Black Holes – Renee Rosnes

Black Holes is one of Renee Rosnes' most fascinating compositions. It has an open-ended sound, really driven by melody rather than a chord progression. At the same time, this song is very detailed with regards to harmony, rhythmic structure and form.

There is no singular key center though the melody has a C minor sound at the start and end. The piano voicings are quite specific, with a chord for every melody note; accordingly we show no chord symbols except in the first solo section. A lot of the chords are based on moving parallel structures independently of the bass notes.

There is a repeated eight-measure intro with a slippery half-note bass line, doubled by the piano adding parallel fifths. The head is 31 measures long; we don't divide it further into sections but instead show measure numbers at the start of important phrases. Within the head there is a lot of dialogue between melody figures (doubled by piano right hand, with voicings) and bass figures (mostly doubled by piano left hand).

There are two solo sections. The piano solo (B) is over a 26-measure chord progression, somewhat modal in its harmonic structure. This is the only part of the song where the bass walks. It is followed by a horn solo which starts over the bass line from the intro four times (C), with no specific changes. This solo continues over a vamp (D) based on the first four measures of the head, adding a more rhythmic bass line. This vamp again has no specific chord symbol, but a general C minor tonality. The horn soloist cues the out melody with the first four measures of the head twice over this vamp, going to D.S. from the fifth measure of the head.

The coda starts after 20 measures of the head, repeating an answering bass figure and leading to a drum solo section (E). This repeated section, rhythmically related to the intro but harmonically a bit different, is 16 measures long but with a 1st and 2nd ending; for the latter the bass notes of the last three measures are a fourth lower. The two recordings end a bit differently: E on this first version vamps and fades out. The endings from both recordings are described in our lead sheets and parts.

Our bass part is also the drum part, with cues for the drums included. Tenor saxophonist Chris Potter plays the melody in quite a high register; our B♭ lead sheet is written an octave lower and indicated "optional 8va."

This faster version (quarter note = 252 as opposed to 228 for the original) has a similar arrangement to the first recording. The main difference is in the drum solo section at the end. Here E is played four times, with a gradual crescendo throughout leading to an ending (F) based on the first three measures of E. This is indicated in our lead sheets and parts as well as a description of how the two recordings end differently. Our piano part condenses the first and second endings into a single line (up and down stems) and shows F under the beginning system of E.

At this faster tempo drummer Lenny White plays "broken time" on open hi-hat for the intro. Jack DeJohnette on the original recording plays more colorfully here with the cymbals. At the start of D in Chris Potter's solo, the bass and drums drop out; White comes in on the third repeat with a funky half-time feel.