Listen to what leprechauns did to my Danny Boy!!

Jeff Lampert · Post by **Jeff Lampert** » 8 Mar 2003 12:31 am

Hey jazz-lovers,
I recorded a nice simple version of Danny Boy. Then a bunch of jazzy leprechauns did what leprechauns do - they performed mischief! They took out the melody and replaced it with some hairy stuff. If you want to hear what they did, click on the link below, and then click where it says “Danny Boy (sort of)”. And everyone have a great St. Patrick’s day next weekend and thanks for listening. And also thanks to Stephen O’Brien and Ricky Davis for hosting my jazz page and tunes.
http://www.mightyfinemusic.com/jeff's_jazz.htm

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 8 Mar 2003 3:00 am

very fine site and great playing.
My guitar didn't come with all those chords.

tp

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 8 Mar 2003 4:39 am

yes yes ,those Lamperthauns are something else

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 8 Mar 2003 6:38 am

Jeff,
As usual, my friend, you blow me away.
Too cool for school

Your instructional stuff is very good as well.

Never can tell what kind of talent is lurking in Gotham City.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 8 Mar 2003 7:28 am

Wish i could get them Leprechauns over here for an evening
they're just too Neet

(my guitar did'nt come w: those chords either)

RON PRESTON · Post by **RON PRESTON** » 8 Mar 2003 12:47 pm

Ah, Jeff,
I think you left out at lest 3 or 4 chords in that mind boggling array of music...

I just couldn't tell you where it was though.
I will work on that and find them culprit chords and get back to you......(In my NEXT lifetime)
SUPER WORK my friend...way too

C Dixon · Post by **C Dixon** » 8 Mar 2003 7:41 pm

I just gave a listen. I too am blown away. I hear Julian Tharpe, Curly Chalker and several more including a uniqueness I haven't had the pleasure of hearing before.

All I can say is MY guitar did not come with those Chords either. I would be thrilled beyond words if I could find those chords. I never have been able to.

Bless you my dear friend,

carl

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 9 Mar 2003 11:40 am

WOW man your one coool cat. Definitly NYC level jazz. Like Larry Coryell double tracking himself. Very hip!
I can't clearly see your copedant on your site; too compressed. But I want a very hard look at that. Great work and thanks for your e-mails with me. I sent this link to Sheri In NYC also.

Ken Lang · Post by **Ken Lang** » 9 Mar 2003 4:52 pm

I guess Danny Boy is in there somewhere, but darned if I could hear it save a note or two.

While the throwing around of lots of notes is cool, and I can appreciate that aspect as a jazz concept, how far out can we go until it's just wild chord concepts?

Unless you tell the people the song you are playing is Danny Boy, no one would have the slightest clue.

It's not to knock the playing or the fun of it all. It's just not Danny Boy.

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 10 Mar 2003 8:24 am

Wow, Jeff....that's some creative stuff. Can't wait to hear you play "Steel Guitar Rag"!

Doug Seymour · Post by **Doug Seymour** » 10 Mar 2003 2:24 pm

OOPS! Sorry, Jeff[This message was edited by Doug Seymour on 11 March 2003 at 02:13 AM.]

Jeff Lampert · Post by **Jeff Lampert** » 10 Mar 2003 2:59 pm

Since you mention Steel Guitar Rag, I heard Jimmy Day play Steel Guitar Rag at the Northeast PSGA around the late 70's. He played it like he was in a "NYC jazz club", bouncing both feet all over the floor pedals, throwing around more fistfuls of C6 harmonies than you could shake a stick at. On records it's one thing, but when he let loose live (at least the one time I saw him), it was like a tidal wave. He didn't let loose on every song, but the ones he picked, watch out! Of course, he didn't do it on Danny Boy. Joe Pass is a guitar-player who comes to mind who would take tremendous liberties with the melody and harmonies of a tune. Art Tatum is an iconic jazz pianist from the late 30's to early 40's who would just simply "take off" on a popular tune. One of the signature things in playing jazz is the room for interpretation of a song. This particular thing I did actually was inspired by Curly Chalker, who is my personal hero. Not just because he played jazz on steel, but because he stretched the boundaries of how well-known simple songs could be interpreted on steel.[This message was edited by Jeff Lampert on 10 March 2003 at 03:33 PM.]

Bobby Snell · Post by **Bobby Snell** » 10 Mar 2003 3:12 pm

Gee, Jeff, you should have used big capital letter title, "SCARY JAZZ DANNY BOY" to avoid frightening me. Even though I read those leprechauns had performed mischief and replaced the melody, I still clicked on the link expecting to hear that version from the Winnie Winston book that I can almost play.

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 10 Mar 2003 3:41 pm

That rendition was a long ways from free form jazz. It clearly had structure and composition and flowed beautifully and logically. I had no trouble finding Danny Boy in there, even though the leprechauns tried their best to hide it.

I remember hearing Day cut loose on Watermelon Man one time and it completely changed my opinion of him. Everybody knew what Curly was all about musically, but Jimmy surprised me every time I heard him play.

Jeff, you're aces in my book.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Mike Bagwell · Post by **Mike Bagwell** » 10 Mar 2003 6:12 pm

Doug,

Your misguided application of the Jimmy Day Quote reeks of something a non musician would say.

