News

• 12/29/10 new from jazzleadsheets.com

  Prince Albert - Kenny Dorham
  A classic melody by Kenny Dorham based on the chord progression of the standard All The Things You Are, plus classic solos (transcribed) by Kenny Dorham and Hank Mobley from the classic Blue Note recording of the then-new quintet ready to explode on the scene in 1955. The Jazz Messengers, with Horace Silver on piano, Doug Watkins on bass, and Art Blakey on drums.

  Reflections In Blue - James Williams
  Pianist James Williams was part of Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1978, (actually he was a Jazz Messenger from 1977 through 1981.) The 1978 Messengers also featured trumpeter Valery Ponomarev, saxophonists Bobby Watson and David Schnitter, and bassist Dennis Irwin. Williams wrote this composition to feature the “patented” Art Blakey shuffle.

  Lite-Flite - Kenny Drew
  This was recorded with Thad Jones on cornet and Bob Berg on tenor sax, George Mraz on bass, Jimmy Cobb on drums, and, of course, Kenny Drew on piano. Besides an exciting uptempo tune to play, I think of it as a great etude for working on “changes” (see my notes).

  Meant To Be! - Ray Bryant & Fleurine (vocal)
  The vocal version of Ray Bryant’s Chicken An’ Dumplins, with lyric by Dutch vocalist/lyricist Fleurine. Our version is performed by vocalist Tina May and the composer himself, Ray Bryant, on piano. The only time Ray has ever recorded his own composition—and the complete MP3 recording is available only here.

  De Critifeux - Jack Wilson
  After giving you the blistering tour de force of Jack Wilson’s Jackleg a few weeks ago, we want to next introduce you to the medium up tempo side of this marvelous piano/composer. Lead sheets plus piano arrangement.

  Happy Holidays!
  Don Sickler

• 12/17/10 jazzleadsheets.com additions

  B’s A Plenty - Elmo Hope
  This is another great Elmo composition, the opening track on his classic 1959 Elmo Hope Trio album. We’re not really sure what the title means. However, a few nights ago I saw Bertha Hope while I was performing at the Jazz Standard. Bertha’s not sure, but during the period when B’s A-Plenty was written, Elmo was naming quite a few of his titles for her, like Minor Bertha. Bertha always thought the “B” meant her. When I saw Bertha I was playing in a special tribute to Johnny Griffin with pianist/composer Norman Simmons and the Fiftieth Anniversary Big Soul Band. This special evening included an on-stage phone call to the original trumpeter on the 1960 Big Soul Band recording: Clark Terry, who that day was celebrating his 90th birthday. Look for titles by Johnny Griffin and Norman Simmons soon, on jazzleadsheets.com.

  Dark Days - Robert Watson
  Bobby Watson is, for me, another easily recognizable composer who has created a wide variety of beautiful music over the years, all with his own distinctive stamp. I’ve always loved his ballads. Bobby is a very sensitive person, and when he is moved by something, he makes a powerful musical statement. The music tells you how he feels about Dark Days.

  Just Plain Talkin’ - Tadd Dameron
  This composition comes from Tadd’s Magic Touch album, where he arranged for larger groups. Just Plain Talkin’ was written for a nine-piece ensemble. Now, everyone can learn and play this great melody. If you’re familiar with Tadd’s writing, you’ll immediately recognize that this has to be a Tadd composition. Read more about this composition in the Historical Notes.

  WE’VE ALSO ADDED SOMETHING NEW - a new relationship with ejazzlines.com

  As most of you are probably aware, Second Floor Music has many combo and big band arrangements available through Hal Leonard. In addition to this relationship, we’re going to be able to make more product available through a new relationship with ejazzlines.com. We’re giving them permission to publish a Don Sickler Jazz Lines Edition series.

  This new series will give me the opportunity to make more arrangements available as they were recorded. The Don Sickler Jazz Lines Edition series will include full scores and recorded parts for compositions where the arrangements, especially because of the complexity of rhythm section parts, make it impossible to represent the music correctly as just a lead sheet.

