[Taragot]

Dear SOTW-TOTM-B/I-Friends,

First of all I want to thank jmoen3 for hosting april and especially Peter for keeping TOTM alive over the years. Thank you very much!
As song for May I choose „Watermelon Man" from Herbie Hancock. I'm shure, you all know the tune. It's basically a to 16 bars extended blues in latin style. Though it's an „easy" song which can be played without thinking too much about form, scales, chords and all that stuff it's also easy to get lost, because the last two bars and the first four bars are the same chord and one can easily loose track here.

Leadsheets in C, Eb and Bb and some backing tracks can be found here , but there are many more on the net.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tx3a6p220yuq5uz/AABebd83FAXNcim7-I-L4SM6a?dl=0

Hoping for many contributors!

 

[mrpeebee]

Thanks for taking up the hosting for this month Taragot.

I've added this thread to the B&I TOTM index:
https://forum.saxontheweb.net/showt...ce-January-2010-onwards&p=4029854#post4029854

Looking foward to a good month!

 

[J-Moen]

Fantastic choice of tunes. I have an old recording from some time I spent on this tune from my first year or two at SOTW, my goal will be to outplay this version: https://www.soundclick.com/music/songInfo.cfm?songID=7682777

I appreciate the thanks and I want to thank you for an excellent choice of tune!

 

[Swaman]

Taragot: Here's an old recording I did quite a while ago, probably when I was in my 30's and playing a HR Berg Larsen 105/0 that King Curtis told me to get. It's not the usual WMM groove, but I like the arrangement. Hope you like it. Good choice of tunes.

George

 

[guidocreo]

Bella George, I enjoy it.

Ciao

 

[Taragot]

What a great starting day for this BI/TOTM! And there are some hours left....

@jmoen3: Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you like the song.
Very musical track. I like the way you keep the solo clear. On the other hand, a bit more rhythmical variation could contribute to keep things fresh. Same goes for the scales - bluesscale is great, but sometimes playing the changes would make it more colorfull.
Looking foreword for what you are doing nowadays!

@Swaman: What a great arrangement and what a great tenor blues solo in the middle! Is this a playbacktrack or what? Never heared the song this way

 

[Figaro]

This a great song. I found a backing track to practice to on YouTube two days ago! Guess I'm ahead of the curve here. lol

Here's a link to the backing track:

 

[Michael_A]

Taragot: Here's an old recording I did quite a while ago, probably when I was in my 30's and playing a HR Berg Larsen 105/0 that King Curtis told me to get. It's not the usual WMM groove, but I like the arrangement. Hope you like it. Good choice of tunes.

George

George, great arrangement! Heard some "Chicago" style. You say it's old recording... sounds like I sit in the hall (freshness - music wise). Thanks.

 

[Lionelsax]

Great choice, I love this standard. This is my rendition of today.
https://app.box.com/s/n5lqynxk3cdo83ynjegqaln78t0gc2iy

 

[Taragot]

Boinsoir Lionel,
this has such a nice and easy flow how you play! I love your way of articulation, even in the doubletimeruns very much. I'm deeply impressed!

 

[Lionelsax]

Boinsoir Lionel,
this has such a nice and easy flow how you play! I love your way of articulation, even in the doubletimeruns very much. I'm deeply impressed!

Thank you, don't be impressed, I think it was a lucky take and it's been a while I know this tune. It reminds me when I was 24 years old, I didn't know the tune and I wanted a special girl. She said there would be nothing between us if I didn't learn Watermelon Man, so I did.

I've never been so out of tune, this is my take on alto saxophone : https://app.box.com/s/da3lsk3acvpj5qmk0cqn7vddw1mm8meq

@Taragot, this is anold thing when I wanted to play the flute :

I bought it new, its price, 99 €... Now it's completely black doesn't sound well anymore.

 

[Swaman]

It was arranged by my friend Andy Davatelis and recorded in a studio. That was a first take and tweaked a bit by the engineer which I wasn't totally happy with. Close enough for R&B.

 

[J-Moen]

For anyone looking for some inspiration! Dexter Gordon doing wonders here.

 

[germanwatches]

Great choice, I love this standard. This is my rendition of today.
https://app.box.com/s/n5lqynxk3cdo83ynjegqaln78t0gc2iy

You have a nice voice and cool improvisation! Great job

 

[germanwatches]

This a great song. I found a backing track to practice to on YouTube two days ago! Guess I'm ahead of the curve here. lol

Here's a link to the backing track:

Martin is a special guitarist. I discovered a love for Gypsy Jazz through his channel (and Tim Holzhäuser).

 

[Lionelsax]

You have a nice voice and cool improvisation! Great job

Thank you !

 

[Francisco Silva]

Watermelon Man
I went down 2 halftones to the background track (concert Eb)

https://soundcloud.com/user2929757%2Fwatermelonman

 

[Taragot]

@Lionel, you are not out of tune on alto. This song is a bit uncomfortable on a Eb-instrument. I like your Impro style a lot. Comme se ballader ... Flute is not bad, too!

@Francisco: Wise decision to transpose it in a more agreable region. I like your playing, fits good to the backing track!

 

[Lionelsax]

Thank you @Taragot !
One day I will buy another flute, maybe a Yamaha, they are easy to play, I tried one years ago, it was another world.

 

[Taragot]

The last few days I arranged Watermelon Man for Sax quartett. First I wanted to start only with writing a second voice for recording wirth backing track, but then decided to arrange the whole shebang with solo parts and shoutchorus. My bari is badly leaking so this was a bit a fight to record. I'll upload the score and parts in the dropbox - perhaps someone has a quartett and likes to play it.

https://hearthis.at/taragot/watermelon-mansaxophonquartettsatbarmix/