One Thin Dime – Steve Nelson

This stop-time song from Steve's hard-bop bag has a bright, bluesy sound. It's a vibes-centric song with sustained melody notes in the stop-time call and response, much like some Milt Jackson compositions—though it's just as effective with other melody instruments. The melody "call" begins the song, with a rhythm section "response." The key center of C is not obvious from the beginning, as the A section begins on F7, the IV. Besides the breaks in the first four measures of the A section, there's another break in the seventh measure of the bridge.

The solo changes contain a bunch of chromatically descending and ascending II-V7s, for example on the fourth through sixth measures descending from Em7 to Dm7; these are hinted at in the head, with a similar motion in the turnaround of the first A section. A subtly distinctive progression that occurs several times in this song is IVm-V7; this very classical cadence appears twice in the bridge as well as on the second measure of the A section in the solos. It has the same function as a "minor II-V7" with the IIm7♭5 moved up one inversion for a strong stepwise root motion.

The coda adds a tag with yet another break leading to an unexpected Cm(maj7), which is however close to the beginning of the form's F7. Our lead sheets show a melodic fill Steve plays on the third and fourth measures of the bridge. In the A sections, Steve really lays back the melodic phrase on the third measure; the E♭ on the last 16th note of the second measure may sound like it's the downbeat of the third measure, but it is part of the pickup figure.