PRACTICE PORTAL

“SATELLITE”, from the Coltrane record, COLTRANE SOUND, is conceptually similar to songs like “COUNTDOWN” and “26-2″. it demonstrates his intense scrutiny and re-imagining of jazz harmony. in Coltrane, we are blessed to have a musician who was a deep thinker and theoretician, as well as a highly skilled practitioner, a rare combination in any discipline. we’re also very fortunate that Coltrane’s development was so well documented… “SATELLITE” is more appealing to me than, say, “GIANT STEPS” because at the end of each chorus there’s an eight measure pedal point that allows the chord progression to breathe a bit and a soloist to regroup for the next pass. throughout his six chorus solo, instead of letting up, Coltrane uses those eight bars to build the momentum of his solo through the use of dissonance. as a result, the top of each successive chorus sounds like a dam breaking, unable to hold the water behind it. Trane plays a beautiful solo accompanied by Elvin Jones on drums and Steve Davis on bass…

JOHN COLTRANE- SOLO FROM “SATELLITE” (mp3)

SOLO TRANSCRIPTION FOR “SATELLITE” (pdf)

The late, great Grover Washington Jr. has always been one of my saxophone heroes. his playing, ever soulful and earthy, never fails to move me. i was so pleased to come across this cut from his early career as a sideman with Leon Spencer, before he shot to stardom with a string of hit records on the CTI/ Kudu label. “Message From The Meters” is a 12 bar funk blues from a record called SNEAK PREVIEW that features a raw, gritty rhythm section comprised of organ, electric bass and guitar, congas and tight, funky drums. Washington is right at home in the fat pocket and plays with a wide variety of staccato attacks, smears, slurs, etc. no notes are wasted. he uses space really well, plays phrases and responds to them, and generates so much of energy by playing repeated notes. most of his solo is based on an E minor blues scale but it never gets boring because he constantly changes his rhythmic approach. what really kills me is his sound- dark and thick but still agile and flexible…

GROVER WASHINGTON JR.- “MESSAGE FROM THE METERS” (mp3)

SOLO FROM “MESSAGE FROM THE METERS” (pdf)

Doing transcriptions for PRACTICE PORTAL has been a blast. when i was younger, i used to transcribe a lot; for ear training, to cop ideas, to gather material for creating exercises, etc. as i matured and started working more, i left transcribing behind for several years. my rationalization was that i needed to spend more time finding my own voice. i continued listening but i didn’t bother to take down solos. although it is good to try to soak things  in by osmosis, i am again realizing how useful it is to have transcribed solos on hand, whether it’s for use as practice fodder or as a reference to compare and contrast different styles, players, compositions, etc. though i still feel strongly that musicians- any musician, but especially improvising musicians- are better served by learning music aurally, through memorization and repetition, having written material still is of great use. setting two or more solos side by side for analysis is much easier when done aurally and visually… i’ve been kicking around the idea of doing more posts that compare soloists as they improvise over the same song. my recent post of “Grand Central” featuring Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane is a good example of what i mean. i’d like to take that concept and apply it to soloists on different recordings and perhaps even from different stylistic eras. as soon as i find some good material, i’ll get to work… which brings me to…

“Cain & Able” is a song from Branford Marsalis’ record, THE BEAUTYFUL ONES ARE NOT YET BORN. a great album featuring Marsalis in a trio setting with Robert Hurst, Jeff Watts and the occassional guest artist. the tunes are generally mid to uptempo in the post bop vein with some hard swinging workouts and a couple of ballads by Marsalis and cohorts. many of the melodies are just brief sketches. Wynton Marsalis shares the front line with Branford for “Cain & Able”. although the title suggests fraternal intrigue, backstabbing and betrayal of biblical proportions, i’m guessing that it’s just a tongue in cheek response to the hype that surrounded the two brothers after Branford parted company and set off on a different path than Wynton.  funny, for all the divergences, they both landed on their feet at the top of the jazz world…

