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"Reaching for the Moon"--- echoes of Eddie Lang

Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
edited December 2021 in Eddie Lang Club Posts: 1,868

Sometimes my wife and I watch "Call the Midwife" together.

Really clears out the ol' tear ducts, amirite?

Anyway... last night's episode featured some background music with guitar that... well, as soon as you'll hear it you'll know exactly who it was!

Except for one slight detail... this recording was made twenty-five years after the premature passing of Lang the Father in 1933...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvjEC7fEcEI


More googling about this matter resulted in some very interesting background info about Irving Berlin's 1930 song "Reaching for the Moon"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaching_for_the_Moon_%28song%29


To me, everything I've read about the song leads me to the conclusion that Berlin wrote the song with Crosby and Lang in mind. It's just like the kind of stuff Bing recorded a lot of in the early thirties... for connoisseurs of the Crosby-Lang recordings, it may remind you of sad tunes like "Here Lies Love" or "Street of Dreams"...

Anyway... I do tend to drone on, don't I?

SO I JUST WANT TO WISH ALL MY ON-LINE PALS.... A VERY MERRY FESTIVUS!

(THE HOLIDAY-FOR-THE-REST-OF-US! THE 'AIRING OF THE GRIEVANCES', COMING SOON!)


Will

PS The genius of this guitar player is how he does so little, and yet somehow it just sounds so rich. That's exactly what I wish I could do.

I'm going to sit down with this baby and get it note for note.

Feel free to join the fun, Lang lovers!

PPS And hey--- all you jazz detectives out there--- WHO IS PLAYING THAT GUITAR?

PPPS And also: who is playing that @#$% travesty of a cheesy violin?

It's an insult to Joe Venuti...!

Or as one of my guitar buddies put it last month when we were still allowed out...

"It's like getting a Yoko Ono bonus track."

Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."

Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
rudolfochrist
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Comments

  • Pompe_ojisanPompe_ojisan Tokyo✭✭ Rino van Hooijdonk
    Posts: 47

    From the 'glass-like' tone and the sometimes slightly-wonky-but-in-a-good-way time, I would guess Barney Kessel?

  • Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
    edited December 2021 Posts: 1,868

    OK, here's an MP3 version of the same tune...

    Reaching for the Moon.mp3

    Closer listening reveals that while this guitarist is excellent at capturing Lang's feel, he doesn't quite have the Master's golden touch... there's a bit of a trainwreck around 0:37, amirite?

    But still, caveats aside, I do like this guy's playing, it is very authentic... so who the heck is he?

    You probably wouldn't want to play like this when accompanying another guitarist, but for backing up a vocalist, violinist or clarinetist, it would be very nice... just a steady stream of simple arpeggios...but sometimes that can sound awfully good...

    Remember, boomers, back in the sixties when one of the first songs you ever learned to play was "House of the Rising Sun"...?

    Well, this is very similar... maybe except for that G7b5 chord around 0:10...

    Will

    Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

    Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."

    Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
  • BucoBuco NOVA, DCDeity Ivanovski maple/spruce
    Posts: 4,945

    I'm far from a boomer but one of the first songs I learned to play on guitar was indeed House of the Rising Sun. I was so damn proud and happy.

    ...Yoko Ono bonus track... One of the funniest things I heard in a while.

    billyshakes
    Every note wants to go somewhere-Kurt Rosenwinkel
  • Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
    edited December 2021 Posts: 1,868

    Barney Kessel... yes, that is a very good guess, Pompe_ojisan...

    (BTW... a question for you: how are you liking your Rino van H guitar? I had a chance to play one of his guitars at Django in June a few years back and loved it.)

    Will


    PS Here's what I hear for the intro...

    Bm..Bm7..E..Em..Bm..G7b5..F#7

    7......7.....4...3....2....3....2

    7......7.....5...5....3....2....2

    7......7.....4...4....4....4….3

    9......7.....6...5....4....3....2

    0..... 0 (etc................................)

    0..... 0 (etc................................)

    I don't know about you, but I find it kind of tricky holding down these shapes with my LH to make the arps sound perfect... hopefully practise will improve that...

    Eddie uses the very same technique on his modulation from A to G in "I'll Never Be the Same"... and he of course pulls it off perfectly...


    Will

    Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

    Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."

    Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
  • spatzospatzo Virtuoso
    edited December 2021 Posts: 770

    Yes the guitar player is Barney kessel!

    Capture d’écran 2021-12-23 213730.png


    tunes1.png
    tunes2.png


  • Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
    edited December 2021 Posts: 1,868

    Thanks, Spatzo! Where did you find that?

    That's quite a line up with a lot of veterans from the twenties ... Harry "Sweets' Edison, Manny Klein, Juan Tizol, Matty Matlock, Babe Russin...

    You young punks of today have probably never heard of most of those old-timers!

    But, man, that violin player, whoever he was...? ... should be dug up and shot...


    Will

    Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

    Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."

    Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
  • BillDaCostaWilliamsBillDaCostaWilliams Barreiro, Portugal✭✭✭ Altamira M01F, Huttl, 8 mandolins
    edited December 2021 Posts: 654

    That's quite a line up with a lot of veterans from the twenties ... Harry "Sweets' Edison, Manny Klein, Juan Tizol, Matty Matlock, Babe Russin...

    The sax player Ted Nash was the uncle of Ted Nash who plays sax with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra - he did a great gig here in Portugal with Steve Cardenas and Ben Allison in October.

  • spatzospatzo Virtuoso
    edited December 2021 Posts: 770

    The information comes from J Wilfried Johnson book "ELLA FITZERALD AN ANNOTATED DISCOGRAPHY" MCFarland & Co INC Editors - page 70

    Usually the violin player is one of the trumpet players but on some tunes they recorded an harp and some violins were added - all musicians unknown

  • Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
    Posts: 1,868

    Merry Christmas to my online friends all around the world.

    It is great to hang out with all of you online,

    I hope one day our paths will cross in real life.

    Most likely at Django in June but who knows?

    Will

    BillDaCostaWilliamsBucobillyshakesrudolfochrist
    Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

    Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."

    Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
  • spatzospatzo Virtuoso
    Posts: 770

    Merry Christmas to you Will!

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