[Dixielandjazz] Tunes with identical chord progressions

[Hal Vickery]

And from Ellington (or Juan Tizol) there is "Caravan" which sounds to me
like the "Sweet Georgia Brown" changes in a minor key except for the bridge
where it goes major and the changes definitely are SGB.

Hal Vickery

-----Original Message-----
From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
[mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] On Behalf Of Steve barbone
Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 8:14 PM
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Tunes with identical chord progressions

jaroberts at webtv.net (Bert Joss) wrote (polite snip) about identical chord
progressions

> And the boppers did it with dozens of tunes.

Yes indeed. Especially at the urging of old what's his name who owned Savoy
Records. He did not want to pay royalties for jazzed up versions of popular
tunes. So he asked guys like Parker & Gillespie to change the melody lines
and rename the tunes.

He then bought the tunes cheap, from them, and made a fortune on tunes like
"Hot House",(Whispering) and "Ornithology" (How High The Moon) and "Donna
Lee" (Back Home again In Indiana) etc., etc., etc. Other tunes include
Thelonious Monk's "Evidence" which is a rework of "Just You, Just Me." Or
Clifford Brown's "Sweet Clifford" which is Sweet Georgia Brown.

Isn't it amazing that these boppers many hate used identical progressions to
so many OKOM tunes, yet we can't seem to pick out a melody? :-) VBG

Happens all over. And since the chord progressions in most OKOM tunes are so
very close to being the same, there are hundreds of tunes with the exact
same progressions, or close to it. That's why, unlike say avant garde, it
doesn't take a musical genius to either play it or appreciate it.

If we band leaders want to get away from paying royalties on a song like
Bourbon Street Parade (1944), all we need do is change the melody line for
the in and out chorus, use the same Bill Bailey progressions Bourbon Street
does, and then sneak in a couple of Bourbon Street quotes. :-) VBG.

Cheers,
Steve


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