Rehearsal Video - Weds 16th Sept - at college
Body and Soul - Programme Notes
1. 'Body and Soul' - Piano, Db Major, with a slow, rubato feel. This moving Broadway ballad with music by Johnny Green and lyrics by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour and Frank Eyton has been recorded by many jazz greats, including Louis Armstrong, Billie Holliday, Benny Goodman, John Coltrane and Tony Bennett. It is a good example of the jazz style known as 'Torch Songs'. Torch songs are generally sad and portray yearning for an unrequited love, examples including 'Cry Me a River' and 'But Not for Me'. Whilst 'Body and Soul' is in a major key, which might normally sound happy, the tempo is slow and the verse begins on the minor 2nd chord, which gives a sadder mood.
I learnt the song from a live concert bootleg recording by '80s songwriter, Joe Jackson, who named his 6th album after the song and whose sophisticated piano pop tunes have been a big inspiration on my own style. In this version, I will be performing the song as a piano solo combining melody and chords.
Information from JazzStandards.Com
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| Joe Jackson, 'Body and Soul' 1984 |
Body and Soul - Planning notes
Choosing the song
During August, I chose this song to learn as I came across it in a piano song book and remembered it as a song I first heard as a teenager. Although the song comes from the 1930s, it was revived in the '80s, which was when I heard it performed by Joe Jackson. Since then, I have heard several other performers' versions, mostly on recordings from the 1940s and '50s.
How I learnt the song
I had previously sung it (from Joe Jackson's version) and memorised the melody, but this is my first time to learn it on the piano. I found the chords and melody in this book PHOTO 1 . Whilst most piano sheet music gives you both the left hand (bass/chords) and right hand (melody line) parts, the version here is a 'topline' arrangement, featuring just a melody line in single notes and chord names. This allowed me to decide how to arrange my version and I chose mostly single bass notes in the left hand part and inverted chords with the melody note at the top, played by my right hand little finger or ring finger. The rest of the chord in my right hand then forms a mid-range harmony.
I faced some challenges since the key of Db Major has 5 flats and I am less familiar with this key on the piano. There are also many unusual extended chords, some of which are chromatic and outside of the normal 7 chords of the key (such as E dim 7 and Bb7b9), so I began by working out the notes of these chords. Since some chords might require 5 notes, I have spread these notes across both hands, playing the root as a bass note in the left hand. I have then chosen whether to all of the remaining notes in the right hand or leave some out, such as the 5th of the chord, which is often optional.
The song has an AABA structure, which each section lasting for 8 bars. The A section is the verse and refrain ('body and soul' sung on the last line each time) and the B section features new chords. There is also a modulation up a half step in the Middle 8 where the whole song changes to the key of D major for 4 bars, then D minor for the final 4 bars, with a chromatic descent at the end.
My interpretation: choosing the mood
I knew the feel of the song I would aim for in terms of tempo and mood, based on the story of the lyrics. The lyrics present a narrator who is passionately pleading with their lover to give them another chance. The lyrics do sound a little dramatic, and it fall into the category of 'torch song' which was popular in that era:
"My heart is sad and lonely, for you I cry, for you, Dear, only. Why haven't you seen it? I'm all for you, body and soul."
Since I have chosen to play this as a solo piano piece without vocals or lyrics, I will have to show the sad mood of the lyrics through my interpretation, using tempo, dynamics and phrasing. Although different versions of the song choose different tempos, I want my version to be medium slow, around 70-80bpm but not always keeping to strict time, as I wish to slow down some sections to put across the dramatic mood of regret and reflection. I have also added some changes in dynamics, where I vary from soft to medium loud. I also use the sustain pedal to let the notes ring in a legato style as I feel this matches the message of the song: sad and reflective.
