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Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen by John Stebbe [Email]

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SONG STATS:
Hits: 7161
Comments: 22
Votes: 36
Plays: 4724
Last Played: Oct 06, 2008 - 02:17:10 PM
Downloads: 386
Fans: 16
Uploaded: Apr 07, 2005 - 10:39:46 AM
Last Updated: Apr 07, 2005 - 07:01:50 AM
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Description:
One day while teaching my elementary music classes (ages 5-11), I came across a recording of the Harlem Boys Choir (which is a NYC public school) singing this old spiritual, in a "smooth jazz" kind of way. (The recording was included in the CDs which come with my music textbooks.) Although I was already familiar with the song, for some reason it struck me in a new way. And I decided to record it.

I have been collaborating with "real drummer" drlaine for a few tunes, and he and I got together on this one. I had originally conceived of it as a ballad, but the up-tempo urge took over, at drlaine's recommendation. And it was drlaine's idea to put in the Latin-style bridge.

I still am in awe of this long-distance collaboration process -- it's miraculous! drlaine, I hope we can meet face-to-face someday. In the meantime, I am getting to know you through your very soulful drumming. You are WAY talented!

Hope all of our listeners enjoy this as much as drlaine and I enjoyed putting it together.

The piano and bass sounds are played by me, and are from Sonic Boom Box. The drums are indeed real drums, recorded and performed by drlaine after I finished the piano/bass tracks.

And the whole thing is running through GB2. What a gas.

I need to convert the piano sounds to Synthogy Ivory, but have not gotten around to doing that yet.
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Wow. &mdash 04/07/05 - 11:59:40 AM
Fabulous. Never would have imagined such a fun version of such a mournful song.

My one teeny tiny suggestion would be maybe a slightly more drawn-out ending. It seems a bit abrupt (although that does fit the snappy feel of the song).

Please post more tunes, you guys.

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Nice &mdash 04/07/05 - 02:57:29 PM
Great tune

You can really play.

Not only jazz, but you maintain a nice melody.

Thanks for sharing :)

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........ &mdash 04/07/05 - 05:14:53 PM
talent

Mr. S

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Love it! &mdash 04/07/05 - 07:03:41 PM
That is some great jazz playing, guys! Extemely cool. If
you ever need a vocalist, keep me in mind.

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all you need now... &mdash 04/07/05 - 07:07:11 PM
is Richard Cheese singing the vocals. Wow. Very cool. I am
not a jazz fan by any means, but I'm loving this! And I
love the latin bridge -- I actually wanted to hear more of
it. Amazing talent here. Amazing.

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sweet to the soul &mdash 04/07/05 - 08:20:47 PM
Hot chops all over! What groove, baby!

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Fantastic! &mdash 04/07/05 - 09:39:02 PM
This might be the best recording I've heard on MacJams so
far! Would love to hear from drlaine for some drum
micing techniques. Outstanding!

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God!... &mdash 04/07/05 - 10:19:43 PM
..I love this tune, John. What an awesome, deep, lush piano and bass. Drlaine's drumming is dead on. Two veteran musicians at work exchanging ideas and executing them to perfection. Sounds great with my (Bose) headphones.

Johnny LOVES Jazz!

Bravo, guys!

Scorp

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Nobody knows &mdash 04/07/05 - 10:22:49 PM
Nobody knows...but I don't care, 'cause I'm groovin'

Smooth

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Wow &mdash 04/08/05 - 01:54:38 AM
Absolutely wonderful all around. It sounds like the two of
you and a couple other people are in the same jazz club
playing live together. Such excellent playing and with
such style. And the mix sounds excellent, very full and
clean. I'll certainly download this one.

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wow &mdash 04/08/05 - 05:32:15 PM
perfect, most excellently done.
keep it up

ivory never sounded so good.

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Crazy Collaboration &mdash 04/09/05 - 09:34:44 AM
Until I read the song descriptioon I had no idea this was a
collaboration. Very smooth, fused. The piano is excellent
(as usual) but I am extremely impressed by drlaine's long-
distance stick-work on this. Nice stinger.

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inside out &mdash 04/09/05 - 05:10:40 PM
Great job flipping this durdge sunny-side up... I hear the
best of Vince G. all over your stuff, classy and excellently
played!
ttfn,
Drakonis


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Talent SO GOOD &mdash 04/12/05 - 12:27:47 AM
What a great piece of work


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Cool &mdash 04/12/05 - 09:57:44 AM
This is, probably my favorite amongst your latest submissions; great playing, totally enjoyable. Good to have you aboard, may be we could do something together, when I get fired next time, and have time to play :{)

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This Is Fabulous!!! &mdash 04/13/05 - 07:21:22 AM
I have been a jazz fan from a small kid. My grandfather would put on some of his records of Benny Goodman and others. I just loved to listen to them, and your song reminds me of the quality cool jazz I'd get on the radio on one of the local NPR stations. Great work man! You're on the favorites list!
8-9-8-9
All it needs is a good vocal track and its a hit!

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omg &mdash 05/07/05 - 06:33:02 PM
what a shame, i havent found this great performance!!!!

"Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen" had been played by GeorgeAdams who was a great Sax player, in vary spritual style. This performance is totally different from it but very cool !!!!! i like this !!!!



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Great Playing! &mdash 05/20/05 - 12:18:37 PM
Great Playing, catchy Arrangement!

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Top shelf &mdash 06/01/05 - 05:09:55 PM
Mr. Stebbe, you are a phenomenal talent. How many years
and instruction did it take to be such a virtuoso? minus
the feel, that's your own thing of course. Drumming and
recorded sound of drums is some of the best I heard on
the site, but keeping in consideration you have a lot more
dynamic range to play with than bloody rock band. Nice
job drlaine, top shelf callaboration. Never boring, great
phrasing and arrangement. Bravo to a dynamic duo.

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This IS my favorite! &mdash 11/26/05 - 04:39:43 PM
Wow. I have to admit, this is my favorite piece here at MacJams. It may be
a biased choice, since "Nobody Knows" is one on the top of my favorite
Spirituals, but never the less, this arrangement is jazzly fantastic.

I love the variations, which was created in a very skilled manner. Great
realization. Thanks for this piece!

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Thanks, JeanCharles &mdash 11/27/05 - 07:28:13 PM
Thanks, JeanCharles. This is a favorite of mine, too. And I recorded
this when I had a very generic piano sound to work with, which was
from SonicBoomBox. It's an OK sound, but the gradations between
volumes, and also bright/dull gradations, are very coarse.

I've since gotten Synthogy Ivory as a plug-in for GarageBand, and it's
out of this world. Listen to a few of my recent posts, and you'll see
what I mean.

So even tho this has the "lesser" piano sound, many people seem to
like this better than all the rest of my stuff. I guess song structure and
feel trump subtleties of piano tone.

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OK, I give. &mdash 08/11/07 - 05:57:27 PM
OK, I give. Can someone please tell me why my little humble song has generated 5000+ hits? It must be hyperlinked to someone's site somewhere. Can someone let me in on this?



---
My NEW 2007 jazz piano CD on the iTunes Music Store.

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