Archives: November 2009

• Two new composers plus one new Kenny Drew Jr. ballad

  Composer/pianist Kirk Nurock’s first contribution is a vocal ballad set to poetry by Emily Dickinson, Will There Really Be A Morning? The first released recording, by Nurock’s Quartet and vocalist Theo Bleckmann, is available only on jazzleadsheets.com.

  Austrian pianist and composer Fritz Pauer and his first composition here, Passos, recorded by Art Farmer on his Mirage album. Art Farmer’s transcribed trumpet solo is also available, and the complete track is on iTunes. What a pleasure to hear and see how Art navigates the changes!

  And one beautiful new ballad by Kenny Drew, Jr., Dedication. Its theme is taken from the first three notes of Serenity, his father’s composition.

• Two new composers this week

  Pianist Kenny Drew, Jr., an inventive virtuoso with a modern sound and style, joins the site with Third Phase, and trumpeter Bill Hardman, one of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the 1950s and ’60s, offers a groovy Latin piece, Jo-B.

  Two more great Ronnie Mathews titles from his Doin’ The Thang recording, Orient and Let's Get Down.

  Another addition in our two versions series (like Filide last week): Capers, a Tom McIntosh composition with two versions, recorded by two different trumpet players in the same year. Bill Hardman with Sonny Red on alto sax recorded it first, then Blue Mitchell with Junior Cook on tenor.

• Wednesday, November 11, 2009

  New this week: This week we start something new. Two different arrangements of the same composition. Scroll down to see “Description” and “Historical Notes” for each recording as well as to hear a sample of each.

  Ray Draper - Filide
  Two different Ray Draper arrangements. One is a quintet recording with John Coltrane. The second is a piano-less Max Roach quintet recording (3 horns). Comparing them makes for a very interesting study: how the melody is phrased differently, how the solo sections differ, the different intro and endings, etc.

  Roland Alexander - Pleasure Bent
  The Junior Cook recording is available as a single download, but the Roland Alexander recording is only available as an “album” download. There are four great Ronnie Mathews compositions also available on that album download (from iTunes or Concord Music Group), so we’re adding them to jazzleadsheets.com over the next two weeks.
  Get the whole album at Concord Music Group: Purchase CD

  Ronnie Mathews - two compositions: Ichi-Ban and The Thang
  An original, a great performer and interpreter, and two of his challenging and fun compositions. More coming in the next few weeks.

  Gene Ammons - Tastin’ The Jug
  The first title played at the session, after a recording gap of 7 years, a great blues head.

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