Dancin' Like We Did Before – Johnny Griffin & Judy Niemack

"The JazzLeadSheets Songbook" was recorded at the legendary Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs.

Don Sickler explains, "I've known Johnny Griffin for years and have played with him in various groups. I also publish some of his compositions. He was a special person and very inspiring to me personally. I wanted to create a project around Johnny. I picked music that Johnny either wrote or had recorded and asked Judy Niemack (a gifted lyricist as well as a superb vocalist) to join the project as lyricist and vocalist. My goal was to start a Johnny Griffin Songbook Project, similar to the Ray Bryant Songbook Project we did with vocalist/lyricist Tina May.

"In 2007 I developed a plan for the Griffin Songbook. Since Johnny Griffin lived in France, and only occasionally traveled to the US, and Judy lived in Germany, usually making it to the States twice a year, I thought that getting both of them in Rudy Van Gelder's New Jersey studio, simultaneously, would be impossible. Therefore, I planned to have Judy write lyrics and decide on the keys she wanted, while I put together a rhythm section of NYC-based musicians who had worked with Johnny. We would then record tracks at Van Gelder's on Judy's next trip, leaving space for Johnny to solo or add to the arrangement when he was next in New York.

"We got the first part done. Unfortunately, when Johnny made his trip to New York, there wasn't enough time in his schedule for him to record, so we had to postpone it for his next trip. As it turned out, Johnny would never make another trip to New York.

"For Dancin' Like We Did Before, the original concept was for Johnny to answer the lyric during the melody, solo for three choruses, then trade twos with Judy for two choruses before the out melody, when he would again improvise around Judy. After Johnny's death, I listened to the basic track (just Judy and the rhythm section), and decided on the multiple trumpets/swingin' party concept. Instead of a soloist trading with Judy during the exchanges, I elected to write some three-trumpet answers to her phrases."

See more titles with lyrics written and sung by Judy in "The JazzLeadSheets Songbook."