Honey Did – Sara Cassey
Originally recorded in a vocal scat setting with a big band arrangement, this bebop-style medium swinger certainly works in a smaller ensemble context as well. Our lead sheet is a condensed version of the melody lines from the original Ernie Wilkins arrangement.
Sara Cassey
April 1, 1929 – May 5, 1966
from Don Sickler: I can tell you a few things, but unfortunately only a very few things about Sara Cassey. I know she was from Detroit. She came to New York sometime in the mid '50's. She was a pianist, but not a performing jazz pianist. She wrote her music out in full, through composed, in notation, not melody with chord symbols. While in New York, she worked for Riverside Records and therefore got to meet many of the great jazz musicians who recorded for that label. Many of the Detroit musicians, such as the Jones brothers (Hank, Thad and Elvin), pianists Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris and Roland Hanna, and bassist Ron Carter, knew she was a talented composer. They passed that knowledge on to other great musicians like trumpeter Clark Terry, saxophonist Johnny Griffin, pianists Billy Taylor, Junior Mance and Marian McPartland, as well as drummer Charli Persip, all of whom recorded her music. Read more...