The Nearness of You from Beginners Jazz Arrangements course.
I’ve been working on this song for the last ten weeks. It was a tough go but it is one of my favourite standards and I really enjoyed learning it. It’s on the slow side side but I’m happy with it and would like to start to learn one more before the New Year. Thanks for watching.
Hey Ivan 
Congrats on your progress… you’re making short work of these beginner arrangements! 
Your chord voicings sound clean and in-control ie. you’re not rushing or stalling which tells me that you are comfortable with the voice leading and how to navigate the 25s, 251s, and other common progressions.
As I’ve mentioned before it’s also great that you are not relying on the lead sheets. Developing this habit will allow you to play more spontaneously and creatively as you encounter new theory and arrangement techniques in the upcoming courses.
How many of the beginner arrangements have you learnt now?
You mention that this is one of your favourite jazz standards and so definitely ‘short list’ this one and dive deeper into arranging options.
We have a dedicated course called “Nearness of You Ballad Fills & Runs” which might be of interest to you:
This course is mixed-level so it will introduce you to some intermediate and advanced arrangement techniques which you can slowly incorporate to develop the basic arrangement that you have here.
Also, here’s a playlist on The Nearness Of You which contains some recordings of this tune that I personally like:
Take a listen to the playlist and choose perhaps the 2 or 3 recordings that you like best. Ask yourself ‘if my own playing could sound a little bit more like one of these records, which one(s) would it be?’.
Then spend a little time each day to listen to those recordings and try to imitate certain nuances of the recordings that you like, such as the melodic phrasing/placement of the melody notes, perhaps a little fill when the melody rests etc…
This is how we start to personalise ‘our sound’ when playing. This is a gradual and ongoing process - and I think now is a great time to start with this.
Definitely keep learning new tunes as it’s important to keep expanding your repertoire of jazz standards. Each new tune that we learn, the easier it becomes to learn the next one.
At the same time start creating a ‘shortlist’ of tunes that you really like to play. These are the ones where we spend a lot of time listening to different versions and trying to dissect the elements that we admire and aspire to play ourselves.
Thanks for sharing and keep up the great work!
Thanks Hayden for all the feedback and support. I’ve learned a few songs since my time here but two of my favourites are this one and Pure Imagination. I will definitely short list the two and try to work on your suggestions listed above and choose another song from the beginner jazz arrangements course. Thanks again.
My pleasure, Ivan.
A nice song for you to work on next could be “In A Sentimental Mood” as it’s written in a minor key which is a little different from the songs you have been working on so far.
You can find it in the “Introduction To Jazz Modulations” course here:
I’ve covered this song quite extensively in various courses and seminars, you can find related lessons by using the search option in the website header, for example:
Start with the 4 lessons in the course highlighted above as we focus on the structure and form of the song which helps to build strong foundations.