We’re excited to announce that four songs by saxophonist Wardell Gray are now available on jazzleadsheets. Though often overlooked due to his sadly too brief career, Wardell was one of the most important musicians of the original bebop scene. He was among the first to develop an original voice on the tenor sax in the bebop style, and he became a mentor to many younger musicians including trumpeter Art Farmer.
Dell’s Bells and One For Prez come from Wardell’s first recording as a leader. Both are exciting, intricate, unpredictable bebop heads based on standards - Dell’s Bells uses the changes of What Is This Thing Called Love?, and One For Prez is over How High The Moon. Also available is Southside, another uptempo bebop swinger with its own unique changes. Finally, for a much simpler example of Wardell’s elegant, swinging style, check out his riff blues head Grayhound. Our lead sheets also detail his stylististic scoops and falls.The intros of all these songs from the recordings are notated in our lead sheets.
We also have one more Freddie Redd song available now. Nica Steps Out (written for his friend Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter) is a lively “rhythm changes” head with a pedal point intro, originally recorded on his album “San Francisco Suite.”