Bolambo – Cecil Payne
A simple, bright-toned uptempo swinger. The bridge goes into a Latin groove, and each chorus has a break at the end.
- Recording: Cecil Payne - Cerupa
- Recorded on: June 1-2, 1993
- Label: Delmark (DE 478)
- Concert Key: B-flat
- Style: Swing (uptempo)
- Tenor Sax - Eric Alexander
- Bari Sax - Cecil Payne
- Piano - Harold Mabern
- Bass - John Ore
- Drums - Joe Farnsworth
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Bolambo is one of several Cecil Payne compositions with simple, anthem-like melodies. This one has a harmonic structure common to several standards: the first six measures focus on the tonic, followed by a II-V7 to complete the eight-measure phrase, and the second eight measures start with the repeated II-V7 and resolve back to the tonic at the end. The melody really focuses on, and embellishes, the tonic B♭ in the A section and does the same with the note C in the B section.
The next section, C, is the bridge; it is played twice, with a Latin groove, and vamps throughout on B♭7sus with a melody focusing on A♭. The final D section is a variation of the B section, which ends with a four-measure break extending this section to 10 measures; the total form is 42-measure ABCCD. The break is played in every solo chorus; as on many songs with breaks at the end, each soloist ends before the break so that the next soloist takes the break into their first chorus. On the recording the drum solo is open, not on the form, and leads right into the out head.
The two horns play the melody in unison, only harmonizing at the very end of the out head. The head is also played rubato as an intro. Cecil plays the A and B sections accompanied only by drums, Eric Alexander takes over at the C section, and both saxophonists play the rubato melody in unison at the D section, with the full rhythm section. The drums set up the tempo for the head by filling in the break. Though the melody rhythm is precisely notated with specific syncopations, the rubato intro shows that this melody is open for interpretation in terms of rhythm and phrasing.
The next section, C, is the bridge; it is played twice, with a Latin groove, and vamps throughout on B♭7sus with a melody focusing on A♭. The final D section is a variation of the B section, which ends with a four-measure break extending this section to 10 measures; the total form is 42-measure ABCCD. The break is played in every solo chorus; as on many songs with breaks at the end, each soloist ends before the break so that the next soloist takes the break into their first chorus. On the recording the drum solo is open, not on the form, and leads right into the out head.
The two horns play the melody in unison, only harmonizing at the very end of the out head. The head is also played rubato as an intro. Cecil plays the A and B sections accompanied only by drums, Eric Alexander takes over at the C section, and both saxophonists play the rubato melody in unison at the D section, with the full rhythm section. The drums set up the tempo for the head by filling in the break. Though the melody rhythm is precisely notated with specific syncopations, the rubato intro shows that this melody is open for interpretation in terms of rhythm and phrasing.
Cecil's first manuscript of this composition was titled Everybody Sing, but it was only recorded as Bolambo, which is the name of a city in the Congo. "Cerupa" was the first of Cecil's four Delmark albums of the '90s; all feature Eric Alexander, Harold Mabern, and Joe Farnsworth. Two songs on this album add trumpet for a sextet lineup: one with Freddie Hubbard and the other with the Chicago-based trumpeter Odies Williams III. Two months after this session, Eric Alexander recorded with the same rhythm section; that album "Up, Over & Out" includes Cecil Payne's song Flying Fish.
Cecil Payne
December 14, 1922 – November 27, 2007
Baritonist extraordinaire, Cecil Payne is regarded as one of the most inimitable saxophonists of the bebop era. After receiving his first saxophone, an alto, when he was 13, Payne began gigging in local New York City groups. He made his record debut for Savoy in support of trombonist J. J. Johnson. Read more...