Star Eyes
With midterms, a late Packers game, and a jazz benefit at the Brink Lounge it isn't surprising the turnout today was lighter than usual. That didn't stop us from having a good time and making some beautiful music!
On November 3rd Eric Koppa is back again as our educator/saxophonist. He'll be joined by Paul Hastil - keys, John Mesoloras - bass, and Joey Banks on drums.
The tune-of-the-week is "Star Eyes." This site has a discussion and analysis. A play along, chord sheet, and videos are handy on this site.
According to the last site the tune is most commonly played at jams in Eb. We'll take their word for it; I've never played it and I'm not sure Eric has lots of experience with it either. Real Book 2 has it in F and Real Book 3 in Eb. Ideally, it's best to learn it in both keys but unless I hear from Eric let's plan on Eb.
Addendum: Reliable sources (John Mesoloras, and Matt Olson) confirmed Eb as the correct key.
Black Orpheus
The tune-of-the-week for this Sunday's jam is Black Orpheus. This is a commonly called tune and not that difficult. It isn't that fast, the harmony is mostly 2-5-1 progressions in the relative major and minor, and the A and B sections are very similar (less to remember). Since the A and B sections are similar you'll want to emphasize the areas where they are different. One of those is in the 5th through 8th measures of the B section when the tune momentarily changes key.
This site has a playalong and a chord sheet: http://www.learnjazzstandards.com/jazz-standards/black-orpheus-a-day-in-the-life-of-a-fool/.
The educator this week is Eric Koppa and the rest of the band is Michael BB - piano, Brad Townsend - bass, and Rodrigo Villanueva - drums.
See you Sunday.