Branford and Wynton harmonize with each other during the melody, which starts out as a conventional blues progression before moving through a couple of deceptive time changes and an unusual turnaround. the first section, which is twelve measures, is then repeated but there is another time change at the eleventh measure that abruptly introduces a twelve measure coda. the last section has a different energy and stylistic feel. there’re lots of really nice, super close voicings between the horns, and rhythmic bobbing and weaving throughout the song. after the melody, the band settles into a nice blues and the brothers Marsalis play with, against, over, under, off and around each other in a bit of improvisational telepathy that is a pleasure to listen to.  the most difficult part of transcribing this music was that the horn lines sometimes work so closely together that they sound like a single polyphonic instrument. at times the timbre of the two horns match each other perfectly. i had to listen to certain sections of the recording repeatedly to figure out which horn was playing what notes. they are both masters of their respective instruments but what is more fascinating to me is the obvious empathy and respect they have for each other. whenever i hear Wynton and Branford, i can’t help but to imagine the course that contemporary acoustic jazz would have taken had Wynton’s very influential band (circa “Black Codes From The Underground”) remained together and continued to develop. .. i haven’t featured many players who came to prominence in the 80’s and 90’s. perhaps it’s just a bias of mine (why mess with the branches when you can dig up the roots?) with that attitude there’s a danger of ending up like an ostrich with my head in the dirt… i’m coming around. anyway, i want to try and feature more younger performers, guys who are currently active and evolving.

I took down the melody “Cain & Able” along with eleven choruses of blowing. check it out…

BRANFORD AND WYNTON MARSALIS- “CAIN & ABLE” (mp3)

SOLO TRANSCRIPTION OF “CAIN & ABLE“ (pdf)

I was on the Youtube today and came across a live version of “Cain And Abel” featuring Wynton and Branford. very swinging… this version is better in terms of pacing. there were moments on the CD where i thought the intensity took a dip but here, perhaps because of being in a live situation, the focus and energy never lets up. there are a couple times when they hit  on some really beautiful counterpoint… you can’t front…

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)

Dave Valdez of CASA VALDEZ STUDIOS recently mentioned me on his blog so i wanted to return the favor. people who are interested in a blog like mine have probably seen CSV already, it’s been around for quite a long time. if you haven’t seen it,  stop by because it’s packed with a lot of information and links related to jazz and music in general. check it out…

I first heard CANNONBALL ADDERLEY QUINTET IN CHICAGO sometime during my high school years, when i had just started to get into straight ahead jazz. up to that time, my tastes were a little more “contemporary”: Grover Washington Jr., David Sanborn, etc. i had just begun checking out Charlie Parker and trying to play some of his solos from the OMNIBOOK. well, i pulled this record out of my dad’s collection, attracted to the very cool cover, and put it on. if you’ve heard “Limehouse Blues”, you can imagine my shock when i experienced Adderley’s solo break. damn! no disrespect to Parker, who is one of Adderley’s stylistic fathers, but i never heard a saxophone swing so hard. his sound was so big and round and brilliant. his articulation was so precise. what an incredible technique, rifling out those 8th note runs at such a breakneck speed. i just had enough time to pick my jaw up off the floor when this OTHER guy comes in on tenor. while Adderley was playing a more or less conventional bop line, Coltrane was playing this other stuff, dealing with the harmonic material he was exploring on records like GIANTS STEPS and COLTRANE JAZZ. while Adderley blew over an F7 chord during the first four bars of his solo, Coltrane superimposed a high resolution harmonic sequence over those same four measures that eventually resolved to the next chord in the progression proper, D7. you could say that Adderley operated on the molecular level while Coltrane worked on a more rareified, atomic level. two very different sounds and approaches, set against each other, and on top of the fine rhythm section of Wynton Kelly (who is consistently incredible and funky), Jimmy Cobb and Paul Chambers, all of whom were members of the great Miles Davis Quintet at the time. this record was so eye opening to me. it really showed me how varied and personal improvisational styles could be. Adderley’s 8th note has a pronounced lope. he really digs into the beat with a very extroverted and jubilant swing. even on a song like “Grand Central”, which is in a minor key, and has a heavy feeling to it, the energy of his sound is very bright and (for lack of a better word) “happy”. Coltrane’s 8th note, on the other hand, is flatter and more streamlined. he often employs sweeping scalar runs and arpeggios that soar high above the rhythm section and move out of the regular 8th note pulse. he makes use of whole tone and harmonic minor scales that add a mysterious, almost atonal quality to his lines. his sound is at once an urgent wail, a cry or a roar. being an alto player and a jazz neophyte at the time, i naturally gravitated to Adderley, whose style was less cryptic than Coltrane’s. everything about the way Cannonball played appealed to me. he was a really well studied, hip, soulful sax player. Cannonball Adderley came off to me as a musician who found his groove pretty early in life and was content to remain there- now, don’t get me wrong, i don’t think there is anything wrong with that because he was an excellent player who could hold his own next to anyone (he was in the baddest band in the land when he made this recording fer chrissakes!) but Coltrane was different. i got the feeling that he was and would never be satisfied, that he was always trying to move forward. i started to revere Coltrane as i got deeper into music and started to understand what he was dealing with, and began to understand why he profoundly influenced so many, not only as a musician, but as a man trying to find something, attempting to transcend…

