Kenny Drew Jr

  • 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.

  • Three new composers. One big update.

    We're back with another big update! This week, we're welcoming three new composers to the site: tenor saxophonist Paul Quinichette, cornetist Ruby Braff and bassist Santi Debriano. Our Recording Session Anniversaries this week celebrates the anniversary of the first recording of Gigi Gryce's Capri with new lead sheets in the original key -- including two Clifford Brown trumpet solos; the recording sessions for Kenny Drew Jr.'s album "A Look Inside" (Alhambra, A Look Inside); Ray Bryant's legendary performance at Montreaux; and Ruby Braff's recording session for his album "Braff!" on which Here's Freddie was recorded.

    We're also celebrating birthdays: vocalist Rachel Gould, pianist Elmo Hope and bassist Santi Debriano. Join us in marking all of these anniversaries and birthdays with great music!

    Check out this week's new music:

    GIGI GRYCE: Capri 
    Now available in the original key with two Clifford Brown trumpet solos

    KENNY DREW JR: Alhambra
    A lyrical, flowing bossa

    KENNY DREW JR: A Look Inside
    A cheerful & bubbly medium swing

    RAY BRYANT: Blues #3
    Master the blues in G with this three-chorus piano solo transcription

    RAY BRYANT: Blues #2
    A blues tour-de-force: seven choruses of piano solo transcription

    PAUL QUINICHETTE: Prevue
    A simply & catchy medium swing that makes a great choice for vocalists. Paul Quinichette's tenor sax solo transcription available.

    RUBY BRAFF: Here's Freddie
    Classic, laid-back mainstream jazz

    SANTI DEBRIANO: Abra Cadabra
    A bright Latin piece

    Have you seen our new inline audio player? It's a simple blue box that appears in our text notes whenever we want to feature a sample in the middle of text. If you come across a blue box with a triangle on it like this , click it and listen to the music!

    Make sure to click on the dots under the home page slider; we've put some fun ways to look at this week's music there. 
    Enjoy the music!

  • A better jazzleadsheets.com is coming. Stay tuned.

    We’ve grown so much over the last few years that our current website literally can’t handle us anymore: we can’t add any new composers or albums! So we’re keeping our fingers crossed that March will be the month we can unveil the new look and features of the new jazzleadsheets.com. The expanded and enriched new site has been close to three years in the making, and while it’s been a long road, the final product will be worth the wait.

    Fortunately, we still have more great charts from albums and composers that are already on our current site, so here are seven new additions.

    LUCKY THOMPSON: N R #1
    An angular blues with an unusual form, this quirky Lucky Thompson piece is pure fun. The melody twists through the blues scale in unexpected patterns, creating a memorable, modern sound. Sleek and sophisticated.

    LUCKY THOMPSON: N R #2
    The unusual name of this piece and N R #1 might imply that the two go together, but you’ll hear that they couldn’t be more different. It has a classic sound with Lucky’s charming melodic style. Lead sheets and second parts available.

    VALERY PONOMAREV: Mirage
    A contrast in snappy, punctuated riffs and long, lyrical lines. The striking interplay of the bold A theme and the soft B theme creates appealing drama. Lead sheets and second parts available.

    KENNY DREW, JR.: Passionata
    An evocative, masterful bossa which evolved from a manuscript fragment by Kenny Drew, Sr.,  completed by his son. We’re featuring two different clips of this tender bossa, both from the same album: one is Kenny Drew Jr.’s opening trio rendition and the other is his album-closing version with strings.

    NORMAN SIMMONS: Good Humors
    A laid-back, supremely cool swing from Norman Simmons. The call-and-response between the persistent groove in the rhythm section and the contrasting melody in the horns creates a great conversation. Lead sheets and second parts available.

    STEVE NELSON: For Wes
    A beautiful ballad dedicated to quitarist Wes Montgomery, from composer/vibist Steve Nelson. He performs the solo section with a double time feel a la Wes Montgomery. Wistful and heartfelt, the melody of this ballad is simply gorgeous.

    VALERY PONOMAREV: Means Of Identification
    Another Valery Ponomarev piece to expand your repertoire! This brassy piece is in 3/4 and combines hard-bop vocabulary and a hint of Latin influence. Valery sets a bright horn melody over a rich rhythmic background.

