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Old 10-17-2021, 03:31 PM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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Default When Sunny Gets Blue by Marvin Fisher (music) and Jack Segal (lyrics)



My dad used to play Nat Cole's "Love Is The Thing" album on his hi-fi when I was young, and I learned to love so many of the songs on that album, particularly this one, "When Sunny Gets Blue." Kenny Rankin also did a great cover of this song as did so many others.

I am playing this pitched where Nat Cole sang it using my Eastman AR910CE archtop guitar played with my bare fingers, an approach which softens up the sound through a guitar amp. I came up with the chords I'm using here by studying Mel Torme's piano arrangement of this song, though I changed the intro and ending considerably.

This is a song I have always wanted to learn to play and record so I had to do this as one of my life goals. I hope you enjoy this, too.

Thank you for listening!

- Glenn
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Old 10-17-2021, 03:48 PM
Rogerblair Rogerblair is offline
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Oh yeah…works great while I’m enjoying a rare martini, Glenn. Very nice, mellow and smooth. This is my favorite genre, as it conjures so many good memories of when the world was a little more gentle.

I’d love to hear your take on “The Shadow of Your Smile”. Another classic from earlier days.

Thanks for the great music, friend.

Roger
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Old 10-17-2021, 03:56 PM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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Oh yeah…works great while I’m enjoying a rare martini, Glenn. Very nice, mellow and smooth. This is my favorite genre, as it conjures so many good memories of when the world was a little more gentle.

I’d love to hear your take on “The Shadow of Your Smile”. Another classic from earlier days.

Thanks for the great music, friend.

Roger
Thank you Roger!

I'm so glad you enjoyed this! I did work on this for a couple of weeks so that I could take out the rough, sharp edges when played through an amp. I'm so glad you felt this came out reasonably well!

And yes, I have very much the same feelings about this music genre -- when the world was a little more gentle is exactly right!

I have never tried to play "The Shadow of Your Smile." Great idea! I will do a little research on this song. It will be another challenge, for sure, but a truly great song! I hope I can figure it out!

You're welcome for the music Roger! And thank you for your kind, supportive comments! I hope all is well for you!

- Glenn
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Old 10-18-2021, 05:48 PM
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Goal accomplished, Glenn!!
That was really sublime.....smooth as a malt whiskey and worth the effort you must have put in to make it come to life!
The action on your Eastman looks like 1/32 at the low E LOL!
Great job on this one!
Best to you and family.....
Fred
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Old 10-18-2021, 06:43 PM
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Stellar guitar work as always Glenn.
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Old 10-18-2021, 09:36 PM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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Goal accomplished, Glenn!!
That was really sublime.....smooth as a malt whiskey and worth the effort you must have put in to make it come to life!
The action on your Eastman looks like 1/32 at the low E LOL!
Great job on this one!
Best to you and family.....
Fred
Thank you Fred!

I so appreciate that you're watching! And you're always so thoughtful with your comments! I am so glad you appreciate this cover.

I have a wound-round set of 12s jazz strings on this guitar, so it feels a lot like one of my acoustics, but you're right -- the action is quite low, which allows me to play all those barre chords with ease. I started out playing this song on my Olson, but it was such hard work in comparison to this archtop.

Thanks for your kind thoughts towards my family! Everyone is well! I hope you and your family are all great, too!

Thanks for taking time, Fred!

- Glenn
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Old 10-18-2021, 09:38 PM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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Stellar guitar work as always Glenn.
Thank you Foxo!

I appreciate your comments! This song took a couple of weeks of effort for me to memorize it and not mess up all those chord changes. But I finally got there!

Thanks so much for taking time to watch and comment, Foxo! I greatly appreciate your kindness and efforts!

I hope all is well for you!

- Glenn
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Old 10-18-2021, 09:58 PM
superbitterdave superbitterdave is offline
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Hey Glenn,

Wow. So nicely done. Love the backstory of your connection (did you really say ‘hi-fi’?). The tone of the guitar was spot on, you vocals predictably perfect, and flawless playing. Reminds me a bit of the first time I played an electric acoustic (not that well), but I heard that cool jazz tone. And your choice of guitar (plus amp etc) just fit it all so well. Plus, thanks I love how you adapted your arrangement from the velvet fog himself.