  Since we’re also getting lots more requests for transcribed solos, this new relationship with ejazzlines gives us the opportunity to often make both a solo and the original arrangement available, and there will be links on both sites to help you connect the editions.

  I can see this can easily get confusing, so I’m going to immediately show you how this works:
  Jazzleadsheets.com has two more great Hank Mobley solos: Hank’s solo on Late Show and his solo on Deciphering The Message.

  Both titles are from the second edition of The Jazz Messengers, when Donald Byrd replaced Kenny Dorham. Second Floor Music has had two other arrangements available from this important recording session for years. Since the whole quintet recording session is now available as an album mp3 download (or as individual titles), we thought that, in addition to our new transcribed solos, we should make three more arrangements available from this recording session. Here are two links to the whole album: from Amazon or from iTunes.

  Here are links to the quintet arrangements that are available:
  Deciphering The Message
  Late Show
  Hank’s Symphony
  Infra-Rae
  Weird-O

  Let music make your holiday season more fun. Especially jazz music.
  Don Sickler

• Two new composers 12/10/10

  —- Jackleg - Jack Wilson
  If you aren’t familiar with Jack Wilson, listen to our audio excerpt. There’s only a small handful of jazz pianists with technique like Jack! This isn’t his only side, and we’ll be exploring more of his great compositions in the near future. For now, check out his dexterity at the keyboard and try his composition for yourself. Obviously, it works great at a slower tempo, too. We also have his transcribed piano solo available.

  —- La Villa - Kenny Dorham
  Kenny Dorham is one of the true masters of rhythm section writing. Because of that, many of his compositions can’t be reduced to a single line lead sheet: often, each member of the rhythm section requires their own individual part. Although La Villa has a counter melody bass part, we’ve decided to incorporate that bass part into our C treble clef lead sheet. We’re also putting out two editions: the first, as recorded on Kenny’s Afro-Cuban album (1955), and the second, from his Jazz Contrasts album (1957). You can read more about these specific arrangements by clicking on the link above.

  Max Roach, the drummer on the Jazz Contrasts album, continued to perform La Villa with his own groups. In 1958, he recorded it with Booker Little, trumpet; George Coleman, tenor sax; and Ray Draper, tuba. This recording is available on a Clifford Brown / Max Roach compilation and is mistitled as "Villa" on iTunes. The trumpeter is incorrectly listed as Clifford Brown instead of Booker little. On Amazon the composition is titled correctly, but the artist is listed again as Clifford Brown. Max made two recordings of La Villa in 1960, both featuring Julian Priester (trombone) and the two Turrentine brothers, Tommy (trumpet) and Stanley (tenor sax). On this session, La Villa is mistitled as "The Villa." Here is another example of La Villa mistitled agai, this time as "Stop Motion." These three great recordings are at true Max Roach tempos (fast!). The 1958 performance increases the tempo of the quarter note to approximately 356, and the other recordings are only a little more relaxed.

  More great Hank Mobley and Bobby Timmons and Ray Bryant

  — Pat’N Chat - Hank Mobley
  I’ve had several requests for this one, so here it is. This has always been one of my favorites to play myself.
  One of the most interesting things to me about Hank Mobley’s composing is that he wrote his music for the specific musicians on the date. I know this for a fact, because Hank told me this personally. It’s most evident by examining the drummer on the date. From jazzleadsheets.com alone, just check out, for example, the obviously-for-Philly-Joe titles = Workout, Out Of Joe’s Bag, the No Room For Squares album, A Peck A Sec, etc. Then there are the obviously-for-Art-Blakey titles = the Soul Station album, the Roll Call album, High Modes, this week’s Chicken An’ Dumpins, etc.
  With his Turnaround album, Hank starts a recording relationship with a new (and very important to him) drummer, Billy Higgins. Billy had come to New York from his native California in the early 1960s. He’d recorded with many of Hank’s friends, but not yet with Hank. Pat ‘N Chat was the first track they recorded together, and immediately you can tell Hank is writing for an entirely different drum voice: obviously-for-Billy-Higgins. I’ll be telling you more about Hank and Billy as we release more of their collaborations.

