Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Lao Wai]

Hi there,

I've recently started going to 'jam night' at a bar here in HK. I am classically trained, so I'm not so great at jamming just yet. Anyway, I've learned some songs on piano that sound nice without any other accompaniment except voice. Yeah, I've started singing while I play (nervous as hell, but am getting better). Anyway, I'm looking to expand my repertoire. Some of the songs I've learned so far which sound good are: Mad World (Gary Jules version), Hallelujah (Rufus Wainwright version), Colorblind (Counting Crows), and a couple songs by Five for Fighting.

Do you have any favourite songs that mainly feature piano and voice? Thanks for you help!

[skinhead]

The Way It Is ~ Bruce Hornsby and the Range

[Woland]

Warren Zevon - Hasten Down the Wind
Elvis Costello - The Flirting Kind
Professor Longhair - Mardi Gras in New Orleans
Leon Russell - Leavin' Whipporwhil (probably better on an organ)
Marcia Ball - Mama's Cookin' (really, anything she has done)
Nat King Cole - Ballerina (and lots more)
Otis Redding - Try a Little Tenderness
Ray Charles - What'd I Say (Pt 1)
Sam Phillips - Love & Kisses (written for a harpsichord really)
Sam Phillips - Taking Pictures
Warren Zevon - Bill Lee
Warren Zevon - Veracruz
Warren Zevon - The French Inhaler
Warren Zevon - Mohammed's Radio

I've got lots more suggestions for blues intrumentals.

And yeah, I know my tastes are odd.

[tzechuk]

Get a book with songs from musicals - those are fab songs to sing..

Like Moon River, Hey Jude... anything Beatles seems to be good with just a piano accompaniment. Also ABBA...

People in Hong Kong don't know that much about English songs- they only know a handful of classics.... and mostly they know those via HK singers who have used the same tune but with cantonese words.

For example, Sally Yip (??) used the tune of *An Unexpected Song* with Cantonese words and it became one of the most popular songs at that time..

Obviously I don't know if you are going to play pops all the time or if you are going to have a few slower ones... but anything from musicals is easy to do.

Where are you jamming anyway? I am going to be in HK for over a month in June, can I come watch/listen?

[tiger fancini]

Why don't you have a crack at something by System of a Down? This might sound like an outlandish idea, but here's a video of a guy doing a pretty good job of 'Chop Suey'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4wjU5N7Q10&mode=related&search=

[seoulshock]

Billy Joel - New York State of Mind

Billy Joel - Vienna

Billy Joel - Honesty

Billy Joel - Summer, Highland Falls

Billy Joel - I Loved These Days

[faster]

Morton Feldman's "For Bunita Marcus" a la John Tilbury

[SPINOZA]

I've performed Lennon's 'Imagine' and Elton John's 'Daniel'. Recommended.

[swetepete]

Nice easy one for ya--"goddamn shame" by Jolie Holland.
Also "the greatest" by Cat Power,
and "mockingbird" by Tom Waits.
Great stuff eh--the cat power one is best sung by a girl, but the other two are indifferent to that sort of thing.
Definitely worth looking up, if you don't know them. Holland's a bit obscure, cat and tom less so, and all of them easily downloaded. Grand stuff for piano and vocal solo. They'll be weeping in the aisles.
You'll need to whistle for the tomwaits one though.

[Lao Wai]