Alvin's Smile – Harold Land

Sly and slippery, this rhythmic blues head is a classic example of Harold Land’s later style. The rhythm section doubles the melody throughout, with a different chord on every note. The “turnaround” changes, essentially a tritone-subbed V of V (Dm7-G7-D♭m7-G♭7), are also played in the solo choruses as well as a chromatic “walk up” in quarter notes on the last two measures. The melody for these measures bounces off the bass notes, which anticipate an eighth note earlier.

The two choruses of both in and out head are almost identical, but the rhythm of the first measure is different. Rather than having both choruses written out, we show the rhythm for the second chorus below the staff (indicated A2) in all lead sheets and parts.

There is a pedal point intro with a piano melody. At the end of the last solo chorus, the “walk up” returns to lead back to the out head, this time with a triplet melody that outlines the rising sequence of upper structure triads.

We have a piano part and a bass part; drummers should read the lead sheet. The piano part shows all the voicings which harmonize the head; these are mostly built out of fourths. In the first eight measures the bass doubles the bottom note of the piano voicing.

About the arrangement: Second and third horn parts are available for the recorded sextet arrangement. The recording has vibes melody, tenor sax 2nd part and trombone 3rd part. These three parts are the same as the top three notes of the piano voicings. The trombone 3rd part is not always clear on the recording but we feel it should reflect the notes in the piano chords. As the harmonies are doubled by the piano, this song certainly works in a quartet setting as well without the horn arrangement.