. I am composing a piece of music for a special event. The event is an 80 year old鈥檚 birthday in a venue hall. My idea is to have the traditional 鈥楬appy Birthday鈥?song but turn it jazzy. It鈥檚 for all the old people to dance to. But I know very little, if at all, but about Jazz music and I鈥檓 very unsure how to apply it to my piece. Please Help! I need ideas on how to do this. As an active musician (bassist,) I/we have done this sort of thing before.........here's a simple solution that seems to work everytime.
Begin with the traditional "Happy Birthday," for purposes of recognition -and- possibly crowd participation. After a couple of verses.......simply increase the tempo to a nice swinging 4/4 appx. quarter note = ~120-130 -and- play it instrumentally.
Keep the basic chord structure intact (walking 1/4 note bass) or embellish with passing chords as applicable. Improvise over the "top" as you feel it....and Voila !! It'll be a crowd pleaser. Get some 1940's swing-style CDs from the library, listen to them and then write your piece using that style as a model. An 80 yr old man will certainly identify with it. just make it new orleans style | 