Ben Webster, Cottontail

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download the Transcription: BbEbCBass Clef

Today’s post is a short and sweet Ben Webster solo over Duke Ellington’s rhythm changes tune “Cottontail.” Ben uses a fair amount of repetition to develop his ideas through the solo. In mm. 1-4 he repeats the rhythm while stepping down chromatically each repetition. Each bridge has an idea that he repeats throughout each chord change (mm. 17-23 and 49-56).

Measures 33-40 act almost like an interlude between choruses even though the form doesn’t change. This is also a great example repetition. Each time he repeats the motiv he moves up higher in the register which, along with the diminished sound, creates a ton of tension and a very nice peak to the solo.

This was a slightly challenging solo to transcribe because it is such an old recording and some parts of the solo are very hard to hear because they get covered up by the brass hits. I think the transcription is pretty accurate, but I might be off in some of those spots.

Bob Reynolds, Out of Nowhere

Download the Transcription: BbEbCBass Clef

Today’s transcription comes from a video that Bob Reynolds posted to Youtube demonstrating playing in 7/4 time on the tune “Out of Nowhere.”  I chose this solo to transcribe, because quite frankly I’m pretty terrible at playing in odd-meter and I wanted to have a good example to practice along with; an etude of sorts.  This solo comes pretty close to that while still retaining a genuine/musical feel that I think etudes tend to lack (especially jazz etudes). Besides, there are some really killer phrases that go across the entire range of the horn that I really wanted to learn.

Continue reading

Lee Morgan, Ceora

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download the Transcription: Bb, Eb, C, Bass Clef

Ceora as performed by Lee Morgan from the 1965 Blue Note album “Cornbread.” Featuring Lee Morgan on trumpet, Herbie Hancock on piano, Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone, and Larry Ridley on Bass.

Continue reading

Milt Jackson, Groovin’ High

Photo by William P. Gottlieb

Download the transcription: Concert, Bb, Eb, Bass Clef

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Ahh, BeBop. Will I ever be able to play you?

I transcribed this solo a few years ago when I was really trying to work on my bebop language in my solos. It’s been an interesting up and down road since then trying to perfect, or even just function in this very specific jazz art. Milt’s solo on Groovin’ High, one of the most iconic bebop tunes in bebop’s golden age, is a perfect example of the techniques a bebop player uses to sound like…well…to sound like Bird (Charlie Parker to you beginners out there).

Milt Jackson is one of the only really well-known jazz vibes players. There are others I have listened to, namely Joe Locke and Steve Nelson, but they’re both modern players who don’t really have that pure bebop thing happening. They’re both incredible players, and I am sure can play like that, but they’ve got other shit happening. The point in transcribing Milt was to dig in to someone who lived that language his whole life.

This however, is the first time I have revisited the solo, really practiced it (and checked for note errors, there were plenty), and did the analysis. I found some techniques similar to the Tom Harrell solo I transcribed for this site a few weeks ago. Pianistic arpeggios, Chromatic Approach Tones, Guide Tones on big beats (1 & 3), etc.

Continue for full analysis. Continue reading

Michel Warlop/Stephane Grappelli/Eddie South, Lady Be Good

Download the PDF: Concert, Bass Clef, Bb, Eb

Lady Be Good, written by George/Ira Gershwin and performed by: Django Reinhardt, guitar; Michel Warlop, violin I; Stephane Grappelli, violin II; Eddie South, violin III. From the album ‘Django Reinhardt Crazy Rhythm,’ released on the Iris Records, recorded in 1937.

This is the third transcription I’ve done in a row featuring Stephane Grappelli, and after this one I’ll do something different – but this trifecta of violin solos was just too cool to pass up.

Continue reading

There Will Never Be Another You, Sonny Stitt

Photo by Tom Marcello

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download the Transcription: EbBbCBass Clef

This track came from a compilation album called The Art of the Jazz Saxophone: Bebop & Beyond.  Unfortunately I do not know the original album that this track appeared on or the other artists that are present on it.  If someone else does please let me know so I can update that information.

Continue reading

Stephane Grappelli, Minor Swing

This Thursday sokillingman.com broke 1,000 views, so thank you!  We’re really excited to have so many people interested in this project and we have all sorts of plans for development.  Here’s a little bonus post in celebration:

 

Download the PDF: ConcertBass ClefBbEb

Minor Swing, music written by Django Rienhardt and performed by: The Quintette du Hot Club de France, featuring Django Rienhardt and Stéphane Grappelli.  From Djangology, recorded in 1949 and released by RCA Bluebird.

 

This tune is absolutely classic, and very well could have been the first tune I heard that convinced me that I understood what Gypsy Jazz sounds like.  It’s just that kind of recording.  While it’s not the whole picture by any means, this tune exemplifies a lot of the rules and conventions of the genre and has a very balanced ratio of variety to continuity.  So I figured this would be a great study tool for said reasons, and I love the solo, so it was a no-brainer. Continue reading

Tom Harrell, Joy Spring (unaccompanied solo)

(photo credit: Claus Willemer)

Joy Spring, written by Clifford Brown and performed by Tom Harrell.  From Brownie: Homage to Clifford Brown, released 1994 on Polygram Records.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download the PDF: BbEb, CBass Clef

Legendary. That’s all I’ve got to say about this solo. Legendary.

Seriously, that’s not all I have to say. First of all, let me just issue an official promise to our readers that my next transcription will not be a trumpet player. Trumpet players, I am sorry. That being said, I just heard this track for the first time a few weeks ago and I knew I had to transcribe it. It’s just so amazing. Continue reading

Joe Henderson, Isfahan

With Neil Swainson, bass, at Harpo's, Victoria. Photo by Guy MacPherson

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download the transcription: EbBbCBass Clef

“Isfahan” composed by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn and performed by Joe Henderson, Tenor Sax; Christian McBride, Bass.  From Lush Life: The Music of Billy StrayhornVerve Records 1992.

Continue reading

Nicholas Payton, You Stepped Out of a Dream

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download the Transcription: BbEbCBass Clef

I got this disc when I was a freshman in college. My wife (girlfriend at the time) got it for me, and the first track that stuck out was this one. The groove is what first got me. The groove is this really great double time feel that is real open in the drums and piano. It just feels so good! And after hearing Nicholas’ playing on this track I knew I had to one day transcribe it. The first thing I noticed when I took some time to dig in was that they play with a double time feel, so it sounds like the chord changes go by at half speed. Payton’s solo fits so gently in to the groove, he’s simply an extension of the rhythm section.

Continue reading