Ode For Aaron – Robert Watson

A bright-toned song in Bobby Watson's signature style. The melody is simple and elegant, flowing so smoothly that it's easy to overlook that the form is 17 measures long instead of a more expected 16. This song alternates a calypso groove on the first four measures with swing 4-feel for the rest of the chorus, in both head and solos. Rhythm section hits on the last four measures also appear in the solo choruses to stabilize the irregular form.

The key center is clearly B♭ major, but we honor Bobby's preference of not showing a key signature; a few of the changes are a bit unpredictable. The intro, which sets up the calypso groove with a rhythmic bass figure, vamps the first two chords of the head, C9sus and C7sus(♭9); these seem to set up an F major tonality, but on the head they reveal their direction toward B♭. On the intro, piano voicings and the bass line are shown in our C treble and bass clef lead sheets. Our audio clip starts at the melody.

Our lead sheet is closer to the later recordings by Justin Robinson and by Bobby Watson's quintet than to the original quartet version from "Love Remains." We have a condensed score showing notable differences in this recording. Unlike the other versions, on the fourth measure of the head the rhythm section hits with the melody on beat 3 and the "and" of 4; the drums set up swing around these hits. There is a drum pickup to the intro. Bobby plays a pickup to the start of the melody, and also always embellishes the second to last measure of the head, filling in the longer notes with an eighth-note line that is slightly different each time. We show what he plays here as two pairs of first and second endings, one each for the in and out heads.

Justin Robinson's recording is closer to our lead sheet than the original Bobby Watson version, though Justin takes a few liberties with the melodic rhythm. As shown on the lead sheet, on the fourth measure of the head the rhythm section holds out a chord on beat 2; the next chord starts on the downbeat of the fifth measure, though the melody anticipates this downbeat on the "and" of 4. The lead sheet also reflects this version's dynamic contrast: the melody begins slightly softer and becomes forte in the last six measures.

The intro is the same as in the "Love Remains" version except without a drum pickup; our audio clip starts at the melody.

For this quintet arrangement, instead of 1st and 2nd parts we have a transposed set of melody parts which each shows the 2-horn harmonies—essentially transposed condensed scores. Only a few measures of the head have harmony or counterpoint between the horns, with the rest in unison or octaves. The format is close to the Justin Robinson version; again the fourth measure has a chord hit on beat 2. A steady crescendo is added from the 7th to 11th measures. Like the "Love Remains" recording there is a melody pickup, so we show separate first and second endings for the head. The final melody phrase on the repeat of the out head is played up an octave.

This live recording has an extended vamp intro, set up by the bass before adding drums and piano. Our quintet arrangement shows the intro the same as the other two versions. Our audio clip starts at the melody.