Favorite recordings of.......How High the Moon?
Moderators: Mr Awesomer, JesseMiner, CafeSavoy
Favorite recordings of.......How High the Moon?
WNEW All-Stars from 1947
Will big bands ever come back?
- JesseMiner
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Not really a tune you often hear at a swing dance, as opposed to the other threads recently about common dance tunes ("Moten Swing", "Flying Home", "King Porter Stomp", etc...).
But once in a while I will bust out Sarah Vaughan's groovy swinging version found on the Verve Jazz Masters 18 compilation (along with the very awesome and long-ago popular "Sassy's Blues"). I love how she sings it like Ella, including the lyrics "Ella sings this song real, real, real crazy...".
And look through my collection, I also found a mellow swinging version by Lionel Hampton off of his collection Hamp. Might be nice to spin in a late-night setting.
Jesse
But once in a while I will bust out Sarah Vaughan's groovy swinging version found on the Verve Jazz Masters 18 compilation (along with the very awesome and long-ago popular "Sassy's Blues"). I love how she sings it like Ella, including the lyrics "Ella sings this song real, real, real crazy...".
And look through my collection, I also found a mellow swinging version by Lionel Hampton off of his collection Hamp. Might be nice to spin in a late-night setting.
Jesse
That Sarah V version is so GREAT!JesseMiner wrote:Not really a tune you often hear at a swing dance, as opposed to the other threads recently about common dance tunes ("Moten Swing", "Flying Home", "King Porter Stomp", etc...).
But once in a while I will bust out Sarah Vaughan's groovy swinging version found on the Verve Jazz Masters 18 compilation (along with the very awesome and long-ago popular "Sassy's Blues"). I love how she sings it like Ella, including the lyrics "Ella sings this song real, real, real crazy...".
And look through my collection, I also found a mellow swinging version by Lionel Hampton off of his collection Hamp. Might be nice to spin in a late-night setting.
Jesse
HHtMoon is a 1940 song that basically went nowhere until the boppers hit it.
The Kento version with June Christy is really good.
The only 1940 version I know is a ballad rendition by James/Haymes which isnlt so cool or dancable.
It would be interesting to hear it done as a Swing arrangement.
Will big bands ever come back?
-
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Without getting too technical, the chord changes are real bebop friendly, and I've noticed a lot musicians, who otherwise play good swing stuff, will sort of default to bebop-y style when playing this tune. They'll start running endless lines, not playing riffs or rhythmically. (For those who know, it's because the song is mostly ii-V changes, which are they part of bebop).
"I don''t dig that two beat jive the New Orleans cats play.
My boys and I have four heavy beats to the bar and no cheating!
--Count Basie
www.campusfive.com
www.myspace.com/campusfive
www.swingguitar.blogspot.com
My boys and I have four heavy beats to the bar and no cheating!
--Count Basie
www.campusfive.com
www.myspace.com/campusfive
www.swingguitar.blogspot.com
- Greg Avakian
- Posts: 382
- Joined: Mon Nov 25, 2002 10:27 pm
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
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Violinist Antoine Silverman has a nice instrumental version on his album "Swing shift". The guitar provides a nice pulsing odd-even rhythm (not a great bal), it's very well recorded and doesn't get too crazy. I think the tempo is a brisk 200BPM, but the feeling is so relaxed it doesn't sound that fast at all...
Hey, my e-mail's changed, here's the new one:
SwingDJ@gmail.com
About me: www.geocities.com/swingboypa
SwingDJ@gmail.com
About me: www.geocities.com/swingboypa