Tracking Down Stella .... By Starlight

   The 1944 Movie Uninvited introduced Victor Young's classic tune  Stella By Starlight.  Sixty years later the tune is still considered a fixture in the Jazz Musicians' repertoire and, as is customary in the Jazz World, it has had 60 years of speeding up and 60 years of natural selection, slowly morphing into a totally different animal.  The video below, with Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey at the helm,  is the movie feature of the tune, and you will notice right off, that the song is a ballad, and if you're a musician, you will notice that it starts of with a Diminished 7 Chord and not a min7(b5) Chord as is now customary.  Those are 2 pretty different qualities of harmony, even though they differ by only a single note.    But I'm not too concerned about that, since the replacement chord comfortably fits the up-tempo style that people have applied to this tune.  And, I must say, many people have applied themselves to this tune - about 800 versions pop up in Rhapsody!

STELLA BY STARLIGHT    from UNINVITED   1944

 
  But,  I really wanted to do some detective work to figure out the confusion behind the Real Book I published version of this tune and the awkward chord progression that has become defacto Standard on this tune.  I remember this tune from the 50's, as a kid, and how I loved the chord progression ( some things I guess you're born with!).  What I remember hearing are the several spots in the tune where there's a Suspension in the melody against a Major Chord  and, simultaneously a 5th in the bass.  Yes, most of my friends we outside playing tackle football while I was doing this, and staying safe.    At the time I didn't know what that sound really was, but I just remember the sound being absolutely captivating.  That wasn't something you heard every day -- neither was hearing  a song that STARTED with a Diminished 7th chord.  (The other song I remember starting that way was Gershwin's "Our Love is Hear To Stay", but we've also blown off THAT diminished chord  in recent times.)
  In time, though, that unique "HOOK" that was built into the tune ( major 3 AND sus4 AND 5th in the bass), gradually disappeared.  I say "gradually" because I did hear a number of early recordings where the HOOK was still there.. case in point, the Anita O'Day version at the very bottom of this post).  In the abbreviated Chord Chart below, those 2 "hook" spots are marked in PINK. The original chords, taken from the movie score, clearly show this  tension-resolution moment,  built into the song.  Fake books like "Real Book 1" tend to simplify-down the harmony by leaving out important aspects of original compositions, important aspects such as  a Fifth or Third or a Seventh in the bass, and that could explain why one never hears this tune played with much adherence to the original chords - musicians tend to get their chord knowledge from fake books and NOT from old recordings.  And can you blame them?... the song is from a totally different era, after all.  Someday there should be a discussion about this philosophy of using old movie songs as jazz "standards" and "blowing over changes" and the merits of doing so.  But I digress.  

   The SECOND  element of confusion on this song happens in bars13-16 (YELLOW).  The original chords have a really nice descending bass line with a SURPRISE Diminished 7 chord along the way.  It's exactly what I remember listening to the radio back then when the tune was popular with the mainstream culture.
  Here's where some detective-work has paid off.  Miles Davis recorded the song in 1958 and 1964, about 15 years after the original movie,  and supplanted the original chords with the ones you see below in GREEN.  They are actually very effective, as you might expect from Miles,  as long as you blow off the Fifth in the Bass on F chord that leads into them.  They work really well --- and the Bass progression weaves a nice logical and elegant path.   The Real Book version ( in BLACK), which came AFTER Miles recorded his version,  is a bit of a bastard child of the Miles Davis chord changes and the original chord changes, taking one from one and one from another.   It just doesn't work. It goes to the Em7(b5) chord earlier than did the original chords but then it just comes out of it in a really dumb way.  The Bass line suffers and the progress of tension and release  is ambiguous.   I guess that's about as well as I can describe it.  Many versions on YouTube are worth hearing if you can sift through the fluff.   Check out Anita O'Day at the bottom of the post.  Despite all my rantings, Stella By Starlight is still a great tune.

  MILES DAVIS  GREEN        REAL BOOK 1   BLACK       ORIGINAL SCORE   RED


(DOUBLE CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Stella By Starlight FIRST 16 BARS

 

AhavaRaba by Any Other Name would Sound as Sweet...

 It's a Jazz Scale, but it's also a Traditional World Music Scale,

G  -   AHAVARABA

Call it what you want (and many people seem to do that ), this scale is derived from the Harmonic Minor Scale and is one of the most useful Jazz scales but is often overlooked in the Jazz texts.  It can function a solid foundation scale for improvising against a Dominant 7 (b9) chord, one of the MOST common chords  played in Jazz.  It easily adapts "Alt chords" with its inclusion of the 5th and the b13th so it works well against complex altered chords that have a b7, which is pretty much every other chord.

   It is simply the scale that results if you start playing a traditional Harmonic Minor scale from the 5^th note of the scale,  i.e. it is the “5^th Mode of Harmonic Minor" and is particularly useful in a tune where the chord is functioning as the V7 chord in a minor key.  BUT, in world music traditions, often the scale just sits there and vegetates and never really resolves as a V chord would, so it becomes the “defacto”  I chord.  In this case, the scale is derived from C Harmonic Minor, starting on the 5th note of that scale: G.

