Comping On Sonny Rollins' "St. Thomas"

[@pegrueneis]

You are a beautiful whoman and a good musician ,Continue ! Greetings from Vienna.Europe

[@torstenmadsvin1153]

Really good lesson, so much info. Thanks Aimee!

[@mirllewist3086]

Awesome - thank you

[@johnwilson5944]

Super helpful , thanks Amie !

[@klavier1us]

Since the tune is "St. Thomas" the fill trill @ 1:11 sounds like the pianist evoking a Steel Drum. In a similar vein Montuno's always "whisper" Monty Alexander to my ears. Great post of how to work with a jazz classic

[@AimeeNolte]

klavier1us good call. 👊🏼

Nice! I’m applying those voicings on the guitar. Thank you!

[@steelstrings4]

I don't even play piano--I'm playing vibes in jazz band at school. This was super helpful for me, too!

[@cns7139]

Wonderfully creative ideas on the montunos!

[@70ilkor]

Thanks so much!!! So fully information, super!! I’ll be studying!

[@evapettersson3933]

Thank you soooo much for your different approaches and variations! You are the best kind of teacher; breaking things down, passion for the music and no big ego involved! I will write you for that montuno....great touch!😊😎

[@AimeeNolte]

Eva Pettersson you're very welcome, Eva!

[@mitchelledels9762]

Fantastic ideas Aimee Almost all Sonny Rollins tunes are great - By the way Aimee I put my tune i played for you at Open Studio on You tube Sin Palabras Mitchell .IT has a picture of a beautiful guitar. Hope you listen to it. Peace and love always

[@mickeymortimer4407]

my infant daughter enjoys it when I play the clave with a little bell pattern, while you're playing and scatting

[@vicore5647]

Another super awesome lesson! Thanks Aimee!

[@AimeeNolte]

Vico Re thanks Vico!

[@detlingyes]

Just wanted to say i love your videos and thank you for all the effort you put in.

[@AimeeNolte]

detlingyes thanks for that ❤️

[@mitchelledels9762]

Listen to how Aimee sings what she is playing . IF you can not sing it how can you play it

[@davelowrie1486]

Hey thank u this lesson is awesome

[@alpha7ization]

really like your playing

[@orenico96]

Really instructive! I like the one and three feel, in two. Yes. I'm a drummer who plays this song quite often. There's also the Mark Murphy vocal version which we play in my band.

[@jamesthenabignumber]

Grat lesson, Aimee! I've always had a F7#11 after the C and before Em. Is it in Rollin's original recording do you think?

[@AimeeNolte]

James Sheils oh yeah for sure for sure. I forgot!! 😳

[@victorcamelomusic]

@@AimeeNolte Really? Isn't Sonny Rollins original recording the one from Saxophone colossus? Is that chord really there? I think I just can't hear it. Or do you have a different record in mind? Anyway, thanks for the incredible lesson as always Aimee, very insightful, so much knowledge shared so generously! And your musicality always astonishes me, you rock!

[@fredelin2580]

Hello Aimee, your funny face and smile in this video makes me think of Drummer Emmanuelle Caplette. I think you could be relatives :) A quote about her : "Mathematical precision, accuracy, grace and ease all at the same time". And thank you for this lesson !

[@MarioCalzadaMusic]

Thank you so much

[@IvegottobeFrank]

Aimee, I love your tutorials and this is one of the best! I don't notice a lot of Bud Powell in your channel. How about some tutorials on "happy" Bud Powell tunes suche as "In the mood for a classic" or "Una noche con Francis"? Examples of Bud's phrasing and riffs would be great too!

[@kostadinbekirski8555]

Wonderful..

[@azaak_melody]

Really great easiest explanation and perfect in same time, .and we want you to know how you are Soooo great to reaching us to understanding very well ☺️❤️ I forget > your talent for communicating difficult information, with your beautiful smile🤗 and wonderful acceptance of everyone who sees you, thank you and thanking are not enough Accept all regards from older student . Ahmed kahfagy🙏❤️

[@musiclover6535]

I love it and you're a fantastic teacher keep up the good work

[@jsbn9012]

This is such a fantastic tutorial!!! I learned so much about where to add the spice. Although, I have to disagree with this tune being Latino. I have seen him do it live and the vibe was definitely of the Caribbean Islands. I was inspired to write one and I would be happy to send it to you. It's a full arrangement for four flutes and jazz combo. Cheers!

