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You guys, I thought I was setting out to make a video about the incredible harmonic ideas of Art Tatum. I had NO IDEA it was going to get THIS crazy...
I do have a song request for you to analyze. But before I get there, that was just an amazing story about tea for two, or Tahiti trot that was just something that I have never thought of before. You learn something new everyday. Now, my request for a song for you to analyze. Could you analyze, see me through it by Brandon heath. Those chords in that song was just amazingly done after I heard it. I like the way that went.
Hey charles i've found a classical composer that you may like. he fuses classical with jazz, his name is Nikolai Kapustin (he's now my favourite composer). could you check him out and maybe do a video about some of his stuff?? some pieces i recommend are - Piano concerto no.4 (his other concertos are also great check out number 2 its amazing) - Variations op.41 - 24 Preludes in Jazz Styles Op.53 - Eight Concert Etudes, Op. 40 - Contemplation Op. 47 (you'll love this one) also he does something that i havent seen anyone do before which is include a drum kit into an orchestra it sounds amazing idk check it out if you have time :)
I would not be surprised if we keep finding Shostakovich pieces and arrangements like this. They seem to pop up every once in a while. But yeah, forty-five minutes for an orchestration like that is insane. Our boy Shosty was a creative machine.
I read how one of his friends or students saw him practicing orchestration. Long story short, he came at his house, and the composer was busy: he was self-consumed writting notes over a blank music sheet, and when he finished he explained that he was orchestrating some silly light-music song. When asked where's the original score of the song itself, he answer that he doesn't need it, because he knows it by heart. So he was regulary re-orchestrating the same song for the sake of practice, as a routine.
@@NorthonBruceAnd he did all that orchestration without ever hearing the full arrangement played back (until the piece would be performed in its finished state). There was no DAW, no MuseScore, and definitely no virtual instruments!
@@NorthonBruceOMG. I never knew this was a thing. I’ve practiced orchestration since my teen years, and didn’t think anything about it. Recently, I’m working on a couple versions of Wichita Lineman & a medley of Beatles songs. This week, there’s a tune in my head - a little bite I heard 40 years ago on Mexican radio - and I’ve decided to write it out. Wish me luck!
I have a theory that Shostakovich owned a copy of the sheet music to "The Rite Of Spring" and was cribbing from it, which sped up the process, especially when you're already working with such a rudimentary melody. If not, he was definitely referencing it from memory. All those swoops and crashes, even the very ORDER in which melodies are traded off by instrument and the resulting constant contrasts in timbre, is strictly pulled from Stravinsky. This is no coincidence or accident, and it is very funny.
I'm sure Shostakovich had a copy of The Rite and memorized it, same way he had the score of every Mahler symphony he could get through whatever means. But artists always crib from each other, and in a pressure situation like this he just worked off of what he knew. Doesn't make it any less impressive.
Shostakovich was a composer and conductor. Of course he would know Stravinsky! It's like modern Millennials and Gen Z knowing John Williams wrote Harry Potter music. Stravinsky music fanfares and scintillates. So does John Williams. It's hard not to steal from great composers.
@@ginnyjollykidd It's not that obvious and it's not about him being a conductor - it's about the Soviet Union. Stravinsky was officially designated an Enemy of the State by the Soviet Union because of the Marxist principles of false consciousness and cultural vanguardism (that is, the Party decides how you should think and anything else you experience culturally or personally is a capitalist lie and you need to be indoctrinated out of it). This was the age of Stalin - it would have been not strictly legal or especially easy for Shostakovich to actually have his own library of Stravinsky's work during the peak of his career even if he clearly admired him, and it's not out of the question he could have been tortured, enslaved in labor camp, or killed for it. Though of course it was possible and he probably did. Remember if you don't actually have access to a physical copy of sheet music in the era we're talking about there is no way to look it up, and Shostakovich lived in the world's largest and most powerful protectionist trading bloc, which tightly controlled all that it could going in or out.
Lots of Jazz just used the chord progressions from old standards, and then the musician wrote a new “head” tune over those chords. That way, say, Charlie Parker or Miles Davis could play with any rhythm section and just say “play Tea for Two” and the backing musicians would know those chords, and the horn player would play the new melody over that and then improvise. Much easier than having to teach the rhythm section a whole new progression.
It's called a "contrafact". Excluding the 12-bar blues, the set of chord changes with the most contrafacts seems to be "I Got Rhythm", with over 200 contrafacts listed on Wikipedia alone.
Shostakovich making an arrangement of Tea For Two is like bringing a tank to a BB gun fight. But clearly he was having a blast with it, and I'm glad it resurfaced.
