These are my "Mainstream" swingjazza tunes.
You'll find others in different pages.
Here we go again
It's nothing special
Jammin' easy
Misty
Mr Miller and me
Taking the slow train home
That's just the way we are
The big mission impossible
The old forgotten stone
What lovely nonsense it is
Here we go again
This starts with a slow simple melody which is repeated and echoed by other parts as they join in to create a swirl of sound before calming down to a two-part closing chord.
I think of this tune as a metaphor for many things in life which start simple, then seem to get more and more complicated, or offer too many choices, before being resolved and settling down to a simple harmonic ending, using the male/female voicing described in "It's nothing special" below.
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It's nothing special
The earliest human music was the human voice, and the earliest harmonies would have been the octave harmonies of male and female voices.
We use more subtle harmonies often nowadays but we still respond to this type of voicing, which I try to use here in the pitching of two trombones, one deeper and one higher.
This short tune was put together relatively quickly but is full of emotion and intrigue.
Who are the singers?. What are they saying? The title refers to a line in the song that would have been, if I had written all the words. I didn't. You'll just have to make them up in your head.
The more you listen to this one, the more you'll like it.
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Jammin' easy
You know how it is when the band are drifting back after a break. Someone, the guitarist maybe, starts quietly playing a few chords. Before you know it the bass and drums have joined in and it's turning into a jam session. Eventually the horn section pick up their instruments and join in the fun.
That's what this tune is, a jam around a previous tune of mine called 'Easy'.
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Misty (cover)
This is my guitar arrangement of the classic Errol Garner piano instrumental of 1954 which was featured in the title of the 1971 Clint Eastwood movie "Play Misty for me".
Strum guitar, bass and 'plectrum and fingers' lead acoustic guitar.
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Mr Miller and me
A two-chord intro of D6/9 and Db6/9 leads into C6/9 and the theme in the key of C, with a sequence of
C6/9 Edim Dm G7
C6 Am-5 Fm G6
repeated, which leads into
C6 C7 F6 G7
which repeats a number of times before returning to the opening sequence.
The tune then rattles on at a fair old pace, quietening down a little for the clarinet lead before resuming and repeating the theme with an emphatic second beat on the bar leading to the finale which ends with a rising piano mirrored by a falling bass line to round it off nicely.
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Taking the slow train home
The one minute piano intro is designed to sound improvised and daydream-like.
Then the bass and drums join in as the piano picks up a catchy melody.
Trombones join in to repeat the refrain.
The inital plan for this tune was to create a solo piano piece with very relaxed human phrasing.
It was composed pretty much in the sequence that it's played. I started at the beginning and didn't know anything about the main melody until I got there and then it just appeared out of nowhere.
The brush drums help to give the impression of the sound of a train.
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That's just the way we are
A snappy little tune inspired initially by a pacey piano tune I heard once or twice on a TV advert, driven along nicely by the brush drums.
It moves into a tradional jazz chord sequence with the trombone and saxes, repeating it a number of times at the end as if they were enjoying it too much to stop.
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The big mission impossible
I wanted to use my orchestral sounds to try a tune that had the feeling of the music to "The Big Country" with a fast catchy intro followed by a slower mellow theme. This is what resulted, and it reminded me of the movie "Mission Impossible" more than "The Big Country".
Hence the title.
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The old forgotten stone
My mother suggested I should write something in waltz time, so here we have it.
It's performed by a jazzband with some strings and a harp.
A beautiful tune I think, but not really jazz, having a more 'traditional folk song' sound to it, with it's very simple piano backing and straightforward chords, but what the heck, when you're in a jazzband you can play whatever you want. After all, isn't that what jazz is all about.
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What lovely nonsense it is
After the inital tune's been laid down there's a middle section for some solos. I like the way the bass changes from a walking bassline to a solid stomp and I always enjoy listening to the bouncy piano lead, before the theme plays twice more with trumpets joining in on the second one, ending with that old trick of playing the penultimate bars, repeating them a tone higher, repeating them in their original key before the final bar and 2-beat ending.
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