PRACTICE PORTAL

I received a request from a friend here in tokyo for a transcription of Hancock’s song “Oliloqui Valley”, which comes from the his record, EMPYREAN ISLES. it features many of the same personnel from his more well known date, MAIDEN VOYAGE (Tony Williams, Freddie Hubbard, Ron Carter). this is a great recording that features what seem to be general sketches that the musicians are able to expand upon. it’s an excellent example of the post bop attitude- musicians who were willing and able to reference traditional styles as well as work at the boundaries of free playing with confidence and authority. what i love most about this record is how relaxed and assured it sounds… “Oliloqui Valley” is built off of a vamping bassline under a piano figure and a simple four note melody by Hubbard. the song then moves into a short improvised passage. the whole passage is repeated before it moves into the blowing section. the chords are related by color more than anything else. Hancock plays a great solo, the right hand of which is transcribed below…

HERBIE HANCOCK- “OLILOQUI VALLEY” (mp3)

LEAD SHEET- “OLILOQUI VALLEY” (pdf)

HERBIE HANCOCK SOLO- “OLILOQUI VALLEY” (pdf)

A few months back i had a conversation with a  friend of mine and we started discussing Hip Hop music. we talked about our favorite records and MCs, and he mentioned that he was transcribing some verses to check out what different MCs were doing rhythmically. doing something like that had never occurred to me but after our conversation, the idea really grew on me. the guys i immediately thought about transcribing were Pharoahe Monch and Prince Poetry, formerly known as ORGANIZED KONFUSION. the NYC duo released three records during the 90s that were largely slept on perhaps due to their complex rhyme styles and underground aesthetic. they weren’t (at that time)  traditional, 16 bar and out rappers. they were “abstract”, ever evolving and different from other crews (which was, at that time, a badge of honor). both MCs are pretty incredible but Monch stands out as the mad genius of the group. he has a great voice, an incredible flow, creative wordplay and, what appeals to me most, a variety of complex rhythmic patterns that he uses at will… the late 80s to mid 90s were a really creative time for Hip Hop. song tempos were faster, geared more toward a dancing audience, grooves were rhythmically more intricate, and MCs pushed the creative envelope and strove toward creating unique styles. MCs and crews like Freestyle Fellowship, Hieroglyphics, Native Tongues, Kool G Rap, Big L, Hobo Junction, Brand Nubian, Nas, KMD, Leaders Of The New School, Poor Righteous Teachers, Black Moon, Latyrx, X-Clan, CL Smooth, Public Enemy, Guru, Digable Planets, Camp Lo, Divine Styler, etc., influenced by MCs who laid down the prototype of the New School MC (Rakim, KRS One, Ultramagnetic MCs, Big Daddy Kane, MC Lyte, Percee P, etc.), raised the lyrical and musical bar. many of the artists mentioned above took a huge  shot to the gut with the onset of so-called Gansta Rap. Hip Hop’s most creative elements were supressed in favor of a slower, more static beat, simpler rhyme styles, and a much narrower range of subject matter. Organized Konfusion was one group that fell by the wayside as the hypercommercialization of Hip Hop went into high gear. hopefully, as recession hit, cubic zirconia wearing rap dudes realize that rhyming about bank rolls is no longer in fashion, and that they have nothing to lose, as record labels aren’t spending money, even on commercial acts, they will start to embrace creativity and individuality in Hip Hop again. “The Extinction Agenda” is a track from OK’s sophmore effort, STRESS :THE EXTINCTION AGENDA, that was released in the summer of ‘94. in my opinion it was a pinnacle in lyrical creativity and precision. Prince Po and Monch utilize their voices like instruments, riding the beat closely with a 16th note staccato flow. they both are great at seasoning their lines with syncopated accents, and using phrases of irregular lengths. Monch in particular is able to articulate his intricate patterns clearly, even at quick tempos. at the time this album was released, beatsmiths were heavily mining the rich resources of jazz for material to use in their productions. “Extinction” uses a sample from Herbie Hancocks “Rain Dance” to beef up their beats. not exactly the boom bap style that was the norm at that time, this beat was looser and more syncopated, something that the average MC would most likely shy away from. Po and Monch have no fear; they take to the rhythm like fish to water. other standouts on this record are “Thirteen”, the utterly ridiculous “Bring It On”, and “Stray Bullet”, on which Monch delivers one of the all time classic verses in Hip Hop. breath control, imagery, precision rhyme schemes, intelligent swagger, thick production: OK had it all.  check  it out down below…

