leschirons Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Went to Sandringham Royal park the other night to see an open air cinema viewing of West Side Story (the remake) Not that impressed with the casting but those songs!! Bernstein was the man for what has to be one of the greatest scores in history and, despite a bit of messing around with the running order, had 89 year old original cast member Rita Moreno as a new character, actually singing There's a place. Apparently, live on the set. Despite me playing rock, Blues, funk and Pop for most of the last 40 years, I couldn't help but be impressed by this stuff. I'd simply forgotten how great they were. Tonight, Maria, There's a place, Cool etc. Sondheim's lyrics also of course but that music. Wow. Trouble is, when you hear Maria and There's a place, you can't NOT hear Proby singing them. Still, a great evening. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chezz55 Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 +1. The OST from West Side Story is a masterclass in song writing - my personal favourite track has to be 'America'. Energetic and entertaining ! ! Chris 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonesy Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Yeah, but does it beat Cher playing every part? 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 2 hours ago, leschirons said: Trouble is, when you hear Maria and There's a place, you can't NOT hear Proby singing them. . . . My PJ Proby story. . . . In the 70's I was in a band with a trumpet player, David, who had worked with PJ Proby. Apparently he was a nightmare, drinking, unprofessional and the band weren't always getting paid on time. The band hated him and most were on the verge of leaving. In Maria the trumpet was supposed to quietly play a D and Proby would sing most of the song accapella. This time (it was his last gig) David played a Db. Proby did his thing and was a semitone flat when he hit his big note and the band came blasting in for the big crescendo, in D! 1 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 I dislike the majority of musicals with a passion. However, WSS is one of the very few exceptions. The recorded version with Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras is sublime (the documentary that went with it was great too). I’ve seen it at the theatre too, with a cast of no one famous, but those songs are so superb, it didn’t matter. America is always the highlight for me, fantastic melody and clever lyrics. Other musicals that get a pass are: Grease (saw this at the theatre and it was lot more risqué than the film); Sound of Music; the latest Star is Born (or is that just a film with songs?) and the one opera that doesn’t send me running from the room - Carmen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTractor Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 23 minutes ago, ezbass said: I dislike the majority of musicals with a passion. However, WSS is one of the very few exceptions. Same here. I'd have to check but it might even be my only exception. 24 minutes ago, ezbass said: The recorded version with Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras is sublime (the documentary that went with it was great too) A special mentioning of Tatiana Troyanos from me here. Great choice for the part. Powerful voice used effectively. Great musical understanding. IMHO she outshines the others by far. I wish I knew more of her work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 (edited) Leonard Bernstein was a musical genius. He was also a real task master, some of those rehearsal videos knocking around make for an interesting watch. For the Jazzers on here, Dave Grusin's stunning recording and arranging of West Side Story with a big band full of greats is something special. Michael Brecker playing a solo on a Dave Grusin arrangement of a Leonard Bernstein tune - It doesn't get any better than that.! Jonathan Butler knows what he is doing as well: Edited August 23, 2022 by lowdown 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassace Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 1 hour ago, chris_b said: My PJ Proby story. . . . In Maria the trumpet was supposed to quietly play a D and Proby would sing most of the song accapella. This time (it was his last gig) David played a Db. Proby did his thing and was a semitone flat when he hit his big note and the band came blasting in for the big crescendo, in D! The crescendo is the journey, not the destination. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leschirons Posted August 23, 2022 Author Share Posted August 23, 2022 2 hours ago, Chezz55 said: +1. The OST from West Side Story is a masterclass in song writing - my personal favourite track has to be 'America'. Energetic and entertaining ! ! Chris Yes, America is a fantastic piece. Forgot to mention that one. Damn, I've got the Nice version stuck in my head now😆 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zbd1960 Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 I've played medleys in various orchestras and even simplified versions are tough! I know people who've played the Symphonic Dances which Bernstein himself arranged and they are said to be some of the toughest stuff out there, especially for rhythm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leschirons Posted August 23, 2022 Author Share Posted August 23, 2022 2 hours ago, Jonesy said: Yeah, but does it beat Cher playing every part? Oh dear me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 (edited) 47 minutes ago, zbd1960 said: I've played medleys in various orchestras and even simplified versions are tough! I know people who've played the Symphonic Dances which Bernstein himself arranged and they are said to be some of the toughest stuff out there, especially for rhythm Over the years I've played concert versions of WSS on Cruise ships and in Europe and yes, certainly a bit of a work out.!! This is an impressive performance of 'Symphonic Dances'. They certainly gave it a good go at nailing the Bernstein spirit and vibe !! Edited August 23, 2022 by lowdown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Many years ago I conducted WSS. The college I was teaching part time at anounced we were doing WSS. Great, my fave, I thought. I then realised that Ianto would not be conducting it, nor Beth so it would be me. I was WAY out of my depth but gathered the good local players together, had one band call and off we went. There was one number (I honestly cannot remember which) that was a slow 3. In the band call I gave the option of a slow three or to count in quavers rather than crotchets and beat 6. We decided and I naively thought they would remember. Come the first night we hit that number. I had a 3 week baby at home and was undergoing extreme sleep depravation. I beat in and half the band were where they should be and half were rushing ahead on double time. It took me 4 bars to work out what was happening and stop the number, announce I was beating whatever I was beating and start again. Some years later we did it again. By then we had started the music tech course. So had to use our in house students who were a bunch of guitarists/bassists/drummers. I had the whole WSS score as midi files so hit the tab option in Logic and made arrangements. I had a piano part on CD underscoring it. Just for security. The whole pit were monitoring on cans and I had a student doing playback and running foldback in the pit. He got stoned and turned the CD off at the end of the segue into the finale of the first act. There was a huge rall into the final song and he presumed it was over. The music stopped at 2:36 (or something) into the track. There was zero chance he could find the cue. I frantically looked at the score and hissed at the pit keys player to give me a cue note. I started singing solo while the cast caught up with what was happening. There was a huge amount of adrenalin floating around. The cast picked it up and did the whole number acapella. How we laughed. A few months afterwards. The Rumble was done as a version of the Vai/Corea one. The players lapped it up and we had a ball. I cannot imagine being stupid/brave enough to try this now. We had about 10 guitarists, 3 bassists and 3 drummers. It was absolutely epic. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oddly Posted August 24, 2022 Share Posted August 24, 2022 One of the best musicals ever written for sure... As for Rita Moreno... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Smalls Posted August 26, 2022 Share Posted August 26, 2022 On 23/08/2022 at 18:53, ezbass said: WSS Funnily enough, the 1st band I ever saw was a punk band called The WSS - named after West Side Story. They didn't do any songs from the musical... Not only that but I'd managed to do my best "Yea, I'm 18" to get into The Albion in Chester aged 16, not realising that just about everybody got in there anyway! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalpy Posted August 26, 2022 Share Posted August 26, 2022 Played WSS a few times with am-dram companies. Everyone is on it and it’s beautifully arranged- some parts look terrifying but once you’ve got your head round them they fall under the fingers really well. There’s some nice moments for bass too, although there’s one cue at the end of the rumble at the death scene and it’s very dependent on the stage action. The MD typically just gives a tiny upbeat after a variable pause and it’s up to you to deliver a 6 note jazz motif that closes the act- gives me the sweats thinking about it. (Mostly because I made a compete hash of it the last time I had to do it) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Bassy Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 On 24/08/2022 at 19:52, Oddly said: One of the best musicals ever written for sure... As for Rita Moreno... My favourite drummer of all time 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted August 28, 2022 Share Posted August 28, 2022 (edited) 7 hours ago, Count Bassy said: My favourite drummer of all time Ronnie Verrell....great drummer..! ** 😁 Edited August 28, 2022 by lowdown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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