“Grand Central”, a song written by Coltrane, is 36 bars long with an AABA form. the form is a little peculiar because it begins at the end, the last measure of the song, which is used as a pick up bar. everything makes sense if you think of the song as beginning on the F min7 chord. the last A section is 12 bars long rather than eight bars, like the other A sections are. the melody is played over a progression of descending ii-Vs and lands on Bb minor:

one bar break… [| G min7(b5)  C7(b9)  |]

|  F min7 |  Bb min7  Eb7  |  Ab min7  Db7  | F# min7  B7  |

|  Bb min7  |  B 7(b5)  |  Bb min7  | G min7(b5)  C7(b9)  |

the chord in the sixth measure bothers me a bit. sometimes i hear a Dominant sound and other times i hear a Major sound. even though the melody uses the natural 7th, i wrote it as a Dominant chord because of what i hear from the rhythm section and the soloists (actually, Cannonball and Coltrane utilize both the Major 7th and Dominant 7th  at times)-(why does the Real Book list the chords in measures 5 through 7: F min7, Gb7, F min7?).  the second A section is essentially the same as the first:

|  F min7  |  Bb min7  Eb7  |  Ab min7  Db7  | F# min7  B7  |

|  Bb min7  | B 7(b5) |  Bb min7  | Bb min7 |

the first six bars of the bridge is a static 7th chord (perhaps, because of the melody, you could say that the progression moves between a 7sus4 and a 7 chord with the same root). this is followed by a four bar progression typical of Coltrane in that period. the saxophones have a little exchange over the bridge with Coltrane on a riff and Adderley playing another riff that has a more improvised feel to it. the horns don’t play the opening break coming out of the bridge into the last A section:

|  B7  |  B7  |  B7  |  B7  |

|  B7  |  B7  |  Bb min7  E7  |  A maj7  C7(b9)  |

the final A section:

|  F min7  |  Bb min7  Eb7  |  Ab min7  Db7  | F# min7  B7  |

|  Bb min7  | B 7(b5) |  Bb min7  | B 7(b5) |

|  Bb min7  | B 7(b5) |  Bb min7  | G min7(b5)  C7(b9) |

the thing that’s a little confusing here is that unlike the one bar break that the begins the song, the solo breaks are two bars long. Cannonball is first up to bat… out of the park.

i can’t say enough about Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane, two giants in the world of music. i’ll try to feature more material from both in coming posts…

CANNONBALL ADDERLEY AND JOHN COLTRANE- “GRAND CENTRAL” (mp3)

SOLO TRANSCRIPTION OF “GRAND CENTRAL“ (pdf)

As the U.S. and the world awaits the new stimulus package from Obama and the legislature, i thought i would consult the wisdom of another head of state to see what he had to say. Lester Young’s thoughts might not do much for the economy but they will most definitely stimulate the mind of anyone who cares to listen. these three sides are all variations on rhythm changes, and on them, Young displays his control, finesse, incredible rhythmic sense and that SOUND. each of these sides feature an overt, bouncing beat with a really prominent 4 feel. it’s too bad that jazz isn’t much considered as dance music anymore. playing for dancers profoundly effects how a band and a soloist feels the beat, and seeing music expressed physically in dance, its artistic sibling, is a sensation that musicians should endeavor to experience as often as possible. the musicians on these sides: Count Basie, Jo Jones, Walter Page, Freddie Green and Dickie Wells, to name a few, collaborate towards evoking an infectious and elegant swing.