  —- A Little Busy - Bobby Timmons
  Here are two different arrangements by Timmons: his trio arrangement and the sextet arrangement he did for Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers. These arrangements were recorded in different keys, and believe it or not, were recorded only one day apart by two entirely different groups (except for Bobby). Bobby’s incredible piano solo from the trio recording is also available.

  —- Chicken An’ Dumplins - Ray Bryant
  Another great arrangement, written for Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers by Ray Bryant. Ray’s good friend and fellow Philadelphia pianist Bobby Timmons introduced this one to Blakey. Ray’s solo piano arrangement as well as Kenny Drew, Jr.’s recording of the solo is also available.

  I hope you enjoy playing these new titles.
  Don Sickler

• Three new composers

  Hello, music fans. For this week’s jazzleadsheets.com releases, I decided it would be fun to compare compositions by two gifted pianist/composers from Second Floor Music. The compositions start out with some definite similarities, but develop very differently.
  A Touching Affair by James Williams (first recorded in 1984)
  vs.
  Flamands by Don Friedman (first recorded in 1995)

  —- melodic similarities
  Both composers love the minor key, and they both started their compositions with a vamping piano/bass figure. Another striking similarity is the rhythmic shape and melodic contour of the opening phrase of each melody. This is where the similarity ends. Don’s opening G minor melodic phrase moves from the 5th up to the minor 7th then down to the 11th, while James’ opening F-sharp minor melodic phrase moves from the root up to the minor third then down to the minor 7th.
  —- melodic phrase development
  Don repeats the opening phrase melody, then keeps the melody almost intact, but in F minor. James develops his opening phrase over twelve measures.
  Interestingly, Don’s melody was originally spread over twelve measures when he first recorded it on his “Almost Everything” session. On his “Straight Ahead” session it’s developed over sixteen measures.

  You Never Leave My Mind by James Williams and Marc Ostrow
  This is the lyric version of A Touching Affair. It’s in a different, female friendly key. In addition to the vocal lead sheet, an accompaniment-only track is available, complete with full chorus (long form) solo section.
  Besides being a great composer and pianist, James Williams was also a champion for many other artists. He introduced me to Bobby Watson, Billy Pierce (and the other musicians on “Alter Ego”) and later, Donald Brown, Geoff Keezer and many other great artists.

  Horizon Reassembled by Bobby Watson
  The “Horizon Reassembled” CD reunites the exact same personnel that recorded together in 1991 and 1993. You can find more info about Horizon in the Historical Notes for this composition. Also, I want to mention that Second Floor Music has quite a few Bobby Watson “Horizon” combo arrangements available. Search by Recording Leader for "Bobby Watson & Horizon" on SecondFloorMusic.com. I’ve always loved Bobby’s music. He definitely has a strong compositional voice that is easy to recognize. Look for more of his compositions on jazzleadsheets.com soon.

  Sunset by Kenny Drew
  Kenny Drew is probably most known as one of the great rhythm section pianists. It’s hard to find artists that he didn’t record with. He’s also a gifted composer, and we’re introducing him on jazzleadsheets.com with one of his beautiful ballads. Kenny Drew is also the father of another exceptional pianist/composer, Kenny Drew, Jr., who is already represented in jazzleadsheets.com. Obviously, two Kenny Drew’s can be confusing, but we’ll try to make that confusion worthwhile as we bring you more of their great music.

  Thanks for visiting jazzleadsheets.com
  Don Sickler

• pre-Thanksgiving jazzleadsheets.com additions

  The Breakdown - Hank Mobley
  Last Saturday (November 13), I was trying to decide what to put on jazzleadsheets.com next. We have so many great Hank Mobley titles to choose from. Then I realized it was the 50th anniversary of Hank’s “Roll Call” album (recorded November 13, 1960), so it was easy for me to pick “The Breakdown” (lead sheets and Hank’s transcribed tenor solo are available). Previously we posted “My Groove, Your Move” from this same album. Second Floor Music has printed charts of “Roll Call” (quintet) and “Take Your Pick” (octet) available on Music Dispatch. Now there’s only one title left from this classic album: Hank’s original “The Baptist Beat.” Coming soon.

