Comments

• Bob Holo Moderator

  February 2016 edited February 2016 Posts: 1,252

  I believe Django's 1935 recording was in F and I suppose a person might call that the seminal GJ recording. I think Jolson recorded it in F also. Though I suspect the key depends on the orchestration. Playing in either F or G won't make you very popular with horn players ;-)
  
  It's not a bad idea to learn both when a song is played in both. I'm not sure why songs seem to have regional key variations, but oddly, Seattle & Portland seem to use different keys for several songs. I don't jam as much as I used to, but clearly remember going up North to jam with the gents and halfway through the A section of some songs - wondering what the h* was going on... and then noticing that I was in a different key.

  You get one chance to enjoy this day, but if you're doing it right, that's enough.
• Jazzaferri Victoria B.C.Moderator Dunn Ultrafox, DuPont MDC20 Gretsch Chet Atkins CG

  February 2016 Posts: 3,707

  As it was originally a vocal, lots of different versions to suit vocal range
  
  FWIW, as a horn player ....... F concert is G on Bb instruments, a great key for both tpt and sax. And D for Eb instruments another great key for sax.
  
  Today any horn player worthy of the name is equally comfortable in C and C#
  
  My most common keys in blues are the guitar keys of E (F# on tenor) and A ( B on tenor)

  The Magic really starts to happen when you can play it with your eyes closed
• spatzo Virtuoso

  February 2016 edited February 2016 Posts: 768

  Original Key of Avalon in 1920 was F and the structure is AABC but I think it is always interesting and profitable to learn tunes by grades instead of memorizing only chords.
  
  I mean when you remember that Avalon is mainly V to I for the first 16 bars
  
  [V ][./.][./.][./.][ I ][./.][./.][./.]
  [V][./.][./.][./.][ I ][./.][./.][./.]
  
  you only have to learn the following 16 bars (parts B and C) as being:
  
  [VI7][./.][./. ][./.][IIm][./.][IVm6][./.]
  [ I ][./.][VI7][./.][II ][V ][ I ][./.]
  
  And when you know that you can play it in any key both on chords or solo...
  
  You just have to remember : 5 1 5 1 6 2 4 1 6 2 5 1
  
  Or better:
  5 1
  5 1
  6 2 4
  1 6 2 5 1
  

  
• Jazzaferri Victoria B.C.Moderator Dunn Ultrafox, DuPont MDC20 Gretsch Chet Atkins CG

  February 2016 Posts: 3,707

  We do it in C to suit our vocalist. Lays out really nicely from B to D Using the chords we have come up with...

  The Magic really starts to happen when you can play it with your eyes closed
• Lango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator

  February 2016 Posts: 1,855

  Over the years, I've found F and G to be pretty much interchangeable for a lot of standard tunes e.g. Sweet Sue, I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Lady Be Good, St. Louis Blues, L-O-V-E, and probably a few more I can't think of right now.

  Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."
  
  Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
  
  Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
  
• BluesBop Harry Mexico city, MexicoVirtuoso

  February 2016 Posts: 1,379

  stuart wrote: »

  I would avoid G though - the last thing Gypsy Jazz needs is another tune in G!

  That's why it's called "G" ypsy Jazz man!
  
  
• Al Watsky New JerseyVirtuoso

  February 2016 edited February 2016 Posts: 440

  If Avalon is being played in the lobby of a NYC hotel its in F.
  Its a thing.
  If your out side of the city ?
  Who knows ?
  We were required to extrude that one in F.