Week #299 ~ Azalea Waltz

  1. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    This week's winner is Azalea Waltz, which appears to be a waltz by the late Butch Baldessari. I am getting ready to hit the road, and wanted to get this posted, but I will appeal to our members to help with pointing the rest of you in the right direction!
  2. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    There are at least two, and possibly three, tunes by that name.

    1) Luurtie posted this a few weeks ago, and described it as written by Kathy Chiavola.

    2) There is a 1914 recording by Clarence Penney of that name:



    3) There is a Butch Baldassari tune of that name in this Homespun book.

    The Penney and Chiavola tunes are certainly different, I haven't heard the Baldassari one.

    Martin
  3. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Update to my previous post: I've found a recording of the Baldassari tune, and it's clearly the same tune luurtie has recorded:



    Martin
  4. Hendrik Luurtsema
    Hendrik Luurtsema
    The "Azalea Waltz" in the homespun book from Butch Baldassari is written by Kathy Chiavola as far as I know. Here's my version from last year.

    The guitarchords I used are (With a capo on the 2nd fret)

    part A: IG--IC--IBm--IEm--IBm--IEm--IAm--ID--IG--IC--IBm--IEm--IAm--ID--IG--IG--I
    part B: IC--IG--ID--IG--IC--IG--IA--ID--IG--IC--IBm--IEm--IAm--ID--IG--IG--I
    Bridge: IBes--IAm--IG#--ID#--ICm--ID#--IBes--ID--ID--I

    I don't have tabs on it..
  5. jonny250
    jonny250
    really nice Luurtie
  6. Manfred Hacker
    Manfred Hacker
    Finally an easy one for me: here is what I posted a couple of weeks ago when luurtie started a thread for this beautiful tune.
    Accompaniment is a backup track

  7. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Two fine versions here, Martin and Hendrik. It's a very peaceful tune!
  8. maudlin mandolin
    maudlin mandolin
    Here is an alternative chord chart from traditional music: http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/se...20-%200002.htm
  9. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    John wrote:

    "Two fine versions here, Martin and Hendrik. It's a very peaceful tune!"

    John: Did you mean "Manfred" rather than "Martin"? Manfred and Hendrik are the two who have recorded the tune - and both very nicely, too! I've only posted a few links. I need to work on my ear training to pick this tune up as there are no trancriptions around and I don't own the Baldassari book.

    Martin
  10. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    I have now got around to recording this beautiful tune as a duet of mandolin and tenor guitar, with the tenor taking part of the melody on the repeat. It's such a delicate tune, I've kept it very simple with a bit of an old-world waltz feeling.

    Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin
    Ozark tenor guitar



    Martin
  11. Hendrik Luurtsema
    Hendrik Luurtsema
    You played that very nice Martin, your tremolo is outstanding I also love the azaleapictures that come with the tune. good work! I cannot play the Baldassari video you posted earlier, didn't you notice the same thing?
  12. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Thanks, Hendrik, and once again thanks for pointing us towards this tune. The Baldassari video works fine for me -- it may one of those country-specific blocks that Youtube does.

    I've also just come across this wonderfull Sierra Hull live performance of this tune, with Justin Moses on guitar. In her introduction she talks about learning the Baldassari "30 Fiddle Tunes For Mandolin" cover-to-cover when she was nine, and this tune being the first ever to move her to tears when she played it.

    Sierra plays it quite a bit slower than Butch (and than me), but I'm pleased to see that she swaps the lead over to the guitar player at pretty much the same point that I did.



    Martin
  13. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    She plays the tune slowly, but she gets a lot of notes and feeling in there!
  14. Elliot Luber
    Elliot Luber
    It's such a darned simple tune to play, but nearly impossible to play it like Butch did.
  15. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    I've just revisited this lovely waltz as part of my lockdown browse through old repertoire. This is one is such a pretty tune! Using my Ajr this time instead of the Mid-Mo I used back in 2015.

    1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



    Martin
  16. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    I found this tune on Nigel Gatherer's website, but there is no bridge:
  17. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Such a nice tune. You added a beautiful version to the other fine recordings, Christian.
  18. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    I know how much practice, work and care go into a music recording like this. Saying that it's really pretty and enjoyable doesn't seem enough to acknowledge all this effort. But perhaps it's adequate when I say that your music really cheered me up this evening and that the tune would probably want to be played just like that.
  19. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Delicate playing and arrangement, Christian. Great feeling of peace in your version.
  20. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    After listening to Martin's and Christian's versions of this lovely waltz I thought I would have a go at it too. I also took the notation from Nigel Gatherer's site and played the tune with repeats on both parts. Instruments are mandolin, guitar and bass (playing a bass synth via keyboard). The bass needs good speakers or headphones to be properly heard - just does not come through on the laptop speakers.

    Apologies too for lack of azaleas. I thought the bush in my garden was an azalea, but it turns out not. First two pictures are azaleas, all the rest are,I believe, weigela! If only I had that flower identification app on my phone before I made the video!

  21. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    Never mind the flowers, John, I can't tell one from the other without that app anyway, and this waltz by any other name would sound as sweet
    You might have added a Scottish thistle, and most appropriately so.
  22. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Nice offerings Gents. Thanks for a enlightened breakfast.
    Rare authenticity of feeling Mr. Kelly.
  23. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Thanks, Bertram and Simon. I love your Romeo and Juliet allusion here, Bertram, and that "rare authenticity of feeling", Simon.
  24. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    Another bridgeless Azalea waltz. I like the fast hammer-ons you play in the repeat of the A-part. Why didn't you play them in the B-part?
    Anyway, whether you show Azaleas or Weigelas, your music sounds great!
  25. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Thanks, Christian. Always great to get positive feedback from someone who himself posts such great tunes and recordings. The SAW Group is such an important asset to those of us who post on it or simply enjoy the postings of others.
  26. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Christian/John: Lovely versions, both of you -- it's such a sweet tune, and you do it justice. Having got used to it in Butch Baldassari's transcription (A-B-bridge-A), it sounds strange to hear it played in AABB form instead, but it works just as well once I got used to it.

    Martin
  27. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Thanks, Martin. I enjoyed the guitar break on the Sierra Hull version, and her story of learning the tune as a very young girl and feeling so moved by it.
  28. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    And I can see why. It is a moving melody, and all these recordings reflect that quality. Each interpretation feels special in some way. A sweet treat, one might say.
  29. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Fructose or sucrose?
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