  Cranky Spanky - Bill Hardman
  I get many requests for more Jazz Messengers arrangements. This group, with the front line of Bill Hardman (trumpet) and Jackie McLean (alto sax), was the first band known as “Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers.” Before this recording (December, 1956), “The Jazz Messengers” was a co-operative group, with a trumpet and tenor sax front line.

  The Dream Is You - Tadd Dameron
  This is our first Tadd Dameron lead sheet, but there’ll be more. Melodies are very important—I feel everyone should learn the melody, first. That’s the main goal of jazzleadsheets.com, to make available correct melodies and chord changes to great jazz compositions. Dameron’s compositions are often recorded in beautifully orchestrated formats, like this medium slow swing gem: perfect to play along with. When learning a new song, I always recommend to start by playing along with the recording. I’m a trumpet player, and, once again, I’ve just enjoyed playing “The Dream Is You” with Tadd’s beautiful arrangement for Milt Jackson.

  Bobbie Pin - J.R. Monterose
  J.R.’s lovely ballad Alone Again has been available on jazzleadsheets.com as a vocal leadsheet. If you’re not familiar with J.R Monterose, this new addition, from his first album as a leader, is a great introduction. We’ll be making more of J.R.’s compositions available soon, plus other compositions on this album, like Philly Joe Jones’ original “Ka-Link.”
  Philly Joe was the first one who told me about J.R. In fact, it makes for a pretty unbelievable story. I was in the dressing room with Philly Joe on one of his gigs many years ago. I don’t remember the exact conversation, but Joe started talking about J.R (I think it probably had something to do with “Ka-link”). Anyway, I told Joe that I didn’t know much about J.R., so he went into great and fascinating detail, telling me about this fantastic musician that he’d been involved with. After ranting and raving about J.R. for quite some time, just before Philly Joe was ready to go back to the bandstand, there was a knock on the dressing room door. The door opened to reveal J.R., whom Philly Joe hadn’t seen in years. I remember Joe astonishing J.R. by saying something like: "J.R.! We were just talking about you! Say hello to Don Sickler. You’ll want to talk at length with him." That started my personal, and beautiful, relationship with J.R.

  Minor Bertha - Elmo Hope
  Again, I have Philly Joe Jones to thank for my in-depth discovery of Elmo Hope. Philly Joe (like Thelonious Monk) thought Elmo was one of the great composers. After discussing and playing for me many of Elmo’s recordings, Joe told me that I should talk to Elmo’s widow, Bertha Hope. He said Bertha was also a great pianist and really knew Elmo’s music. So that’s what I did, and Bertha and I have been cataloging and notating Elmo’s music for years.
  Elmo dedicated quite a few of his compositions to Bertha. When Bertha and I played “Minor Bertha” together at the Jazz Standard, I kidded her about how Elmo really captured some of her complex personality in that composition.

  Play the music!
  Don Sickler

• New titles and composers at jazzleadsheets.com!

  Enjoy the music of two new composers, both pianists and well-known jazz artists.

  Composer and pianist Don Friedman and a trio composition, Almost Everything, based on the changes of the standard “All The Things You Are.” C treble clef, B-flat, E-flat and C bass clef editions are available, as well as Friedman’s own solo piano arrangement.

  Richard Wyands, also a composer and pianist, with another trio feature, Half And Half. A great rhythm section feature, with the rhythm hits shown in the C treble clef edition. In addition to the standard C treble, B-flat, E-flat and C bass lead sheets, Richard Wyands’ solo piano arrangement is available along with an MP3 of pianist Kenny Drew, Jr., performing it, recorded by Rudy Van Gelder.

  We also have new compositions by composers familiar to jazzleadsheets.com visitors:
  -One new composition by Gigi Gryce, with first and second parts and Gigi’s transcribed alto sax solo in E-flat, B-flat and C editions. Transfiguration was recorded by Mal Waldron on Mal 1, with Gryce and Idrees Sulieman on trumpet.

