O.T.B. – Michael Philip Mossman

Our audio excerpt fades into the last four measures of the intro so you can immediately check out the melody. To get the full dramatic effect of Michael's great intro set-up, you need to hear the original recording, or the later, even more extended intro from the same group's 1986 "Live At Mt. Fuji" recording. (You can find both recordings on YouTube). These recorded intros start with Michael's intriguing two-measure bass line alone, repeated under the soloist, alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett. He continues over this vamp until cuing a punctuating horn figure (based on the beginning of the melody) and the entrance of the rest of the rhythm section. This further propels the soloist, who plays between the horn figures for 16 measures until the horns play the melody.

Hard-swinging with a shuffle groove, O.T.B. is a great example of a style associated with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Everything about this song is rhythmic, with a lot of accents on the "ands" of beats 2 and 4 that really push the beat forward. There's a bass ostinato that runs through the A section, and piano hits that line up with the melody and fill in around it. The bridge of this 32-measure AABC song goes to 4-feel with a more lyrical melody, starting soft but with a crescendo all the way until C—a classic Messengers-esque dynamic structure.

The A and C section changes are a series of embellished turnarounds in C minor; they're simplified in the solo choruses. The bridge changes go to G minor, with several chromatic "side-slips"; the last two measures of this section have II-V7s rising in half steps back to C minor. The bass ostinato from the A section is used as a vamp under a soloist for both the intro and ending; the punctuating melody figures on the last 16 measures of the intro are also played in the ending which fades out.

About the arrangement: A Concert Condensed Score and second and third horn parts are available for the sextet arrangement. The lead sheet is the first part; rhythm section players should read the Concert Condensed Score.

The rhythmic hits in the melody are harmonized in angular voicings that generally contain the 3rd and 7th of the chords; the horns are in octaves throughout the bridge. A background for the solos is shown on all lead sheets and parts; on this recording the alto and tenor play it behind the trumpet solo.