Tag Archives: playalong

Bluesette – Backing Track – Playalong – Jazz Waltz – 147 bpm

Bluesette is probably the most famous Toots Thielemans song and certainly a jazz standard. Such a great take on a 3/4 Parker Blues with a few extra twists!

This is a great progression! A Belgian version of the Parker Blues and also in 3/4. I guess that is the Belgian part of it?

This song has a very nice way of travelling through a lot of keys and still end up home in a turnaround. Certainly one of my favourite waltzes, probably no 2 on the list 😀

Here’s my solo on the track:

 

Here are the changes:

Stella By Starlight – Backing Track – Playalong – Medium Up – 183 bpm

Stella By Starlight is probably one of the more complicated jazz standards. At the same time it is a very beautiful melody and the harmony is, even if a bit complicated, also very rich!

If you want to check out my solo on it you can do so here:

 

If you want to check out my analysis of the song you can do so here: 

And check out my other backing tracks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u6wxqdUFQA&list=PLWYuNvZPqqcEKZdvb3Q2iKIMqiEVJFqcM&index=1

Yesterdays – Backing Track – Medium Swing – 138 Bpm

Yesterdays – Medium Swing Backing track

Yesterdays is a great song with some minor turnarounds and a long dominant chain! The 16 bar form is split in two where the first half is in Dm with some turnarounds and a line cliché. The second half is a dominant chain starting with an A7(b13) with the b13 in the melody.

The song is also a great vehicle for odd meters like 5/4 and 7/4. Scofield has a 7/4 song called last week on these changes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Edk4u130Ms

Here’s my solo on the track:

And here are the changes I play over:

How High The Moon – Backing Track – Medium Up Swing -196 BPM

Here’s the backing track for how high the moon!

I play the song in G major, which is probably the most common key for the tune. This Medium up tempo is also quite common and fits well with the bebop theme written on this

This classic American songbook tune How High the Moon is a ABAC or 16-16 form song. The main point of interest is the use of switching from major to minor to modulate a whole step down.

How High The Moon is also the chord progression used for Ornithology though some chords in the Parker tune are changed into dominants. Coltrane also made a Giant Steps version of this called Satellite.

My Solo on this backing track:

Here are the changes I play>

More Backing tracks on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWYuNvZPqqcEKZdvb3Q2iKIMqiEVJFqcM

If you want to check out a lesson on how I comp on How High The moon:

Comping Etude – How High The Moon

There’s also a lesson on soloing on this song:

How High The Moon – Solo Etude

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Here’s that Rainy Day Backing Track – Slow Samba – 162 bpm

The backing track for Here’s that Rainy Day.

This is a great song for this latin feel!

The form of this song is AB so two times 16 bars. What is a bit unusual is that it does not have the standard V of V to II V ending half way, which is normal for this type of standard.

The beginning detour to Eb is really nice about this song. The first three bars are in fact Giant steps.

Drums are DrumGenius, the rest is me 🙂

My Solo on this backing track:

Backing tracks on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWYuNvZPqqcEKZdvb3Q2iKIMqiEVJFqcM

Here are the changes: