Author Archives: Don Sickler

• Buddy Montgomery is "Here Again" with many more!

  Pianist and vibraphonist Buddy Montgomery was a unique and fascinating composer who deserves wider recognition. We've had his song Here Again on jazzleadsheets.com for a while; now we're making four more of Buddy's songs available. Three of these were recorded on his 1997 trio album, "Here Again."

  Aki's Blues is a 24-measure blues head, full of Buddy's signature subtle harmonic detail.

  The laid-back medium swing tempo of Hob Nob With Brother Bob makes it particularly fun, combined with its blues-infused melody. The piano transcription of Hob Nob With Brother Bob shows both in and out heads, for an in-depth look at how Buddy creatively and expressively interpreted his own melody.

  Buddy recorded two completely different versions of 1,000 Rainbows, in 1977 and 1997. It's a funky song with a slightly mysterious mood; both versions are built around rhythmic bass lines. The very simple earlier version has lead sheets plus second parts. A piano melody transcription and bass part from the "Here Again" album are available.

  The fourth newly available Buddy Montgomery song is My Sentiments Exactly, from his 1988 album "So Why Not?" This one is a funk classic that guarantees a good time. It has a stop-time intro that really showcases Buddy's effortless phrasing and rhythmic feel.

  In 2019, rising star pianist Isaiah J. Thompson recorded a tribute album of Buddy Montgomery songs, including these four as well as Here Again. These versions feature Isaiah's own rearrangements, which are discussed on jazzleadsheets.com in the descriptions under his album cover for each song.

  Four other newly added songs on jazzleadsheets.com include Booker Little's Larry-LaRue. Named for his son and daughter, this was Booker's second recorded composition. It's a beautiful song with that bittersweet mood that really defines the Booker Little style. Full score and parts are available for the original arrangement (3 horns, bass, and drums) played by the Max Roach Quintet.

  Gwen is a unique song: a ballad written by master drummer "Philly" Joe Jones, originally played by the composer himself on piano! This romantic bebop ballad comes from Jones' classic album "Showcase." From trumpeter Joe Gordon we have Diminishing, a cooking, modal uptempo swinger with a tight two-horn arrangement.

  Finally, Dexter Gordon's iconic Cheese Cake is now available. Perhaps his best-known composition, our lead sheet is quite detailed with several of Dexter's melody variations as well as Sonny Clark's piano fills. We also have a transcription of his solo--lyrical, catchy, and clearly articulated throughout, this is one of the all-time classic hard bop solos.

• New Arrivals in Piano Corner

  We are continuing to expand jazzleadsheets.com's Piano Corner with seven newly added songs by four of our great pianists. All but one of these songs have Solo Piano Arrangements. Cecilia Coleman, who celebrated a birthday yesterday (September 8), wrote The Man In The Brown Hat in tribute to Thelonious Monk. It's a quirky medium-up song that accurately captures that unique Monk bounce. In addition to our lead sheets we have a piano lead sheet showing the right-hand voicings on her recording; these are expanded to two hands in Cecilia's Solo Piano Arrangement. Cecilia also wrote an easy solo arrangement for I Deal, a swinging blues head by master hard bop pianist Sonny Clark. Sonny's comping on the in head as well as his solo are available - again transcribed by Cecilia Coleman. These detailed transcriptions are an invaluable resource for exploring the Sonny Clark sound.

  From Bertha Hope we have A Wise And Wonderful Book, an appropriately deep ballad; Between Two Kings, which combines ballad and bossa sections, and Da La Senidras ("Sardine Salad" spelled backwards), an angular medium-up song. Bertha's solo piano arrangements are available with exclusive recordings by pianist Glenn Zaleski. Glenn also recorded his own interpretations of Between Two Kings and Da La Senidras; these recordings are available as well. We also have a melody transcription for one of Bertha's two recordings of A Wise And Wonderful Book.

  Finally, we have two more by Bertha's first husband, Elmo Hope. Monique (named for Elmo and Bertha's daughter) and Three Silver Quarters are exquisitely beautiful songs, both in slow 3/4 with irregular forms. These songs originally come from Elmo's 1963 album "Sounds From Rikers Island" and were later recorded, combined as a medley, by Bertha with Don Sickler for the 1998 tribute album "Hope Is In The Air." Don's Solo Piano Arrangement of Three Silver Quarters is available but has not yet been recorded.

• 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.

• Harris Simon and Charlie Shavers, plus more Booker Little

  Two very different composers are now represented for the first time on jazzleadsheets.com: pianist Harris Simon and trumpeter Charlie Shavers. Both happen to have the same birthday, August 3rd (though Shavers’ is sometimes given as September 3rd), and both were born and raised in New York. Besides that there isn’t very much in common between them.

