A couple of years ago I decided that while I really wanted to do a lot of the old standards on my dinner music-type gigs, I was a little concerned that I might alienate some listeners with songs that they were unfamiliar with. Although the tunes I like to present are old classics, they are no longer a part of the mainstream media. Most people seem to be only peripherally aware of these wonderful tunes and if anything they seem to have become a part of our musical collective unconscious.
So I turned to the movie soundtracks of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. These films and few others like them use a lot of great sentimental old tunes in their soundtracks. I hope that by including these songs in my sets they will suggest the same air of romance and nostalgia that they did in the films, and sound at least a little bit familiar to the average listener.
I’ve been winging my way through one of these tunes: “You Made Me Love you” from Sleepless in Seattle on the gig for a while now with just a lead sheet and I figured that it’s about time to write out some of my better ideas and clean up the rough spots. This arrangement seems to lean heavily on some of the ideas I picked up from studying Barry Galbraith’s work. Below is the arrangement for you to check out in PDF format. If you enjoy the arrangement or have any questions please leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you!
The Music
NOTE: The arrangement was updated Friday March 6, 2009. The newer version includes first and second endings and a tag.
July is just around the corner and you are invited to join The Jazztet for two lunchtime concerts at Ohio University. If the weather is nice we’ll be playing on the green at the West Portico of Memorial Auditorium. Bring a friend, a couple of chairs, and something to munch on. In case of rain, we’ll see you in the Front Room inside Baker Center.
The details:
Tuesday July 8 2008 12:00pm
Noon Jazz Series with The Jazztet
West Portico of Memorial Auditorium or The Front Room in case of rain.
Ohio University
Athens, OH 45701
Tuesday July 29 2008 12:00pm
Noon Jazz Series with The Jazztet
West Portico of Memorial Auditorium or The Front Room in case of rain.
Ohio University
Athens, OH 45701
Here’s a lick that works well over both the I VI ii V section of rhythm changes and the ii V leading to the IV chord in bars five and six of the progression. Theres are a lot of reasons why this works but it’s more fun to play it than it is to dissect and analyze it. I was kind of surprised to see the relationships between the two sections. I sure hadn’t thought about it before! Maybe this will open up some new approaches to playing over rhythm changes in the future. Enjoy and let me know if you have any thoughts about it.
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