Why this tune?
“Love In Spring” was written by the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, who was
an accomplished musician and sax player. I learned about this tune and the rest of the King’s compositions when preparing for a trip to Thailand in 2019 with a jazz band. The trip was an exchange with DC’s sister city Bangkok organized by DC drummer Will Stephens. A group of Thai musicians visited DC later in 2019. Will organized another trip by the “DC Jazz Collective” in 2020, just before the COVID lockdown.
We played some selections from the King’s songbook on the trip and continue to play them in DC gigs by the Collective. I updated the original chords of this tune to a more contemporary jazz style, influenced by John di Martino’s recordings of the King’s songs. The late King wrote lovely melodies, but his harmonic ideas were a bit old-fashioned by today’s standards.
Tunes On Tuesday Reel
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Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter 