Years ago, my partner on B-3, Tommy Johnston and I were at the Midland Tavern in Frankfort. A lanky kid came in with jeans and boots. He was dancing up a storm. When an elderly lady asked fr the Tennessee Waltz, my smart-ass partner began playing it as a jazz waltz (Think Gravy waltz).

The kid walked up and said, "man, don't mess with the tune". Johnson, then about 50 and a tough police judge in the daytime said, "Yea? You play, man". "A little trumpet", replied the kid.

"Well go get that bad boy", Johnson said with a smile, ready to bury the kid. He comes back in with a paper bag. Inside was a leather case. Inside was a top end Benge.

Johnson said "what do you want to play", showing a little concern when he saw what was in the bag. "Anything you call", said the kid.

Tom smiled, ready to slam the hammer on the guy and said "how about FOUR"? "Fine" said the kid. "What key" says Johnson. ""Stock" says the kid, and hit the first note. Johnson spent the rest of that song sweating and trying to keep up.

The kid was first chair in the Stan Kenton band, on vacation in Frankfort, visiting family.

"Sir", the kid said "I wasn't at all trying to be a smart-ass, but sometimes, the best thing is to play the tune".

Sometimes, improvisation that gets too far from the lead line, or too far into running alternate chords does a lot of harm. In this case, the only accomplishment was the woman thought we didn't know the tune. Not good in a dining room.

I don't f*** with the Jobim chords when playing "Ipanima" or "Misty", although I sometimes play Misty "Up".

Great kid, great player and a valuable lesson.


Russ

Sometimes 'South' turns out to be an interesting direction . BTW, I feel the same way; some tunes are just to 'perfect' to mess with.

chas

Nice freindly chatter, thank you Tony, John C.

" to perfect " or " too perfect ???

The devil made me do it !!!

aarrrrggg!!! You got me. I don't usually make that mistake; I think Donny edited my post . But you've started it now Tony, we'll be watching your every word . BTW, did you notice how much Donny is enjoying the direction this thread has taken?



chas

Actually I'm not ....I started this thread to see what other
Arranger KB players using the Organ Bossa Style
would sound like on their unit nothing fancy just a few short bars, Intro/Endings etc, It had nothing to do with "The Girl From Ipanema" that was just my example off the top of my head. Well we didn't hear much of that (expected) although I thank all who understood the (OP) and offered their versions. Instead we got,.....ahhhh what's the use we all know how this ended. Oh well I have since removed my demo & thank all who participated. And who knows if we keep arguing we'll reach 1000 views! Just sayin'...

Donny. Seriously. Stop deleting your own posts. If you question whether you might ever want to delete something while you are posting….don’t post it. I always enjoy your musical contributions and am highly envious of your pipes, enjoy your phrasing and general talent. But, I gotta say to post and delete is just rude.
Eddie

Eddie we'll just agree to disagree on that ...
but here you go buddy.

https://app.box.com/s/6fv6u1s08n39gimrxero9bdxv1odliyp


That said I think it's time I take a break from SZ...
enjoy the summer everyone.