  -Two new Ray Bryant offerings: I Don’t Care, originally recorded by the Cannonball Adderley Orchestra on "In The Land Of Hi-Fi," with Junior Mance on piano. And Talk To Me, the lyric version of I Don't Care from singer Tina May. Tina's version, which she recorded with Ray himself, is in G minor. The result is a delightful vocal. In addition to the lead sheet, we’ve made MP3 files available, both with the vocal and without the vocal (accompaniment only). Great for learning and playing both songs.

• Jazzleadsheets is back! March 3, 2010

  Thanks for being patient with our absence from the scene. Unfortunately, due to problems beyond our control, we had to shut down during the last month to solve some technical problems. Now we’re back on the web bigger (by 5 new titles) and better! We have new additions this week and we’re preparing to add several more important compositions next week.

  The Waiting Game (Tina Brooks): Tina Brooks was a gifted artist and composer (check out our audio excerpt). It’s a shame that we lost him at an early age. One of his older brothers, David “Bubba” Brooks, survived much longer and went on to be quite a well-known swing and R&B tenor sax player. The rhythm section for this arrangement is too involved to make clear in a lead sheet, so we’ve made individual parts and a full score available (a full quintet arrangement—as recorded, trumpet and tenor front line). This is the second of our “as recorded” combos available, and there are many more complete arrangements like this in preparation, to be posted soon. The other arrangement currently available is Gerkin For Perkin by Clifford Brown.

  High Modes (Hank Mobley): Definitely one of the “groove” masters, the Messengers (with Wayne Shorter) recorded this minor key gem live at Birdland.

  Vaun-Ex (Elmo Hope): Elmo moved to LA in 1957 and hooked up with some great West Coast musicians for this date, including Harold Land and Frank Butler, both of whom went on to record some of Elmo’s landmark challenging compositions (coming soon, only on jazzleadsheets.com). Since this was recorded as a quintet, second parts are also available.

  Jean-Marie (Ronnie Mathews): In addition to the lead sheets (and quintet second parts) for this great Mathews’ composition, we’re offering Ronnie’s own Solo Piano arrangement, perfect for launching our Solo Piano editions. As well as being a superb recital feature for solo piano, it’s actually what Ronnie played during performance, regardless of the size of the ensemble. Jean-Marie was Ronnie’s wife and the mother of Ronnie’s pride and joy, his daugher Salima.

  Serial Blues (Kenny Drew, Jr.): Another interesting and challenging composition from the pen of this great second generation pianist and composer. An opportunity to widen your knowledge and your “tone row” experience. Look for some of his father’s compositions coming soon.

  Thank you for playing this music.
  --Don & Maureen Sickler

• 50th anniversary titles & more

  This week marks the 50th anniversary of two great recording sessions for Riverside Records. On January 11, 1960, Julian Priester recorded his “Keep Swingin’” album, and on January 13 and 14, Bobby Timmons recorded his trio date “This Here Is Bobby Timmons.” These 50th anniversary sessions were also each artist’s first album as leaders.

  From Julian Priester:
  The End (plus Julian’s trombone solo)
  Under The Surface (plus Julian’s trombone solo)
  I proofread the two Julian Priester arrangements with one of my combos at Columbia University this last semester, then performed both at the winter concert. The combo used the same instrumentation as the recording, except tenor sax played the melody and trombone played the second part. During the semester I had to sub for both tenor and trombone, on trumpet, so we also got to hear Trumpet/Tenor-2nd part and Trumpet/Trombone-2nd part. The arrangements work great with any instrumentation, or with just the melody part in a quartet format.

  I get a lot of requests from trombonists for transcribed solos. Julian Priester is not only a great composer, he’s also a great trombone soloist. As I mention in my description notes, Julian’s The End composition is a challenging form, as the rhythm switches between Latin and swing at initially unpredictable times. As you’ll see and hear, when Julian solos the transitions really make sense.