P.S. many thanks to Mike Z. for inspiring this post and a big shout out to Ethan Iverson at DO THE MATH for shining some light on up and coming blog geeks…

ORGANIZED KONFUSION- “THE EXTINCTION AGENDA” (mp3)

RHYTHM TRANSCRIPTION OF “THE EXTINCTION AGENDA“ (pdf)

I’m currently reading a book called THE LIFE AND WORK OF WAYNE SHORTER by Michelle Mercer, which is on loan from a friend of mine here in Tokyo. anyone with a desire to know more about this giant of 20th century music is well advised to take a look at this book. many interesting anecdotes about his thought process, relationships with friends and fellow musicians, his home life, his spiritual convictions, his numerous misfortunes and triumphs, and his long journey stepping out from the shadows. NATIVE DANCER is, with the exception of SPEAK NO EVIL, my favorite Wayne Shorter record. it’s hard to believe that only ten years had passed between the recording of these two albums. they are vastly different. but Shorter’s sublime lyricism and compositional prowess are the threads that connect them. accompanying Shorter’s horn is the haunting voice of Milton Nascimiento. “DIANA”, written by Shorter, is a ballad played in a rubato style. it is essentially a duet between Shorter and Herbie Hancock with some electric bass accompaniment and overdubbed effects. there are three sections: the main melody, a restatement of the melody and a short coda. it comes off like a prelude to a larger piece of music or like the opening chapter of a fairytale, and conjures up vivid imagery when i listen to it. a barefoot woman in a soft dress walking through a field of high grass which is still moist from the night before, and the sun just broaching the horizon. perhaps she’s leaving someone or something behind. i wonder what she sees off in the distance. what a powerful melody. Wayne Shorter is definitely the man… i wrote out the shell of the song- the melody and bass voices. the chords are of course open to interpretation and the way i formatted the song is my own solution. listen to “DIANA” below and decide for yourself…

WAYNE SHORTER- “DIANA“ (mp3)

TRANSCRIPTION OF “DIANA“ (pdf)

It’s been a while since i lasted posted any music. i took a nice vacation with the family and thought about nothing but putting back a few beers and eating mom and dad’s home cooking. while i was gone i got a couple of requests for lead sheets.

as anyone who’s checked out this blog knows, i am a big fan of Booker Little, so i was happy to oblige the request for a lead sheet to his song “ROUNDER’S MOOD”. it was featured on his record, BOOKER LITTLE 4 AND MAX ROACH. i’ve also heard it on a Joe Lovano date called TENOR LEGACY. it’s a really nice melodic line played at a pretty quick tempo. the song form is ABCAB with each section being 8 measures. the progression is more or less conventional so it wasn’t too hard to figure out. horns mostly play in unison, branching out into independent lines on occasion. the second horn line is muddy and difficult to hear in measures 13 and 14 so i took a bit of liberty with that. i may have to make revisions later.

Wayne Shorter is arguably the most influential composer in modern jazz. his conception played a huge part in shaping the sound of the Miles Davis quintet of the 60’s. listening to his classic recording dates on Blue Note, we get a glimpse of his unique take on composition and improvisation. his music of that period, like his improvisations seem to be an intense  refinement of things he’d learned from his influences. everything feels essential and inevitable, nothing seems wasted. like many of his songs, Shorter’s “DANCE CADAVEROUS”, which comes from his seminal recording, SPEAK NO EVIL, is an extremely tough nut to crack. the big obstacle is deciphering his progressions which are very cryptic and personal. Herbie Hancock, the pianist on this date, demonstrates his mastery of the art of accompaniment, enveloping the melody and solos in a cloud of impressionist coloring. his voicings and chord choices never remain static and they conjure latent possibilities in a progression that the composer might not have expected. Ron Carter’s bass is removed from the traditional role of only serving as a rhythmic anchor and playing roots and fifths. he often occupies areas of a chord that lead instruments function in. this of course presents a problem to anyone attempting to transcribe what’s happening. the music is always moving forward from phrase to phrase, chorus to chorus. i don’t know if Shorter has ever published a definitive lead sheet to this song. mine is just a guess so please take it as that. i also referenced a version of this song from the Larry Willis recording, HOW DO YOU KEEP THE MUSIC PLAYING?, on which the rhythm section plays in a less ambiguous style. however, that presented another problem and raised more questions because his version often diverged from the original recording.

