[Dixielandjazz] Question: what ever happened totaking"modern"songs and making them OKOM?

[Stephen Heist]

Hi Bob and All,

> Larry Walton asks:
>
> > What ever happened to taking"modern"songs and making them OKOM?
>
> > We do "Rubber Duckie" - it makes a great trad song we also do Henry the
> > VIII, Titanic, Winchester Cathedral
>
> Larry, we have done this many times throughout the years.  However, the 
> so-called modern songs you mention, are over 45 years old.
>
> Other than for a few show tunes, what is around, current now that would
make 
> a good OKOM tune?

Just some thoughts, but these are not "new" songs as such, BUT with the
younger crowd, they are the ones I have found on the ships that make the
crowd go completely nuts!  (and most of them entail 3 chords!)
Mustang Sally (Wilson Pickett)
Old Time Rock and Roll (Bob Seeger)
Sweet Home Chicago
Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
I'm a Believer (the old Monkee's tune, revived by Smashmouth for the movie
"Shrek")
Come a Little Bit Closer (Jay and the Americans)  (I'd LOVE to hear a jazz
band do this one...)
Brown Eyed Girl (get the whole band to sing the Chorus!  Sha-la-la...)
Midnight Special (CCR version)
Gimme Three Steps (Skynyrd again)  (This one has VERY standard trad jazz
chord progressions...)
and, yes, even I Can't Get No Satisfaction... (Rolling Stones...)
Believe me, it CAN  be done jazzwise...
Again this is just off the top of my head - so believe me, there are LOTS
more out there - and the above are what get the 20 something crowd dancing
and partying...!  This I know from experience - if you visit my website the
picture on the left of the woman dancing on top of the grand piano is NOT a
rarity when I play!!!

> You might want to dip into the C&W field.  We do the Jimmy Buffet tune 
> "Pencil Thin Mustache."  Fellow Listmate Bill Gunter sings it & it works 
> real well.
>
> I don't hear any current Rock tunes that lend themselves to OKOM.

Bob, you are like me - how much time during the month do we listen to what
is playing out there?  If we don't listen for it, expose ourselves to it,
it's for SURE we won't hear it.
I have to MAKE myself listen more and more to everything I can - even if I
don't like it on the first go around - I TRY to keep an open mind and give
the stuff several chances -
You want to hear a CD that will blow you away?  Larry Adler did a CD about
5 years ago I guess, called "The Glory of Gershwin"  He invited rock stars
to sing Gershwin and he played, of course, harmonica with them.  Robert
Palmer (Simply Irresistable fame) did a cut of "I Got Rhythm" that is one
of the BEST arrangements I've EVER heard - the drum beat is incredible - a
Cuban drummer told me after listening to it (I wanted him to identify the
beat) that it was a reverse merigue!!!  Tight arrangement - plenty of horns
- great stuff.

Bottom line: If we don't listen to everything we can, we are doomed to live
in a self designed rut...
All the Best,
Steve "Yes, they're out there" Heist
>
> --Bob Ringwald
>
>
>
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