50th Anniversary

  • Happy 50th anniversary to these legendary recordings

    We’d like to celebrate some recent landmark 50th year recording anniversaries!

    May 27, 1963: Steppin' Out (Blue Note)
    This was tenor saxophonist Harold Vick’s first album as a leader. Harold had 5 originals on this recording, which included Our Miss Brooks which Harold had also recorded earlier when he was a sideman (first with Grant Green, then with Jack McDuff):

     

    June 3, 1963: Page One (Blue Note)
    This legendary album marked tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson’s first album as a leader with trumpeter Kenny Dorham. We're proud to offer two incredible Kenny Dorham originals from this session:

     

    June 11 & 12, 1963: Roland Kirk Meets The Benny Golson Orchestra (Mercury)
    On the first session day, Rahsaan Roland Kirk teamed up with the Benny Golson Orchestra. The next day was a quartet session, with Kirk’s beautiful slow swing ballad April Morning, his swingin’ blues Get In The Basement which is perfect for our Bass Corner, and the three-horn, three-part harmony Between The 4th And 5th Step.

    Beat the heat with music!
    Don Sickler
    jazzleadsheets.com and Second Floor Music
    email don@secondfloormusic.com - phone 212-741-1175

  • 50 years of Kenny Dorham

    April 1, 1963, was the recording date of trumpeter Kenny Dorham’s landmark album Una Mas. We’ve had the title composition of the album available on jazzleadsheets.com for some time. When we realized the 50th anniversary was coming up, we geared ourselves up to make sure that we’d have both of Kenny’s other originals, Sao Paulo and Straight Ahead, on jazzleadsheets to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this landmark recording.

    Kenny Dorham’s music from this session is important, and the album itself is classic. It’s tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson’s first recording session. The incredible young rhythm section had recorded together once less than two months earlier for what was drummer Tony Williams first recording session. Pianist Herbie Hancock had only been recording since 1961, and bassist Butch Warren since 1960.

    jazzleadsheets.com gives you the option of playing these compositions in any instrumental format: as a quartet or as originally recorded (a quintet), with the original instrumentation or with alternate instrumental parts available.

    We’re also making available Kenny Dorham’s solos on Sao Paulo and Straight Ahead in both B-flat and concert key editions.

    We’ll also be celebrating additional important Kenny Dorham 50th anniversary recordings this year.

    Enjoy this great music!
    Don Sickler
    phone 212-741-1175 - email don@secondfloormusic.com

  • You asked for it, we got it!

    The Feelin’s Good - Hank Mobley
    Recently I got a very nice email from one of our customers, Steve Christian: “I wanted to express my gratitude for the wonderful resource you have created …” He went on to say great things about Hank Mobley music, and asked: “I hope you have plans to release more of Hank’s treasures in the future. I would love to see The Feelin’s Good from “Straight No Filter.”

    This jogged my memory, and I remembered the session was recorded sometime in 1963. Lo and behold, I discovered the 50th anniversary was right around the corner. March 7, 1963. Today! A perfect time to make The Feelin’s Good available. That Mobley recording session produced three more gems that are already on jazzleadsheets.com. Instead of releasing that session on one LP, Alfred Lion of Blue Note Records put these four selections on three different recordings. Check out the others for more historical information:
    East Of The Village
    Old World New Imports
    Up A Step

    Happy 50th Anniversary! Hank Mobley’s music: it’s always feelin’ good.

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    Adding another great composer to jazzleadsheets.com: Freddie Redd - And Time Marches On
    Pianist Freddie Redd is a marvelous composer we’ve known since 1985 when I produced two albums for him for Uptown Records. The second trio album, where Freddie played this title, with bassist George Duvivier and drummer Ben Riley, is still unissued. However, you can hear this great track as Freddie played it with his International Jazz Connection. Freddie’s music is a delight to play. Listen to this one; more is on the way.

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    Joao - Tommy Turrentine
    A beautiful slow samba first recorded by tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, brother of Tommy. Take a look at the descriptive notes to learn about the brothers’ differing views on the song. Recorded on Stanley’s “Nightwings” album.

