Leonard Cohen dead at 82.

[ttf_Ellrod]

A glorious life.

[ttf_growlerbox]

Sad day.  Saw him here in NZ a few years ago on his last tour this way.  One of the greats.

[ttf_Graham Martin]

Vale Leonard. A truly great songwriter, lyricist, poet, author and performer. He was very influential in the same way as Dylan and Lennon. He won many music awards in Canada and America and was also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour.

It was only this year that I became fascinated with his "Dance Me To The End Of Love":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zjLBWnZGTU

I ended up doing little arrangement for myself and the rhythm section. You might think it a strange tune for trombone but it sounds really good as a swing tune, especially using those fills between the lines of lyrics.

Vale Leonard and thank you for a great contribution.

From a fellow Pre Boomer.

[ttf_Piano man]

Yeah, I love that song, too, Grah, and it really does work with a gentle swing beat. I've played it every which way.

Check out this version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqpOFQvMM1A

[ttf_marccromme]

Great artist, singer and song writer. One of my favorites. A loss to mankind. And a beautiful contribution to canadian and world art. The memory will live long!

[ttf_Graham Martin]

Quote from: Piano man on Nov 11, 2016, 12:16AMYeah, I love that song, too, Grah, and it really does work with a gentle swing beat. I've played it every which way.

Check out this version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqpOFQvMM1A

Yes, I am very familiar with Madeleine Peyroux's version of the tune and must confess I pretty much copied it for my Band-in-a-Box trombone arrangement, as you can hear:

https://soundcloud.com/grah-bonejazz/dance-me-to-the-end-of-lovewav

BTW, Anyone not familiar with Leonard Cohen's tunes can find some of his best known works on YouTube in this ABC article "Leonard Cohen dies: Listen to some of his most loved songs":

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-11/leonard-cohen-dies:-listen-to-his-most-loved-songs/8017576 

 

[ttf_Stewbones43]

Fifty years ago, in my student days, as well as being heavily into classical and big band trombone playing, I also did a bit on the local folk music scene and I got heavily into Leonard Cohen, featuring 5 of his songs in my repertoire. They were all learnt by listening (intently!!!) to his LPs and then writing down the words and music and then trying to figure out how to play the guitar part just like he did. "Seemed So Long Ago, Nancy", "Sisters of Mercy" and "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye" were straight forward but "Suzanne", with the melody on the bass strings, and "Winter Lady", with a very strange chord pattern, both took ages.

A complex man in lots of ways who will be difficult to replace.

Stewbones

[ttf_Steven]

Quote from: Piano man on Nov 11, 2016, 12:16AMYeah, I love that song, too, Grah, and it really does work with a gentle swing beat. I've played it every which way.

Same here.  There is so much you can do with that song.  I've got about ten different versions of "Dance Me to the End of Love" in my iTunes.  Maybe I should try to do my own thing with it, but so much has already been done.

[ttf_Piano man]

Quote from: Steven on Nov 14, 2016, 12:00PMSame here.  There is so much you can do with that song.  I've got about ten different versions of "Dance Me to the End of Love" in my iTunes.  Maybe I should try to do my own thing with it, but so much has already been done.

I sometimes try to get bands to play with that subtle two-beat feel on the song, almost like a jazzy variation on Eastern European music, but it seems to gravitate toward swing, which still works just fine.

[ttf_Piano man]

Quote from: Steven on Nov 14, 2016, 12:00PMSame here.  There is so much you can do with that song.  I've got about ten different versions of "Dance Me to the End of Love" in my iTunes.  Maybe I should try to do my own thing with it, but so much has already been done.

I sometimes try to get bands to play with that subtle two-beat feel on the song, almost like a jazzy variation on Eastern European music, but it seems to gravitate toward swing, which still works just fine.