
Post by: terryc on March 06, 2009, 03:08:21 AM

I mean on the theme, the bass starts on G in myxolydian them moves up to Ab, I know the whole tune is Dm to Eb when it gets rolling.

Title: 50th Anniversary
Post by: adriaan on March 06, 2009, 04:00:50 AM

Terry - it's actually Dorian mode. That's the minor scale, but with a b7 (ascending as well as descending).
 
It's one of the Gregorian modes - on a keyboard, you pick any white key as the key, and you hit only the white keys as you go along. Dorian starts from D - but obviously you can play minor with a b7 in any key.
 
IIRC, this was from the system before they started adding black keys on organ keyboards. But it is a little confusing, because the first key to be added moved Bb away from its white key to add B natural. The Germans still call a B an H - and a B in German is what the rest of the world considers a Bb.

Title: 50th Anniversary
Post by: adriaan on March 06, 2009, 04:05:26 AM

Ah well - you must have meant that the intro to So What is in mixolydian.

Title: 50th Anniversary
Post by: terryc on March 06, 2009, 12:19:15 PM

adriaan..yep that is what I meant but I do get the other stuff...and we all thought that music was simple!!!