“DANCE CADAVEROUS”, one of my favorite Shorter songs is a thing of beauty- a gentle waltz with an elegant melodic line played by Shorter along with the late Freddie Hubbard on trumpet. the melody is simple enough but what adds intrigue is the harmonic framework that it’s set in. the song begins with an 8 measure introduction:

||  Ab Maj7  |  Ab Maj7  | Ab Maj7  |  Ab Maj7  |

|  A7  |  A7  |  A7 (b9, b13)  |  A7 (b9, b13)  |

Shorter and Hubbard play a simple three note riff that is answered by Hancock’s piano. the song then moves into the main melody. the first chord, B min(Maj7) lends to the eerie quality of the song:

||  B min (Maj7)  |  B min (Maj7)  |  C min (Maj7)  |  C min (Maj7)  |

|  C#min7 (b5)  | C#min7 (b5)  |F#7 (b9)  |  F#7 (b9)  |

the second eight bars of the melody imitate the first but the progression eventually modulates to a G Maj7 (the relative major of E min7, the chord that one would expect to be the destination after B7 (b9) ):

|  B min (Maj7)  |  B min (Maj7)  |  C min (Maj7)  |  C min (Maj7)  |

|  C# min7 (b5)  |  F#7 (b5) |  F# min7 (b5)  |  B7 (b9, b13)  |

from G maj7, the progression works its way to Ab min11. the fifth bar of this progression gets pretty sticky! i’m regarding the note G in the melody of the fifth and sixth bars of this section as ornamentation and not material from the chord (which may be totally off the mark).

|  G Maj7 |  G Maj7  |  C7 (b5)  |  C7 (b5)  |

|  C7 (b9, b13)  |  Ab7 sus4  |  Ab min11  |  Ab min11  |

the progression then makes its way back to B min (Maj7) using a series of ii-V’s:

|  F min9 (b5)  |  F min9 (b5)  |  Bb7 (b9, b13)  |  Bb7  (b9, b13)  |

|  Bb min11  |  Bb min11  |  C# min7 (b5)  |  F#13 (b9)  |

the melody and chord progression repeats from the top but the progression changes from the fifth bar (moving to D Maj7 (#5) instead of back to B min (Maj7). both chords share the same notes) while the melody remains essentially the same:

||  B min (Maj7)  |  B min (Maj7)  |  C min (Maj7)  |  C min (Maj7)  |

|  C#min7 (b5)  | C#min7 (b5)  |F#7 (b9)  |  F#7 (b9)  |

|  D Maj7 (#5)  |  D Maj7 (#5)  |  D13 sus4  |  D13 (b9)  |

in the next four bars, the color of the chord is G maj with the bassline descending along a G major scale:

|  G Maj7  |  G/F#  |  E min7  |  G/D  |

the next eight measures are the same as measures 17-24 except for the chord on the first two bars which is a C# min7 (b5) instead of a G Maj7 (they have a very similar sound).

|  C# min7 (b5)  |  C# min7 (b5)  |  C7 (b5)  |  C7 (b5)  |

|  C7 (b9, b13)  |  Ab7 sus4  |  Ab min11  |  Ab min11  |

the last eight bars move the harmony back toward the original tonality of B minor but instead of landing there, the last ii-v ( |C# min9 (b5)  |  F#7sus4 (b9)| )moves to C Major:

|  G Maj7  |  G Maj7  |  C# min9(b5)  |  F#7 sus (b9)  |

|  C Maj9  |  C Maj9  |  C Maj9  |  C Maj9  ||

check out the transcriptions below…

BOOKER LITTLE- “ROUNDER’S MOOD” (mp3)

TRANSCRIPTION OF “ROUNDER’S MOOD” (pdf)

WAYNE SHORTER- “DANCE CADAVEROUS” (mp3)

TRANSCRIPTION OF “DANCE CADAVEROUS” (pdf)