Slight correction: it was _published_ in 1924, and in the US _all_ sheet music published (but not written) before 1929 are public domain. In the rest of the world, copyright remains in place until 50-70 years(depending on the country) after the last remaining author died. Vincent Youmans fulfills that condition, but Irving Ceasar (the lyricist) did not, as he died in 1996.
My understanding is that the Shostakovich arrangement was never lost given that it was included in The Golden Age ballet score. The ballet fell out of favor as "formalistic" and was largely forgotten for decades, but the Tahiti Trot score was never physically lost.
You can buy pianos with slightly smaller keys, but mainstream shops don't sell them because they think they won't make a profit on them. Sadly you have to go out of your way to get one, and they're more expensive. I think they would be a legendary thing for everyone who can't reach a tenth to have these pianos in mainstream stores There was a youtube video on this a while back.
Also yes, Autumn Leaves is never talked about, but as someone who listens to Russian music, it always sounded similar to the song "Red Army Is The Strongest." However, that song is the original version of "Workers of Vienna", an Austrian socialist song that uses the same tune.The composer of Autumn Leaves lived in Vienna around the time that song may be popular and was used by socialist organizers, so it is possible he heard the melody and he either subconsciously remembered it or intended to use its melody for Autumn Leaves. Edit: It has been made known to me that Red Army is the Strongest came before Workers of Vienna, I have edited my message accordingly.
Interesting. Had to look up the background for that song. Always knew it was french though, by Hungarian Kosma. Didn´t know it originated from his own ballet music. But, yes I´ve heard that theme in Tchaikovsky now that I think about it. :)
My granny insisted that many pop songs were really of Russian origin. At the time it was funny, like Ens. Pavel Chekov insisting that everything was invented by little old ladies in Leningrad, but looking back I'd say my granny was right about those pop songs. However, she also insisted that 20th century composers, like Shostakovich, wrote only non-melodic noise. It took several years and Danny Elfman's enthusiasm for Shostakovich 's jazz-inspired pieces to get me to realise that in this case Granny was mistaken.
You appear to mix up something. "The Red Army is the Strongest" (also known as White Army, Black Baron) neither sounds similar to Autumn Leaves nor is it just a Russian version of "Workers of Vienna". The latter song was written in 1927, while the first song was already written in 1920 during the Russian Civil War. Both songs share the same melody, while having completely different lyrics.
@@alexanderkohler6439 The Red Army of the Strongest has a part in the melody where it indeed sounds like Autumn Leaves. I did not mix that up. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YVedK1VUfLM.html 0:46-1:00 Sounds very similar to ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-J0FZ2ObAckw.html 0:19-0:28 Those timestamps specifically. What I did mix up was that indeed, you are correct, and I thank you for pointing out, that Autumn Leaves is infact a German version of Red Army is the Strongest.
@@internetperson8638 I agree that the cord progressions are the same in these specific parts. But I still don't think that either of the Russian or Austrian marches could possibly have served as an inspiration for a soft mellow jazz song such as Autumn Leaves. Actually, I only found the German wikipedia to make a short note on alleged similarities, while the English version doesn't mention the marches at all but rather draws lines to Tchaikovsky's Hamlet ouverture (which I don't know yet, to be honest).
Tea For Two is a really fun piece of music as a piano solo, a band tune, and a crooner's song. I've played it so much and arranged it so many times, and I'm gonna say you, random person reading this, should learn it. Great changes at the end of the form to practice over, and a simple but charming melody.
My father was pianist/bandleader, taught all 5 of us how to play real music with his band-to go along with the school band lessons. He was on contract at a resort hotel nearby for 40 years, and the Musicians' Union told him they knew of no one else who had a sit down gig so long. I started my band in 1972 and just retired in 2022, beating my Dad by 10 years. On some of his records were 3 of the songs you mentioned: Tea for Two, All the Things you are, and Autumn Leaves. I was 14 when he recorded the last song, and he took me to the recording session. I volunteered to play claves, and 63 years later, still get to hear my younger self on his rendition. You are fabulous, love your playing, keep going.
There is nothing quite so simultaneously wholesome and funny than watching a Jazz musician make crazy facial expressions while listening to a really well performed jazz piece on their instrument. 5:22 is a good example.
It is rare to find a jazz piano person who is not awe struck by Tatum. I first really started thinking and listening to Art Tatum due to the frequent urgings of a pianist friend who had been out to the Tchaikovsky competition as a kid, and was a beast of a pianist.