the saxophone is capable of such a broad range of expression; in the hands a of a master it can attain the level of our innate instrument, the human voice. nowadays there is much talk of the immanent fusion of man and machine, of technology becoming so fast and complex as to be able to smoothly interface with the processes of the human mind and body. well, Prez was there, way back when. in his hands, the saxophone became a flesh and blood appendage; he was definitely one with his horn. hearing guys who’ve reached that level- Bird, Miles, Trane, Monk, Mingus… is, in a word, stimulating. these solos won’t pay your bills but they’re likely to bring a smile to your face. check ‘em out…

LESTER YOUNG- “SHOESHINE BOY” (mp3)

TRANSCRIPTION OF “SHOESHINE BOY” (pdf)

LESTER YOUNG- “LESTER LEAPS IN” (mp3)

TRANSCRIPTION OF “LESTER LEAPS IN” (pdf)

LESTER YOUNG- “I GOT RHYTHM” (mp3)

TRANSCRIPTION OF “I GOT RHYTHM” (pdf)

My method of gathering material for these posts has been pretty haphazard. often, while i’m transcribing a solo, another version of the song i’m listening to will come to mind. such was the case when i was transcribing Eddie Harris’ solo from “Love For Sale” for the last post. i started hearing pieces of a Joe Henderson solo from Grant Green’s record, SOLID from the Blue Note label. the session features lots of extended blowing from the likes of Green, Henderson, James Spaulding, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones and Bob Cranshaw. the song “Ezz-Thetic” was written by George Russell and uses a progression that is similar to “Love For Sale” but the A sections are in a minor tonality and the progression is sparser. the feel of this recording, with 2/3rds of the classic Coltrane rhythm section on hand, is pretty loose and open ended, allowing the soloists to stretch out. Henderson grabs on to Spaulding’s last couple of notes and jumps right into the fray, incorporating all those devices that made him such a versatile and convincing soloist: a wealth of melodic material, rhythmic variety, a flexible, hard swinging beat, an ability to reference the harmonic contour of a song but not be imprisoned by it, and of course, that SOUND. check it out…

JOE HENDERSON- “EZZ-THETIC” (mp3)

TRANSCRIPTION OF “EZZ-THETIC” (pdf)

I first had a chance to hear Eddie Harris while i was living in California in the early nineties. back then, i often played at a spot named Jazz Etc. which was situated around Leimert Park, an area in South Central L.A. with a rich music and arts scene. while i was backstage, i was introduced to Mr. Harris who promptly asked me what my sign is. when i told him, he started into a short monologue covering astrology, the planets, etc. i had absolutely no idea  what he was talking about and wasn’t sure if he was just putting me on or if he was really serious because the whole time he talked to me, he had a this far away, knowing smile on his face. later that night, he got up to do a song  but instead of playing horn, he did a scat solo. maybe scat isn’t quite the right word for what he did; it sounded somewhat like yodeling. at times, similar to things i’ve heard by the great vocalist Dwight Tribble, and to what Leon Thomas did on Pharoah Sander’s Karma, on the song, “The Creator Has A Master Plan”. the sounds that came from him were incredible. wild arpeggios and interval leaps set against the  backdrop of a familiar song  (i don’t remember what it was, probably a standard or a blues). the crowd, mainly an older audience of serious blues fans, loved it. i loved it too, kind of like how i love a rollercoaster  ride- after i’m safely back on the ground. it was really bluesy but very out there. i didn’t know what to think at the time. a lot of what he was doing went right over my head, but i was fascinated and curious. i had heard some of his music prior to that. my dad had the record he did with Les McCann called Swiss Movement that featured the songs, “Compared To What” and “Cold Duck Time”. and of course i was familiar with “Freedom Jazz Dance” (his version and the Miles Davis version). i also remember another record my dad had called The Best Of Eddie Harris. anyway, shortly after that experience i bought a book that he wrote called The Intervallistic Concept, an amazing compilation of exercises and his thoughts on music. like his scat solo, the book was WAY over my head, so i eventually lost interest in it out of pure frustration. i also lost track of my copy of the book but i plan to find it again to see if, some 20 odd years later, things make a little more sense to me. a while later i got a hold of a cassette tape of a duo with Harris and Ellis Marsalis called Homecoming, an awesome recording. “Love For Sale” is featured on a twofer cd called The In Sound/ Mean Greens. there is a lot of great, funky music on these albums. both recordings feature the incredible rhythm section of Cedar Walton on piano, Ron Carter on bass and the one and only Billy Higgins on drums. in addition, a really nice trumpeter named Ray Codrington shares the front line with Harris on many of the tracks. when i heard Harris’ solo on “Love For Sale”, the previous experiences mentioned above made a little more sense to me. i love this solo! of course there’s all those quartal patterns that are pretty amazing given the tempo of the song, but what i love most is his sound and how he hits those fat high notes and will drop a really bluesy line into the mix from time to time to let listeners know where it’s all coming from… there’s so much to Eddie Harris. he was a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, lyricist, comedian, author and a pioneer, among other things. there’s more to him than i can possibly touch on here. anyone who’s interested in knowing more about him should go to  Eddie Harris.com…

