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SOTW TOTM for September - Chega De Saudade (No More Blues)

24K views 117 replies 23 participants last post by  mrpeebee 
#1 ·
Appreciate Madgrocer allowing me the priviledge of selecting this month's tune. After a lot of thought, I've chosen Antonio Carlos Jobim's Chega De Saudade.

I was close to picking an american standard like Out of Nowhere or Days of Wine and Roses. But, I hadn't seen anyone call a brazilian tune yet and I figured it was time, plus it was also featured in a recent sotw member YT clip...

Chega De Saudade is in the original Real Book, and Sher's New Real Book. It's in Aebersold's play along vol 98, and there's a BIAB file in the BIAB file archive (in the latin folder).

This is a beautiful and widely played standard that I've heard as a slow bossa and up-tempo samba. I'm sure some can conjure up with some other approaches as well. I'll be happy to assist with some backing tracks for this one...

The master Joao Gilberto

Dizzy Gillespie and James Moody

Ron Carter
 
#3 ·
Great choice. I love Bill Watrous' versions, there have been at least 2 recorded. Uhhh what ? Oh, yeah, we're on a saxophone forum. Sorry... :|
 
#5 ·
Gosh, the G & G take is amazing. :yikes!:
They just fly through it. I'll put my horns back into their cases .... [rolleyes]
 
#11 ·
Good to see some apparent enthusiasm for this month's tropical selection...one thing I liked is it's one of the brazilian numbers I hadn't regularly played, not even in our old samba group.

I'm more familiar with Girl, Vivo Sonhando [Dreamer], Summer Samba [So Nice], Triste, Wave, One Note Samba, O Barquinho [My Little Boat], just never got around to working out No More Blues.

Shawn

ps: One of my saxophone mentors in college used to play this one, I'll never forget him...on alto, he could sound a lot like Phil Woods at that time (one of my all time favorites)...Eugene Doi. Think he attended Fresno State and North Texas State, then did graduate work at Eastern Illinois where I went. First teacher I had that ever talked about practicing overtones.
 
#14 ·
Some basic backing tracks via BIAB...I have a slower one with one of the original "Jobim" styles and a faster one with the "Charlie Byrd Trio." These are probably a little vanilla for some, but I didn't want anything too cluttered...

Oh, and the faster has a litte coda at the end with a basic vamp to blow over...just a basic turnaround (I-IV-ii-V7).

Chega De Saudade (slower tempo)

Chega De Saudade (bright samba)
 
#18 ·
Paul: That was beautiful. Great sound and you really negotiated the changes nicely. So many great ideas, and you really owned those altered dominants. Very melodic and modern sounding. Terrific start, setting the bar very high indeed. Btw, I thought the melody sounded terrific.

That's one thing about samba, you can still keep it pretty jazzy (in the american sense) and it works. Phil Woods Live from the Showboat has some cooking samba that's a great example of what I mean...omg, can't believe that's on YT. Everyone should hear this...

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=1122869&songID=11001031

Shawn
 
#20 ·
Hey thanks guys... I haven't had time to hang out much here, but like to keep an eye on what is happening around here...

That was a recording w/ the Aebersold CD - Jobim? (I think)

Good call on this tune... and it is a great idea to learn the lyrics for any tune... that is one thing I just don't have together on most tunes but that is a great thing to do Rennie.. good on ya!
 
#21 ·
Shawn.. great pick, should be a lot of fun.

Paul... as usual great stuff. Just top notch playing. I just love how you so smoothly jump in and out of single/double time runs... besides what seems to be a never ending supply of jazz vocabulary. Glad to hear you again, was hoping you'd drop us one in August on Sugar, because I know you would TEAR that up.
 
#23 ·
Btw, I was comparing the chord changes in the original RB vs Sher's New RB vs the JA Vol. 98. Interesting to see the differences. Like many JA lead sheets, I think Jamey tweaked (simplified) the changes somewhat to make it easier to improvise over.

Fyi, in some spots the Sher will have a dominant chord over two measures where the harmonization I used in the BIAB has a ii/V.

I have an AC Jobim songbook, but when I went to compare it Chega De Saudade wasn't there...

Shawn
 
#24 ·
I just checked a Jobim book I borrowed from a SOTW fellow, the song is in Fm/F :shock:. I entered the chord changes into this BiaB file. It includes the often played 8 bars introduction.
 
#26 ·
Rennie, I know; others, like Diz or Quincy Jones play it in Gm/G. Therefore my surprise. Anyway, in BiaB it is 1 click to tranpose.
 
#27 ·
I was going to check the BIAB file, but for some reason the link isn't working.

It's not unusual to see tunes in different keys, typically the RB version is based on someone's specific recording. Just Friends is a good example, I don't play that in the same key as the RB.

Wasn't sure if you were talking concert key, but concert G would sure make it a lot easier for the alto players...playing the second half of the tune in B major gets challenging!

Shawn
 
#28 ·
I was going to check the BIAB file, but for some reason the link isn't working. ......

Shawn
:?::(
It is in Dropbox, usually it just works. I tried from 2 computers, for me it seems OK. Do you want it by mail ?
 
#30 ·
Rolltrane - that was perfectly nice to listen to without the backup - now THAT is a tough act to follow. You played great lines throughout and it was clear where the changes were the whole time. I wouldn't be able hit enough of the chord tones right now to define those changes - that's good work. I remember toward the end, in the Amaj7, D7, G#-7 line you found a nice desending chromatic thread that tied those together, not immediately obvious to me what those tones were but nice effect.
 
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