[Dixielandjazz] Fake Book>>Medleys

[BudTuba at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/24/03 5:18:19 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
drjazz00 at yahoo.com writes:

> A number of years ago I played with a trio where the leader (pianist) had a
> fake book that had medleys of 2-3 tunes all at the same tempo and on the
> same page...  The book was fairly large and had medleys in different 
> tempos,
> Latin, waltz etc...  Has anyone ever run across a book like that???  BTW,
> the tunes were for the most part standards, very recognizable by the
> audience...
> 

When I was gigging around more I once fell into a group of about 5 musicians 
who'd get jobs independently, but always hired each other...I.e a band 
without a name.  However, we did a lot of country club gigs and observed that 
people didn't seem to be really listening to us.  They would applaud politely 
at the end of tunes, but by an large we were part of the wallpaper, just 
providing background sound.  Rather than beating ourselves silly with one 
song, the idea of playing impromptu medleys developed.  The game was to find 
songs that fit together in humourous ways like titles of one leading to 
another or songs that sounded alike..etc.   The tunes in the medley would be 
thought of by the next solist...so say if the clarinet played "The Very 
Thought Of You" would be followed by the trombone playing, "Someday, You'll 
Be Sorry," followed by piano, "I Can Get Along Without You Very Well",.... 
These medleys would go on for 10-15 minutes usually in the same key as the 
initial song (which can get tricky) until one of the partygoers quizically 
looked up from his/her conversation and actually listened to the band, not 
sure of what was happening.  At that point, the song would end at the next 
turnaround and a "real" jazz tune called by the leader of the day.  Being 
bass player, I didn't have much say in the matter, but it was great ear 
training.  One night when we were doing this, our trombone player was next, 
but as his turn came closer, he started laughing...and then so hard, he 
couldn't take his solo.  We had been doing a series which could best be 
described as anal retention songs, and he thought of "Down Yonder Someone's 
Waiting For Me."

Bud Taylor
Smugtown Stompers
Rochester, NY
Traditional Jazz since 1958
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