# Music by Genre > Jazz/Blues Variants, Bossa, Choro, Klezmer >  January Jazz tune of the month: Lady Be Good

## Pete Martin

This months winner is Lady Be Good.  Once again I'll post 2 versions.

Version 1 is 140 beats per minute.  Play the head (melody), 3 improvised choruses and the head.  

Version 2 is faster, 185 beats per minute.  Head, improvise 4 choruses, head, then what we in Seattle call the “Venuti ending”.  Head chords are same as version 1, solos are bebop era chord changes.  Jump to the CODA on last head, last four measures.  CODA is written on the last page of the PDF file.


Lady Be Good version 1 play along.mp3

Lady Be Good version 2 play along.mp3


Music and tab, click the black box:

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40bpm, 

AlanN, 

danielpatrick, 

Dave Martin, 

DavidKOS, 

DSDarr, 

Jess L., 

John Lloyd, 

Mark Gunter, 

smokinop, 

Steve Lavelle, 

Teak, 

Victor Daniel

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## Teak

Thank you, Pete!   :Mandosmiley:

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## BrianWilliam

Thank you and Merry New Year!  Beef jerky time.

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colorado_al

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## Pete Martin

This "Venuti ending" device is a very common way to end a piece and you hear it much on 50s era jazz recordings.  It is this

IIm7    V7   IIIm7b5   VI7(b9)  one measure each chord.

This is repeated as many times as the improviser wants, then some kind of ending phrase signals

IIm7  V7  one measure each  IMaj7 or I6 (or some alteration like a b5 or #11) for two measures.

In some cases I've heard this ending phrase go on for as long as a couple minutes.  Anyway I thought you all may be interested in trying a short one of these.

Sonny Stitt play an extended version this ending here starting about 3:22

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Barry Canada, 

Bill Stokes, 

DavidKOS, 

des

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## ralph johansson

> This "Venuti ending" device is a very common way to end a piece and you hear it much on 50s era jazz recordings.  It is this
> 
> IIm7    V7   IIm7b5   VI7(b9)  one measure each chord.
> 
> This is repeated as many times as the improviser wants, then some kind of ending phrase signals
> 
> IIm7  V7  one measure each  IMaj7 or I6 (or some alteration like a b5 or #11) for two measures.
> 
> In some cases I've heard this ending phrase go on for as long as a couple minutes.  Anyway I thought you all may be interested in trying a short one of these.
> ...



Shouldn't the third chord be  IIIm7b5?

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DavidKOS

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## Pete Martin

Yes, sorry.  IIIm7b5 now corrected.  You mean what I know :Disbelief:

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DavidKOS

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## alexheflin

Moved across the country this week, so I barely had any time, but I put together this quick one-chorus improvised chord melody.

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AlanN, 

billhay4, 

Bob Visentin, 

crisscross, 

danielpatrick, 

Dave Martin, 

DavidKOS, 

des, 

Jess L., 

Mark Gunter, 

Mark Seale, 

Pete Martin, 

Rick Jones, 

smokinop, 

Teak

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## BrianWilliam

Sounds good Alex!  I hope the move went smoothly.

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Mark Gunter

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## DavidKOS

I mistakenly posted this on the poll thread.

Here is it, warts and all, first take no-fix version; I combined both versions and used a short ending.

Happy New Year!  :Grin:

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Barry Canada, 

crisscross, 

des, 

Drew Egerton, 

Frankdolin, 

Jess L., 

Mark Gunter, 

Mark Seale, 

Pete Martin, 

Rick Jones, 

smokinop

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## DavidKOS

> Moved across the country this week, so I barely had any time, but I put together this quick one-chorus improvised chord melody.


Jeez, what will you do when you're settled in? Great stuff!

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Mark Gunter, 

smokinop

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## Pete Martin

Here is my submission.  Been working on my recording chops.  Any comments on that part or suggestions very much appreciated as well.

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Barry Canada, 

Dave Martin, 

DavidKOS, 

des, 

Drew Egerton, 

DSDarr, 

Frankdolin, 

Jess L., 

Mark Gunter, 

Mark Seale, 

Rick Jones, 

smokinop

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## Pete Martin

David and Alex, very cool versions.  You each have very good Jazz stylings in your playing!

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DavidKOS, 

Mark Gunter

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## DavidKOS

> Here is my submission.  Been working on my recording chops.  Any comments on that part or suggestions very much appreciated as well.





> David and Alex, very cool versions.  You each have very good Jazz stylings in your playing!


Thanks - your style ain't bad at all! Seriously, I appreciate that from a jazz player like you.

The recording sounded very good to me, warm clear mandolin tone, good balance, yeah!

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## des

The standard of playing here up to now is worryingly far too high - time to lower the bar!

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crisscross, 

Dave Martin, 

DavidKOS, 

DSDarr, 

Jess L., 

Mark Gunter, 

Pete Martin, 

Rick Jones, 

smokinop

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## Mark Gunter

I'm in heaven listening to these renditions  :Smile: 

A big thanks to each who've made submissions so far. It's just too cool hearing each interpretation, and IMO each is a special treat in its own right.

Alex - a beautiful arrangement and beautiful style of playing. Hope the move went well, I only wish you could have kept going for a while with that tune.

David - I love the rhythmic feel of your playing and the interesting phrases, and the "one off" feel of freshness. Great job on the tempo change. Good stuff.

Pete - Your in-depth study, practice and performance of Bebop really allows you to express yourself and honor the genre. Thank you once again for starting this program, it has been a lot of fun listening and participating so far.

des - I admire your efforts most of all. Great job of feeling the rhythm and putting on the improv hat!

I had fun playing last month's tune, and hope to do this one as well. Circumstances have kept me from it thus far, but it's so much fun just listening to you guys - I hope we get a bunch more submissions, and hopefully more newbie submissions to boot!  :Mandosmiley:

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DavidKOS, 

des

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## crisscross

I don't have any talent for improvising, so I gave up trying to play jazz some years ago, concentrating rather on classical and some folk. But today I went over my Soundcloud recordings and discovered a version of _Lady be good_. I had played the changes with my Gypsy Jazz guitar, then played the melody as a reading exercise for my tenor banjo, then transcribed a Charlie Christian solo for mandolin and finished the whole piece with a a guitar solo, which is, if I remember right, from the same book as the mandolin solo. Must be, because I would NEVER have ideas for such weird licks...
Well, I cannot compare with the pros in this section, but I thought I'd let you share my mediocrity. :Wink:

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DavidKOS, 

des, 

DSDarr, 

Jess L., 

Mark Gunter, 

Pete Martin, 

Rick Jones, 

smokinop

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## des

Thanks for the kind words Mark. You rightly spotted that I've been prioritising timing. 

I remember reading an interview with Diana Krall in which she said she worked on her timing by watching old videos of English comics. At first I thought "pretentious jazz musician mystification" - then I saw some old Morecambe & Wise reprises and realised she really was on to something - so here are the masters showing how it's done -

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Bill Findley, 

Mark Gunter, 

Pete Martin, 

smokinop

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## Pete Martin

That is FUNNY!!!! :Grin:  :Laughing:  :Mandosmiley: 


Crisscross, love the Charlie Christian licks!  I hear a lot of the early bebop language is Christian's playing.  Easy to forget that his jam session playing with Dizzy, Monk, Bird and other early boppers had as much to do with the musics development as anyone else.  Find and listen to the Minton recordings of CC.  Like this:

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crisscross, 

DavidKOS, 

des, 

Mark Gunter, 

smokinop

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## DavidKOS

> That is FUNNY!!!!
> 
> 
> Crisscross, love the Charlie Christian licks!  I hear a lot of the early bebop language is Christian's playing.


If Christian had lived longer, I bet the front line of early bop would have been Bird, Diz, and Charlie.

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des, 

Rick Jones, 

smokinop

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## des

[QUOTE=crisscross;1624242]I don't have any talent for improvising, so I gave up trying to play jazz some years ago, concentrating rather on classical and some folk. ]

Really nice music!

If I could play  like that  I wouldn't have to improvise.

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crisscross

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## Pete Martin

> If Christian had lived longer, I bet the front line of early bop would have been Bird, Diz, and Charlie.


I think so as well.

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DavidKOS

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## Mark Gunter

Wow, what a great Charlie Christian track, Pete, thanks. After researching the history of that recording, and coming across this mini-documentary by Larry Newcomb & Bucky Pizzarelli, I begin to follow a little of what you and David are talking about. The first half of this is commentary, second half is a slow interpretation/transcription of Charlie's Swing to Bop

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DavidKOS, 

smokinop

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## Pete Martin

Here is a transcription I did of Christians solo on Swing to Bop.  It is for 5 string mandolin but most of it is in the standard 4 string range.  You can move the C string notes an octave higher and it works fine.

Sorry to temporarily hijack the thread.  Now back to Lady Be Good...

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Dave Martin, 

DavidKOS, 

des, 

Jess L., 

Mark Gunter

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## DavidKOS

http://www.soloflight.cc/

"the official cyberhome of the legendary jazz guitarist

Charlie Christian"

http://www.soloflight.cc/xcrpt.htm

lots of transcribed solos

If you want to study CC's style, which in my opinion is one of the most important sources of jazz guitar along with Django, this is a great site.

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Mark Gunter, 

Rick Jones, 

smokinop

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## Dave Martin

Hi here is my shot at lowering the bar.  

I messed up the ending (and some of the middle and beginning).  

This month is not going to plan.  Came back from travel sick, car issues, house guests, and ...  (may I have cheese with my whine?)

Anyway, Bob and Ike were on a break and Al, Brian and I tried it as a slower bossa nova.  If I ever shake this cold I should have time at the end of the month to try again.

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DavidKOS, 

des, 

DSDarr, 

Jess L., 

Mark Gunter, 

Pete Martin, 

Rick Jones

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## Mark Gunter

Embedding that for you ddminpgfl:



Your browser does not support the audio element.

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Barry Canada, 

Dave Martin, 

DavidKOS, 

Jess L.

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## Pete Martin

> Anyway, Bob and Ike were on a break and Al, Brian and I tried it as a slower bossa nova.  If I ever shake this cold I should have time at the end of the month to try again.


I like the bossa. You have a nice feel with it! :Smile:

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Dave Martin

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## Drew Egerton

OK here's my shot at Lady Be Good. Definitely some parts I'm not crazy about, but I got tired of doing it over.  :Laughing: 
I used the backing track I have in iReal Pro since it was handy.
I'm a bluegrasser (and had to throw a little Monroe lick in there) but I've had fun working on some jazz tunes and am looking forward to continuing on with this series. Thanks to all!

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Barry Canada, 

billhay4, 

Dave Martin, 

DavidKOS, 

Denman John, 

des, 

Frankdolin, 

Jess L., 

Mark Gunter, 

Pete Martin, 

smokinop, 

Teak

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## BrianWilliam

Nice work Drew!

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Drew Egerton

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## Frankdolin

I really liked that Drew ! Nice... :Whistling:

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Drew Egerton

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## Mark Gunter

Very cool, Drew!

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Drew Egerton

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## smokinop

Here's my submission for January clams & all. I recorded several different times with varying degrees of improv but this one had the least mistakes, although there are plenty to choose from. This is so challenging for me but it has made me really listen & to focus on the task at hand. Thanks to all the contributors, especially Pete Martin. Can't wait to get started on next month!

Kevin
https://soundcloud.com/user-98084954...n-cafe-jan2018

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Barry Canada, 

DavidKOS, 

des, 

Jess L., 

Mark Gunter, 

Pete Martin

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## Barry Canada

Firstly, A great thank you for all your submissions. Exceptional gratitude to Pete for setting this up.
Here's my first attempt of submission. Any suggestions to improve are welcome. Jam On!
Barry
https://soundcloud.com/user-721171504/lady-be-good

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des, 

Jess L., 

Mark Gunter, 

Pete Martin, 

smokinop

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## Lawrence Fullenkamp

Here is a take I put together with the backing track. It's a great tune. I had to go back and listen to the Count Basie and the Kansas City Seven version. I have always loved how Basie plays on this one. He has such an amazing sense of timing, he seems like he is just dancing along. As Barry said above, thanks Pete for putting this together!

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DavidKOS, 

des, 

DSDarr, 

Jess L., 

Mark Gunter, 

Pete Martin, 

smokinop

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## Lawrence Fullenkamp

Here is the Basie version:



It lead me to another Basie/ Charlie Christian track, leading back to Crisscross's contribution.

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DavidKOS, 

Mark Gunter, 

smokinop

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## Calicos

Hi everyone! New to Mandolin Cafe forum...was excited to find the jazz section and especially these tunes of the month. Here's my husband and I playing Lady Be Good. So fun to hear everyone's versions. Can't wait for next month's tune!

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DavidKOS, 

des, 

Jess L., 

Mark Gunter, 

smokinop, 

sportsnapper, 

Teak

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## BrianWilliam

Welcome Calicos and nice pickin'!

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Calicos

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## smokinop

Very nice, Calicos. Your playing sounded great & nice to hear your husband, too. Welcome aboard.

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Calicos

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## Pete Martin

Welcome Calicos, good playing!

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Calicos

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## BrianWilliam

"Lady Be Good" has had better....

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DavidKOS, 

des, 

Mark Gunter, 

smokinop, 

Teak

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## Teak

> "Lady Be Good" has had better....


... and it has had much worse too! That was nice enough, Brian.  :Mandosmiley: 

We're not going to criticise those that "give it a go". Better to participate with something less than perfect than to not participate at all. I am still trying to figure out how to record myself. The local music store is offering a ProTools class this month so I am going to give that a try.

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## Teak

> Hi everyone! New to Mandolin Cafe forum...was excited to find the jazz section and especially these tunes of the month. Here's my husband and I playing Lady Be Good. So fun to hear everyone's versions. Can't wait for next month's tune!


Well you got my toes a-tappin'; that's what counts!

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## CarlM

Such as it is.

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DavidKOS, 

des, 

Mark Gunter, 

Pete Martin, 

smokinop

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## Dave Martin

I got over the cold and played around with it some in the bossa beat.  Now on to 'Another You'.  Thanks for listening.

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DavidKOS, 

des, 

Drew Egerton, 

Mark Gunter, 

Pete Martin

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## Frankdolin

I'm no jazz guy but I could not resist this beautiful tune. Sorry for the focus but I like this take, my 5th and I was done. Thanks for listen'n. :Mandosmiley:

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Dave Martin, 

DavidKOS, 

des, 

DSDarr, 

smokinop

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## Mark Gunter

Frankdolin, well done, thanks for sharing. I love the way you were gettin' those notes. You were feelin' it.  :Mandosmiley:

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Frankdolin

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