It's SUCH a GREAT song ...

I couldn't agree more.

Gary

I also feel even the strong left hand (piano) with drums is still not as pleasingly smoothly blended as a bass (especially acoustic upright) as the piano bass tends to sound a bit too harmonically complex for my ears. The string bass seems to be sonically more appropriate.

Tony, this tune has always been on my must play list, along with As Time Goes By and Somewhere Over the Rainbow...they seem to be loved and recognized by a broader age range of listeners than most tunes, especially if you are playing only instrumentals.

"All the Things You Are" is another one that seems to fit in with the above.

They are all so rewarding to play.

Ian

People ask 'what is your favorite song?' and I always say it is impossible to have ONE out of all the songs and genres, but if I HAD to name one it would probably be "All The Things You Are" ... It is just beautiful and the changes are fun to work with ...

And you are absolutely right about the Acoustic Bass vs. the piano bass ... and the songs from the Great American Songbook just call for an upright acoustic bass ...

To realize just how important bass is, I sometimes switch off the drums while playing a style and it still works pretty good (you could probably still dance to it) but if I leave the drums on and switch off the bass, the style seems to lose direction pretty quickly.

I love starting out a tune with a style, first with both bass and drums turned off, bringing in first bass and then drums as it progresses. In fact some of my styles are edited to accomplish just that...usually the first variation being without the drums (or both bass and drums) with the subsequent variations adding them.

Of course, some players accomplish the same thing using Registration Memories.

Ian

Not the best sound but half of the pleasure is watching a great musician play.



Russ, I"ll get back to you soon! Same goes for Chas.

Great hearing from you guy. Made me remember all the years I spent absolutely worshiping the guy (Garner). Even suffered through and cringed the many times I heard would-be 'jazz lovers' refer to him as Earl GARDNER. Arrrrrggggg.

chas

A GREAT song no matter how it is played ...

For those who may not know, Ralph Sharon was Tony Bennett's piano player for over 50 years, until he retired ... he was 91 in Sept.
TB's current piano player is RI's own Mike Renzi ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Renzi

I always say that, for many forms of music, I want the best player in the group to be the bass.

Watching Garner do almost a counter balancing on his left had...the interplay with the upright player's line, is what makes this kind of playing full and melodic.

The most significant things I learned about jazz....and LIFE, to, for that matter, were from Ray Brown.

In a lot of ways, I try to be the "albino" version of my hero...on and off the bandstand.


Russ