Tatum's talents were natural. Most classically trained pianists would probably have required years of practice to match his level, but I bet there were a couple who were just as good.
Shostakovich once got into a boxing match with Camille Saint-Saens at an Art Tatum concert in Brooklyn, which started a riot, which lead to the Catholic Church issuing a papal bull declaring Tatum's music "the work of the devil."
Great video ! I've known of "Tea for Two" since forever because of the French film "La Grande Vadrouille" and have been listening to Shostakovitch's version recently. Always wanted to know more about its history and this video answered my questions and more !
I just did a portion of my dissertation recital on Shostakovich and if you think the 1920s were crazy, you should see what happened to him in the 50s. There’s a whole video’s worth of content on what happened with Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Shostakovich may be the greatest all around artificer of sound of the 20th century, and easily one of the most inventive. You should do a video or two over one of his great symphonies.
I had heard Shosti's T4T as a random track on his Jazz Album (most famous for Waltz #2) and have never had any idea what the hell it was doing there. Thank you for the history and the demos.
1000 songwriters would have written the same thing on Brill Street and Denmark Street when Tea For Two was popular. It's like romance novels about three lonely sisters in a palace ten years ago!
Someone mentioned Shostakovich’s Jazz Suites. The Shostakovich Ballet Suites were my “gateway drug” into classical music. They consisted of music from his ballets that the Soviet government “censored”, so to speak - “The Limpid Brook” and “Lady Macbeth from the Mtensk District” were some of the sources of these delightful works.
Charles, my friend, I don’t know how did an entire 15 minute video on this song and somehow didn’t mention how it pop’s up in Loony Tunes screenings in movie theatres throughout the War (World War 2, that is).
Crazy ... My mom and grandma used to sing the snippet from the chorus occasionally when I was growing up. I never knew where it came from. Crazy how pieces of melodies can be passed down through a family for a century, even to the point of forgetting the original source.
This suddenly brings the Julie Andrews/ Rudolf Nureyev song and dance routine of Tea for Two into an entirely new context. It's awesome btw, I've loved it for 50 years.
What scares me is that I remember the original version of Tea for Two.. I’m in my 60s. This song was a huge hit many decades after the 1920s. Featured on many variety shows in the 60s and even 70s.
Decades ago, a lifetime ago perhaps, when I was trying to become a historian I went to a conference where they had a presentation on jazz in the USSR that dealt with Tea for Two. Weird to see RU-vid make me remember that.
I remember hearing Tahiti trot on the local radio station (which did classical), and that song came on. I had thought to myself at the time that this would make a good jazz song, and I might bring it in for jazz band (I’m currently in college). Really cool to hear the origin behind it.
Last year we played the Tahiti Trot in an arrangement for wind band during a Roaring Twenties concert. It was a lovely addition to Kurt Weill's Dreigrosschen Suite. 😊 Very fond memories of Shostakovich piece.
I saw the thumbnail and was like “oh! It’s Mitya! 45 minutes? Must be Tahiti Trot. Damn I’ve been gatekeeping this piece for years, why did TikTok steal it” then I clicked on the video and to my delight, it was not the Shostakovich version that was popular on TikTok.
I swear there was a very close variation of Tea For Two playing in episodes of the 1980s Heathcliff cartoon. It's been looping in my head rent free for the past 35 years
Actually Johann Sebastien Bach, who kept himself up to date with the Italian music scene, painstakingly copied or re-used new music by people like Vivaldi...as a method of self-improvement, a way to widen his musical knowledge. Plagiarism is a modern thing. As someone remarked, you copy from one source, it's plagiarism, you copy tons of material from different sources, it's research.
Thelonious Monk's two studio recordings are my favorites, but the strangest adaptation of Tea for Two occurs about halfway through the last movement of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, the section that sets the words "Laudate Eum in cymbalis bene jubilantionibus".
What surprised me is that I didn't realise that it was based on Tea for Two, especially since it was the first song I learned when I joined my highschool choir.
2:58 The chord progression in Tea for Two does not use the substitutions in the Abmj7 section, but keeps alternating between two chords. I think applying the harmonies the way you did actually changes the simplicity of the original. I guess that's why the Cavendish tune didn't remind me of Tea for Two. Also the melody jumping to the b flat changes the tune quite a lot to my ears.
Could you do a deep-dive into Evan Call? He’s an incredibly talented composer on some pretty big recent anime like Violent Evergarden and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
wait a damn minute, Shostakovich is trending on TikTok at the SAME time I'm presenting his 8th String Quartet in my Humanities class? this keeps happening, man.
