Author Topic: 50th Anniversary (Read 190 times)

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

adriaan · « **Reply #1 on:** March 03, 2009, 01:05:41 AM »

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

terryc · « **Reply #2 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.

adriaan · « **Reply #3 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 ...

pas · « **Reply #4 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.

3rd_ray · « **Reply #5 on:** March 03, 2009, 07:35:46 PM »

Excellent tune! I like these old videos...

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

I wasn't able to find the Brian Melvin version.

hydrargyrum · « **Reply #6 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.

David Houck · « **Reply #7 on:** March 04, 2009, 07:40:33 AM »

Mike; that Miles and Coltrane video is very cool!

terryc · « **Reply #8 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!

dadabass2001 · « **Reply #9 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

southpaw · « **Reply #10 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.

terryc · « **Reply #11 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.

adriaan · « **Reply #12 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.

adriaan · « **Reply #13 on:** March 06, 2009, 04:05:26 AM »

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

terryc · « **Reply #14 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!!!