Midnight Mood - Joe Zawinul

shin1ro

Well-known member
From Alone / Bill Evans album.

The song has a beautiful, straight and friendly melody. Bill plays the melodies repeatedly in three different keys, Db, D, and F. The solos are played in key F.

Midnight Mood (Evans) - Joe Zawinul
 
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Jer,
Thanks for the info.

No, I didn’t know the transcription.
I don’t know which part you’re saying but
I’m happy to correct my chart if there’s any mistakes, or to make it better.

Since this is a solo performance, it sometimes hard to identify the chord symbol. One chord voicing can have plural chord names. As for this chart, you may think pedal tones may be overly extended. But for me, I felt Bill might feel this way...

I sometimes modify my chord symbols to adopt the current iReal player’s voicings as nicer accompaniment.
And usually I try to avoid simple triad to make the comp jazzier.

Best,
shin1ro
 
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shin1ro,

You did a great job. I just thought you might be interested in seeing another take on the same performance.

I do the same as you in trying to adapt to iReal Pro. I like very much that you try to make the comp as interesting as possible.

I only use iReal pro for its bass and drums, as I'm a pianist.

Cheers,
Jer
 
I know transcription is (should be) the same as the original Alone track.
But still,
I’m interested in knowing where are the major differences you felt (not ‘hear’) because the transcription doesn’t tell any chord symbols. I want to try to make it closer to the Bill’s.
Assigning adequate chord symbols is sometimes a little harder task than transcription...
 
Your chords are basically correct. You need to look at Albert's transcription to see the voicings. You know a certain chord, but not know how Bill would voice it.
 
shin1ro,

Obviously, given the length of your transcription, there isn't room on one page of iReal Pro to notate every chord. You did an excellent job of distilling it down to the size available.

Just for the record, here's my analysis of the first 24 bars of Albert's transcription.

Bill's pedal on the first five bars is not Ab, but Db-Ab, making the bass note Db rather than Ab. I also know that there is no real chord symbol for many of Bill's voicings. For example, he often puts both the major 6 and major 7 in the same major chord. I suppose it could be notated as maj13, but of course that does not exist in iReal Pro.

|| Db∆ - - | Ab7b9sus/Db - - | Db∆ - - | Db7sus - - | Db∆ - - | A69/Db - - | Db∆ - - | Abm7 - G13 |

| Gb∆ - - | C7alt - - | Dbo/F - Fm7 | Bbm9 - - | Bo - Ebm9 | B13 - Ab7b9 | Ab7b9 - Db∆ |Db∆ Abm7 G13 |

| Gb∆ - - | C7alt - - | Dbo/F - Fm7 | E13 - Eb13#11 | Eb13#11 - A13 | Ab13#11 - Ab7b9 | Ab7b9 Db6/Ab | Db6/Ab Ab7#11b9sus - ||

Cheers,
Jer
 
Jer,
thanks, i’ll try yours. maybe i like it!

iReal supports maj13 , doesn’t it?
... the iReal player’s voicings doesn’t suit well depending on a song though.
 
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Jer,
iReal supports maj13 , doesn’t it?
... the iReal player’s voicings doesn’t suit well depending on a song though.

Yes, ▵13 is recognized by the iRp player.
Different player styles may generate different chord voicings. The voicings may also change each time the player is started and a new track is generated.
:))BOB
 
Jer,

Sorry for my laziness to analyze the transcription...
Here's the one you can hear how iReal player play your changes from the transcription.

Midnight Mood fragment (de la Fuente-Jer) - Joe Zawinul

This IS real chord chart but I feel iReal player's limitations that you mentioned partially make it sound a bit awkward to me.

Here, after reading your message,
I modified my chart becoming closer to the transcription and the performance.

Midnight Mood (Evans) - Joe Zawinul

I moved the pedal 5th Ab to the latter (2nd or 3rd) beat...sorry, but it still remains.
I can't help but keep the 5th pedal (even the root Db is the lowest bass note) in the chart,
because the over all Bill's performance emphasizes the low 5th notes
in the first seven bars in the melody in each section:
5th Ab together with root Db in section A (key Db),
and 5th A and C in B and C sections (key D and F) respectively.

Cheers,
shin1ro
 
Thanks, guys. I just made an assumption about ∆13 without actually checking.

Well, good news then. That covers major chords with both a major 6 and a major 7. It's common in major quartal voicings.

shiun1ro, so then many if not most of Bill Evans's Db∆ chords are actually Db∆13.

Cheers,
Jer
 
Jer,

Sorry for my laziness to analyze the transcription...
Here's the one you can hear how iReal player play your changes from the transcription.

Midnight Mood fragment (de la Fuente-Jer) - Joe Zawinul

This IS real chord chart but I feel iReal player's limitations that you mentioned partially make it sound a bit awkward to me.

Here, after reading your message,
I modified my chart becoming closer to the transcription and the performance.

Midnight Mood (Evans) - Joe Zawinul

I moved the pedal 5th Ab to the latter (2nd or 3rd) beat...sorry, but it still remains.
I can't help but keep the 5th pedal (even the root Db is the lowest bass note) in the chart,
because the over all Bill's performance emphasizes the low 5th notes
in the first seven bars in the melody in each section:
5th Ab together with root Db in section A (key Db),
and 5th A and C in B and C sections (key D and F) respectively.

Cheers,
shin1ro

In my reply to you, I assumed you were a piano player like Jer and me. iReal won't really play voicings like Bill's. What instrument do you play?
 
What if I'm not a piano player?
What if I play the kazoo or the guitarra portuguesa de Coimbra? *grin*
Actually, it doesn't matter.
 
shin1ro,

Yes, I see what you did in the new version. It's good.

Thanks much for opening up a lively discussion about Midnight Mood.

I used to play it right out of the Real Book, but now I've adopted Bill's arrangement, with some modifications.

Here's my version of it. I leave out the D major section and just go directly from the Db head to the solos in F.

Midnight Mood-Rev JE - Joe Zawinul

Cheers,
Jer
 
Thanks, Jer.
Yours is nicely practical that allows us to repeat only the solos section as many as we want.
 
What I was getting at is that since I'm a pianist, I mute the piano on iReal and I can voice the chords myself to sound more like Bill's voicings. Take the E half dim chord, sometimes it will sound like that, other times it will sound like a B13/Db. All this means is that iReal can't play some of the voicings needed.
 
raymb1,

Yes, ditto for me.

But even though all I play in iReal Pro is bass and drums, I like the chart to reflect, when possible, the extended chords.

Cheers,
Jer

(P.S. I think you meant Eb half dim.)
 
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