I didn't understand most of this. As a math teacher of several decades' experience in public schools, I now know what Humanities majors feel like when we talk about beautiful math proofs.
How curious! Thank you for this great video! Apparently, you don't seem to run out of ideas soon, but I have a suggestion for a new video: Ryo Fukui. He is one of my favourite Jazz pianists of all time. The channel "STEVEM" has a great documentary about him, I would love to hear your take! Fun fact: Tea For Two is also a popular choice for dancing Cha-Cha to at competitions.
Speaking of autumn leaves have you heard the Alfred Reid arrangement? I play Trombone in a community concert band that covered this version of the song. Highly recommend you look it up. It’s a very pretty and different take on the song!! Love your channel! :)
I learned my first Latin dance to the "Tea for Two Cha Cha Cha" - still have Dad's 78RPM disk in my collection. Great, you earned a Sub for this great little video 😀
“A little learning is a dang'rous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again.” Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1711)
Shostakovich had a really funny piece he made on the censorship as well called "Anti-formalist Rayok" where he makes fun of the soviet art censors (not released at the time for obvious reasons), its really funny if you get the chance to cover or listen to it.
I first heard 'Tea for Two' in a 1966 movie 'La Grande Vadrouille' with Lois de Funes. It was a special signal between British pilots and a French director to recognize each other )
@@phantasmal914I'm enjoying playing the 11th with an amateur orchestra this summer, though it has been very tiring too! The 2nd and 4th movement have some very long sections of playing mid-high notes, with some crazy dynamic markings eg. 4 bar with the following markings and accents on every note: fff espress. < più fff < (< being crescendo - ie, very very loud, expressive, getting louder more very very loud getting louder)
i listened to this all the way through today and i gotta say… symphony no. 5 is pretty mid even by my standards for shostakovich 😭😭 maybe i’m biased, but nothing else by him will ever make me feel the way his 7th symphony does, every single movement at that. hell, even his 9th and 10th symphonies are more memorable to me. still love him, though… 🫣
At 1:25 we learned that the first recording of Tea for Two was in 1925. At 8:28 we further learned that in 1927 Shostakovich orchestrated his original 1924 tune. Yes, Shostakovich's orchestration took place TWO YEARS after the original Tea for Two recording. Either that this guy has got his years wrong, or that Shostakovich's 1927 work was a plagiarism - NOT the other way around. NB: I highly respect Shostakovich as a composer, but I respect the truth more.
Omg he mentioned Marion Harris! Also using the Tea For Two chord progression is not plagiarism, similar to how you can use the I Got Rhythm changes for a song without it being plagiarism. For example, the Flintstones theme is not plagiarism. This progression is a quite common progression with very predictable changes.
There's a second "bet" story with tea for two! (Sort of, and the veracity of it is hard to prove.) Allegedly, Vladimir Horowitz, the incredible classical pianist, admired Tatum and once meticulously composed an arrangement of Tea for Two that was absolutely virtuosic. He knew Tatum and had him over to play it for him. Tatum then congratulated Horowitz on his arrangement and playing, then offered to give it a go himself, just improvising on the spot, and Horowitz was amazed. There's an interview/concert with Andre Previn and Oscar Peterson where Andre tells this story: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BFNsywQOW1I.htmlsi=y08-bfGXziIT8W8K&t=857
The word for taking a known chord progression and putting a new melody over it is called a contrafact. Donna Lee, for instance, is a famous contrafact of Back Home in Indiana.
Punk Rock fan here.. i previously only knew that 'tea for two' melody as a Cha-Cha version played as "intermission" music in the Offpspring album Ixnay on the Hombre. Thanks for showing where thats from
You say that jazz was seen very badly in the Soviet Union at the time, I don't think that's right. Jazz was very popular in the Soviet Union before the war. In his later paranoid phases, Stalin would be suspicious of Jazz as something foreign, but at that time, even he loved it. There was a State Jazz Orchestra of the USSR, and Eddie Rosner was touring with the Belarusian variant of it.
Your story is told in a wonderful, easy to understand style. I think Tea For Two has been in the public domain for at least 45 years, so any concerns of ‘intellectual theft” are legally moot. Plagerism, perhaps, but nothing illegal here.
It’s kinda like the tiktok popular sound that’s inspired by Aquatic Ambience from DK. Even shares the name but is different. I guess they think we’re out of good ideas
Wonderful story. I sort of knew what was coming as soon as I saw the picture of Shostakovich. He was quite the musical gadfly of the Soviet era. Consider his Fifth Symphony, his response to the government critics and censors. The symphony was at once tragic and satirical. Also, check his string quartets, especially number eight.
