arthur rotfeld
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"All of Me"
Some of my gigs are society work and I play standards like this one, and too often I play fairly literal readings of the heads. I get a kick out of how the old school guys played these tunes in such a hip way, without ever stating the original melody--it's developed from the get-go. I guess that's what drew me into this..... the old masters didn't just play the tune, then improvise, it's all improvised (to some extent)!
First off, check out Hodges, a tremendous musician and one of the most expressive voices in jazz, IMO. Here he's performing "All of Me" with Ellington in the late 50s. This is a different version than what I transcribed, but he has some of very similar licks and phrases. You can hear some of the beautiful playing I'm trying to capture.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp02zBtV6T0
So here's my take of his first chorus from Live At The Sportpalast, Berlin, not quite as dynamic, but I tried, getting the notes was hard enough..... I bumped the transcription up from Hodges' concert Ab to C to perform with my playalong track. You can get a glimpse of the notated the solo at the beginning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFZF9pzPT7I
It's the TGP, so........my mid '90s 335 with 10's, straight into Dr. Z Maz 38, volume and master both were low, around 9:00. Fralin unbuckers, neck pickup, tone rolled down a bit.
Some of my gigs are society work and I play standards like this one, and too often I play fairly literal readings of the heads. I get a kick out of how the old school guys played these tunes in such a hip way, without ever stating the original melody--it's developed from the get-go. I guess that's what drew me into this..... the old masters didn't just play the tune, then improvise, it's all improvised (to some extent)!
First off, check out Hodges, a tremendous musician and one of the most expressive voices in jazz, IMO. Here he's performing "All of Me" with Ellington in the late 50s. This is a different version than what I transcribed, but he has some of very similar licks and phrases. You can hear some of the beautiful playing I'm trying to capture.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp02zBtV6T0
So here's my take of his first chorus from Live At The Sportpalast, Berlin, not quite as dynamic, but I tried, getting the notes was hard enough..... I bumped the transcription up from Hodges' concert Ab to C to perform with my playalong track. You can get a glimpse of the notated the solo at the beginning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFZF9pzPT7I
It's the TGP, so........my mid '90s 335 with 10's, straight into Dr. Z Maz 38, volume and master both were low, around 9:00. Fralin unbuckers, neck pickup, tone rolled down a bit.
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