From the songbook “Urban Blues for Guitar” this is my version of Bright Lights, Big City, written by Jimmy Reed. Can’t you just see Times Square?
And here are two updated versions of Doxy, by Sonny Rollins. It sounds much better now with all of the notes in the right places.
(not to be confused with the singer Jerry Reed.)
Walter Theodore “Sonny” Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a leader. A number of his compositions, including “St. Thomas”, “Oleo”, “Doxy”, “Pent-Up House”, and “Airegin”, have become jazz standards. Rollins has been called “the greatest living improviser” and the “Saxophone Colossus.”
From the songook titled Maiden Voyage – Fourteen Easy-to-Play Jazz Tunes, here is my version of Doxy by Sonny Rollins (without the 20 minute improv). (This was updated on Tuesday, 12-20. There was a wrong note on the mp3, if you can believe it.)
Fast Version:
Slow Version:
Artwork by Paul Klee.
Right? Am I right?
This song was written way back in 1903 by Hans Engelman. It is titled “Melody of Love.” We don’t hear much about Hans these days, but during his time he was quite popular. And he had great piano hands.
So sit down with that someone special, and listen closely……..
(Artwork by Paul Klee.)
The eighth and final song from the book “Original Piano Duets by American Composers” is finished. It is titled “En Route March” and was written by Hans Engelmann.
Hans Engelmann (June 16, 1872 – May 5, 1914) was a composer of popular music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although little is remembered of him today, his work was greatly appreciated in his time. Largely writing for teaching material, by the end of his short life he had created nearly three thousand works. His most popular work, Melody of Love has been recorded by many popular musicians in the mid 20th century.
This concludes our study of early 20th Century American Composers.
The Write Stuff 