Wash – Eric Dixon
This bouncy medium-up swinger (based on the standard 'S Wonderful) was originally recorded by the Count Basie big band, but it works in a combo setting as well.
- Recording: Count Basie - Jumpin' With Basie
- Recorded on: December 2-3, 1962
- Label: Vogue (JL 71)
- Concert Key: E-flat
- Vocal Range: , to
- Style: Swing (medium up)
- Trumpet - Al Aarons, Thad Jones, Fip Ricard, Sonny Cohn
- Trombone - Henry Coker, Grover Mitchell, Benny Powell
- Alto Sax - Marshal Royal, Frank Wess
- Tenor Sax, Flute - Eric Dixon
- Tenor Sax - Frank Foster
- Bari Sax - Charlie Fowlkes
- Piano - Count Basie
- Guitar - Freddie Green
- Bass - Buddy Catlett
- Drums - Sonny Payne
Video
- Description
- Historical Notes
- Solos
- Piano Corner
- Bass Corner
- Drum Corner
- Guitar Corner
- Inside & Beyond
- Minus You
Though Wash was recorded in a big band setting, it certainly works as a combo song as well. Our lead sheet is based on the in head from the recording. This song is a bouncy medium-up swinger with a classic "swing to bop" sound. The changes are based on the standard 'S Wonderful but with a few chromatic passing chords added. There's a quick "walk down" in half steps in the 6th measure of the A section, and II-V7s descending in half steps through the second four measures of the bridge. The bridge melody starts with a bebop lick similar to the bridge of Bud Powell's Parisian Thoroughfare; elsewhere the melodic material is lyrical and swinging in that classic "New Testament" Basie style.
In the big band arrangement, the saxes have the melody with rhythmic brass punctuations; these are shown as hits below the staff in our lead sheet. The arrangement never goes back to the head at the end, instead going from a shout chorus directly to a vamp that fades out. In a combo setting, the last note of the head can be used for an abrupt ending.
In the big band arrangement, the saxes have the melody with rhythmic brass punctuations; these are shown as hits below the staff in our lead sheet. The arrangement never goes back to the head at the end, instead going from a shout chorus directly to a vamp that fades out. In a combo setting, the last note of the head can be used for an abrupt ending.
Wash was Eric Dixon's first recorded big band arrangement. Dixon joined the Basie band at the beginning of 1962; during his time with Basie, Dixon made very few recordings with other leaders. One of these, a month after this Basie session, is organist Jack McDuff's "Something Slick" also featuring saxophonist Harold Vick and guitarist Kenny Burrell, though Dixon doesn't play on Vick's Our Miss Brooks from this album. This was Dixon's second to last session at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey; his last was on a 1965 Verve album by the Basie band featuring vocalist Arthur Prysock.
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Eric Dixon
March 28, 1930 – October 19, 1989
Known as "Big Daddy," Eric Dixon was closely associated with Count Basie's big band for much of his career. A unique tenor sax stylist in the tradition of Basie band soloists such as Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Paul Quinichette, Dixon also wrote several arrangements for the band, often featuring himself on both tenor and flute. He was a member of the Basie band from the early '60s through the '80s, staying with the band after the leader's death in 1984. Read more...
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