  Harris Simon, who plays harmonica as well as piano, is a longtime collaborator of jazzleadsheets.com's Don Sickler. The three songs of his now up on jazzleadsheets.com come from his album “Tuesday Night At Cary Street." Cary’s Treat, a lyrical 3/4 song, and the impressionistic ballad Cornerstone in particular showcase Simon’s use of inventive, colorful harmonies. Found And Lost is a beautiful, wistful Latin song that Simon also recorded on an earlier album, “Short Conversation." A solo piano arrangement is available from this one, with a recording by the late, amazing pianist Kenny Drew, Jr.

  Born exactly 36 years before Simon, Charlie Shavers was one of the most exciting trumpet soloists of the swing era. As a composer he’s best known for Undecided, which he first recorded at the age of 18; it quickly became a jazz standard. Three Shavers songs are now on jazzleadsheets.com, all originally recorded in the ‘50s on sessions where Shavers was a sideman. Buffalo Joe, originally from a Louis Bellson recording, and Overtime, from a Gene Krupa recording, are in a snappy swing-to-bop style that was Shavers’ trademark. Krupa also played Shavers’ Meddle My Minor, a simpler more swing-style song, at a session that was Shavers’ only recorded collaboration with tenorman Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis.

  We also now have more titles by another great trumpeter, Booker Little. These are the three original compositions from his first album as a leader, “Booker Little 4 Plus Max Roach.” Dungeon Waltz and the medium-up swingers Rounder’s Mood and Jewel’s Tempo all have busy, challenging melodies with all the depth and drama that defined Booker’s style. All three have two-horn arrangements with second parts and condensed scores. Trumpet solo transcriptions of Booker are available for Rounder’s Mood and Jewel’s Tempo. Dungeon Waltz has a trumpet melody part with a detailed transcription of Booker’s articulation: an in-depth look at how he interpreted his own melody.

• Even more from Kenny Drew, Jr.

  Four more Kenny Drew, Jr. compositions are now available. This One's For Bill, his tribute to pianist Bill Evans, is a lyrical 3/4 song which Kenny recorded in both solo and trio settings. The later trio version is with bassist Jon Burr as well as drummer Marty Morell, who played with Evans. The bossa Las Palmas comes from Kenny's first album as a leader; it's one of his simplest compositions but preserves his signature melodic and harmonic style. The Oasis And The Mirage is a suitably evocative song in 5/4, originally recorded in an exclusive solo piano version at Van Gelder Studio; he later recorded it in a duo setting with vibraphonist Thomas Dobler. Finally, Another Point Of View is a medium up song originally recorded as a bass feature; we have a bass part from the original trio recording. We have videos available of Kenny's solo version of This One's For Bill as well as solo and duo versions of The Oasis And The Mirage.

• 30th anniversary of Roy Hargrove's THE VIBE

  Thanks to Aida Brandes Hargrove, we found out that today, April 8, 2022, is the 30th anniversary of the release of Roy Hargrove's "The Vibe" recording. It was celebrated by the Roy Hargrove Big Band at NYC's Jazz Gallery on April 7. To continue the celebration, jazzleadsheets.com is adding Roy's two blues from that album to our NEW ARRIVALS (Caryisms & Blues For Booty Green's).

• Kenny Drew, Jr.

  jazzleadsheets.com's fans have an opportunity to enjoy the artistry and creativity of pianist/composer Kenny Drew, Jr., with new releases from our video library. We were able to film Kenny as he played his compositions on Rudy Van Gelder's magnificent Steinway D.
  A Silent War
  Farmer's Waltz

• "Papa" Joe Jones, Al Cohn & John Webber

  "Papa" Jo Jones was already represented on jazzleadsheets.com's Drum Corner, but now we also have three of his own compositions available. These songs, from his 1960 album "Vamp 'Til Ready", are simple, catchy, and very swinging. Vamp 'Til Ready is a medium-up "rhythm changes" head, and the medium-tempo Sox-Trot is based on Honeysuckle Rose changes. Show Time is Papa Jo's uptempo, stop-time drum feature; we have a Drum Transcription showing all his fills on the in and out heads.

  Two more new arrivals feature guitar, though they were not written by guitarists. Johnny Red by bassist John Webber is an angular, Monk-esque song which he recorded with guitarist Peter Bernstein. Our guitar lead sheet shows a few two-note voicings Peter plays on the melody. Saxophonist Al Cohn originally recorded The Mellow Side with a 4-horn arrangement; we have an exclusive recording of Al's son, guitarist Joe Cohn, playing this song in a trio setting.

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