    Check out our new charts today!

  • Swing in the new year with new charts galore

    It’s been a great year here at jazzleadsheets.com: we celebrated Blue Note’s 75th Anniversary, launched our Minus You audio features, and introduced handfuls of new composers and more great music. We’re still working with our developer on the improved version of jazzleadsheets.com which will feature a more visually-exciting interface and a better checkout experience. To keep you swinging into 2015, we’re topping you off with one last group of lead sheets for the year with some picks we know you’ll love.

    GIGI GRYCE: Boxer’s Blues
    A different type of altered blues! This Gigi Gryce piece moves back and forth from a double time groove to a laid-back swing. Gigi’s intriguing quintet arrangement is captured in each of our lead sheet editions; his original recording featured trumpet and alto sax alternating lines, but both are notated in all editions so you can choose how you want to approach it.

    TINA BROOKS: Miss Hazel
    A bright, brassy Tina Brooks composition full of fun II-V changes. This uptempo swing is also available as a quintet arrangement; we have a concert condensed score available (featuring the melody, counter-melody and rhythm section hits), lead sheets for all instruments and second parts.

    LUCKY THOMPSON: Once There Was
    A perfect example of Lucky Thompson’s masterful ballad writing and interpretation. To show both sides of Lucky’s talent, composing and performing, all editions include a transcription of everything he plays on the form: the head in, a short solo over the bridge, and the last A section out.

    WALTER DAVIS, JR.: Scorpio Rising
    “Walter Davis, Jr., loved to play this piece to get his adrenaline going,” remembers Don Sickler. This wild medium-up swing with a strong rhythmic pulse will get you going, too!

    KENNY DREW, JR.: Nelson Avenue Morning
    A light, breezy, constantly evolving medium swing melody from a virtuoso pianist-composer. This unusual ABABC form of this piece is a refreshing twist on typical song forms — the way Kenny only uses four measures of the B section when it returns and the unexpected new themes at the end keep everyone on their toes.

    ROY HARGROVE: The Mountaings
    Keep things spicy with this Cuban son-jazz hybrid. The 2/3 clave groove gives The Mountaings an authentic Cuban vibe, but Roy Hargrove’s melody is modern jazz-oriented. This composition comes from Roy’s Grammy-winning album HABANA and is sure to be a winner for you, too.

    GEOFFREY KEEZER: Pierce On Earth
    A personal, sensitive ballad written for saxophonist Bill Pierce. Geoff weaves together contemporary jazz idioms with soulful licks in this tender composition. Geoff’s own solo piano arrangement is also available.

    DONALD BROWN: The Moment You’ve All Been Waiting For
    This stately ballad features an unusual abbreviated form with just four measures for the A sections and three measures for the B. The dramatic sustained chords under the main theme define the character of this Donald Brown composition.

    Start your 2015 the right way with jazzleadsheets.com!

  • 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

  • Two new composers plus one new Kenny Drew Jr. ballad

    Composer/pianist Kirk Nurock’s first contribution is a vocal ballad set to poetry by Emily Dickinson, Will There Really Be A Morning? The first released recording, by Nurock’s Quartet and vocalist Theo Bleckmann, is available only on jazzleadsheets.com.

    Austrian pianist and composer Fritz Pauer and his first composition here, Passos, recorded by Art Farmer on his Mirage album. Art Farmer’s transcribed trumpet solo is also available, and the complete track is on iTunes. What a pleasure to hear and see how Art navigates the changes!

    And one beautiful new ballad by Kenny Drew, Jr., Dedication. Its theme is taken from the first three notes of Serenity, his father’s composition.

  • Two new composers this week

    Pianist Kenny Drew, Jr., an inventive virtuoso with a modern sound and style, joins the site with Third Phase, and trumpeter Bill Hardman, one of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the 1950s and ’60s, offers a groovy Latin piece, Jo-B.

    Two more great Ronnie Mathews titles from his Doin’ The Thang recording, Orient and Let's Get Down.

    Another addition in our two versions series (like Filide last week): Capers, a Tom McIntosh composition with two versions, recorded by two different trumpet players in the same year. Bill Hardman with Sonny Red on alto sax recorded it first, then Blue Mitchell with Junior Cook on tenor.

7 Items

  1. 1