PRACTICE PORTAL

Mark Turner recorded this piece some twelve years ago on his self titled record. it was composed by Mercedes Rossy, a pianist and composer who passed away at only thirty four years old from illness. her brother is Jorge Rossy, a frequent Turner collaborator. it’s a gentle waltz, played with an almost classical mood by Turner, Edward Simon on piano, Chris Thomas on bass and Brian Blade on drums. the melody built from a four note motif, D-F-Eb-Db. the motif moves down chromatically a minor third to start on B. it then move up a minor sixth to F# and finally down to  Eb, where it’s altered slightly. the harmony that accompanies runs through two thirds of a cycle:

EbMaj7  |  BMaj7  |  Amin  |  AbMaj7

GMaj7  |  EbMaj7  |  Dbmin  |  Cmin7

to complete the cycle, the progression would then move here:

BMaj7  | GMaj7  |  Fmin  |  EMaj7

instead, the harmony moves back to the beginning of the cycle, but this time under a different melody in measures 9 through 11, then to the variation of the original motif in the next four bars. i really like the way this set of chords fit together color-wise… the previous twelve bar section is repeated with the addition of a nice counter-melody before moving in to an eight bar vamp over an ostinato figure (which also serves as the intro) and then onto the solos which are over the same form… an album of Rossy’s music was released around the same time as Turner’s record. i plan to find it.

MERCEDES ROSSY- LOST OCEAN (mp3)

I bought a copy of Mark Turner’s eponymous CD a few months back and before long, i had his version of “327 East 32nd Street” on repeat. as a saxophonist i, am always amazed by the facility of Turner (and Joshua Redman, who also plays on this tune). there is a passage from the 20th measure of the song that moves into the altissimo register of the tenor sax and is really difficult to make sing. Turner pulls it off like he’s playing in the comfortable middle register. although they are not the first to play with fluidity in the extreme registers, guys like Turner and Redman, Joe Lovano and others have set new technical standards for contemporary saxophonists. those high G’s and A’s are no longer only used as “devices”. by that i mean they are no longer just the domain of honkers and screechers (not a diss). what i’m trying to say is that these notes are more often being seemlessly incorporated into the melodic line as opposed to serving only as emotional exclamation points. Turner is a pretty scary saxophonist, a very unique voice among the younger generation of musicians. i first heard his work on YAM YAM, a CD he released several years back. i’m glad to hear that he’s recovering from his recent injury and is back playing.

Tristano’s tune has great melody line with some of the tricky rhythmic ideas that he’s known for. there are a couple of spots in the melody (bars 15 and 16, and bars 23 and 24) where i wrote down what i can only call a rough approximation of how it might be notated. keep in mind, i don’t have a recording of a Tristano version so i used the Turner version as a reference. you can listen to the clip and draw your own conclusions. if anyone has suggestions on how it should be notated, i’d love to hear them… listening to “327 East 32nd Street”, which is based on the “Out Of Nowhere” progression, inspired me to try and write my own melody. unfortunately, i’ve yet to record “Into thin Air” but you can hear a clip of “327 East 32nd Street” and check out charts of both tunes below…

LENNIE TRISTANO (MARK TURNER)- “327 EAST 32ND STREET“ (mp3)

TRANSCRIPTION OF “327 EAST 32ND STREET” (pdf)

TRANSCRIPTION OF “INTO THIN AIR” (J. MAHONE) (pdf)