PRACTICE PORTAL

“Blue Silver” is from the Horace Silver record JODY GRIND which features Silver on piano along with Woody Shaw on trumpet, tenor saxophonist Tyrone Washington, James Spaulding on alto sax and flute, Larry Ridley playing bass and drummer Roger Humphries. “Blue Silver” opens up with a four measure introductory passage. the three horns, voiced in fourths, are answered by the rhythm section’s unison line. the horns then play pentatonic figures over a moving harmony, following with a bluesy shout answered by rhythm section hits. the mood and feel changes in the next section as the horns play a pretty, very Silverish melodic line that starts in the key of Ab minor then moves on to Eb minor. the horns play another line, shaped similarly, but in the key of G major, which is followed by another line, also shaped like the others, that leads back to the opening passage. Silver plays the song’s only solo, blowing over the whole form of the song in his one- of- a- kind, spare, bluesy style. “Blue Silver” is a great song from really good record that i wasn’t familiar with until recently. i decided upon hearing it to sketch it out. some of the horn lines are difficult to pick out but i think it’s pretty close. below is a lead sheet and a transcription of the top line of his two chorus solo…

HORACE SILVER- BLUE SILVER (mp3)

This post came about because of a request from A.S., who has written me a couple of times expressing his support (thanks). i was only vaguely familiar with “Happy Times”, a tune by Hubbard featured on the record THE ARTISTRY OF FREDDIE HUBBARD. there are more recent versions of the song that have a short vamp at the end of the form but i pulled this from the above record. the changes are pretty close, probably not exact. enjoy…

FREDDIE HUBBARD

HAPPY TIMES (mp3)

Booker Little’s date, Out Front, is perhaps his best recording, followed closely by Booker Little And Friend. both are standouts because of excellent writing and blowing but what puts Out Front out front are the personnel choices: Eric Dolphy on woodwinds and Julian Priester on trombone, with the rhythm section of Max Roach on percussion, Ron Carter or Art Davis on bass, and Don Friedman on piano. the addition of Eric Dolphy, who doubles on bass clarinet and flute, opens up more textural possibilities for Little’s writing, which he takes full advantage of. also, to my ear, because the record features only original material by Little, Out Front sounds like a more personal vision. the 7 songs feel closely related and flow into and out of each other. in these days of 20 song recordings, you don’t often hear “whole” records anymore. somewhat like Kind Of Blue, Out Front is a brief but emphatic statement of an artist’s vision that leaves a listener wanting more but doesn’t leave him feeling short-changed. the title, “Out Front” also suggests that Little saw this record as his introduction to the world as a bandleader. “Hazy Hues” begins with a mysterious unison line over a two chord progression:

[F min / / ] [Gb7 / / ] [F min / / ] [F min / / ]

Little, with Dolphy on flute, plays the first phrase. this is answered by Priester’s trombone along with the rhythm section featuring Roach on tympami. Little and Dolphy play a second line which is again followed by the other musicians. after a brief cadenza, played by Little over the same progression as above, the main melody begins in 5/4 time. the first four bars of the progression look like this:

[Bb min (maj7) / / / / ] [G min9 (b5) / / / / ]

[Eb min11 / / / / ] [B13 (b5) / / / / ]

the horns outline the Bb min(maj7) chord in the style of a musical canon. the other horns then support Little as he states the rest of the melodic phrase over the next three chords. what a beautiful progression! 3 of the 4 chords utilize the sound of an augmented triad (A Db F) and, excepting the Eb min11 chord, retain the essential color of the first chord. the next part of the progression is a group of Bb minor chords that features a moving tone, played by the two lower horns, that starts on the 5th and goes up by half steps to the sixth, then back down to the b6th:

[Bb min / / Bb min (b6) / ] [Bb min6 / / Bb minb6 / ]

[E13 / / Eb13 / ] [Eb13 / / / / ]

the Bb minb6 chord makes a strong move to an E7b13 and then to an Eb13 chord to end the phrase. Little often uses a three horn cluster in his arrangements that has the outer voices spread out over a major 7th with the inner voice either a fourth or a tritone away from the bottom voice. the bottom horn voice is then positioned a minor 7th above the bass voice. depending on the placement of the middle horn, Little gets a nice, open dominant or minor thirteenth sound. with the next phrase, Little crunches the horns together into tight clusters over a Db in the bass. the first cluster is Eb, E, Ab. the second is an A major triad in first inversion. following that, the first cluster is transposed up a fourth: Ab, A, Db. the final cluster is G, Bb, F#. the phrase is then ended with two min (maj7) chords. notating the fourth chord in this sequence is a little iffy. my guess is this:

