Bai Tai Blues – Bertha Hope
A hard-bop blues head, with slightly altered changes that are also used for the solos. Bertha Hope's solo piano arrangement is available with an exclusive recording by Glenn Zaleski.
- Recording: Bertha Hope - Elmo's Fire
- Recorded on: January, 1991
- Label: Steeplechase (SCCD 31829)
- Concert Key: B-flat
- Vocal Range: , to
- Style: Swing (medium)
- Trumpet - Eddie Henderson
- Tenor Sax - Junior Cook
- Piano - Bertha Hope
- Bass - Walter Booker
- Drums - Leroy Williams
Video
- Description
- Historical Notes
- Solos
- Piano Corner
- Bass Corner
- Drum Corner
- Guitar Corner
- Inside & Beyond
- Minus You
A medium swinging blues head with a hard-bop kick. Though relatively simple, it's broken up by rhythmic hits and a few alterations to the standard blues changes. Specifically, the IV chord in the fifth measure is followed by a circle of fourths instead of going back to the tonic. There's a "Tadd Dameron turnaround" in the last two measures, with rhythm section hits complementing the melody; it's not resolved at the end of the out melody, holding out a final F7(♯9). Solos are on the head changes.
There are some two-horn voicings in this original quintet arrangement. In the last two measures the tenor sax second part has the melody as shown in our single-line lead sheet; the trumpet plays harmony notes above in the 11th measure and below in the 12th.
Click on the second album cover for Bertha Hope's solo piano arrangement, recorded by Glenn Zaleski.
There are some two-horn voicings in this original quintet arrangement. In the last two measures the tenor sax second part has the melody as shown in our single-line lead sheet; the trumpet plays harmony notes above in the 11th measure and below in the 12th.
Click on the second album cover for Bertha Hope's solo piano arrangement, recorded by Glenn Zaleski.
Bertha Hope's second album as a leader, "Elmo's Fire" features five compositions by her late husband Elmo Hope including Bellarosa and Low Tide. Though this is tenor saxophonist Junior Cook's only recording with Bertha, he had played her song You Know Who! on his 1989 album "On A Misty Night," also featuring bassist Walter Booker and drummer Leroy Williams.
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- Recording: Glenn Zaleski - Glenn Zaleski Plays Bertha Hope's Solo Piano Arrangements
- Recorded on: December 1, 2012
- Label: jazzleadsheets.com (JLS 1054)
- Concert Key: B-flat
- Vocal Range: , to
- Style: Swing (medium)
- Piano - Glenn Zaleski
Video
- Description
- Historical Notes
- Solos
- Piano Corner
- Bass Corner
- Drum Corner
- Guitar Corner
- Inside & Beyond
- Minus You
Bertha Hope's solo piano arrangement is a bit bouncier than the original quintet version; Glenn Zaleski recorded it at a slightly faster tempo. Click on Piano Corner for more details.
Though several Bertha Hope compositions have 12-measure forms, not all are blues like this one. Several other 12-measure songs were recorded by Glenn Zaleski for this project. Check out especially Hokkaido Spring, which combines stepwise and circle-of-4ths movement similarly to Bai Tai Blues but is not a blues itself.
A bouncier version of Bai Tai Blues, at a faster tempo than Bertha Hope's original recording. The bounce comes from the left hand chords, which emphasize the melody notes on the "and" of beat 2. Most of the original two-horn arrangement is preserved in right-hand voicings, though the melody in the last two measures is clearer. Like the lead sheet, this arrangement has detailed articulations—a little different from the original version.
Related Songs
Email Send Bai Tai Blues to a friend
Send this page to a friend via email. Add your name or email in the first field. In the second, add one or more email addresses, separated by a comma.
Bertha Hope
born on November 8, 1936
A dynamic force in improvised music, pianist Bertha Hope has been making headway in the jazz scene since the early 1960s. Raised in Los Angeles, Bertha attended Manual Arts High School. She began her jazz journey with pianists Elmo Hope and Richie Powell in her youth. Although she studied piano at Los Angeles Community College, she received her B.A. in early childhood education from Antioch College. She married Elmo in 1960; they moved to New York where Bertha worked as a telephone operator by day and performed at night. Read more...
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