Trifle – Brian Lynch

For a description of this song, click on the second album cover. This first version features a two-horn arrangement; "as recorded" trumpet 1st and alto sax 2nd parts are available. It's a bit slower than Brian Lynch's quartet recording, and some of the rhythm section figures are slightly different (notably with a busier bass line), but the horn parts certainly work with the arrangement from the latter version and so the rhythm section information in these parts are the same. The alto begins the melody, with the trumpet catching the stop-time hits with the rhythm section and joining the alto in the fourth measure. A few longer notes of the melody are harmonized, and the alto plays the countermelody on the last measure. The piano doesn't double the melody with the horns at the fifth measure of C in this recording, but it would work with piano added here.

In addition to the lead sheets, we have a piano part and a bass part. Both show the melody, with the fully notated intro and the last six measures of C both notated on double staves because of their more involved bass figures. The piano part shows comping rhythms below the melody staff; likewise in the bass part, bass rhythms are notated below wherever there is a single staff melody. Drummers can read the bass part or C lead sheet.

An exciting medium-up Latin song in a hard-bop bag. Like some other Brian Lynch songs, this one is a bit tricky in its angular melodic shapes and dialogue between the melody and rhythm section. The melody starts relatively simply and becomes more complicated toward the end. The form is 28 measures long: essentially a long-meter blues with an extended turnaround, with eight-measure A and B sections and 12-measure C. Though this song starts in F, our lead sheets have no key signature due to the convoluted melody lines and lack of a resolution at the end of the chorus. The first four measures have rhythm section stop-time; the C section introduces a rhythmic bass line, punctuated by a break in the 5th and 6th measures where the piano doubles the melody. In the second to last measure, the piano and bass have eighth-note lines in counterpoint while the melody rests; the final measure has a melody line and piano countermelody, but no bass line.

The changes are blues-like with several important alterations; for example the IV chord (B♭ in the key of F) is substituted up a minor third with D♭7. At C, four measures of C7 are followed by a descent (B7 to A♭7) toward an unexpected B triad over C in the bass. There are a few passing chords in the head; the solo changes are simplified and extended to a 32-measure form with eight measures of B/C at the end. A slightly unconventional chord symbol is shown in several places in the head: a sus chord with a natural third (for example F7sus4♮3). The piano voicing here places the third above the fourth: from the bottom up, F, B♭, E♭, A.

The head is repeated twice; there is a four-measure intro section (played twice every time) which is really part of the head form, as it's played before each repeat of the in and out heads. This intro features piano voicings that creep chromatically up and down, with an off-kilter rhythmic bass line. The top note of the piano chords is shown in our lead sheets.

In addition to the lead sheets, we have a piano part and a bass part. Both show the melody, with the fully notated intro and the last six measures of C both notated on double staves because of their more involved bass figures. The piano part shows comping rhythms below the melody staff; likewise in the bass part, bass rhythms are notated below wherever there is a single staff melody. Drummers can read the bass part or C lead sheet.