Why do we never play (fill in song here)

MaximusVolumus

noodlenot wrote: »

Except Just One of Those Things, Cole Porter doesn´t seem to get much air either.

What is this thing called love seems to be a pretty popular selection.

Buco

Awesome topic.
Please be Kind.
Other than Django I never once heard it performed by anyone in GJ style.
And Django's version is one of my favorite tunes ever.
Also at least year's DiJ I learned Jardin d'hiver. Now I have it on Tchavolo live album, what a beautiful song.

Buco

Lango-Django

"Roses of Picardy", yes indeedy! Also agree about "Lambeth Walk", a British music hall tune which is virtually unknown in the US. Django recorded it in the 40's. The changes are a bit unusual but it's easy enough to play over.

More easy standards: "Moonglow" "If I had you" "What a wonderful world" "Georgia on my mind" and "midnight in Moscow" although the latter one may be politically incorrect these days thanks to Mr. Putin...

bohemewarbler

We have a twice-monthly jam in St. Louis, and if the tune isn't in the Django Fakebook, it generally doesn't get played at the jam. Because the chords and melodies are laid out in the fakebook, and the pdf version is free and can be easily had on players' ipads (players who come and go with a wide range of familiarity with the genre), it makes these songs accessible to all players at the jam. Unfortunately, even though the Django Fakebook contains a good many GJ standards, it also lacks many great GJ tunes. For example: it has "Stranger in Paradise," but not "Stardust." I had to make copies of the chord changes in "Stardust" to get this beautiful tune played at the last jam.

Still, a GJ jam is a great way to get introduced to tunes you might have overlooked before. Sometimes it's not until you're performing and surrounded by your fellow players that you come to appreciate a tune you might have forgotten about or passed over before.

Lango-Django

Sorry, but I keep thinking of more "good old good ones", to quote Mr. Louis Armstrong... these are all tunes that have a reasonable number of what I call "logical" chord changes and are fairly easy to solo over...

"L-O-V-E". "When it's sleepy time down south" "I'm beginning to see the light" "Dinah" (aka "Dinette")

while visiting Paris last winter I saw Ninine Garcia & co. get a big crowd reaction at the Chope des Puces playing a 60's pop tune called "More"... For some reason I've found that boomer-age audiences often like that one.

And at Django in June last summer I was thrilled to hear Tcha Limburger play one of my longtime faves in his Saturday night concert, "When your lover has gone".

Jim Kaznosky

bohemewarbler wrote: »

We have a twice-monthly jam in St. Louis, and if the tune isn't in the Django Fakebook, it generally doesn't get played at the jam. Because the chords and melodies are laid out in the fakebook, and the pdf version is free and can be easily had on players' ipads (players who come and go with a wide range of familiarity with the genre), it makes these songs accessible to all players at the jam. Unfortunately, even though the Django Fakebook contains a good many GJ standards, it also lacks many great GJ tunes. For example: it has "Stranger in Paradise," but not "Stardust." I had to make copies of the chord changes in "Stardust" to get this beautiful tune played at the last jam.

Still, a GJ jam is a great way to get introduced to tunes you might have overlooked before. Sometimes it's not until you're performing and surrounded by your fellow players that you come to appreciate a tune you might have forgotten about or passed over before.

This is a great point....that is that the Django fakebook has become the standard. Perhaps a 2014 update is in order. Sadly, I'm terrible with writing charts.
But inserting PDFs of requested tunes into the current book, replacing tunes with inaccurate changes, and reformatting the index (with page numbers) might be a cool project to work on. It would be an excellent contribution to the community.

bopster

bohemewarbler wrote: »

We have a twice-monthly jam in St. Louis, and if the tune isn't in the Django Fakebook, it generally doesn't get played at the jam. Because the chords and melodies are laid out in the fakebook, and the pdf version is free and can be easily had on players' ipads (players who come and go with a wide range of familiarity with the genre), it makes these songs accessible to all players at the jam. Unfortunately, even though the Django Fakebook contains a good many GJ standards, it also lacks many great GJ tunes. For example: it has "Stranger in Paradise," but not "Stardust." I had to make copies of the chord changes in "Stardust" to get this beautiful tune played at the last jam.

Still, a GJ jam is a great way to get introduced to tunes you might have overlooked before. Sometimes it's not until you're performing and surrounded by your fellow players that you come to appreciate a tune you might have forgotten about or passed over before.

I run this group and have not had the time to finish a grille book and/or provide assistance to those that are trying to build the "ultimate" fakebook; indeed, my philosophy has changed over the years, and now I take out that middle step of using a chart and just memorize the tunes. I know that this is not the case for all folks, so the need for a reliable written repertoire is still there. I did contact Kit Eakle, who is responsible for this collection: http://www.musickit.com/performerkit/djazzdjamtrans/order.html

and he is trying to give us what we are talking about. There still needs to be some corrections done, and he did not want to add some omissions I thought were strange (who doesn't put "Joseph, Joseph" or "Impromptu" in a gypsy jazz book?), but he's trying. He also has Charlie Christian tunes in there too, so I guess he's not trying to be a purist.

This is a nice step forward though.

AmundLauritzen

Yours and mine, Place de Brouckere, What kind of Friend, Margie, Avalon, When Day is Done, I'll Never Smile Again, Billet Doux, I Love You...

Did I say "Yours and Mine"? I love that tune. But for some reason nobody plays it!

To the contrary, I think Bossa Dorado has been played enough for this century already.

anthon_74

YES to Billet Doux. I've recently fell in love with that song. In terms of when day is done, it's a tricky one to do because you have to decide if you're going to start slow and speed up like Django did... Not to mention that the changes are pretty tricky in that one.

Al Watsky

I would put in a plug for "I Remember You" also if I'm on a memory kick, "I'll Remember April" is a barn burner. IMO the entire Swing, BeBop and post Bop repertoire should be played. Wayne Shorter, 'Trane, Hancock. All of it.