Robben Ford Discussion

phrigian · Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2004 8:09 pm Post subject: goodbye pork pie hat

Just curious if anyone has played this tune. The changes while beautiful are a bit of a mystery to me. They don't seem to follow a cycle that I'm familiar with. The funny thing is the melody is all derived from the Fblues scale. I usually just play off the F blues scale and when comping I try to keep a note from the f blues as the lead voice of each chord. Seem to work ok.

Wayne Shorter's Fee Fi Fo Fum is another one of those tunes that is harmonically dense with blues at the core. Any suggestions regarding blowing on these tunes would be greatly appreciated.

scottl · Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2004 11:42 am Post subject: Happy Birthday

One from my archives.... (scott #1 not I)

http://www.scottlernermusic.com/ftp/scott-goodbyeporkpielesson.mp3

Enjoy!
_________________
www.scottlernermusic.com

sheadan · Member Joined: 21 Feb 2004 Posts: 20

Phrygian,
Are you still interested in this tune.It has been one of my favorites for a long time.It always seems that real or fake book changes are kind of lame.
I found a Mingus book at the library about 10-12 years ago.Mostly piano stuff.It is quite good.If you construct the chords from the piano staves,it's pretty close to the "Uh....Um"record by Mingus.I also found in a guitar mag a nice arr. by Jerry Hahn in the key of E which is nice cause you can use more open strings.I read that Mingus and band were on break when they learned Lester Young had died.When they went back to the bandstand,Pork Pie Hat was kind of composed on the spot and it was a"blues".Serious blues don't you think?Have you heard the album called"Mingus,Mingus,Mingus"?
Pork Pie is titled "Theme for Lester Young" and has Jackie Byard on piano.Nice version.If you are interested,I will look for those charts.Dan

sheadan · Member Joined: 21 Feb 2004 Posts: 20

I spelled your name wrong!

phrigian · Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:43 pm Post subject:

Sheadan,

Thanks for the background regarding genisis of tune... I would be interested in the name of that book that you found that provides the Mingus voicings. I played the tune this evening at a jam session and found that sticking to simple phrases off the F blues scale seems to work Ok on this. Scott seems to be making most of the changes with a beautiful sound reminiscent of Jeff Beck.

I'd be interested in how you approuch this tune. Btw I asked a sax player that I play with what he's thinking and basically he said "I just trust my ear". Its funny how some times I tend to over analyze these things. I guess its good to have the theory to build the foundation. Though it seems most of the great players just let it rip . Thank God for the blues!

arfy · Member Joined: 22 Jul 2003 Posts: 9

Anyone familiar with the McGlaughlin version of the tune from My Goal's Beyond? He plays it in E and uses open strings to create some very nice voicings. Wish I could find a transcription. For that matter, I wish I could find my old LP of this.