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Grace Kelly and Leo P – Facebook Live Session #2

Duets!

I’ve been binge-watching videos by these two on YouTube lately. They are so much fun! I’ve enjoyed watching both of these artists separately, and I love the collaborations they’ve been putting out, so I figured it would make good material for the blog.

I first became aware of Grace a few years ago. She was somewhat of a ‘child prodigy’ and I heard her on the radio talking with Phil Woods, who seemed to be somewhat of a mentor to her. She has established credibility as a straight-ahead jazz saxophonist, but isn’t defined or limited by that label – she’s branched out in to all kinds of musical endeavors.

Leo became famous for his crazy dancing while busking around NYC. Videos of his performances quickly went viral. Many people we wrote him off as a joke, but if listen, yoully quickly hear that he can really play! As a bari player, I have a real appreciation of what he can do – even when standing still! I can’t imagine playing some of that stuff while pulling off those crazy dance moves at the same time. People used to say similar things about Lenny Pickett back in the day. If YouTube had existed then, imagine the things we’d see…

In most of these videos (there are many, and I’m working as fast as I can), Leo lays down a bass/ostinato part while Grace solos. But he also gets some licks in as well.

The performances are short and sweet. They are surprisingly tight (even when they are dancing through traffic in times square!) but they also manage to feel loose and spontaneous somehow. I’d love to see the background behind these – how much prep is done, what is planned vs. spontaneous, etc.

Most of all, these videos are a ton of fun. Jazz musicians are often considered dull and stuffy. Or, they are looked at as sellouts. I don’t appreciate either label. These two are the rising generation of musicians who are taking the music in to the modern age and embracing the social channels as outlets to connect with their audience. And I’m loving it!

Grace Kelly + Leo P - FB Live Session 2

 

  • Artists: Grace Kelly and Leo P
  • Source video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60A90ySWRWc
  • Instruments: Alto and Baritone Sax

Enjoy!

@SDartSax

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Charles Neville – Voodoo

Here’s one more Charles Neville track, this time on Tenor. I have a soft spot for this tune because an old band of mine used to play it in college. It’s super funky.

It’s a super short solo, only eight bars. The interesting thing is that he plays the entire solo in the bottom octave of the horn, which you almost never see in pop music. It doesn’t usually cut through the mix, so guys are always trying to play higher and higher to stand out. It takes a fair amount of control to play down low with control and nuance. He’s almost subtoning in spots, but the sound never cracks.

I included some of the backing lines in the transcription, but not in the video. It’s basically a two-bar phrase played over and over, sometimes repeated, sometimes not. There’s a key change at the bridge, but that’s just chorded in a section, no individual parts stand out.

The key is C# minor on the verses and solos, and Charles sticks strictly to the minor pentatonic. Always a safe choice, and it works here.

Charles Neville - Voodoo

 

  • Artist: Charles Neville
  • Album:  Neville Brothers – Yellow Moon
  • Track: Voodoo
  • Instrument: Tenor Sax

Enjoy!

@SDartSax

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Charles Neville – Yellow Moon

Charles Neville passed away this week, and has become my custom, I’m honoring him this week with a transcription of one of his most famous solos from the Neville Brothers hit Yellow Moon.

I love the Neville Brothers, and have been lucky enough to see them live a few times over the years. What an amazing feel, great songs, and of course, Aaron Neville’s voice is one of a kind.

I’ll be honest, I’ve not been a huge fan of Charles Neville as a saxophonist. Specifically, I always feel like he’s trying to play ‘outside’, but never quite pulling it off. Some players, like Maceo, never play outside. They don’t need to. Others, like David Sanborn, do it rarely, but when they do, it has a huge impact. And then there are players like Chris Potter for whom it is a higher art form, woven seamlessly in to the fabric of everything that they do. For me, playing outside the changes can add beautiful color, contrast, texture, and tension. But you have to do it with intention. The real payoff comes with the resolution, when you bring it all together. But it’s a fine line, and if it doesn’t feel intentional, or doesn’t resolve properly, it can cross that line and just feel like wrong notes.

In this solo, Charles is playing chromatically almost the entire time. That can also be used to great effect to build tension, which he does in this solo. I think he pulls it off well in this solo, although there are a few note choices that are questionable to me.