[Db min9 / / Db min (b6) / ] [Db min (b6) / / G dim (maj7)/Db / ]

[Eb min (maj7) / / / / ] [Db min (maj7) / / / / ]

the next phrase starts like the last but moves in a different direction:

[Db min9 / / D maj9 / / ] [F# min7 / / / / ]

[Bb min (maj7) / / E (maj7#11)/ Bb__Ab maj13]

[G7 (b5) / / Ab13 / ] [A/G / / / / ] [A/G / / / / ]

the Bb min(maj7) chord starts a moving line in the two bottom horns that is just plain sick. the bottom voice moves along a diminished scale and finally lands on an E (in the A/G) chord. the middle voice runs along a Bb min scale, then to the third of the G7 (b5) and Ab13 chords and comes to rest on an A. the E finds resolution by moving to F in Bb min (maj7) when the melody is restated, while the A brings to mind the major 7th of the initial chord of the melody. the reason i labeled the last chord of this sequence A/G is because i couldn’t hear a seventh. the quality of the chord is “hazy”. the forceful return to the initial melody puts all ambiguity to rest. really beautiful, intelligent, and sophisticated writing by Little, who at the time of this recording was around 23 years old(!) after the restatement of the melody, the song moves to a short coda section:

[Ab min / / Ab min/Gb / ] [E maj7 (#11) / / A13 (#11) / ] [Gb13 (#11) / / / / ]

[C min7 (b5) / / B ma7 (#11) / ] [Eb min7 / / / / ]

[C min7 (b5) / / B ma7 (#11) / ] [Eb min7 / / / / ]

some more nice counterpoint under the melody by the bottom voices. like before, many of the chords in this sequence share very similar colorings. the first three all have an Ab minor sound over changing bass notes, the next two are dominant chords with identical alterations, a minor third apart, and the last six chords have an Eb minor sound over the bass notes. theoretically speaking, many of the chords pairings are perhaps tenuously related. i like the idea of imagining harmonic progressions as colors on a canvas with varying degrees of lightness, saturation and hue, that bleed into and out of each other. i like hearing things that i can’t quite explain. there are many such instances on this record, which is what makes this recording so special to my eyes… the last section, a vamping interlude that is used as a segue into the solos, is a series of horn clusters over an Ab in the bass. i won’t even bother to try and notate the progression. just listen to it… Max Roach switches back to tympani during this section. the sound is really tense and martial, almost like a fanfare heralding the arrival of some high ranking group of dignitaries. in this case, they are Booker Little, followed closely by Eric Dolphy and Julian Priester, all of whom blow great solos… check it out.

BOOKER LITTLE- “HAZY HUES” (mp3)

TRANSCRIPTION OF “HAZY HUES” (pdf)

Although he’s one of the most adventurous, innovative, iconoclastic and influential artists of the 20th century, Sun Ra is still considered in some circles to be no more than a crackpot and in others, a passing hipster novelty. but the man defies those shallow classifications- besides his musical virtuosity, he was far ahead of his time in incorporating electronics, multi-media, theater, dance, mysticism, pan-African sensibilities, etc. in his performances. yet at the heart of it all is his music -Deep and Dark and Ugly and Beautiful and Violent and Serene and Dense and… ancient and futuristic at the same time, yet strongly rooted in the traditions of African-American expression. some of it is extremely difficult to listen to. at times it demands almost too much of a listener. however, with a certain amount of patience and an open mind, one has the possibility to be taken to many new and fascinating places. contrary to the conventional wisdom that his music is no more than an excuse for a bunch of dudes to move their fingers over their instruments really fast and blow really loud, Sun Ra wrote many incredibly singable melodies, two of which i have written out below. “Images”, from a record called Jazz In Silhouette, which contains several other really beautiful melodies, is one of my favorites. it has a conventional AABA form with riff-like melody that moves into bridge made up of long harmonic pads and back to the original riff. i wrote out the melody along with my opinion of what the chord progression might be. i didn’t write out the shout chorus which ends the song on this version but i may do that later. the other song, “The Others In Their World” is, plainly and simply, a gorgeous and hauntingly beautiful melody. it can be heard on the record Fate In A Pleasant Mood, which also has a great version of the song, “Lights Of A Satellite”. “Others” starts with the melody over a minor vamp and a sparse swing rhythm with a backbeat. the feel more or less remains the same through the bridge and the last A section. check them both out below… (for more information on his life and music, check out Space Is The Place, The Lives And Times Of Sun Ra, by John Szwed.)

SUN RA- IMAGES (mp3)

SCORE OF “IMAGES” (pdf)

SUN RA- THE OTHERS IN THEIR WORLD (mp3)

SCORE OF “THE OTHERS IN THEIR WORLD” (pdf)