Archives: August 2022

• Hi Voltage from Hank Mobley

  Hank Mobley's music is very popular on jazzleadsheets.com, and for a good reason: it makes you feel good to play it. We're excited to announce that all six songs from Hank Mobley's 1967 album "Hi Voltage" are now available on jazzleadsheets.com. This album has sometimes been overlooked, but features an all-star lineup and plenty of fun, catchy songs. In particular, many of these songs are quite simple and we feel they can be great for younger or less experienced players and ensembles to learn the classic hard-bop style. Bossa De Luxe has been on the website for a while but the others are newly added.

  Going in album order, we first have High Voltage, a soul-jazz classic—not quite a blues—with a gospel-infused groove. Two And One is a modal medium-up swinger with a hip rhythmic kick. Hank's gorgeous, wistful ballad No More Goodbyes, the only quartet track on the album, features a detailed Hank Mobley melody transcription. Advance Notice is another rhythmic medium-up song while Bossa De Luxe is a medium-slow bossa with a slightly mysterious vibe. Finally, Flirty Gerty is another groover in the soul-jazz vein, this time a loping medium swing.

  All these songs except No More Goodbyes have sextet parts that reflect the arrangement on the recording. The lead sheets (first parts), second and third parts are available in transpositions for all melody instruments. Most of the songs have separate piano, bass, and drum parts as well as full scores.

  One other Hank Mobley song is newly available. Bossa For Baby comes from another 1967 album, "Far Away Lands." This charming, lyrical bossa was originally recorded in a quintet setting; second parts are available for the two-horn arrangement.

• 5 more from Don Friedman with some exclusive audio

  Five songs by master pianist and composer Don Friedman are newly available on jazzleadsheets.com. For two of these, we have Don's solo piano arrangements available with exclusive recordings by another great pianist, Kenny Drew, Jr. Opus D'Amour is a dramatic, passionate song which Don recorded in solo, duo, and quartet settings. It works equally well as a bossa or a ballad; Kenny's recording is somewhere in between. The other one with an exclusive Kenny Drew, Jr., recording is Pas De Duo. This is a variation of another Don Friedman song, Minor Ballade, adding a bass countermelody which perfectly complements the melody to give the song even more emotional depth. An earlier version of the same song titled Ballade In C-sharp Minor is also now available; this one stays in its title key, without the key changes of the other two related songs.

  Spring Song is fast yet lyrical, with a constantly unfolding form. Don recorded it in an exclusive duo version with then-15 year old bassist Daryl Johns; it's available both as audio and video. Finally, Autumn Colors is a simple modal song with a rhythmic bass line, which Don recorded on a quartet album with guitarist Peter Bernstein. This one has a solo piano arrangement as well, though without a recording.

  In addition to these Don Friedman songs, we recently added Gigi Gryce's Wake Up! This rousing "rhythm changes" variation was recorded by Art Blakey as well as by Gigi, and we have the quintet arrangements for both versions. The horn arrangements are similar, but the rhythm section figures are quite different. Also, Harold Land's classic Terrain now has transcriptions of both Harold's tenor sax solo and Joe Gordon's trumpet solo. These are great solos to learn for hard bop vocabulary.

• The magic of Mark Murphy

  All musicians should check out the phrasing mastery of singer Mark Murphy, and we have a great way for you to do just that. Mark created a lyric version (Empty Room) of an absolutely beautiful Fritz Pauer composition. Then he recorded it with Fritz in 1996. Fritz was excited about it and got an audio copy to me shortly thereafter. Then the big wait: it wasn't released until 2014! The good thing now is that it is also available on many streaming sites so you can easily hear the whole track. We have the vocal lead sheet available on jazzleadsheets. Check that out while hearing Mark's incredible phrasing of his lyric, a true work of art. Two other vocalists have recorded it (Dena DeRose and Rachel Gould); check them out too!

  Also, new tenor sax and trumpet solos from Harold Land and Joe Gordon, on Harold's Terrain.

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