EDDIE HARRIS- “LOVE FOR SALE” (mp3)

SOLO TRANSCRIPTION OF “LOVE FOR SALE” (pdf)

I can still remember the first time i heard Joe Henderson’s playing. Some 20 years ago when i was a college student living a dormitory, i was in my room listening to some music. i won’t mention what it was- i’ll just say that it was music that many college musicians considered contemporary and hip in 1987 Los Angeles. one of my neighbors, a trombonist named Dan Fox. handed me a cassette tape and said something to the effect of, “you need to be checking THIS out.” the tape was Canyon Lady, by Joe Henderson, and I was blown away by his sound, melodic lines and his ability to move between a hard- swinging eight note line, long, sweeping melodic flurries, funk- drenched syncopated  riffing and gutteral multiphonic shrieks. he had the tools of the blues players, the be-boppers and the more avant-guard saxophonists and he combined them in a way that was distinctly Joe. i immediately became a disciple. from Canyon Lady, i went on to listen to Page One, his classic Blue Note side with Kenny Dorham, Pete La Rocca, McCoy Tyner and Butch Warren, and Mode For Joe featuring Lee Morgan, Cedar Walton, Bobby Hutcherson, Curtis Fuller, Ron Carter and Joe Chambers. many of the characteristics of his playing i heard on Canyon Lady were already apparent on these earlier sides. it seems to me as if Joe Henderson was more or less fully formed by the time he started to gain public recognition. i am also very moved by his many smart, sophisticated compositions. a few that immediately come to mind are “A Shade Of Jade”, “Black Narcissus”, “Punjab”, “Tetragon”, “Afro-Centric”, “In-n-Out”, “Inner Urge”, “The Kicker”, “Mo’ Joe”- the list goes on and on. Henderson was a participant in quite a few of the great 60’s Blue Note sessions . Larry Young’s Unity, along with Andrew Hill’s Black Fire and Point Of Departure and of course his own dates, Our Thing, Inner Urge, etc. are essential documents of 60’s post-bop saxophone. as the influence of funk, rock and other styles became more prevalent, he was able to adapt and still remain completely himself. Red Clay and Straight Life by the late trumpeter, Freddie Hubbard feature Henderson’s powerful blowing. the majority of his work as a leader on the Milestone record label is also great. his later output- records from the Verve catalogue, are not as appealing to me only because the sound of his saxophone and his bands had lost a bit of the edge that attracted me to his music in the first place. they are beautiful albums; he’s of course an undisputed master but to my ear, they don’t have the aura of urgent exploration and that feeling of trying to decipher some unresolved dissonance that his earlier recordings do- but that’s not what this post is about. the solo that i’m posting is from So Near, So Far (Musings For Miles) which features John Scofield, Al Foster and Dave Holland. “Joshua”, written by Victor Feldman and Miles Davis is an uptempo composition with an AABA form. the A sections are  12 bars long, in the key of D minor. they are in 4/4 time with a repeating bass figure. the B section begins in 3/4 time, moving through a descending cycle of II-V’s for 4 bars and then switching back to 4/4 for 4 more bars. the solo section is longer because the B section is played 2 additional times. Henderson’s unique lines can be heard throughout his improvisation. he reminds me of Sonny Rollins in that he intersperses his familiar motifs with bursts of finely wrought melodic invention. Al Foster, a musical collaborator on many of Henderson’s later projects displays such an empathy, commenting, sometimes arguing with and in the end, reinforcing Henderson’s statements.

