Nelson Avenue Morning – Kenny Drew, Jr.
A light, breezy, constantly evolving medium swing melody from a virtuoso pianist-composer.
- Recording: Kenny Drew, Jr. - Secrets
- Recorded on: November 9 & 10, 1994
- Label: TCB (98502)
- Concert Key: B-flat
- Style: Swing (medium)
- Piano - Kenny Drew, Jr
- Bass - Lynn Seaton
- Drums - Marvin "Smitty" Smith
0:00
0:00
Our audio excerpt starts with the melody, which is preceded by an eight-measure rhythm section intro that is notated in our C treble clef lead sheet. Our lead sheets represent the way Kenny played the opening melody chorus of this recording, a delicately defined rhythmically treatment of the melody. This is an interesting ABABC form composition, returning to only the first four measures of B before going into a new C section.
Kenny Drew, Jr., first recorded this composition six years before the "Secrets" album on a recording for the Japanese label Jazz City ("The Rainbow Connection"). This was a quartet setting with Terence Blanchard (trumpet) playing the melody. Terence interpreted the melody his own way, in what Don Sickler calls an "open phrasing" approach. "Open phrasing" is a subject Don explores in detail in his book (with Dr. Gloria Cooper) entitled Jazz Phrasing: A Workshop For The Jazz Vocalist, and it's just as applicable to instrumentalists as it is to singers.
Kenny Drew, Jr.
June 14, 1958 – August 3, 2014
Kenny Drew, Jr., son of pianist/composer Kenny Drew, Sr., started music lessons at the age of four. He studied classical piano with his aunt Marjorie, but soon found he enjoyed playing jazz as well. He performed worldwide with a comprehensive variety of musicians, including Stanley Jordan, OTB, Stanley Turrentine, Slide Hampton, the Mingus Big Band, Steve Grossman, Yoshiaki Masuo, Sadao Watanabe, Smokey Robinson, Frank Morgan, Daniel Schnyder, Jack Walrath, Ronnie Cuber and many others. Read more...