This track starts with a four bar solo before the vocal, and eight bar solo over the verse changes in the middle, and then another longer solo over the fade at the end – the same verse changes. I’ve included all three sections. You’ll need A LOT of air to get through the first solo. It’s basically two four bar phrases, and I could barely make it through each in one breath. There’s an interesting delay effect applied to parts of the solo, which makes the chromatic lines sound particularly dissonant.  I chose not to emulate that in my performance because it can make it hard to hear what’s going on.

I’ve been listening to a handful of Neville Brothers recordings this week, and the one thing that strikes me most about Charles’ playing is his tone. He has such a bright, pure tone on Alto that I almost mistake it for soprano sometimes. That’s hard to pull off without sounding shrill on Alto. I guess that’s one of the things that makes the Neville Brothers sound so interesting – Aaron Neville’s has such a tender, lilting quality to it, Charles’ sax playing is clear and bright, yet the rhythm section is funky and dirty. Contrast works.

Charles Neville - Yellow Moon

 

  • Artist: Charles Neville
  • Album:  Neville Brothers – Yellow Moon
  • Track: Yellow Moon
  • Instrument: Alto Sax

Enjoy!

@SDartSax

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Clarence Clemons – Edge of Glory

Shortly before his death in 2011, Lady Gaga invited Clarence Clemons to work with her on her Edge of Glory single. He recorded the video with her just days before he suffered a stroke. I understand that there was some controversy around the making of the video, but I kind of like it – it’s simple, and you get to see Clarence hanging out in the background doing his thing.

The song is a straight forward dance track, with a four-bar chord progression A-E-F#-D, but the solo is over a bridge that has a less-defined key center. It seems to float around, mostly A-ish.

The solo is 24 bars, and it pretty simple to play. Use lots of air on the high F#, he holds it for a while! The sax is pretty low in the mix, so it can be hard to hear at times. There’s another solo later in the track, but it’s even lower in the mix, so you can barely make out parts of it. I didn’t include it for that reason.

Clarence Clemons - Edge of Glory

 

  • Artist: Clarence Clemons
  • Album:  Lady Gaga – Born Yhis Way
  • Track: Edge of Glory
  • Instrument: Tenor Sax

Enjoy!

@SDartSax

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Clarence Clemons – Dancing in the Dark

Continuing on the Clarence Clemons kick…This is a short solo from the end of “Dancing in the Dark”. It’s very laid back and mellow, pretty easy to play. As usual, beautiful tone and delivery by Clarence.

The whole solo is in the key of Db, and happens over the fade at the end of the track. Clarence sticks to a major pentatonic throughout, so everything fits beautifully as you’d expect.

Clarence Clemons - Dancing in the Dark

 

  • Artist: Clarence Clemons
  • Album:  Bruce Springsteen – Born in the USA
  • Track: Dancing in the Dark
  • Instrument: Tenor Sax

Enjoy!

@SDartSax

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Clarence Clemons – Jungleland

More Clarence Clemons from Born to Run, this time – Jungleland. One of his most famous solos.

For me, the biggest challenge with this one is AIR and PITCH. These are long phrases, so being able to consistently support with an even tone and solid pitch requires lots of air. I clearly don’t do enough long tones at this end of the horn!

I like how restrained this solo is – it’s so melodic and simple. A lot of players would be tempted to fill the space with a ton of notes. The big man keeps it right down the middle. He soars on the high notes and doesn’t stray too far harmonically. It’s a bit repetitious, but it builds nicely.

Clarence Clemons - Jungleland

 

  • Artist: Clarence Clemons
  • Album:  Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run
  • Track: Jungleland
  • Instrument: Tenor Sax

Enjoy!

@SDartSax

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Clarence Clemons – Born to Run

I realize that I haven’t posted any solos from the Big Man, Clarence Clemons, yet. Sadly, he passed away in 2011. I never saw him perform live (or Bruce Springsteen for that matter), although I grew up on their music. This track was released when I was four!

I admit that I took Clarence for granted, and under-valued his contribution to the instrument. This was years ago when I was a big jazz snob. I was aware of him, but since he was playing pop/rock, I wrote him off as insignificant. Big mistake on my part!

Of course one of the great things about Bruce Springsteen’s music is that he played with a real band, one that stayed together for a long time. Although he was the front man and singer/songwriter, he wrote and arranged for the unique voices in his group – including Clarence.

Clarence Clemons has such a huge sound and presence – no one else could have contributed such iconic solos. And this is the type of solo that I can only reproduce to a point. Clarence had a special power to his sound, a growl that was always there, even when it wasn’t fully unleashed. I can’t duplicate that, and if I tried, it just wouldn’t be authentic. So I do my best and hope only to get close.