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    Fred’s Delight - Tadd Dameron
    We’ve also received some requests for more Tadd Dameron lead sheets. Plus, the long awaited Paul Combs book, The Life and Music of Tadd Dameron, has just been released. Paul Combs was instrumental in getting me a copy of Tadd’s big band score (in Tadd’s manuscript) for “Fred’s Delight,” and the big band arrangement (score and parts) is available from ejazzlines.com. Even without a big band, everyone should get a chance to play Dameron’s distinctive melody and harmonies and add it to their combo repertory.

    Thanks for visiting jazzleadsheets.com!

    Don Sickler (phone 212-741-1175, email don@secondfloormusic.com)

  • new jazzleadsheets 2/21/11

    C.F.D. - Jack Wilson
    An exciting quartet piece (with vibes) that would be great for horns - technical but swinging - by the extremely elegant and meticulous West Coast pianist Jack Wilson. First and second parts.

    Fox Hunt - Bill Barron
    Recorded fifty years ago this month! Take a minute to explore the complexities and inner strengths of Bill Barron’s composition.

    Hipsippy Blues - Hank Mobley
    Everyone can enjoy this—swinging with the Jazz Messengers “live” at Birdland, “The Jazz Corner of the World.” Another Hank Mobley classic.

    Mo Is On - Elmo Hope
    Classic uptempo Elmo Hope. Recorded by Elmo’s trio, in 1953, on their first jazz trio recording together. In 1948 this same trio (Percy Heath on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums) recorded as the rhythm section for Joe Morris’ R&B group. Challenging, but also great for horn players.

    Why Not? - Johnny Griffin
    Composer/saxophonist Johnny Griffin’s experiment in sound: 2 basses, tenor sax, French Horn, drums. Why Not? First and second parts. Another 50th Anniversary recording. French Horn players - there’s a part for you!

    I hope you enjoy these.
    Don Sickler

  • Two new composers: Mal Waldron and Gene Roland

    Mood Malody by Mal Waldron
    This is the first Mal Waldron composition on jazzleadsheets.com. It was recorded by Mal on piano, on what was Jackie McLean’s first album as a leader, with a young Donald Byrd on trumpet in the front line. As far as we can determine, it’s Mal’s first recorded jazz composition. Melody and second parts available.

    Rat Race Blues by Gigi Gryce
    This composition definitely brings to mind the tension and discord of modern life in a big city. Although the melody starts out simply, it is eventually played simultaneously by three instruments, each in a different key. Gigi expanded the composition into a larger form for a film project, and it became the soundtrack of a prize-winning film. See details on jazzleadsheets.com.

    Same To You by Johnny Griffin
    A playful Johnny Griffin title that gives you a good technical workout. It was recorded by an unusual ensemble: tenor sax, drums, and two basses, on Johnny’s “Change Of Pace” album. This album is having its 50th anniversary this month.

    Good Old Soul by Tina Brooks
    We feel it’s very important that everyone has the opportunity to buy the original track. This arrangement appears twice (with an added alternate take) on the original Blue Note session, but they’re both long tracks. At iTunes, you have to get the whole album. Amazon makes longer takes available, so I’ve now added this arrangement to jazzleadsheets.com along with the other two shorter Tina Brooks compositions that we already have online. “True Blue” is a great album, played by an important cast of jazz artists assisting Tina Brooks: Freddie Hubbard, Duke Jordan, Sam Jones and Art Taylor.
    Latin bridge, swing solos. Great to play. Second parts available.

    Opus In Chartreuse by Gene Roland
    We have the honor of publishing quite a few Gene Roland gems. Opus In Chartreuse was an important mainstay of the Stan Kenton band. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to see this master, Gene Roland, at work, doing what he did best, which was write music. I can’t remember who called me, or exactly when it was, but it had to be sometime in the 1970s. I was living in New York, in the theater district, and I got a call to make a rehearsal band. When I arrived I was introduced to Gene Roland, who handed out a few charts, and we rehearsed. I knew who Gene was, and I knew he was a trumpet player, but at this rehearsal he also played tenor sax. After the rehearsal, we were asked if we could make another rehearsal in a week, and we all agreed to come back. The following week, to my utter amazement, Gene passed out a whole book, 20 or 30 complete arrangements for the band. It wasn’t a full big band, but there were seven or eight horns and rhythm section. Gene had not only written the entire book of arrangements that week, but he’d also written out all the parts himself. I was blown away!

    Enjoy the music.
    Don 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

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