Post by bassman on Dec 4, 2021 19:28:49 GMT
Dec 4, 2021 18:19:28 GMT dg said:
An interesting aside: The Famous 1956 Tatum & Webster "Night And Day"..............
[ ... ] If a recording we listen to seems to be in a different key than we think it might have been originally recorded in the studio, it is more likely to be simply pitched somewhat higher or lower that the musicians originally played...and not in the next key up or down. [ ... ] Often music that someone has uploaded to YouTube sounds flat, especially, it seems to me, tracks for solo or piano trio, and I take this to be due to a technical glitch at someplace in the process...of re-recording, digital transfer, uploading, whatever...and not someone's scheme to alter the key.
[ ... ]
If the speed difference reaches six per cent up or down, then the music will indeed be in the next key up or down. This is the case, for instance, with one of the Ellington recordings I have mentioned in this thread ("Skin Deep" from the Seattle Concert), and there is no denying it. Six percent is a half tone, three percent is a quarter tone etc.
In the case of "Night and Day", Tatum played the piece in E flat major on the Eldridge date, but he also played it in D major on one of the solo recordings I know. So it may well be his preferred version was in D, and Webster just complied. It's a bit strange nonetheless.
Now to your comment on Youtube uploads. It does happen that needle drops are not in correct speed, depending on the turntable ( ...Does it have pitch control? etc. ...). But it doesn't affect piano music any more than any other music. (Wow and flutter, on the other hand, is indeed more annoying in piano music.) Otherwise, I don't think that digital transfer or such would affect pitch in a Youtube upload. I would say it never happens.
Tatum & Webster "Night And Day" Update ...
Having found this analysis (link below), and facing the fact that this seems to be the only extant recording of the song by BW (so there is no chance for comparison), I have to agree they played it in D major.
Having found this analysis (link below), and facing the fact that this seems to be the only extant recording of the song by BW (so there is no chance for comparison), I have to agree they played it in D major.