Deep-Dive into Live From Emmet's Place performance of "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" with Gabrielle Cavassa

Head-out (7:07)

Gabrielle’s interpretation of the head is different in the out-chorus; she is louder, on more of an intense plateau. She is melodically changing notes from the head-in, often higher in pitch, and is using a bluesy tone to her rendition; again much more than in the head-in.

If Gabrielle is changing the melody from the head-in, she is more conservative with her interpretation of the rhythms. Her phrasing is more ‘inside’ with less syncopation and back-phrasing; it is a lot more like the rhythm in Cole Porter’s original.

Gabrielle is employing ‘leveling’. This is a melodic note-changing phrase technique of taking the hills and valleys of pitches and reducing them to a few notes that are close together. This was often used by Billie Holiday.

At the very end of the head-out, Gabrielle signals to the rhythm section that she will be tagging the last 4 measures by changing the tonic-note, the last note of the song, to the third. The F note on the F69 was changed to an A, and the chord was subsequently changed to it’s mediant substitution, an Am7. The repeat is now set between [:iii- VI-ii-V:].

Open Tag (7:45)

Once the tag was set, Gabrielle signaled through her loose phrasing that she wanted it to be open-ended. This means that there would not be a set 4 or 8 bars of a tag. Much conversation and development occurs in this open-ended tag.

During the open-ended tag, Gabrielle sets up a ‘trading’ phrase with singing, “do you wanna come home with me?” Sometimes the instrumentalists play a phrase to answer her. She comes in and out of this phrase, allowing the tag to find its own musical identity. After trading with the trumpet, she changes her signature phrase to, “I wanna come home!”.

During the next phase (8:45), the rhythm section comes down in intensity, opening the door for Gabrielle to improvise in a higher-pitched head voice, before coming back to, “I wanna come home; do you wanna come home to me?”

At the end of the tag the volume rises, the rhythm section locks on a couple hits, and Gabrielle touches her shoulder to reinforce that she wanted to end the tag and song.

At the very ending, once free of the open-ended tag, Emmet and the rhythm section decides to keep the tempo until the last note, opting for a descending harmony from the tri-tone chord to the tonic.

On the last chord, Emmet decides to add the color of (#11) to the last Fmaj7 chord to produce the lydian sound of Fmaj7(#11).

TIP: It is a signal to the rhythm section that you want to tag a song if you change the ending-tonic note to its third. The rhythm section will change the I chord to a iii7, opening up a repeated [iii- VI-ii-V]. It is important to be clear in communicating to the rhythm section when you want to come out of the tag and end the tune. The clear indicator that you are ending is going to the tonic note that you originally replaced. Within the tag, many things can happen; trading, sequencing, building of intensity. A lot of this will depend on how long the tag is. There was much development in You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To because the tag was opened for 64 measures. The musicians ‘took us on a journey’. Be open to listening and communicating during an open-ended tag.

TIP: If you are in an-opened section of a song like a tag and the rhythm section isn’t picking up on your musical cues, it is okay to use a hand signal to move on. You don’t have to discuss these signals before the song; it’s obvious that any cue you would provide would be for the purposes of ending the loop you are in.

TIP: Rhythm sections and pianists/guitarists will often decide in the moment to reharmonize the last chord or even the chord progression of a tag. Care will usually be taken to retain the tone of the given song, but don’t be surprised if experienced rhythm sections will push the boundaries a little in the name of creativity. It makes it very important for you, the vocalist, to keep the time, lock in on the bass notes, and be flexible in your melodic improvising if you choose to ‘blow’ over the tag. (‘blow’=improvise in jazz talk)