Railroad Jazz

John Stebbe

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Description

This is "I've Been Workin' On The Railroad." When I teach my elementary music kids, I often sing this with them, while I play acoustic guitar.

I am playing live piano on this track. Piano sound is Synthogy Ivory "Jazz C7" running through GB via a DP workaround. I added a little high freq. to the piano sound with the Audio Unit Effects AUGraphicEQ in GarageBand. Tell me if you think the piano sound is too shrill now. I just wanted to make the piano pop out a bit more. Is it too much?

Bass is from SonicBoomBox. Drum loops are, too. The whole thing is mixed down in GB2.

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Song Stats

Hits: 2918
Comments: 19
Fans: 10
Plays: 620
Downloads: 210
Votes: 20
Uploaded: Apr 09, 2005 - 12:51:10 AM
Last Updated: Apr 08, 2005 - 10:30:27 PM Last Played: Nov 21, 2009 - 09:45:34 PM

Song License

Creative Commons License:
Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial

Song Actions

Comments

Magritte	Magritte said 1688 days ago (April 9th, 2005)
	Yet another great arrangement. You are ridiculously talented. I like the piano sound myself, I think it sounds like a live performance. Don't really know if I'd recognize a "too shrill" piano though. Check out my latest song called Tango Macabre

Heidi_E	Heidi_E said 1688 days ago (April 9th, 2005)
	Brilliant This is one of the best jazz songs i've heard in a long time. I won't say jazz is my favourite genres but I know when i hear something great. ( not particularly a fan of the artwork) Check out my latest song called 'More than Enough'

John Stebbe	John Stebbe said 1687 days ago (April 9th, 2005)
	Brilliant Thank you so much, Heidi E. By the way, that "album artwork" came from AppleWorks Clip Art. Not the snazziest image in the world, but hey, it was free, and it was legal! Check out my latest song called NECAP Test song

	said 1688 days ago (April 9th, 2005)
	Not Shrill to Me Fun arrangement, excellent playing.

Tom Atwood	Tom Atwood said 1688 days ago (April 9th, 2005)
	Bright but not shrill. Great chops, but I am also very impressed with the drums. Quite a brush sound from loops. Fun stuff. How many times have you heard someone say, 'I wish I could play like you!' (?) Check out my latest song called Keep Looking for Jesus (MJRF)

bronco

bronco said 1688 days ago (April 9th, 2005)

Lucky Kids
I wish my elementary school had someone like you. I
didn't start playing an instrument until I was 19 but
perhaps someone like you would have sparked an earlier
interest. By the way, this melody is also used for the
official song of the University of Texas, "The Eyes of
Texas". If you are ever in Texas I'm not so sure you
should play the jazzed up version, they take this song
kind of serious down here. The lyrics:
The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
All the live long day.
The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
You can not get away.
Do not think you can escape them
At night or early in the morn-
The Eyes of Texas are upon you
'Till Gabriel blows his horn.

See what I mean - a little bit threatening ehh?

Check out my latest song called Strange Feeling

Joanna	Joanna said 1688 days ago (April 9th, 2005)
	Man, you're good! Another really cool arrangement of an old familar tune. I love your style. Fantastic sound! Check out my latest song called Nellie G.

TobinMueller	TobinMueller said 1688 days ago (April 9th, 2005)
	For the kid in us all So light and cool, never overplayed. Just right. For the kid in is all. In headphones, the piano EQ sound right on, not too shrill at all. Even across the keyboard and, again, well played. Check out my latest song called Forge A New Life (MJRF)

Scorpjammer

Scorpjammer said 1688 days ago (April 9th, 2005)

I think I can, I think I can!...
When I hear your jazz renditons of children's tunes, all I can say is that what Vince Guaraldi's done for the Peanuts cartoon series, you do for your school students everyday. There should be a jazz music award for that, really....something like "The Bluenote Community Service Award." You should be officially commended for your work.

Check out my latest song called Seaside Samba

thetiler	thetiler said 1688 days ago (April 9th, 2005)
	Thanks for sharing your great talent here Your playing is very pleasant to hear. A real treat. Nice pic too. You got my head moving back and forth while I am typing listening to your throughly enjoyable tune. Nice ending. Good going Check out my latest song called The Bluebird Cafe (with two other guest)

Mystified	Mystified said 1688 days ago (April 9th, 2005)
	Working on the railroad... ..never sounded so good! Fabulous! Keep making these tunes available. (Now, if you and Joanna would just do a collaboration together....!) Check out my latest song called Father Time

Mr. S	Mr. S said 1688 days ago (April 9th, 2005)
	ooooo.... jazzy are we, the beginning made me feel like a bad ass- Sherlock Homes feel. Really smooth and classy. Good job!!! S Check out my latest song called MacJammer's Tribute

joel c.	joel c. said 1688 days ago (April 9th, 2005)
	Envy. could you write down the chord progressions for me? haha i'm trying to catch the scale you're running up and down and the keys you're mixing... never really gotten to learning 'standard jazz' after starting electronic music. maybe because of you i just might. Check out my latest song called Intergalactic Love Affair

John Stebbe

John Stebbe said 1687 days ago (April 9th, 2005)

Envy.
Thank you, Joel.

If the scale you mean is the one that happens about 30 seconds in, that's a
whole-tone scale. C#, D#, F, G, A, B, C#, etc.

One well-known jazz tune uses that scale is Billy Strayhorn's "Take The 'A'
Train." That was the Duke Ellington Orchestra's theme song for many years.
I love that tune. If you look up that tune, and want to find that chord/scale,
it's the second chord after the melody begins.

The "A-Train" whole tone scale sounds the same, but it starts on D, so it ends
up being D E F# G# A# C D etc.

The whole tone scale is an easy way to "jazz up" (heh, heh!) a song. I find
that it is most useful substituting for a II7 chord.

Bandleader Lawrence Welk uttered a famous faux pas when his orchestra was
about to play the tune, and he introduced it as "Take A Train."

Check out my latest song called NECAP Test song

alley-oop	alley-oop said 1687 days ago (April 9th, 2005)
	Made me melt into my chair Such a nice groove. Has a real natural sound. You play so well. Also, the art at the top is great. I'm glad I listened. Check out my latest song called anymore

John Stebbe	John Stebbe said 1687 days ago (April 10th, 2005)
	Made me melt into my chair Thanks, Alley-oop. My dad used to read the comic strip Alley-Oop when he was a kid. Check out my latest song called NECAP Test song

	daphna said 1686 days ago (April 10th, 2005)
	very nice playing thanks for posting this, I really enjoyed it. The piano sounds fine too me. Check out my latest song called I Love My Mac mjrf

John Stebbe	John Stebbe said 1686 days ago (April 10th, 2005)
	very nice playing Thanks, Daphna. I've been checking out your tracks. You are one awesome talent. You make it all seem easy! Check out my latest song called NECAP Test song

EdensEve	EdensEve said 1681 days ago (April 16th, 2005)
	Simply fun This is really fun. Although I know jazz is never simple, this is simply fun.

Fan List

Artist Info

Name: John Stebbe

I am a public elementary school music teacher in Indianapolis. I also direct the children's choirs at our church. I love to play piano. I play solo piano jobs around town, and also lead a jazz trio (piano, bass, drums). I was born in 1959. ... [see more]

Check out some of my other songs:

Genre Info

More songs in Jazz (instrumental):

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