#33: On The Sunny Side Of The Street

This is humiliating. Not only did I upload the wrong song, but NOBODY NOTICED! Come on, people!

On The Sunny Side Of The Street

#33: On The Sunny Side Of The Street

This song makes me think about eggs.

EDIT: THIS IS ACTUALLY "PENNIES FROM HEAVEN".  SORRY, I'M TAKING IT DOWN.

On The Sunny Side Of The Street

#32: On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever)

For some reason I have it in my head that Colleen knows this song. Is this true?

On A Clear Day

#31: Summertime

So, I took a whole week off with the inauguration and a grad school interview. Hope you're still listening!

"Summertime" is certainly my most popular song. I play it almost every day, and get compliments every time. On multiple occasions customers have booked me for a party immediately upon hearing this. Yet my arrangement is exactly the sort of treatment that my own mother often rails against: she believes the song must be played as a lullaby. What do you think?

Summertime

#30: Eighty-One

Here's a Miles Davis Quintet number that ought to get played more. Go buy "E.S.P." today.

Is it poor blogging etiquette to change the post date and time so I can continue to pretend I'm putting up a new song each day?

Eighty-One

#29: Embraceable You

More Gershwin. (Yawn.)

Embraceable You

#28: Just A-Sittin' And A-Rockin'

Sorry I fell a little behind this week. This is one of my favorite Duke Ellington tunes. I learned it from Art Tatum.

Just A-Sittin' And A-Rockin'

#27: A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square

I will totally cop to having learned this one from the Manhattan Transfer, back in my junior high school show choir days. Remember them?

A Nightingale Sang

#26: All Blues

Karen was in the store yesterday listening, so my playing was unusually inspired. Right?

All Blues

#25: Sister Sadie

This is a Horace Silver tune which we did a big-band arrangement of in high school.

Sister Sadie

#24: I've Been Born Again

Courtesy of the Lutherans.

My music for this tune has the following instructions penciled in:

1, 2) Regular

3) Instrumental

4) Music sporadic

5) Softly

6) Regular

As with yesterday's song, someone else has outlined the basic structure, and yet the implementation of that plan is entirely mine. That is to say, I choose all the notes. Who is the arranger? Who is the "orchestrator" (especially when there's no orchestra)? What is the best way to describe what's going on here?

I've Been Born Again

#23: Beautiful Love

This is on the first jazz album I ever bought, Bill Evans at Town Hall. Since I've never heard any other version of the song, my arrangement is sort of a stripped-down version of his. It also forms a kind of "template" for me, as I have several other songs that I play similarly, though they were not recorded by Bill Evans.

Beautiful Love

#22: Quiet Now

Here is my fourth ballad type.

This song was made "famous" by Bill Evans (so to speak-it's not famous at all), but it is not his own composition. The composer is Denny Zeitlin.

Amy has been a huge supporter of this complex ballad ever since I started working on it in high school. Thanks!

And finally, last year at the Siena Hotel, I closed the night with this number, and André Watts tipped me $20 when I was done.

Quiet Now

#21: Sophisticated Lady

What!? Two Duke Ellington songs in a row? 

The trick to "Sophisticated Lady" is the descending chromatic chain of seventh chords. How do you make that sound inevitable? How do you improvise on it without sounding unnatural? Legendary jazz musicians are on record flubbing these changes (that's you, Ray Nance) or copping out by jumping back to the melody for that one measure (that's you, Ben Webster).

Since everyone is enjoying the music theory, here's a quick quiz: name five songs that start on ii. (This one starts on vii/ii and that's close enough to count, at least for this blog where I make the rules. I will also accept II's which are really V/V.)

This was at one point going to be the mother/son dance at my wedding, but we ended up going with "As Time Goes By" instead. If only this recording had existed back then...

Sophisticated Lady

#20: Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me

Hot off the press.

This was the fourth song I played today at Nordstrom, and I was so pleased with it that I immediately lost my focus, and didn't record anything else worth keeping for the rest of the day. Oh well.

Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me

#19: Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams

(...and Dream Your Troubles Away!)

Intriguingly, the second song on this blog that is regularly featured on the Diane Rehm Show podcast. 

Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams

#18: Nobody Else But Me

Here is your favorite Jerome Kern song that you've never heard before. He wrote this for a revival of Showboat just before he died. The things I find looking through songbooks...

For all you theorists out there, the modulation in bars 5-7 goes ii7, V7, ii7/VII, V7/VII, VII(maj7)! 

(And White mates in three.)

Nobody Else But Me

#17: It's Only A Paper Moon

We do not, of course, endorse the scientific viewpoint presented in this song. Consult my father for the latest theories on the origin and composition of the moon.

It's Only A Paper Moon

#16: How Long Has This Been Going On?

How Long Has This Been Going On?

#15: That Old Pal o' Mine

A Wielunski family classic for Lisa's birthday. Anyone care to explain this one to the uninitiated?

That Old Pal o' Mine

#14: They Can't Take That Away From Me

Happy New Year!

They Can't Take That Away From Me