OLD BLUE SONG TRUMPET KNOTES PROFESSIONAL

John Coltrane’s recording from Coltrane’s Sound is played faster with a lilting feel and various harmonic twists. The recording is unusual in that he barely refers to the melody, so to hear the song a little closer to the way in which the composer intended, try Ella Fitzgerald’s version from Ella Swings Gently with Nelson. Hawkins’ two choruses (available to hear on various compilation albums) are shockingly modern for 1939, when this landmark recording was made.Ĭonsidered by many to be the father of the tenor saxophone in jazz, his dense, chromatic lines foreshadow bebop, which would become the dominant style over the course of the following decade or so. Earlier versions, like Louis Armstrong’s 1931 recording, take the song as a medium swinger.Ĭlassic version of Body & Soul: Coleman Hawkins That’s America!….It’s almost like a National Anthem!” Classic version of Stardust: Nat King Cole from Love Is The ThingĬole’s restrained, elegant vocal interpretation lets Carmichael’s sublime melody shine through against the backdrop of sweeping strings arranged by Gordon Jenkins. Indeed, pianist and American Songbook expert Bill Charlap says, “the verse has Bix all over it, but the chorus is like Louis.

OLD BLUE SONG TRUMPET KNOTES PROFESSIONAL

Hoagy Carmichael was a professional songwriter, but with a much deeper connection to jazz than more straight-laced theatre composers like Jerome Kern & Richard Rodgers, and one can imagine the melody to this ballad having been improvised by one of the great soloists of the 1920s. In fact, Frank Sinatra’s 1962 recording dispenses with the chorus entirely! However, in the case of ‘Stardust’ it’s usually considered essential. Whilst many Great American Songbook standards have a verse, they are usually omitted by jazz musicians. Modern version of Goodbye Porkpie Hat: Juhász Gábor Trió – TRIO John Handy and Booker Ervin, both on tenor, play the 12-bar melody in unison first, then again an octave apart before Handy solos, making use of some distinctive flutter-tonguing.

Mingus’s most famous album was recorded in May 1959, two months after Lester Young had died. Classic version of Goodbye Porkpie Hat: Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah Um

This sad, elegant melody has had lyrics put to it a number of times, perhaps most famously by Joni Mitchell on her collaborative album with the bassist, Mingus. This piece was written as an elegy for Lester Young, who, as well as being one of the most influential tenor players of all time, was a cultural and stylistic icon, one of his trademarks being his wide-brimmed pork pie hats. Modern version of Infant Eyes: Eric Legnini – Natural Balance His tenor saxophone is accompanied by some of the finest names in 1960s jazz: Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (double bass) and Elvin Jones (drums).Īpart from ‘Infant Eyes’, the tunes, which are all composed by the bandleader, are themed around magic and folklore. Classic version of Infant Eyes: Wayne Shorter – Speak No Evilġ964’s Speak No Evil is a classic of the Blue Note era, regarded by many as Shorter’s finest work. Unusually, its form comprises three nine-bar sections. Wayne Shorter’s touching dedication to his young daughter is a good example of advancing compositional techniques in 1960s jazz.Ī relatively static melody floats on top of harmony that is ‘non-functional’ or ‘modal’ i.e., moving between chords that imply various tonalities or chord scales, and with less of a focus on traditional tonic-dominant relationships. Modern version of Lush Life: Joshua Redman – Walking Shadows More famous versions include the two by John Coltrane: it appears on the album Lush Life and on his recording with vocalist Johnny Hartman. His solo piano is accompanied only by the interjections of a vocal choir in a slightly eccentric arrangement, and it is interesting to note that both melody and harmony differ slightly in comparison to better-known recordings. One of Strayhorn’s few ventures away from Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, this is not a famous record, but it is gratifying to hear the composer’s own interpretation of this fascinating jazz ballad. You can, of course, find him in our round up of the most famous jazz composers of all time! Classic version of Lush Life: Billy Strayhorn – The Peaceful Side Its sophisticated lyrics, also by Strayhorn, are a weary lament on failed romance and tiresome nightlife, while its harmony moves through various key centres and contains multiple chromatic shifts.īest known for his long collaboration with Duke Ellington, Strayhorn also composed ‘ Take the ‘A’ Train’, ‘ Chelsea Bridge’ and many others. Lush Life was written by Billy Strayhorn between 19: Strayhorn was, remarkably, still a teenager when he began its composition.

Old blue song trumpet knotes