Aries – Don Patterson & Sonny Stitt

As you hear in our audio clip, this song grooves great at a heart-beat tempo. It's a good example of organ-based "soul jazz" that's not quite as bluesy as this style often is. In fact, it almost sounds like a standard. The form is AABC, with the C section similar to A but with a four-measure tag. The coda develops this tag into a set of hits and breaks for a soloist.

Don Sickler: "With the opening melody syncopations over a 2-feel so nicely setting up the short 4th beat melody note in the second measure, I can also hear this piece working great at an even slower tempo, so you can create even more space after the 4th beat stop. I find this such an engrossing melody I had a hard time stopping our audio clip at 40 seconds. Since Don Patterson's original recording of the song isn't available as a download, and the bridge has its own special character, here is a sample of the bridge from Don's recording." bridgeclip

If you play baritone or alto sax, and you want to play this composition in the same key as Gary Smulyan's recording, you can read our C treble clef lead sheet—that would put you in E♭ concert.

This faster version in E♭ proves that, like many standards, this song works in more than one key. Gary plays the melody a bit straighter than Stitt, with more of the articulations as indicated in the bridge. The coda is slightly different: the bass notes in the fifth measure on beats 2 and 4 are omitted, and Gary blows over those two chords and then plays a cadenza. The rhythm section comes in with the last four measures, but without the second to last chord: B♭7♭5(♯9) here in the key of E♭.

If you are a baritone saxophonist (or alto saxophonist), and you want to play it in the key of Gary Smulyan's recording, you can read from our C treble clef lead sheet, which puts you in E♭ concert.