Putting some things in

This is me at my most masochistic.

I'm back in updating my events band's book again- it's a long, tedious process- and thought I would continue to share the gory "thought" process with you. Previously I made lists of tunes I was pulling, for various reasons, and things I added to keep the band from mutinying right on stage, and things I wanted never to darken my tunelist again. After that great purging I'm now ready to do something constructive and add fresh material to the book. Fresh may not be the right word for 80 year old tunes we just haven't played in a while, but I think it's going feel great not having to lash another mile out of some of these old dray-horses.

So, here we go:

Allright, Okay, You Win - Crowd-pleasing blues tune a level or two of hell above Blues In The Night. Shares a page with the truly abhorrent Always, which people also love, and we'll probably have to play again. Maybe if we play this we won't have to play Night Train.

Blue And Sentimental - Easy 30's tune. Pleasant.

The Breeze And I -  A little "exotic" number, an alternative rhumba so I don't get beaten up for calling Frenesi again...

Canadian Sunset - Yah! Why??? It's pure Nelson Eddie schlock, the long, static form bores the crap out of saxophonists- ok, everyone- and we've played it to death. But, like a favorite old threadbare, reeking, rapidly-perishing sweater I just can't give it up...

Close Your Eyes - "Cool" jazz a la Doris Day. I love those '50's white lady singers... words you never think you're going to say.



More after the break:

Girl Talk - Neil Hefti tune shares a page with Simple Life, what the heck, it's a nice swinging tune- good for our purposes.

Give Me The Simple Life - Happy, mindless little tune I honestly can't see myself pulling out that often.

Golden Earrings - This is for the band. A nice, easy blowing tune, right up there with Broadway or Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise; should be way more popular than it is.

The Good Life - Sentimental favorite for the grandparents.

I Ain't Got Nothing But The Blues - Not out of my mind with excitement over this, but we don't have a lot with this feel and tempo range.

Ill Wind - I like Hoagy Carmichael, and it's got 10 bar long A sections. Dark, end of the night tune.

In The Mood - The three most loathed words in the world, but we don't have it in the book and one of these days I'm going to get burned by that fact. I don't know how it's going to happen, but it's coming. Gotta put it in.

It's The Talk Of The Town - You know what? Forget it- we're not doing this one. A little too much of the plaid suit/bamboo cane/Stutz Bearcat about it...

It's You Or No One - Another band tune. This is one of those things I've played a thousand times, but never knew the title because my bandleaders always thought it was cool to never call a tune so I could hear what they said. I think it's also under-represented in my record collection.

Jive At Five - Nice swing tune, good for dancing. I feel like we don't have enough variety in this area, and we're all a little sick of playing Opus One, frankly. Johnny Come Lately is on the same page, so that's a big plus.

Manteca - Just in case someone requests something resembling salsa.

9:20 Special - Another good swinger so we don't have to do Seven Come Eleven or whatever...

Rain Check - Nice light little Strayhorn thing- good theme music. Usually we do Tadd Dameron's Our Delight, but maybe we'll swap it out with this occasionally.

That Old Black Magic - I always liked this stupid thing, and haven't played it in years. Long form swing tune I can call instead of Begin The Beguine when I need/want one of those for some reason.



'Tis Autumn - Nice walking ballad, though I get the feeling I'm not going call it much. What am I doing?

Useless Landscape / Inutil Paisagem - Great, not too frequently played Jobim tune. Fairly dark, good dinner music. Adding a bunch of unusual bossas, but we'll give them their own post a little later.