[@AimeeNolte]

+JS BN you're toooooootally right about that. It's a bad habit of mine to call anything straight-eighth Latin. I didn't say Latino...but I probably said Latin. Good catch. ;)

[@christianbillod4393]

12,53 Georges Benson technic simple fabulous👍

[@cokidjazz]

@Aimee, I am a jazz guitarist. When there is a piano/keyboard in the group and I am soloing I find it better if there are "sparser" chords and rhythms playing behind me on piano. So important point is to communicate with the soloist on what they like. If you know Sonny Rollins history (_Saxophone Colossus_) you know he many times played without piano,. (No offense intended)

[@cokidjazz]

O yeah @12:35 you emphasize "sparsity", thank you

[@AimeeNolte]

Yeah, great comment. If you have time, look at my video called, “Guitar and Piano - who should comp? “

[@vvoka2257]

hey Aimee, just discovered this - wow, thanks so much. but what fascinates me most is your little impro singing aroun 13:00 and 14+ to your voicings. wow!!! that is coming close to Al Jarreau already.... really great, so easy sounding, naturally great! Thanks so much for the lesson.

[@reznikboris1954]

Aimee, thanks a lot for your tutorial! Starting from 9.22 you are using a music smartphone app. What is the name of the app? With thanks,Boris

[@AimeeNolte]

IReal :)

[@Zikri-vm8rl]

Thank you so muchhhhh!!! This is really helpful!

[@right_keyboardist]

kindly share the app you are using on your phone

[@AimeeNolte]

Ireal

[@dstrongcrowe432strong6]

That's kind of tough determining what's too much, Aimee. I remember Miles Davis saying Oscar Peterson played everything with the same degree of force, implying that he used little or no variation in dynamics or space, since he immediately begins to refer to the necessity of leaving room. But then, he said the same thing about Stanley Clarke-too many notes. I just concluded that maybe sometimes(and I mean sometimes) it has more to do with what you are playing, not necessarily how much. Whatever the case may be, I think you're one of the most thoughtful and intelligent improvisors I've heard, and I've heard many!

[@AimeeNolte]

DStrongCrowe432 Strong I get that. Everything is subjective. Maybe I should've stated it in terms of being gracious. If somebody is taking a solo, I really like to try to not get in the way. Of course there are times when more notes are required and everybody is different. Thanks for your nice complement. :-) I appreciate it

[@carlos-bt4dt]

I am so use to hear Jules cover of Tears for fears "mad World" so that song appear for me 21:50-21:51 some tunes are same ?! this problems is when i try to "compose" I remember and hear tunes that allready is used. how to not copy others. mybe tears for fears have this song in mind , when they get inspired to compose mad World.

[@AimeeNolte]

carl os I'm not exactly sure what you mean, Carlos, but I love both of those recordings of that wonderful tune. :)

[@delahoz3070]

Which app are you using for playing along??

[@AimeeNolte]

iReal

[@delahoz3070]

@@AimeeNolte thank you!

[@danielpellegrini6130]

A very modest rendition of this tune @zDEw

[@dennmillsch]

02:37 -- "It's really really simple..." -- maybe for a jazz player. This doesn't come natural for me. Incidentally I learned an arrangement of St Thomas on solo guitar many years ago (the arrangement by John Miller is at kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWrHqnaZg8anoNk ). A very challenging piece -- the most difficult piece I play and I only play about 80% of it -- but very fun!!

[@casperdans]

I see drop 2 chords at 7:20!

[@gtsipejr]

"They always do"(wanna take a solo)......good line.

[@antoniomachadodaluz3651]

muito bom

[@AimeeNolte]

antonio machado da luz obrigado

[@porlando12]

Which app were you using for the backing track?

[@AimeeNolte]

Ireal

[@jeremiaoktavian5971]

12:49

[@kennethhamilton8924]

i just a novice but have you heard horace silver comp it's non stop

[@stevegandalf4739]

Horace Silver really kicked ass, that's for sure. Strangely, I can't imagine him recording this tune, it's not either a) slow enough or b) upbeat hard bop enough for his style. Horace basically had his own repertoire, and lead one of the tightest bands in Jazz. IMO, he's the best combined bandleader/soloist/composer after Ellington. He was far more hardcore than Rollins, whose music IMHO was more accessible to the non-jazz public. Horace Silver is very underrated in the overall history of jazz, as a bandleader he was up there with Ellington. Rollins was and still is a legend.

[@y34r]

Four-way closed chord-melody worked very well on St thomas's head

[@6strings5904]

Saxophone colossus

[@christianbillod4393]

Listen on Broadway by Georges Benson...

[@choche7896]

I would wish to be the worlds greatest compist than soloist

[@pjlira]

What is the name of that App you were using for play-along?

