Tune Up

Last updated

"Tune Up" or "Tune-Up" is a composition written by Eddie Vinson, but is traditionally credited to Miles Davis, who first recorded and popularized it. It has become a jazz standard.

Contents

Background and history

"Tune Up" was first recorded on May 19, 1953, with John Lewis on piano, and first appeared on the Miles Davis album Blue Haze , released in 1956, for the Prestige label. John Coltrane was a member of both Vinson's band in the late 1940s and the Miles Davis Quintet and performed the tune on numerous occasions while with Davis. [1]

According to Jack Chamber in his book Milestones: The Music in Times of Miles Davis, both "Four" and "Tune Up" were always credited to Davis for decades, and nobody objected to the false crediting until decades later. Vinson was a blues singer at the time and had no use for the tune. [2] Davis is documented to have also recorded the tune on November 12, 1956, and November 30, 1957, both while in Paris. [3] Wes Montgomery recorded it in October 1960 for his album Movin' Along , and three takes of the tune appeared on his 1963 album Fusion! Wes Montgomery with Strings .

Composition

The tune is typically played in the key of D major, though also modulates through the tonal centres of C major and Bb major. It has been cited as a good example of a standard with ii-V-I progressions in three different keys, making it valuable to musicians learning to play jazz. [4] There are four ii-V-I cadences: Em7-A7-D major 7, D minor 7-G7-C major 7, C minor 7-F7-Bb major 7, and back to Em7-A7-Dmajor 7. [5] Mark Levine in The Jazz Piano Book describes "Tune Up" as a "popular jam session tune". [6]

Other versions

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Haynes</span> American jazz drummer and group leader

Roy Owen Haynes is an American jazz drummer. He is among the most recorded drummers in jazz. In a career lasting over 80 years, he has played swing, bebop, jazz fusion, avant-garde jazz and is considered a pioneer of jazz drumming. "Snap Crackle" was a nickname given to him in the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percy Heath</span> American jazz bassist (1923–2005)

Percy Heath was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet throughout their long history and also worked with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery, Thelonious Monk and Lee Konitz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonny Stitt</span> American jazz saxophonist

Sonny Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording more than 100 albums. He was nicknamed the "Lone Wolf" by jazz critic Dan Morgenstern because of his tendency to rarely work with the same musicians for long despite his relentless touring and devotion to jazz. Stitt was sometimes viewed as a Charlie Parker mimic, especially earlier in his career, but gradually came to develop his own sound and style, particularly when performing on tenor saxophone and even occasionally baritone saxophone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Cobb</span> American jazz drummer (1929–2020)

Wilbur James "Jimmy" Cobb was an American jazz drummer. He was part of Miles Davis's First Great Sextet. At the time of his death, he had been the band's last surviving member for nearly thirty years. He was awarded an NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curley Russell</span> American jazz bassist

Dillon "Curley" Russell was an American jazz musician, who played bass on many bebop recordings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monterey Jazz Festival</span> Annual music festival in California since 1958

The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It debuted on October 3, 1958, championed by Dave Brubeck and co-founded by jazz and popular music critic Ralph J. Gleason and jazz disc jockey Jimmy Lyons.

"I'll Remember April" is a popular song and jazz standard with music written in 1941 by Gene de Paul, and lyrics by Patricia Johnston and Don Raye. It made its debut in the 1942 Abbott and Costello comedy Ride 'Em Cowboy, being sung by Dick Foran. The lyric uses the seasons of the year metaphorically to illustrate the growth and death of a romance. The lyric also uses the ideas of the hours in a day and the flames of a fire to illustrate a relationship growing stronger and subsequently losing strength. Another interpretation is the use of spring to express the loves that were had in youth and remember them when the autumn of life arrives with affection and nostalgia, smiling: "I'll remember April and I smile". The song has been described as one which makes use of nostalgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke Jordan</span> American jazz pianist

Irving Sidney "Duke" Jordan was an American jazz pianist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Duvivier</span> American jazz double-bassist

George Duvivier was an American jazz double-bassist.

James Elbert Raney was an American jazz guitarist, born in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, known for his work from 1951 to 1952 and then from 1953 to 1954 with the Red Norvo trio and, during the same time period, with Stan Getz. In 1954 and 1955, he won the DownBeat Critics' Poll for guitar. Raney worked in a variety of jazz mediums, including cool jazz, bebop, post bop, hard bop, and mainstream jazz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Jones (musician)</span> American jazz double bassist, cellist, and composer

Samuel Jones was an American jazz double bassist, cellist, and composer.

Ronnie Stephenson was an English jazz drummer. He was one of the most in-demand drummers on the British jazz scene in the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Crow</span> American jazz bassist

William Orval Crow is an American jazz bassist. Among other work, Crow was the long-term bassist in saxophonist Gerry Mulligan's bands in the 1950s and 1960s.

"Scrapple from the Apple" is a bebop composition by Charlie Parker written in 1947, commonly recognized today as a jazz standard, written in F major. The song borrows its chord progression from "Honeysuckle Rose", a common practice for Parker, as he based many of his successful tunes over already well-known chord changes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Gourley</span> American jazz guitarist

James Pasco Gourley, Jr. was an American jazz guitarist who spent most of his life in Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Potter</span> American jazz double bass player

Charles Thomas Potter was an American jazz double bass player, best known for having been a member of Charlie Parker's "classic quintet", with Miles Davis, between 1947 and 1950.

Gene Ramey was an American jazz double bassist.

Jodie Christian was an American jazz pianist, noted for bebop and free jazz.

The recordings of American jazz saxophonist Stan Getz from 1944 to 1991.

This article contains the discography of the American jazz trumpeter and singer Chet Baker. His most productive period was arguably for Pacific Records during the 1950s, which included his first vocal recordings.

References

  1. ↑ Dawson, Michael (2018). Connectionist Representations of Tonal Music. AU Press. p. 233. ISBN   9781771992206.
  2. ↑ Jack Chamber: Milestones: The Music in Times of Miles Davis. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, 1998 (unabr. paperback edn): Pt. 1, p. 184.
  3. ↑ Cole, Bill (1994). Miles Davis: The Early Years. pp. 209–210. ISBN   9780306805547.
  4. ↑ "Tune Up". Learnjazzstandards.com. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  5. ↑ Hellmer, Jeffrey; Lawn, Richard (2005). Jazz Theory and Practice. Alfred Publishing Company. p. 99. ISBN   9781457410680.
  6. ↑ Levine, Mark (2011). The Jazz Piano Book. SHER Music. pp. 7–8. ISBN   9781457101441.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.