Blue Nostalgia – Donald Brown

Though the title may suggest a slow, bluesy ballad, this one is actually an uptempo song with mostly modal changes. The melody of the A section begins and ends simply, with some patterned 8th-note lines in the fifth and sixth measures that move outside the key. The bridge contains similarly convoluted lines. The form is slightly irregular: the two A sections are 10 measures each, the bridge eight measures, and the C section differs from A in being four measures longer, with a sort of "tag" added for these measures. The shape of the A section, with a simple modal beginning and ending contrasting with faster changes (two chords per measure) in the middle, is related to the Wayne Shorter compositions Speak No Evil and Yes Or No; in fact this whole song seems to show a Shorter influence.

The changes of the bridge are unusual in that the same four-measure phrase appears twice, with some slight differences (in the melody also)—except for the bass notes. In the first four measures, the E♭ minor chords appear over F roots; the next time, E♭ is the root for the same chords. It should be noted that E♭m11♯5(maj7), in the 2nd and 6th measures of the bridge, is essentially a B diminished chord with G♭ below and E♭ in the bass. When F is in the bass it becomes the same as F13♭5(♭9, ♯9).

The ending has a variation of the melody for the last eight measures of the head; the same eight measures are then tagged two more times.