Mike

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 11 Mar 2003 5:12 am

Just for the record, I'd like to add to my previous post; in case anyone's wondering, my "I'd like to hear you play Steel Guitar Rag" comment was not a put-down. Matter of fact, the two jazz virtuosos that Jeff mentioned, Joe Pass and Curly Chalker are also my most favorite players for jazz guitar and pedal steel, though I also love and respect all the great players from Jerry Byrd, Emmons, Day, Lloyd, Hughey, that's enough, I can't list them all... you get the picture. I love basic, melodic emotional playing as well as far-out crazy jazz. As I've posted before (and some are probably sick of hearing) Chalker was a very close friend in the 80's and '90's in Las Vegas. As far as I'm concerned they don't come any better (just different). He could play as basic and pretty or as far-out as anyone and no matter what style he played it was fantastic and beautiful, and I'm sure some listeners preffered it basic and some preferred it "far out". To each his own.

Regarding the comments that Jeff's version "doesn't sound at all like Danny Boy", why does it have to? Most Picassos and Dalis don't exactly look like real-life either...does it have to, to be art? Of course not.....There are all kinds of renditions of all kinds of songs, from note-for-note melody to "far-out" jazz. If you don't like the far-out stuff, that's perfectly OK and you can listen to the more basic-melody versions. This is your personal preference and that's great, only keep in mind that it does not mean you are "right" and playing an "unrecognizable" (to you) jazzy version is "wrong". I hate that new expression, "it's all good", but....lets just say it's all subjective.
[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 11 March 2003 at 05:24 AM.]

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 11 Mar 2003 10:45 am

Jeff, I really enjoyed that. It may not be everybody's cup of tea, but I sure like it and am really impressed at your voice leading on both the bass and the melodic notes. Keep up the good work and lets hear more.

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 11 Mar 2003 11:30 am

Even though Jeff stretched out and showed his versatility, Just as Larry Bell said, I heard "Danny Boy" and very well.

Jeff Lampert, Larry Bell and Jim Cohen , are showing what can be done on Pedal Steel, with a lot of practice and inspiration..al

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 11 Mar 2003 4:27 pm

WEll I just got home from France....and to my delight was this sound clip from Jeff...Wow.
Outstanding my brother...and this shows what can be done with the standard C6th pedal steel tuning.
Yes it's a improvising version of Danny Boy and there is NOTHING wrong with that; and it's way cool that someone with Jeff's great talent and ear for chord movements to tackle such a task........."and he did in a big way".
Again; it's waaaaaaay out of my reach..and I can make a few of the chords but the rest are on my guitar and will NEVER come out of my amp.....and very few can do that either...
Good going my brother and it is quite mesmerizing.
Ricky

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 11 Mar 2003 10:20 pm

Is that "tabbed out"?

somewhere?

I think I'm gonna have my hands full pulling 4wd, Kicks, and Ashoken Farewell out for the next 5 niter..

I remember an old Gentleman from "MunRoe" LA, Joe Messina, that showed up at Oxon hill music one afternoon in 78. He had an S12 msa in a cardboard box tied with a string, and was there to demo some instruction tapes. He played the most unbelievable raft of chords to any song we could name. We were rapt in awe. The kicker was that he took out a can of Right Guard as he was talking and sprayed it on the strings between songs. Anyhow, he left Bryn Reed and myself a couple tapes. We tossed it around and agreed to try the Right Guard as well. It seemed to work pretty good.

A year or so later I talked to him on the phone, and asked him about the right guard. He laughed and said that he'd just grabbed it by accident instead of the silicone out of his suitcase..

Hey, you never know.

Nice Jazz.

EJL
[This message was edited by Eric West on 11 March 2003 at 10:41 PM.]

Bob Smith · Post by **Bob Smith** » 12 Mar 2003 6:04 am

Heres my 3 cents.Who cares how hidden the "danny boy" melody is on his recording. Thats super playing anyway you look at it. Hey, how would a guy like me, that grew up listening to the beatles and stones, know what" danny boy " sounds like anyway?? Bob

[This message was edited by Bob Smith on 12 March 2003 at 01:21 PM.]

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 12 Mar 2003 1:10 pm

Jeff....you really did it this time!!! Or should we blame it on the "little folk"?
When I finally got my computer to work, I was KNOCKED OUT! Great to hear the steel played with such vision and originality! Tryin' to make some of us a little "green"?

Great website too (good goin' Ricky!) I wanna hear more. Could somebody give me a hint on how to save the file to my HD? I'm still computer challenged after all these years I guess. At any rate, keep up the good work Jeff!

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 12 Mar 2003 2:28 pm

HOLY COW ERIC
I haven't heard the name Joe Messina in AGES
He and I used to send tapes back and forth in the 70s. Great jazz standards guy -- proved to me that 'mere mortals' could pull that stuff off on pedal steel. Between his influence and playing a show early on with Reece, I decided to go with a 12 string and never looked back.

TOO COOL.

Any clue if he's still around. He'd probably be in his 80s.

blaaaaaaaast from the paaaaaaaaaaast!

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

RON PRESTON · Post by **RON PRESTON** » 12 Mar 2003 2:41 pm

Jeff, I got em, I got em, You know, Those 3 or 4 chords I was searching For in your "Tune"?
I got.........Heck......They are.........GONE!!!!
Little Green Folk.....Someday, I'm Gonna....
GEET THEEM!

Michael Johnstone · Post by **Michael Johnstone** » 12 Mar 2003 2:45 pm

I hear more than a bit of Lenny Breau in there towards the end. I like it.........
-MJ-