  From Bobby Timmons:
  Joy Ride
  Bobby Timmons was a very versatile composer at age 24, when he recorded the album “This Here Is Bobby Timmons.” He’d already written and recorded his two major hits in his own fully developed funky-churchy language, at 23. This trio date, his first as a leader, comes approximately one year and three months after Bobby first recorded Moanin’ with Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, and a little less than three months after he recorded his second hit, This Here, as a member of the Cannonball Adderley Quintet. Jazzleadsheets.com will post This Here shortly, but for now, Joy Ride shows you Bobby is very much at home writing challenging boppish compositions.

  Additionally, the print arrangement of Moanin’ is available from Second Floor Music with full score and alternate parts. Order online at MusicDispatch.com.

  On top of these anniversary titles, we also have more Carl Perkins, from the Curtis Counce album “Carl’s Blues”: Carl is another “groove master,” and Carl’s Blues is in a great tempo (medium slow) and key (A-flat) that we all need to practice.

  In December 2009, we posted two arrangements of Gerald Wiggins’s A Fifth For Frank. One was from a Cal Tjader recording, with Gerald on piano. Gerald’s A Light Groove also comes from this album, it and gives you a different kind of “groove.”

  Let’s all Keep Swingin’!
  --Don Sickler

• 5 new titles, with alto sax, trumpet and piano solos

  Nica’s Tempo is a significant Gigi Gryce composition that he revisited several times during his career. We’ve posted lead sheets for two different quintet arrangements by Gigi that were recorded almost 5 years apart, and I’ve explained some important differences between the two. Melody and second parts are available for both. Also, Gryce’s and Farmer’s solos are available, both great studies in improvisation. Trumpet players, especially newer players, should get a lot out of studying both the Art Farmer and Gigi Gryce (B-flat edition) solos. Alto solos transposed to B-flat generally don’t go too high, giving trumpet soloists who haven’t yet developed their high range new ideas in a lower register.

  Elmo Hope was one of Monk’s favorite composers. It’s fascinating to follow his compositional history since his style of writing changed over the years. I feel it’s important to start with his earlier works, like Happy Hour. We’ll post a few more over the next weeks, then get into the later period.

  January 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of Bobby Timmons’s recording career as a leader. Although we’re starting with a 1961 session here, with Easy Does It, we’ll get to his 1960 gems to commemorate their 50th anniversary later this year. Check out our first transcribed piano solo, Bobby’s six piano choruses on five pages. Timmons’ solos should be available for study. He’s always so full of energy, movement and swing. We’ve really made an attempt to indicate his articulations, which are so much a part of his playing. He can create a great funky feel, or just swing like hell. Either way, he doesn’t hold back, he’s always generating his own type of energy. He exhibits the qualities of a true artist: he always sounds like “Bobby Timmons.”

  We’ve already given you two of Ray Bryant’s Latin-jazz classics: Cubano Chant and Cuban Fantasy, but we also want you to hear Reflection. We’ve posted two different recordings, one by Ray himself, and one by his friend, pianist Phineas Newborn. Fun to compare the two approaches.

  Tina Brooks had the soulful trumpeter Johnny Coles at his side for “The Waiting Game” session, and I’m sure Johnny Coles loved this one. Dhyana is soulful and definitely swinging.

  Thanks for visiting jazzleadsheets.com!
  --Don Sickler

• 2 solos and a new Harold Land composition

  In the week before Christmas, check out two new transcribed solos for one of Gigi Gryce’s most popular compositions, Social Call. Learn Art Farmer’s trumpet solo and Gigi’s alto sax solo. C treble clef editions for both, as well as E-flat and B-flat for Gigi’s solo, and B-flat for Art’s. This is the first Gigi Gryce solo on jazzleadsheets.com. More coming soon. The lead sheets for Social Call are also available.

  Also, Harold Land’s Landslide, from the Curtis Counce album of the same name. Now three tracks from that album are available on jazzleadsheets.com, including Mia by Carl Perkins and A Fifth For Frank by Gerald Wiggins. Great trumpet/tenor charts. Make your fingers work for the holidays!

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