Super to hear this was a life goal. Put a big check in that box on this one!

Cheers,

Dave

P.S. I’m hoping one of these days Columbia Sportswear will break down and start sponsoring you for these videos [emoji3]
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Old 10-18-2021, 11:44 PM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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Originally Posted by superbitterdave View Post
Hey Glenn,

Wow. So nicely done. Love the backstory of your connection (did you really say ‘hi-fi’?). The tone of the guitar was spot on, you vocals predictably perfect, and flawless playing. Reminds me a bit of the first time I played an electric acoustic (not that well), but I heard that cool jazz tone. And your choice of guitar (plus amp etc) just fit it all so well. Plus, thanks I love how you adapted your arrangement from the velvet fog himself.

Super to hear this was a life goal. Put a big check in that box on this one!

Cheers,

Dave

P.S. I’m hoping one of these days Columbia Sportswear will break down and start sponsoring you for these videos [emoji3]
Hi Dave,

Thanks for your comments and for watching!

My wife has been suggesting I should wear something different from those Columbia fleece zip-ups that I have. When I record these in my studio, it's almost always fairly cool, so they feel about right because the Columbia fleece things are quite warm. It takes a couple of hours to heat up my studio using the wood stove I have up there. I do have forced-air electric heaters in the walls, but they are so ridiculously noisy that they are unusable when I am recording.

Thanks for taking the time to listen to this. I have really been enjoying the Eastman archtop I have, and it feels so good to play. It's so very comfortable. Learning to control the sound when playing through an amp has been a learning experience, but practice always helps immensely.

Yes, I did write "hi-fi." My dad had built a mono amp and speakers well before the days of stereo came about, so we were listening to great music in my house from pretty early in my life. Lots of classical music, jazz of a fairly mellow sort, and pop and folk stuff I managed to sneak in there, too.

I did spend some time listening to Mel Torme' (The Velvet Fog) sing and play this song. Below is the video I watched. I thought he sounded pretty darn good and I liked his piano arrangement.

Thanks so much for your time, Dave. Very generous of you and much appreciated!



- Glenn
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Old 10-19-2021, 12:03 AM
superbitterdave superbitterdave is offline
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Hi Dave,

Thanks for your comments and for watching!

My wife has been suggesting I should wear something different from those Columbia fleece zip-ups that I have. When I record these in my studio, it's almost always fairly cool, so they feel about right because the Columbia fleece things are quite warm. It takes a couple of hours to heat up my studio using the wood stove I have up there. I do have forced-air electric heaters in the walls, but they are so ridiculously noisy that they are unusable when I am recording.

Thanks for taking the time to listen to this. I have really been enjoying the Eastman archtop I have, and it feels so good to play. It's so very comfortable. Learning to control the sound when playing through an amp has been a learning experience, but practice always helps immensely.

Yes, I did write "hi-fi." My dad had built a mono amp and speakers well before the days of stereo came about, so we were listening to great music in my house from pretty early in my life. Lots of classical music, jazz of a fairly mellow sort, and pop and folk stuff I managed to sneak in there, too.

I did spend some time listening to Mel Torme' (The Velvet Fog) sing and play this song. Below is the video I watched. I thought he sounded pretty darn good and I liked his piano arrangement.

Thanks so much for your time, Dave. Very generous of you and much appreciated!



- Glenn

Don’t get me wrong,I love Columbia products, and they did sponsor (i.e. give some free gear to) my brother, a biologist, back in the day.

The Mel Torme clip was great. Makes us both feel old, I suspect, as he was younger than both of us in that. (And to think I was introduced to him on Night Court.)

And finally, no disparagement implied for home audio. My grandfather built HealthKit amps and speakers for himself and my folks (and me, I guess) over the years. And he was a huge jazz fan. So lots of nostalgia with this piece.

Yet I digress, well done. Fun to watch and, as always, masterfully done.

Cheers,

Dave
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Old 10-19-2021, 08:28 AM
Gerhard Gschossmann Gerhard Gschossmann is offline
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Originally Posted by Glennwillow View Post


My dad used to play Nat Cole's "Love Is The Thing" album on his hi-fi when I was young, and I learned to love so many of the songs on that album, particularly this one, "When Sunny Gets Blue." Kenny Rankin also did a great cover of this song as did so many others.