The solo on Born to Run is pretty challenging in the first few bars. The articulation is fast and clean – hard to keep up with at times. The expression that he adds with the subtle falls and bends are hard to reproduce without going overboard. It’s a master class in striking the balance between restraint and reckless abandon.

Clarence Clemons - Born to Run

 

  • Artist: Clarence Clemons
  • Album:  Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run
  • Track: Born to Run
  • Instrument: Tenor Sax

Enjoy!

@SDartSax

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Dave Koz – All I See is You

This week I’m adding a transcription requested by one of my students. This is another win-win situation, because he gets a free transcription of a song that he wants to work on, and I get content for my site that I wouldn’t have selected otherwise.

While I’m not a huge fan of ‘Smooth Jazz’, or Dave Koz in particular, it’s still great material to work on. The playing on this track is not technically very difficult, but it’s executed flawlessly. It takes a great degree of control and discipline to execute every note so consistently.

There isn’t a lot of improvisation in this track. It’s mostly an A-B-C structure where Dave plays the melody (either solo, or in harmony with other horns). At the bottom of the second page there is a breakdown section where Dave solos a bit more freely around the melody for a bit. Other than that, it’s mostly fills in and around the repeated melody lines.

I didn’t transcribe the harmony parts – I just went for what sounded like the main tenor line.

Fun trivia fact: Brian Culbertson is listed as co-writer. He and I are around the same age, and went to a jazz summer camp when we were in high school. He’s a great bone and piano player himself, and has a successful solo career as a smooth jazz artist. Well done Brian!

Dave Koz - All I See is You

 

  • Artist: Dave Koz
  • Album:  Saxophonic
  • Track: All I See is You
  • Instrument: Tenor Sax

Enjoy!

@SDartSax

P. S. Bonus Content! Here is the (somewhat) simplified version of the transcription – for ease of sight-reading. It leaves out many of the grace notes and ornaments, but is basically the same transcription.

Dave Koz - All I See is You (simplified)
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Wessell Anderson – Hark, the Herald Angels Sing

Sorry for the dry spell, looks like I got this one out just in time for the holidays! This Wynton Marsalis album is my go-to Christmas tradition. It’s a beautiful album, with very cool arrangements of the classic Christmas Carols. I’m pretty sure my family gets sick of me dragging it out every year, but I love it!

This is really the first time I heard Wessell Anderson. I’m really only familiar with his work in Wynton’s bands. He has such a beautiful sound, so round and full! He reminds me of a modern-day Cannonball Adderley. I really need to check out more of his catalog.

His playing on the melody is beautiful, pulling the time back just the right amount. His solo really swings, with a lot of very cool lines in it.

You may notice that I’m back to my Mark VI on this video. I haven’t played it singe I got my Conn, but I finally sent the Conn to the shop for a much-needed overhaul. I had a weird feeling that I might pick up the Mark VI and fall back in love with it instead of the Conn, but no. Although I much prefer the ergonomics of the Mark VI, the Conn outplays it by a mile! I’ve got to re-learn how to play the Mark VI I think since the Conn will be on the disabled list for awhile…

Wessell Anderson - Hark the Herald Angels Sing

 

Enjoy!

@SDartSax

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David “Fathead” Newman – I Got a Woman

I wasn’t sure what I was going to post this week. Then, as I was sitting in the barber’s chair this morning getting a haircut, I heard this old Ray Charles song on the radio. That was pretty unusual, because it’s not a “Ray Charles” kind of barbershop (are there any?)

Regardless, I heard the track and knew instantly this would be my project for the day. I’ve heard the track a hundred times at least, and I love the solo by David “Fathead” Newman. I should have known it was him, but I’m embarrassed to say that I had to look it up to find out.

The solo itself is pretty short, and technically easy to play. The hard part is getting Fathead’s sound and style. It’s kind of a major blues, but without the traditional blues changes. The only tricky part might be the ninth bar where he’s playing the trills from high D. Most people I know play this by adding one of the right hand side keys. On my horn, the E (topmost) side key in the right hand gives the best effect – like a minor third trill.

David Fathead Newman - I Got a Woman

 

  • Artist: David “Fathead” Newman
  • Album:  Ray Charles
  • Track: I Got a Woman
  • Instrument: Tenor Sax

Enjoy!

@SDartSax