Biscuit Man – Donald Brown

An exciting post-bop workout for melody and rhythm section alike. The 12-measure melody is full of angular structures of fourths and fifths. In the first six measures, it's complemented by off-beat bass figures (rising in half steps) in a three-beat, over-the-barline pattern. For the rest of the head, the bass mostly walks until more rhythmic figures in the last two measures. There are no chord symbols in the head—most recordings have no piano comping—but it is essentially a blues head, at least as implied in the walking part of the bass line. Solos are on blues changes in C; as there is nothing in the melody that implies a C key center, our B♭ and E♭ lead sheets have no transposed key signature (instead of showing key signatures for D and A respectively). The C treble and bass clef lead sheets show the entire bass line.

On each recording of The Biscuit Man, the rhythm section plays a bit differently. This first version has no piano comping in the head; Donald Brown doubles the melody with the horns in his right hand and the bass line in his left hand, switching to two-handed melody in octaves when the bass begins walking. Bassist Ira Coleman takes a few liberties with the walking but otherwise plays as written throughout the head. Drummer Carl Allen is mostly playing time through the bass hits at the beginning of the head; on the other recordings the drums are more active, indicated in our lead sheets as "play off bass line." The first chorus of Donald's piano solo has the same bass hits on the first six measures.

Donald Brown's own version is rather faster than the original recording. Donald again doubles both the melody and bass hits; on the first time through the in head, he adds a little left-hand comping, implying a D7-G7 turnaround in the ninth and tenth measures. Drummer Eric Walker really plays off the bass hits in the first six measures; bassist Robert Hurst interprets the last six measures a bit more loosely. The bass hits are also played in the first chorus of Tom Harrell's trumpet solo.

This chordless quintet recording by drummer Elvin Jones is around the same tempo as the original version, recorded by Carl Allen. Bassist George Mraz plays the line exactly as written, while on both in and out heads Elvin plays mostly time on the first chorus, playing a bit more off the bass hits on the repeat. Unlike the other recordings, the bass hits never return in the solos.