An
opportunity to work on vocal piece. I must apologise for wrongly
attributing this song to Julian Joseph rather than Curtis Mayfield. I
guess the arrangement is probably by Julian Joseph. Incidentally, I
mentioned I had played another Curtis Mayfield song some years ago (with
strings, bass clarinet and an oboe … ) - the piece was Don't Worry (if there's hell below, we're all gotta go!) More on this at another time perhaps.
I used this session as a blatant excuse to practise a few modes. For those of you who would like a quick recap here it is:
ionian 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
dorian 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 8
phrygian 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 8
lydian 1 2 3 #4 5 6 7 8
mixolydian 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 8
aeolian 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 8
locrian 1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7 8
The two scales exploited by Julian Joseph were: first solo dorian, second solo mixolydian.
He was able to do this over the repeating bass line (which only uses
root, b7 and 5). He also adjusts the voicings in his left hand to fit
the two scale choices - see if you can hear this …
I'm sorry we didn't spend longer looking at the chord sequence at B
- notice there isn't much in the way of standard cycle of
fourths/fifths movement (i.e. up a 4th or down a 5th). How easy is a
sequence like this to improvise over?
The
melody in this song is hard to write down with all the vocal nuances.
It would be a great exercise to try and copy the vocal line straight
onto your instrument (never mind trying to notate it). My version is
considerably simplified and makes no reference to the other verses
(which vary considerably melodically). I thought Annie did a great job
singing this melody. She commented on the depth of the lyrics. It is so
important for a singer to feel a connection with the words they are
singing. Maybe this is important for instrumentalists too. Does anyone
remember a scene in the film Round Midnight when Dexter Gordon's character can't remember the words to Autumn In New York and so can't play it?
Next time: Up North.
The melody is tricky (miss a few notes out if you need to). Check out
the dom7th(b13,b9) chords in the solo section - altered scale could be
good here 1 b2 b3 3 #4 #5 b7 8
Cheers Mark
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