Music & Dance
Archive
October 13, 2020
Here’s the opening chorus of Johnny Hodges’ soulful and commanding “Sunny Side of the Street” from Duke Ellington’s 1963 The Great Paris Concert record. This song, which often leans toward sweetness and sentimentality, is anything but either of those in this recording. I also love how he really sets up space for the backbeat here […]
October 1, 2020
Here’s a chorus of Velma Middleton & Louis Armstrong’s Honeysuckle Rose as played by the great Arvell Shaw in 1955. Arvell played with Louis from the late 40’s and through the 50’s – during the iconic All Star Band era, and he is a big part of that band’s powerful, buoyant drive. What a great […]
March 23, 2020
When the first chorus isn’t even the melody of the tune but could speak for itself, it’s worth digging into. When a chorus stays in your head for years, it’s worth digging into. Here’s part of the intro plus Frankie Trumbauer’s iconic first chorus of “Singin’ The Blues”, recorded in 1927.
February 5, 2020
October 31, 2019
Bunk Johnson’s bounce is so honest and groovy in this solo. I started to really get a sense of it playing along with this solo, especially right in the middle of it. This is from Bunk’s 1946/1947 “Last Testament” recordings.
July 25, 2019
I love this song. I’ve used it in my dance classes for years. I has the nicest feel, and of course it would… the rhythm section is Basie’s rhythm section. This solo is a masterful, bluesy lesson. Personnel in this recording: Charlie Christian (guitar) Freddie Green (guitar) Count Basie (piano) Buck Clayton (trumpet) Lester Young […]
March 13, 2019
I came across these gems of recordings of duos between Art Hodes (piano) and the legendary George “Pops” Foster (bass). I wanted to dig into it, so I transcribed Pops’ bass part.
March 8, 2019
I thought this intro and outro from this song had a great sound to it including a surprise key change at the end.
March 8, 2019
These recordings featuring Billie Holiday with Teddy Wilson’s bands are some of my favorites. This creepy song has a nice Memories of You vibe to it. It’s also exciting for me to hear the legendary Milt Hinton, Al Casey (of Fats Waller’s band) and Cozy Cole in a rhythm section together. I couldn’t find sheet […]
March 8, 2019
The Teddy Wilson recordings featuring Billie Holiday is some of the my favorite music. It’s moody, has the nice Swing era 2 balladic two-feel, and it’s just the real thing. A gorgeous recording. Personnel in the recording: Jonah Jones (trumpet) Johnny Hodges (alto) Harry Carney (clarinet,bari) Teddy Wilson (piano) Lawrence Lucie (guitar) John Kirby (bass) […]