Midweek Backing Track(s) - Your Choice 01.12.22

[ASATKat]

I did another take on Stella, Mikejazz said my tone needed some attention and he was spot on. I spent all my time yesterday learning the tune and gave nothing to my tone. In reality it was too loud, eq too bassy, and worst of all like an idiot I had my overdrive on, it's a smooth od and my attention was on my note choices. No excuse, very unpro. So I turned it off and fixed the eq and volume, and I think I played a little better, just a little. It does sound better and my gear is fine. To add to my dumbness, I heard the distortion and though I could have a tech problem with my recorder or the amp itself, like in broken. That was really dumb.

Thanks again Mike

Here is the new and improved version

 

[klasaine]

That is an outstanding track Ken - great playing and tone, no thanks to that jazz box !

That (mim) Tele with the CC pkup gets a better 'jazz tone' than my 335. No lie.

 

[Alan L Cole]

That (mim) Tele with the CC pkup gets a better 'jazz tone' than my 335. No lie.

Stella sure liked it's tickle. It sounded great.

 

[Mikejazz]

I did another take on Stella, Mikejazz said my tone needed some attention and he was spot on. I spent all my time yesterday learning the tune and gave nothing to my tone. In reality it was too loud, eq too bassy, and worst of all like an idiot I had my overdrive on, it's a smooth od and my attention was on my note choices. No excuse, very unpro. So I turned it off and fixed the eq and volume, and I think I played a little better, just a little. It does sound better and my gear is fine. To add to my dumbness, I heard the distortion and though I could have a tech problem with my recorder or the amp itself, like in broken. That was really dumb.

Thanks again Mike

Here is the new and improved version

Reply while listening, now you got a perfect jazz tone and vibe. Like the way the notes soar over the chords.
Regarding mistakes, we all do them, and none of us are pros, except maybe Klasaine, he is top.
I find much more productive if we all do some constructive criticism, helping us all to improve and evolve.

 

[Mikejazz]

Here's my take on #3:

Smooth laid back blues playing, cool outside notes and quick runs

 

[klasaine]

Regarding mistakes, we all do them, and none of us are pros, except maybe Klasaine, he is top.

If it's any consolation, I recorded the two sections of melody first and then recorded a solo.
I've been playing jazz since I was a kid (I'll be 60 this year) but I don't play Stella everyday. I practiced playing over the changes for about an hour before I hit the record button. Also, there's an edit just after the second chorus starts (maybe bar 3 ish) and I continued on from there. So the solo is really two takes. I also punched in the rubato section at the end. *All totally normal stuff when you're "making a recording" (there's tape edits on Blue Note records going back to the late 50s).
*Most of my motivation for doing these BTs is to actually get better at recording myself. I do of course have a lot of fun playing over all the different grooves.

 

[ASATKat]

If it's any consolation, I recorded the two sections of melody first and then recorded a solo.
I've been playing jazz since I was a kid (I'll be 60 this year) but I don't play Stella everyday. I practiced playing over the changes for about an hour before I hit the record button. Also, there's an edit just after the second chorus starts (maybe bar 3 ish) and I continued on from there. So the solo is really two takes. I also punched in the rubato section at the end. *All totally normal stuff when you're "making a recording" (there's tape edits on Blue Note records going back to the late 50s).
*Most of my motivation for doing these BTs is to actually get better at recording myself. I do of course have a lot of fun playing over all the different grooves.

For what it's worth, all my playing here at twanger is in one take. My recorder is my Zoom H4nPro, it records pretty good but only 4 tracks. I can't cut and paste, I can't do much, I can bounce, I can't delete a section. That means one take, four tracks, make something nice with it.
So Stella was one take, like a live gig.

 

[ASATKat]

One more thing about Stella. Traditionally Stella has been a tune to play real jazz over. Stella has lots of iim7 V7 Imaj7 "Dm7 G7 Cmaj7" chord changes in it. Jazz says when playing over a V7 or G7 chord you play "altered tension". In school they taught me to use the G "Altered Dominant" scale to get that altered tension or "out sound". That is the big deal with this sort of jazz.

