by Kelly Sill
In this month’s “Zwee Dot” Kelly Sill shares his listening notes for vocalist Alyssa Allgood’s version of Warren’s/Gordon’s “The More I See You” from her 2018 Cellar Live release, Exactly Like You.
Click here to see Alyssa’s March 2020 feature interview with CJM founder, Mike Jeffers.
“The More I See You”
From the recording
Exactly Like You
2018, Cellar Live
Alyssa Allgood – Vocals
Dan Chase – Hammond B3 organ
Kyle Asche – Guitar
Greg Artry – Drums
0:02 And the cut starts
0:06 Cool harmonic motion; at first I couldn’t even tell what key they were in
0:10 Now I can tell
0:12 It feels good
0:19 Alyssa in – beautiful voice
0:26 Back-singing some
0:34 Beautiful intonation
0:42 Dig how she sang the word “mad” and especially the word “lost”
0:54 No more back-singing
1:02 Beautiful – she changed the melody without hurting the tune
1:12 She has good time
1:16 Grooving
1:23 Really nice break
1:26 This sounds really good
1:28 It feels really good, too
1:30 There aren’t a lot of people who can actually scat well
1:36 Cool thing with the triplets
1:45 It grooves right along
1:53 The rhythm section is accompanying great!
1:58 Powerful triplets
2:03 Great use of double time
2:09 Always nailing it
2:19 Not afraid to take chances, and she’s making it work great!
2:27 Yeah, baby!
2:29 B3 solo, starting with her last idea
2:35 Simple and clear – nice
2:40 Fancy triplet work
2:54 Yeah!
3:00 Gettin’ down
3:17 Bringing it on home
3:24 Full-fisted
3:31 Wow; didn’t expect that – unison B3 and vocals!
3:42 I bet Alyssa wrote that – very adventuresome
3:47 Beautiful pitch, even through the key change
3:55 That was high
4:00 Beginning the out-head
4:07 Nice figure – same as in-head
4:22 I like the arrangement – presents the tune nicely
4:28 Tagging
4:30 Different harmonically than a regular tag
4:42 I think that some of that was improvised, some clearly wasn’t
4:46 Really cool ending!
4:48 Another great cut!
Kelly Sill has been a mainstay of the Chicago jazz scene for more than 45 years. After receiving his bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he moved to Chicago.
He has since performed and recorded with a vast array of jazz artists, including Art Blakey, Joe Henderson, Art Farmer, Eddie Jefferson, Clark Terry, Cedar Walton, Herb Ellis, Woody Shaw, Hank Jones, Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Burrell, Barney Kessel, Chris Potter, Ernie Watts, Bob Mintzer, Mel Torme, Anita O'Day, Janice Borla, Jack Mouse, Jackie McLean, Joey DeFrancesco, Donald Byrd, Bobby Watson, Eddie Harris, Scott Hamilton, Victor Lewis, Clifford Jordan, Bucky Pizzarelli, and many more.
He has performed at the Chicago Jazz Festival, Ravinia Festival, the Elkhart Jazz Festival, the Red Sea Jazz Festival, the Thessaloniki Concert Hall in Greece, and Symphony Center (Orchestra Hall) in Chicago.
Kelly has served on the faculties of Northwestern University, Interlochen Arts Academy, Northeastern Illinois University, Lake Forest College, DePaul University, and Northern Illinois University. He currently teaches at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. For questions or comments please contact him at kellysill1@gmail.com or visit his website at KellySill.com.