I am playing this pitched where Nat Cole sang it using my Eastman AR910CE archtop guitar played with my bare fingers, an approach which softens up the sound through a guitar amp. I came up with the chords I'm using here by studying Mel Torme's piano arrangement of this song, though I changed the intro and ending considerably.

This is a song I have always wanted to learn to play and record so I had to do this as one of my life goals. I hope you enjoy this, too.

Thank you for listening!

- Glenn

Hi Glenn,
a great recording of that jazz standard - with a nice and mellow archtop guitar sound - together with nice jazz chords that fit´s perfectly to the mood of that tune .... - well done!!

greetings from Germany
Gerhard
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Old 10-19-2021, 09:33 AM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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Originally Posted by superbitterdave View Post
Don’t get me wrong,I love Columbia products, and they did sponsor (i.e. give some free gear to) my brother, a biologist, back in the day.

The Mel Torme clip was great. Makes us both feel old, I suspect, as he was younger than both of us in that. (And to think I was introduced to him on Night Court.)

And finally, no disparagement implied for home audio. My grandfather built HealthKit amps and speakers for himself and my folks (and me, I guess) over the years. And he was a huge jazz fan. So lots of nostalgia with this piece.

Yet I digress, well done. Fun to watch and, as always, masterfully done.

Cheers,

Dave
Thank you again, Dave!

- Glenn
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Old 10-19-2021, 09:35 AM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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Originally Posted by Gerhard Gschossmann View Post
Hi Glenn,
a great recording of that jazz standard - with a nice and mellow archtop guitar sound - together with nice jazz chords that fit´s perfectly to the mood of that tune .... - well done!!

greetings from Germany
Gerhard
Thank you Gerhard!

Thank you for taking time to watch and then comment here! Much appreciated! I'm so pleased that you thought this came out well!

- Glenn
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Old 10-20-2021, 05:57 PM
cedartop52 cedartop52 is offline
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That is a wonderful rendition of a difficult classic. Congrats on accomplishing a bucket list project! As always, your playing and singing are remarkable. I am about your age and was also introduced to jazz through my dad's records. Although in the case of this particular song, I was discovered it via the Kenny Rankin version which, as you mentioned, is amazing.

I applaud the breadth of your musical interests and talents. Music-making is such a wonderful and fulfilling creative outlet I sometimes think it is doing it a disservice to refer to it as a hobby....it is clearly a part of your DNA. Thanks for sharing your accomplishment, Dan
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Old 10-20-2021, 06:37 PM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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Originally Posted by cedartop52 View Post
That is a wonderful rendition of a difficult classic. Congrats on accomplishing a bucket list project! As always, your playing and singing are remarkable. I am about your age and was also introduced to jazz through my dad's records. Although in the case of this particular song, I was discovered it via the Kenny Rankin version which, as you mentioned, is amazing.

I applaud the breadth of your musical interests and talents. Music-making is such a wonderful and fulfilling creative outlet I sometimes think it is doing it a disservice to refer to it as a hobby....it is clearly a part of your DNA. Thanks for sharing your accomplishment, Dan
Thank you Dan!

How nice of you to take the time to pay such attention to this song cover and write such encouraging comments! I greatly appreciate this!

I remember the Kenny Rankin version of this song very much. I was even tempted to sing it at least partly his way, but he had such wonderful control over his falsetto voice, which I do not have. Even as an older guy, he kept that wonderful control. He died entirely too young. I have a very nice DVD of him performing live which I have watched many times.

This song was a bucket-list project. I worked on recording this for three days until I finally got good enough at this song to be willing to put it up on YouTube. As you say, it is really a challenging song. Also, I memorized this because the chord changes came so rapidly, almost at every syllable. I still have this song stuck in my head and when I wake up at night, this is what I am hearing.

Yes, music, I'm afraid, is part of my DNA. It's probably part of yours, too. We are lucky to live in a time where we can own such wonderful instruments and recording equipment so that we can share this stuff.

Thanks so much for your kind words. You have made my day, Dan!

- Glenn
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