Opus D'Amour – Don Friedman

Striking and impassioned, this song is equally effective at a bossa or ballad tempo. The emotional quality of the melody is enhanced by its harmonization using the upper extensions of the chords. Though not smoothly stepwise throughout, the melody flows in such a way that the unusual phrase lengths are not immediately obvious. The form consists of two nine-measure sections, the first divided further into a five-measure phrase followed by a four-measure phrase with the same melody as the beginning but with different changes. There is no single key center, but the B section settles in A minor with a chromatically descending bass line. The form is cyclical; G7 at the end resolves to F♯7 at the beginning. The out melody consists of the A section only, resolving to E♭ minor instead of A minor, a tritone away.

The form on Don's first recording is slightly different from our lead sheet. The B section is only seven measures long without the last two measures, resulting in a more unexpected resolution at the end from E7 to F♯7. This solo piano version is a rubato ballad, three choruses long plus the final A section. Don never plays the B section melody, but improvises on all three B sections. At the B section of the second and third choruses, he goes into time (swing on the second chorus, more like a bossa in the third) but loosely stretches out the changes especially on the first two measures and goes rubato again before the next A section.

A solo piano arrangement written by Don is also available, with an exclusive recording by Kenny Drew, Jr.; click on the Piano Corner for more details.

This duo version begins as a ballad for the A section, changing to a double-time bossa feel for the B section and solos. This double-time feel allows Don Friedman to interpret his B section melody in a particularly passionate, expressive style. The form on this recording is as shown on the lead sheet. The out A section melody returns to a ballad feel.

Like the duo recording with Don Thompson, this quartet version uses a double-time bossa feel beginning at the B section. The A section is solo piano, again rubato like the first recording. Don Friedman then sets up the bossa groove with two measures—with the chords from the first two measures of B—as the bass and drums come in, to set up Lee Konitz's alto sax melody at B. The solo form is as shown on the lead sheet. The rhythm section switches to a loose ballad feel (in time) at the B section in the fourth chorus of Don's solo. This feel continues for one more piano solo chorus and the first five measures of the out A section melody with Lee. Don then plays the rest of the A section by himself, rubato, with the bass and drums coming in on the final chord.

Hear how freely Don starts the melody on this one—he takes it in some different directions from the other versions. The in head of this duo version is entirely rubato, with Don playing the A section by himself and Lee Konitz joining for the B section. The solos go to a ballad feel with a hint of double-time. The out A section melody continues in time, getting slightly rubato in the second phrase.

The form on this recording is the most different from our lead sheet, but close to Don's solo piano arrangement. Like the latter, the B section in both the head and solos adds two measures at the beginning which start on E♭m7. Because the head is rubato, it's not obvious whether some of the changes are stretched out as they are in the solo piano version, but in the solo choruses this occurs in two places. The last two chords of the A section are one measure each, and so are the G7sus and Cmaj7/G starting in the sixth (fourth on the lead sheet) measure of B. Finally, on the solo choruses the last two measures of B are repeated twice. These additions extend the solo form to 24 measures—two five-measure phrases in A and two seven-measure phrases in B.

Kenny Drew, Jr., plays Don Friedman's Solo Piano Arrangement at the Van Gelder Recording Studio. See the Piano Corner tab for details.