Jazz Violin Favorites
What are your favorite jazz pieces for violin?
Replies (17)
Hi,
I would try the Porgy and Bess transcriptions by Heifetz. Summertime is really pretty. Also if you are looking for some more Jazz violin cds check out Randy Sabien and Regina Carter. They are not as popular as Grappelli but still great.
Have fun!
Alise
I love to improvise on all the "classic" jazz standards.
Things like "Take the A-Train", "Yesterday", "Girl from Ipanema", "Satin Doll", "Cheek to Cheek", and other songs played on the radio and featured in the Real books are wonderful to play and listen to.
Those songs have simple chord changes that aren't so basic as to be boring but not so impossible to follow that the ear can't keep up. Of course, they have melodies that the average person can easily hum or sing. That's why these songs have cross cultural and generational appeal.
There are some burning jazz violinists, particularly from the 1st half of the 20th century. I saw this one CD owned by one of our violinist.com professionals that had all these old timey guys tearing it up. Those guys were as hot as today's best cats in their own way.
I learned how to play jazz violin the old-fashioned way: turn on the radio to any station and play along with it. In that way, I became familiar with all these classic jazz standards that audiences love. It's something I suggest any violinist of any pedigree (including absolute beginners) try. Even if you don't get it right away, you likely will discover yourself after a while.
ballad standards
my romance
there will Never be another you
like someone in love
every time we say goodbye
my foolish heart
once i loved
stella by starlight
body and soul
tenderly
misty
round midnight
django
naima
blue in green
swing standards
green dolphin street
all the things you are
satin doll
ornithology
four
waltz for debby
blues standards
afro blue
all blues
mr pc
blue trane
au private
bossa nova standards
Wave
Girl from Ipanema
Does gypsy stuff count? I'm into Sandor Lakatos lately...
Here are some nonstandard things that I'll improvise over in a jazz violin context:
A few years ago, the "Squirrel Nut Zippers" band did a big band style song called "Boogie Bumper". That's a fast "blues" in the mold of the Brian Setzer orchestra. It's got a bebop style melody and ends with the standard Basie ending. We did that song at the Arizona Opry this year, and it's a real crowd pleaser.
The video game "Out Run" by Sega has the player in a red Ferrari with a blond girlfriend beside him. They travel through various scenic routes while this KILLER music is playing. There are three songs: "Splash Wave", one called "Musical Sound Machine" I think, and "Passing Breeze". My favorite is "Passing Breeze" because it's is a maj7 Brazilian Samba which has almost the same chords as Barry White's "Love's Theme". It's great for improvising and I'm recording it for an album later this year. It'll end up on our Arizona Opry show sooner or later.
Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes have a hit R@B song "If You Don't Know Me By Now". Improvising on anything by that group is a bit tough, but it's worth it.
The Kronos Quartet recorded an album of Bill Evans music featuring Eddie Gomez on bass and the great Jim Hall on jazz guitar. They play some really tough standards, like "Very Early" and "Turn Out The Stars". I find "Very Early" extremely hard to improvise since the key changes almost every measure.
Latin disco jazz saxophone king Gato Barbieri is a fabulous composer. He wrote a song on his "Tropico" album called "Evil Eyes" that everybody knows when they hear it but can't actually remember the name. It's an Dorian minor disco jazz song, hard driving and funky. I changed the key to A Dorian minor to make it work for the violin.
For a REALLY tough exercise, try improvising on Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo A La Turk". I got to mess around with that song with the jazz pianist David Benoit at a show I was playing with him. He and I hooked up because he was playing "It's a Raggy Waltz" and I jumped in on his piano playing with my violin in harmony.
I like the Grapelli/Burton version of "Here's That Rainy Day," along with everything else on that album (Paris Encounter).
I wish someone would release that on CD!
Andy Stein's playing is a lot of fun. I think his latest is called 'Doing Things [a little like Joe Venuti]'
I don't remember the name of Richard Greene's quartet but they have done some wild and crazy stuff that is definitely not bluegrass.
Does anyone know pieces with jazz-elements, by a certain composer, so I can search for it in a library? (It sounds fun to me to play once something different, but unfortunately I'm not an improviser, so I need sheet music)
Sarah -
To get an idea of what's available, you can go to
http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/
At the upper left, below the search box, click violin under "BROWSE-By Instrument"; then at the lower right, click Jazz under "More Violin Best Sellers"
The quintette du hot club du france
featuring django reindhardt and stephane grapelli
-
PHENOMENAL
i love grappelli on "a nightingale sang in berkeley square", it's really beautiful
In 1934, great french violinist Rene Benedetti
recorded a little piece called "Deux minutes de
jazz", by a certain Zoubok (??). The piece is a
gem, and the playing fantastic. I don't know who
had published it, or if is available.
Jean Jacques Kantorow said that Benedetti was one of the best violinists of all time, in the class of a Heifetz.
Indeed, that little recording he made (featured on the 2nd volume of Strad Magazine's "The Recorded Violin") demonstrates some incredible charm and ability. He seems like one of those light touch long finger violinists who dances around Paganini Caprices as if they were child's play. I'll bet he could improvise as well as somebody like Stephane Grappelli.
There were some posts earlier by a student of his, and I found those extremely interesting. The fun approach Benedetti had to the violin is something that I really was impressed with. I'd have love to have studied with Benedetti myself.
As one who studied with Benedetti, albeit for only one year, I can only concur with those who thought/think he was a great teacher and violinist. I was an American amateur nobody in the violin world spending a year in Paris at age 15, and he agreed to teach me (for reasons my parents could not remember). I would go to his apartment every Saturday for my lesson, and he clearly enjoyed himself teaching me. He was always very relaxed and nurturing in his style. He treated me as if I was as important a student as Kantorow, and even spent a day at his luthier picking out a new violin for me. I made enormous progress that year; my old teacher could not believe it. Benedetti was definitely a class act! I did not know about his interest in jazz, but I do know that he was one of the first to play solo Bach and Paganini caprices in recital.
I recently made a list of jazz materials that may help someone who is trying to learn jazz, some of you may find so of these materials useful, I know i sure did
I am a little surprised that nobody has mentioned danish violinist Svend Asmussen. He has recorded a lot, I appreciate especially his recordings from the late fifties made in Hollywood with guitarist Ulrik Neumann.
Søren
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May 19, 2006 at 02:37 AM · Stuff Smith and Stephane Grappelli recorded a couple albums -- which include some very nice playing on piano, drums, bass and guitar. I especially like "Chapeau Blues" and "How High the Moon." All the pieces highlight the very different styles of the two violinists.