[@AimeeNolte]

+Paulo Lira ireal pro

[@bobbystrickland6693]

Hey Aimee, I love this. Thank you. I would love to see you make a video about applying latin rhythms (like bossa nova) to familiar standards. Diana Krall does this a lot. I recently heard a bossa nova Over the Rainbow and it was amazing (this is my favorite song anyway but it brought new life to it.)

[@AimeeNolte]

Bobby Strickland that's a pretty good idea, Bobby. I'll add it to my list of "to dos."

[@cns7139]

Bobby Strickland - Yes, yes, and add Eliane Elias with Baubles, Bangles, and Beads (from her 'Dreamer' CD) as a bossa nova! Love it!

[@RobertHahl]

I would like to learn more about Brazilian rhythms in particular. Mention of Eliane Elias led to this performance in the Calle 54 movie. There must be more to it than playing barefoot. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHvWnZWgeN-JgM0

[@RobertHahl]

This sounds like a good start. Tommy Igoe's Groove Essentials #34: Samba kzbin.info/www/bejne/d32rnZKqa9R6g7s

[@nezkeys79]

aimee palmieri

[@fenderjag114]

This is so useful...even to a guitar player. Many thanks.

[@kristianfolkekarlsen9101]

love this song! This is my rendetion on it. soundcloud.com/folke-karlsen/st-thomas

[@nykmia1997]

y love you

[@CLabmusic]

I really like your videos! Might I suggest that you start a patreon. It's a way to get a monthly check from your subscribers. $1 to $5 a month from 56K subscribers adds up! You could offer special bonuses for people that go over the $5 a month mark. Like transcriptions or extra video lessons, one on one Q&A. etc. Thanks for posting!

[@rinahall]

I just listened to a 10h French podcast radio show on Sonny Rollins (yes, 10x 1h, covering 1951-2001!!!). A torture, but I'm like that, I dive into an artist and I listen to everything, or almost. To have my own opinion. My opinion of Rollins is that he seems very overrated to me. First of all as a player, he does not seem to me better than Johnny Griffin, Sonny Stitt, Roland Kirk, Phil Woods, Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Hank Mobley... but enjoys a much greater notoriety... and unjustified in my opinion. Ok he plays well, but not better in my opinion than the musicians above. At the level of the composition, he did not compose anything, everyone knows that his hit ''St Thomas'' is a Caribbean folklore already recorded by Randy Weston in 1955 under the title ''Fire Down There''. His ''Tenor Madness'' is a composition by Kenny Clarke published in 1947 under the title ''Rue Chaptal''. His other compositions from the 50s... well, Oleo, Airegin etc... it can in no way be compared to the compositions of Trane, Bird, Monk or Shorter... Moreover, his playing and his sound are terribly degraded after 1966 (36 years). Something happened on that bridge, he lost his mind. He seems to have been traumatized by the arrival of Ornette, Trane, Ayler... In the 60s he tried to be freer than Ayler, more calypso/blues than Ornette, and more mystical than Trane, but without succeeding because so superficial... Then in the 70s/80s he tried his hand at funk, disco... with really ridiculous and corny results... Did he want to be funkier than James Brown himself? More disco than Chic and Nile Rodgers? Also, on the radio show, they say he was paid today's $300,000 for himself to record the Nucleus album (listen to the result!!!!), and that for his concerts, his Financial claims were unrealistic, only big festivals could afford it. He played with the Stones but didn't want to tour with them because, according to Mike Jagger himself, he wanted too much money! I am not making anything up here. On ''SAIS'' from the ''Horn Culture'' album, one example among many, just picking up a random piece between 1966 and 2001....It's a shame. He plays out of tune, out of rhythm, with an absolutely disgusting sound. It is a lack of respect towards himself, the other musicians and the listener. No normally constituted musician would have agreed to let this recording be released. The problem with Rollins is that EVERYTHING IS LIKE THIS after 1966. He even said himself that he was high on marijuana when he recorded his solo album ''Soloscope'' at the Museum of Modern Art. from NYC...Also listen to the result, it's ridiculous and disrespectful towards the listeners...In a blindfold test published in downbeat in 2006, he doesn't recognize ANY saxophonist, even taking James Carter for Don Byas! Totally mind-blowing and revealing! In conclusion Sonny Rollins is for me the archetype of a narcissistic complacency encouraged by the fans and the milieu which has placed him on a throne since 1956 and his (very average) album ''saxophone colossus''. You have to be quite arrogant to glorify yourself as a ''saxophone colossus'' at 26 years old when BIRD had just died the previous year.