Recording: Jon Davis - Jon Davis Trio
Recorded on: September 4, 2010
Label: jazzleadsheets.com (JLS 1043)
Concert Key: No key center
Vocal Range: , to
Style: Swing (medium up)

Piano - Jon Davis
Bass - Daryl Johns
Drums - Steve Johns

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Jon Davis - Here's Jonny (Jon Davis Trio)

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This medium-up song has a decidedly open-ended feeling. There are no key centers and no resolutions; the changes continually flow, often through stepwise root motion. The only dominant chords are sus chords. The form is held together by the melody, which develops only one theme throughout based on a descending triad. The non-repeating form is 30 measures long, with progressively shorter sections: 12-measure A, 10-measure B, and 8-measure C. The last four measures of the A section have the bass and drums switching to a 1-feel; they otherwise use a 4-feel throughout. This 1-feel section is kept in the solos on this recording.

As with many Jon Davis songs, the ending is a vamp. In this case, the last eight measures are vamped; since the changes are the same four measures twice it could be called a four-measure vamp. On this recording the piano trades 8s with the drums four times before playing the C section melody out twice. During the drum solo sections the bass continues walking; Jon plays rhythmic comping figures that converse with the drums.

A melody transcription is available showing Jon's interpretation of both the in and out heads as well as the entire ending trading section. The transcription includes notable rhythms, and a few notes, of the left hand voicings as well as the top notes of all voicings in the drum solo sections of the trading.

Jon first recorded Here's Jonny with guitarist Christian Havel, on the latter's live album "Franz" from 2002. That quartet version, with Dennis Irwin on bass and Joris Dudli on drums, has the in head repeated twice. The guitar plays most of the melody, with piano doubling at the beginning; the last eight measures have piano on the melody. On this version the solos have a 4-feel throughout.

Jon's inspiration for Here's Jonny was the song A Jump Ahead on Herbie Hancock's album "Inventions & Dimensions." It goes into a pedal every chorus. "That's why this tune, the second or third phrase always breaks down to a 2-feel." Doing this "tempers the 4/4, as opposed to most of jazz where once it starts going, it's going," says Davis. "The sus chords in the opening melody had this kind of showbiz side and I thought of Johnny Carson, but compositionally I was thinking of 'Inventions & Dimensions,'" explains Davis. Jon chose Here's Jonny for this project as a nod to the the Blue Note trio style and the recording studio where Herbie's album (and Jon's) was recorded by engineer Rudy Van Gelder.

On Here's Jonny, the bassist is challenged to walk at a fairly fast tempo over difficult changes, occasionally going into a spacier 1-feel. During the last four bars of the D section, the bass can either play whole notes to leave more space, or—as Daryl Johns does on the recording—can play half notes to create a half-time feel with the drums. After the drum solo, though the bass goes into a 2-feel, you could experiment with walking up until the last four bars to end the tune.

Here's Jonny is an medium up-tempo swinger which transitions from sections of standard "time" to sections of "broken time." The form is ABC, A consisting of 12 bars, B consisting of 10 bars and C consisting of 8 bars. This highly irregular and unique form makes for an engaging playing experience that requires a different level of concentration than that which is required to play a standard 32-bar form.

Exclusive Minus You audio tracks and parts
Our Minus You bass and drum parts have the melody written the way Jon plays it on the in head, as well as the last two repeats of the C section melody at the end. Bassists and drummers playing with the Minus You tracks should listen closely to the piano on the out head, as well as the ending trading, to really lock in and interact; if they want to know exactly what's going on here they should read the melody transcription.
CLIP The form of the track is:
-- melody
-- piano solo 6 choruses
-- out melody
-- coda: piano trading 8s with drums 4 times
-- 2 more C sections

mp3 minus Piano
-- count off sets up the melody
--play the melody
--solo 6 choruses
--play the out melody
--coda: trade 8s with drums 4 times; comp/interact with the drum solo sections
       play 2 more C sections

mp3 minus Bass
--count off sets up the melody
--walk for the melody
--walk for the piano solo 6 choruses
--walk for the out melody
--coda: walk for piano and drums trading 8s 4 times (continue walking in the drum solo sections)
       walk/2-feel for 2 more C sections

mp3 minus Drums
--count off sets up the melody
--comp for the melody
--comp for the piano solo 6 choruses
--comp for the out melody
--coda:CLIP trade 8s with piano (piano first) 4 times; interact with piano attacks while soloing
       comp for 2 more C sections

Here's Jonny – Jon Davis

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