Dave Werden: I'm Getting Sentimental Over You

[davewerden]

I did this on a lark, even though I'm probably crossing some kind of boundary. It's Tommy Dorsey's signature song, and I've had recordings of it since high school. It is the first full song I taught myself on trombone. (My record player ran a bit slow, so I found out years later that I had learned it in the wrong key!)

I finally did the recording for two reasons. 1) I'm going a little crazy during lockdown! 2) I wanted to demonstrate a different side of the euphonium. It's not just about the range (up to a high C# concert), but more about connections between notes and getting the overall line to sound right. Dorsey's trombone is like my old trombone downstairs, a King Liberty 2B with a .500 bore, and I believe his mouthpiece was considerably smaller than my 4AL! That setup would make it a lot easier to do it right. But I tried to keep it from sounding too tubby, and I resisted the urge to use my 5G or 6-1/2AL. Here is the result (I did just one verse):

https://youtu.be/T77ddHHpygg

[John Morgan]

NICELY done, Dave!! I think it sounds great on euphonium, especially the way you played it. You don't see it played in the original key of D, starting on a C#, as you just did, very much. Most of the big bands I have played in play that tune down a third in Bb starting on a concert A. I agree that Dorsey probably used a smaller mouthpiece. But you really nailed it, Dave.

[tbonesullivan]

Very nice! I played this once with a Jazz group I used to play with. Also did Song of India, Marie, and some others. Thankfully with a King 3B and a bach 6 3/4C mouthpiece, the high D and such wasn't such a bother.

[notaverygoodname]

That was beautiful. I wish that my ventures in bored at home recordings were so fruitful.

As far as mouthpieces, I'm not sure how we arrived at "modern" sizes. I guess when people starting switching over to British Euphoniums? None of my period mouthpieces are even close to a 6.5AL. I have a Conn Remington (or maybe 25I mouthpiece) that someone absolutely gutted just to get it to roughly 51D size. There's barely any metal left.

[davewerden]

Very nice! I played this once with a Jazz group I used to play with. Also did Song of India, Marie, and some others. Thankfully with a King 3B and a bach 6 3/4C mouthpiece, the high D and such wasn't such a bother.

The horn definitely makes a difference. Several years ago I went in for a church brass rehearsal (I was in decent playing shape at the time, with my Sterling Virtuoso and 4AL). One of the players had been loaned a trombone to try. It was like a 2B in size. Because it used a tenor shank, I could not use my mouthpiece when he asked me to try it out. So I used the 9-ish size mouthpiece that was sticking out of the thing. After playing some normal stuff, I played the opening line of Sentimental up an octave...and it actually worked! Could not do that in those days on my 4AL. Seems like I heard at one point that Dorsey used a mouthpiece around the 9 range, but he got a beautiful tone on his setup, much better than I would get today using that equipment.

[DaveBj]

Smooth as hot honey! And perfect accomp track. I'd have to take it down a notch or three.

[davewerden]

In case anyone wants to try this at home (and where else can we try it right now!?), I got the audio accompaniment from a video on YouTube. It was in the wrong key, so I used Audacity (a free tool) to get it to the right key. I also edited it for this video to only use one verse. Normally, the "band" would take over the next version that is more in "swing", and the trombone would come in again on the bridge recap. But the accompaniment had a funny-sounding mix when the band took over. I THINK the lead voice was left out there, as it is with the rest. But in this case the missing lead would be a woodwind. I thought about doing a full version by editing the Dorsey band in for that one section. Not sure it would have worked.

[RickF]

Oh man that is sweeeet! Very nice Dave! Bending the pitch in a few places too is a nice touch.

The late Art Sares inherited Tommy Dorsey’s gold plated King 2B. Mr Sares took lessons from Tommy. My 44 y.o. son was lucky enough to take some trombone lessons from Art when my son was in H.S. At one of his lessons Art played ‘I’m Gettin’ Sentimental Over You’... in that key I’m sure. What a treat.

[DaveBj]

Bending the pitch in a few places too is a nice touch.

Not as easy on a euph as it would have been on a 'bone

[tbonesullivan]

The horn definitely makes a difference. Several years ago I went in for a church brass rehearsal (I was in decent playing shape at the time, with my Sterling Virtuoso and 4AL). One of the players had been loaned a trombone to try. It was like a 2B in size. Because it used a tenor shank, I could not use my mouthpiece when he asked me to try it out. So I used the 9-ish size mouthpiece that was sticking out of the thing. After playing some normal stuff, I played the opening line of Sentimental up an octave...and it actually worked! Could not do that in those days on my 4AL. Seems like I heard at one point that Dorsey used a mouthpiece around the 9 range, but he got a beautiful tone on his setup, much better than I would get today using that equipment.

I think originally Dorsey used an Almont mouthpiece, which is definitely quite small. It was also solid silver I believe. I don't think the maker made any mouthpiece but that one size.

The Schilke 42B was apparently developed for Tommy Dorsey, and it's a 23.mm / 0.905" cup, which is quite small. But he was playing on a 2B, and got an incredibly rich and smooth sound, so he definitely knew what he was doing.

Based on that, I would think the Almont mouthpieces were quite small. I think Dorsey's whole trombone section had to use them.

[highpitch]

Again, Dave fires a perfect salvo of tune.

Don't apologize for any t-bone remarks, either. They have a job to do, even if the euph does most of them sweeter.

DG