Favorite recordings of.......How High the Moon?

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Eyeball
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Favorite recordings of.......How High the Moon?

#1 Post by Eyeball » Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:00 am

WNEW All-Stars from 1947
Will big bands ever come back?

julius
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#2 Post by julius » Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:44 pm

Ella Live in Berlin

Pretty pyrotechnic (again, not great for dancing at all). Also, her pianist for that gig (and for many years) was Paul Smith who is the next closest thing to Art Tatum alive today. I saw him live at the Hollywood Park Casino and it was, uhhh...kind of mindblowing.

lipi
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#3 Post by lipi » Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:07 pm

what julius said.

the montreux '75 one is really good, too.

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Matthew
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#4 Post by Matthew » Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:16 pm

Benny Goodman, from the JSP box.

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JesseMiner
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#5 Post by JesseMiner » Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:20 pm

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

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Eyeball
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#6 Post by Eyeball » Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:35 pm

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
That Sarah V version is so GREAT!

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?

Campus Five
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#7 Post by Campus Five » Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:47 pm

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
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GemZombie
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#8 Post by GemZombie » Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:51 pm

Which is probably why I don't really care for the song much...

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SpuzBal
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#9 Post by SpuzBal » Thu Apr 19, 2007 11:38 am

I like Django's version on Django Reinhardt and His American Friends. Or with. Whichever's the 4-disc set.

*Edit: God, my avatar photo's old. I'd change it if I were at home.
"In my opinion, out of the ten great guitarists in the world, Django is five of them!" - Rex Stewart

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Greg Avakian
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#10 Post by Greg Avakian » Mon Apr 30, 2007 8:07 am

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...
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