JOE HENDERSON- “JOSHUA” (mp3)

SOLO TRANSCRIPTION OF “JOSHUA” (pdf)

Maceo Parker set the template for modern funk saxophone. if you listen to anyone who came up with him and after him- David Sanborn, Grover Washington, Arthur Blythe, the late Michael Brecker, Kenny Garrett, etc.- you’ll hear his substantial influence in their sound, phrasing and melodic choices. Parker’s story is familiar to most. as James Brown’s ultimate foil, he could always be depended on to bring the serious firepower whenever he was called into battle. he had a way of weaving in and out of Brown’s screams and moans and the rhythm section’s dense funk patterns, creating a rhythmic fabric that’s as complex and powerful today as it was when this recording was made 40 years ago. this version of “Mother Popcorn” is from a television show called “The Music Scene” which aired on, of all places, ABC-TV(!) James Brown and the band, as you can see from the video clip, were as powerful and finely tuned as a formula one race car. stylistically, Parker incorporates short, jabbing riffs over an insistent 2 bar vamp played by the rest of the band. everything he does is in service of the groove. no need for screeching high notes and other histrionics that so many mistake for emotional depth. just a gritty, singing sound, subtle and complex articulation, a rhythmic counterpoint that creates friction and intensity, and simple, declarative melodic motifs that function in relation to the band as a preacher does to his congregation.  as a saxophonist who puts a lot of time into learning the language of jazz, i can really appreciate how difficult it is to maintain and build interest while playing the way Parker does on this recording. yet he pulls it off with an almost casual confidence. it’s a beautiful thing to behold… the video clip is below. the solo starts at 2:52 but check out the whole thing because James Brown- wow, what a performer! his energy and force is palpable through the monitor screen. most singers nowadays can barely walk and chew gum at the same time but this man could sing, dance and conduct the band while still managing to look as cool as a summer breeze. the way Brown and Parker interact with each other, musically and visually, is deep. pure, uncut vitamin F…

“MOTHER POPCORN (1969)”

SOLO TRANSCRIPTION OF “MOTHER POPCORN (1969)” (pdf)

Tenor saxophonist Ralph Moore always impresses with his rock solid technique, a darkly brilliant sound and consistently inventive improvising. i’ve been a big fan of Moore since hearing his session, Images featuring trumpeter Terence Blanchard and pianist Benny Green. with his rendering of “Skylark” from his Savoy recording, Who Is It You Are, also fearturing Green as well as drumming legend, Billy Higgins, Moore eschews the well worn path of delicate balladry in favor of a driving beat that alternates between afro-latin and a swing feels. Moore displays such a buttery smooth flow that it’s easy to forget that all of those notes are connected to individual fingerings- he just sings. his sound and intonation are characteristically on point and his fluency in the language of bebop is apparent. what i particularly like about his lines is that they incorporate a generous amount of chromaticism while still outlining the chord progressions underneath them. the effect is a line that is at once familiar and then dense and convoluted. his two chorus solo is full of melodic fragments that are distinctly his own. check out the transcription and mp3 clip below…

RALPH MOORE- “SKYLARK” (mp3)

SOLO TRANSCRIPTION OF “SKYLARK” (pdf)

Oliver Nelson has always been one of my favorite saxophonists. i heard him the first time on the record Blues And The Abstract Truth, the classic from the Impulse catalogue. i was always struck by how ordered his solos sound, as if every note were intentional. but he always tempered his keen compositional logic with a healthy dose of blues phrasing, inventive articulation and SOUND. he reminds me of Thelonius Monk for those reasons. “Six And Four” is a song from a session called Straight Ahead. Oliver shares the front line with Eric Dolphy, a master who in some ways, was his antithesis as a soloist. Nelson plays four choruses. the 1st and 3rd are in 6/4 with the rhythm section playing a vamping figure. the 2nd and 4th choruses are in 4/4 offering a release and contrast to the tension generated in the preceding choruses. Nelson offers many examples of his motivic approach to improvisation.

OLIVER NELSON- “Six And Four” (mp3)

SOLO TRANSCRIPTION OF “SIX AND FOUR” (pdf)