I did not use the Altered Dominant scale over any of my playing, I played it 95% "inside", I found the key of Bb major a safe harbor, a sense of home.

My Berklee trained teacher in college would have failed me big time because I didn't go out much, when I did touch on an out note it wasn't really a part of the Altered Dominant scale, that's not what I was thinking.

No one in our group of improvisers played the classic bebop language,, for the most part we all played "inside" the scales of the chord,, and that is fine, but this outside jazz language is what the great players like John Abercrombie bring and is more or less expected with this tune.

This is a 1-1/2 minute clip of the late great John Abercrombie playing Stella with this traditional bebop language. I love it, can't do it but I love it.

I never get lost because I >hear< the chord changes in John's playing, just as much as if someone was strumming the chords.

Also, it's amazing he never looks at the neck.

 

[PatrickM01]

Thanks Alan. Itried #3

 

[Phrygian77]

YGL-3A Mark III that I happened to have on my bench this week into my reactive load and Torpedo CAB M. I'm most playing the Cavalier Lion King neck pickup in this Tele, and switching to a La Brea bridge at around 3:17. Ironically at 4:20 I grabbed the reverb knob. I wish I had done that sooner, it was kind of a cool effect just noodling with it.

 

[ASATKat]

Reply while listening, now you got a perfect jazz tone and vibe. Like the way the notes soar over the chords.
Regarding mistakes, we all do them, and none of us are pros, except maybe Klasaine, he is top.
I find much more productive if we all do some constructive criticism, helping us all to improve and evolve.

Yea, soaring over chords vs playing 16ths. That's something I've spent much of my hours contemplating.
It's all about the quick twitch response imo. Bill Frisell gave me "permission" to play less notes and more "tapastry" or chords that hang in space. As far as quick twitch and Frisell, yes he does have it and he can play fast but he hears his own thing and it's slower.

And then there is the blues bend. Better understood as a sonic contour, not just a straight slope up or down.
I found that well executed bends can follow the same contour as a rapid run of 16ths or 16th note triplets or whatever, a bend can trace the picked contour of a phrase. So that became something I use a lot to avoid those damn blazing picked 16ths.

 

[ASATKat]

YGL-3A Mark III that I happened to have on my bench this week into my reactive load and Torpedo CAB M. I'm most playing the Cavalier Lion King neck pickup in this Tele, and switching to a La Brea bridge at around 3:17. Ironically at 4:20 I grabbed the reverb knob. I wish I had done that sooner, it was kind of a cool effect just noodling with it.

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As beautiful as it comes,

 

[Phrygian77]

As beautiful as it comes,

I mean, I would not say that, but thanks! I don't get to do much blues stuff in the country band that I'm in. I played through a few bars to get a feel for what I was going to do, and then just hit record. I tried a couple more takes, but it just went downhill, so I kept the first. My timing isn't great.

 

[ASATKat]

I mean, I would not say that, but thanks! I don't get to do much blues stuff in the country band that I'm in. I played through a few bars to get a feel for what I was going to do, and then just hit record. I tried a couple more takes, but it just went downhill, so I kept the first. My timing isn't great.

Dang, you're right, you suck, lol

 

[clayville]

Thanks Alan. Late to the party. I took on #4 with the same ol' blues licks in a slightly different context... wouldn't call this my finest hour but it was fun to try.

 

[Mikejazz]

Thanks Alan. Late to the party. I took on #4 with the same ol' blues licks in a slightly different context... wouldn't call this my finest hour but it was fun to try.

Great nasal tone and bluesy stuff. Outro is a blast ! Kudos

 

[chris m.]

Thanks for challenging us with S by S. I gave it a shot on clarinet and guitar. Definitely had to do some woodshedding. I freely
admit that real jazz chops are tough for me....and something to work on!

 

[belleswell]

Thanks again Alan for the tracks.
Better late then never. Thanks for the listen.

 

[ASATKat]

Friday Night Alone Blues, for the woman love I've never met,

 

[Alan L Cole]

Great precipitation this week - it's raining tracks! Keep 'em coming.

Here's my take on #2: