Amelia (Bob McQuillen)

  1. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    This is a lovely waltz, written in 1981 by Bob McQuillen (1923-2014) from New Hampshire. Also widely known as "Amelia's Waltz".

    This arrangement is by Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni from the third (2018) volume of her "Big Book For Mandolins", available from Amazon (NFI).

    1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin
    Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello



    Martin
  2. Robert Balch
    Robert Balch
    Very beautiful Martin. I really enjoyed it.
  3. Kay Kirkpatrick
    Kay Kirkpatrick
    Thank you! I always enjoy and appreciate your submissions, but particularly those from Evelyn's books. I have her 3 books thanks to you, as do some of my friends and some of my friends' friends.
  4. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Good job, Martin. Great to get your recordings as audible illustrations of Evylyn's books.
  5. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Thanks for the kind comments, Robert, Kay and Frithjof!

    Kay: I like playing Evelyn's arrangements. They provide a ready-made versatile repertoire for small mandolin group get-togethers and can be scaled up to more players for each part if required.

    Her latest book also has a nice batch of early 20th century ragtime/Tin Pan Alley songs, most of which I have now recorded and posted in a separate thread in the Jazz/Swing/Ragtime section of the Cafe:

    Link

    (One more in the works, coming shortly: "Ballin' The Jack")

    Martin
  6. crisscross
    crisscross
    Beautiful waltz, nice arrangement, aptly played, what more would you ask?
  7. crisscross
    crisscross
    I really like this waltz, so I looked for a version with just melody and chords. There are several on the net and while the melody remains the same, the chord changes differ slightly. I chose the one, that appealed the most to me and picked the chords on my classical guitar. I chose a slower tempo, so I could tremolo the quarter notes and longer ones.
    I didn't know Bob McQuillen and was surprised to find out, that he must have been such a prominent figure in the New England dance scene.
  8. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Lovely.
  9. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Lovely waltz, and great to have two such different interpretations, Martin and Crisscross.
  10. crisscross
    crisscross
    Thanks Frithjof and John!
  11. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Following Christian's posting of his new recording of this tune (link), I have also revisited it. As previously, my preferred tempo is a bit faster than Christian's. The B part feels like a rousing chorus, and I have beefed up the sound by doubling on the melody on OM, for the B part only. I didn't intend to also speed up for the B part, but I quite like the effect.

    1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin (x2)
    Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello


    https://youtu.be/mzFFUsl6S_8

    Martin
  12. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    The Gibson carries the melody very well in this complex arrangement, Martin.
  13. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    Nice arangement with a second mandolin playing a counter melody, Martin.
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