Stompin at the Savoy

Charles Meadows

So I've found a couple of great versions of this one in Eb. Is the the usual key and does it come up often in jams? Thanks.

adrian

I've always played it in Db for some reason. Doesn't often come up in jams, but it's a good one to have in your back pocket, late at night, when all the standard tunes have been exhausted.

BillDaCostaWilliams

The original Benny Goodman version was in Db and modulated to D towards the end.

Bones

Db is what I recall but have not played it in a long time.

Charles Meadows

Thanks guys. This one was Eb, but looks like the consensus is Db.

BillDaCostaWilliams

You were right, Charles, Angelo Debarre is absolutely on top of his game here. The sidemen seem to be really appreciating what he plays also which is usually a good sign.

bohemewarbler

St. Louis had a weekend Gypsy Jazz festival back in October. We had a nice jam going on with Ken Alday's band Swing 39 from Louisville, KY. I think that particular jam even started with Stompin' at the Savoy. Great tune. At home I play along with a couple of recordings both in Eb and Db. One tune uptempo and the other slower, more mid-tempo.

wim

This one gets kicked around in Paris fairly often, actually. Usually in Db.

Nice sound from Angelo there !!

atglabs

Yeah! Angelo Debarre Trio with probably one of the top rhythm players, Mathieu Chatelain, who was at DFNW 2015. When I saw that he was giving a rhythm workshop, I signed up ASAP, and just couldn't wait for a chance to learn from a master. Unfortunately, there were 12 "students", many of whom could barely play a few gypsy chords, so he spent the entire 90 minutes teaching Minor Swing and a few other simple songs.

I wanted to badly to find out how Mathieu had such a smooth 2 and 4 strum that bordered on muting and barely hearing the 6 strings, and at the same time being able to play that at hyper speed for some of Angelo's songs. Apparently I was the only person there to improve my rhythm work, while everyone else wanted to learn high-speed soloing.

To make it worse, I had also signed up for Jeffrey Radaich's rhythm class, and it too was filled with beginners learning the difference between a bossa and a bolero.

I've had it with 'workshops' at the festivals, between hoping Gonzalo will show up on time for his late morning class, and having 25 people trying to learn a simple 30-note solo all at once out loud, topped off with beginner levels for all workshops.

If I had known, I would have taken the $100 I paid for the two workshops and found Mathieu and asked for 15 minutes of his time.

Anyway, just for you guys who go to workshops or give them, sure would be nice to have "levels" (like DIJ does) and have the instructor not spend all the time bringing one or two up to speed with the others.

(Ok, now I'm done bitching; still love Mathieu's playing!)

bohemewarbler

Mathieu Chatelain will probably be at Samois sur Seine for the Festival Django Reinhardt. There's a good chance he'll be managing the small stage there (more authentic GJ than the main stage). So he's easily accessible. I'll be there and would like to seek him out myself for a lesson. Also, a few of these players come into Paris before and after the festival and you can catch them performing at L'Atelier Charonne and other venues. If I remember correctly, Romane has a teaching studio attached to the Maurice Dupont luthier workshop in central Paris.