 To restate that in English, you could just jam on a G7 chord forever and play strictly from this scale.  The resultant music in this context would likely have an exotic quality that reflects  Jewish, Arab, Turkish, and Flamenco traditional sounds.  The first 2 chords in the "Key", in this case the key of G, are  Major Chords a 1/2 step apart ( G Major and Ab Major) - this is a really distinctive "hook" that comes out of this scale and is the basis for the compositions like  Malaguena ( YouTube video below).   One might argue that the two chords are what created the scale and the sound in the first place.   A G7 chord and an Ab Major chord, added together, contain every note in the scale!  (Keep in mind, that, in Jazz, this scale would likely be functioning in the key of Cm and would be used in a whole different way than it is used in, say, Klezmer or Gypsy Music.) 

In some Jazz texts, this scale is called the Spanish Phrygian, or the Dominant b2,b6 Scale.  In fact, in scouring other world-music sources, this scale turns up with all sorts of names and descriptions. From playing a lot of Klezmer Music I know it as "AhavaRaba" but it goes by many aliases:

Ahava Raba Scale,  Ahava Rabboh Scale

Freygish Scale

Spanish Phrygian Scale

              Spanish Gypsy Scale

Phrygian Dominant Scale

Altered Phrygian Scale

Chromatic Dorian Mode

Jazz Dominant  b2, b6 Scale

5^th Mode of Harmonic Minor

Major Scale with b2, b6, b7

Phrygian #3 Scale   (“sharp 3”)

  In researching the facts for this post I collected at least 32 other scales from around the world ( in addition to the dozens of Modes and Altered Modes, blues scales and Pentatonics) that will provide some fascinating topics for future articles - I am surprised that it is actually possible to generate well over 60 distinct scales from a mere 12 notes!     Stay posted as I sort through these. 

   Here is Stan Kenton's Orchestra playing Malaguena, a Bill Holman arrangement of Ernesto Lecuona's composition that owes it's existence to the AhavaRaba Scale, or whatever you want to call it:

 

Freelance Musicians in Utah - you may want to read this...

More and more often, here in Utah, freelance musicians will be required to show proof of liability insurance, Workers’ Comp  or a Workers’ Comp Waiver.  I have already run into 4 separate gigs where the employer insisted on it.    Here I show you the easy way to get the Workers’ Comp Waiver.   Typically, freelance musicians are not set up as licensed businesses, corporations and the like, but even if they were, I think it is much simpler to just push things through as an INDIVIDUAL.   There are many ways to skin this cat but I show you an EASY way here. 

Tangling with the new Labor Commission Laws can cause Narcolepsy

As an individual, after you fill out the application form, which can be done online ( link below) or on the 1 computer at the Labor Commission office ( 160 E. 300 S. 3^rd floor), you can simply produce the following 3 items to the staff-person to qualify for the 1-year waiver.    

1.  Xerox copy of your name and address that is printed in the Phone Directory

2.  Recent income tax return proving Income from Music

3.  Blank check or account statement in your name proving that you have a bank account.

If you don’t have all of these items, then you will want to read the requirements using the link below to find another way to qualify, but those other options are less likely to appeal to the average free-lance musician as they involve things like business licenses, liability coverage, printed ads, etc.    

Even if you are incorporated you can still push it through as an individual. By the way, the cost for this is $50 with a 3-day delay if you write a check and the Waiver is good for 1 year.  Yes, it costs money to NOT have insurance.  For information on getting insurance coverage rather than a waiver I suggest contacting Musicians' Local 104 office in Salt Lake City.

Disclaimer – I am not a lawyer and if you get injured on the gig by an exploding generator or collapsing bandstand, I am not responsible for your not having insurance coverage.

To read about the requirements

http://laborcommission.utah.gov/IndustrialAccidents/WCCW.html

To fill out the application online

https://webaccess.laborcommission.utah.gov/wccoveragewaivers/

Here is some background on the new requirements from the Salt Lake Trib:

The Salt Lake Tribune

First published Jun 30 2011 12:12PM
Updated Jul 2, 2011 12:06AM

Businesses that have no employees and operate under rules establishing partnerships, sole proprietors or corporations can get waivers to show they are exempt from maintaining workers compensation insurance.

Starting Friday, the Industrial Accidents Division of the Utah Labor Commission assumes responsibility for issuing those waivers. Previously, insurance companies did the job.

In 2010, insurance companies issued 3,800 waivers; the state division anticipates issuing 4,000 during 2011.

One of the “disturbing” trends the division will be examining is the practice by “some employers to mislabel employees as ‘independent contractors,’ or ‘members’ of limited-liability companies, in order to avoid workers compensation obligations and other employee responsibilities,” according to a statement issued by the Industrial Accidents Division.

“This trend is particularly noticeable in the construction industry and for non-English-speaking employees,” the statement said.

Interim Governor of Utah