In A Little Provincial Town – Bobby Jaspar

One of Bobby Jaspar's better-known compositions, this song certainly lives up to its evocative title. The plaintive and romantic melody has a classic "cool" aesthetic very much of its time. Besides the ballad-tempo head, this song further paints a scene with its rhythmic, double-time intro. This eight-measure intro is played by the rhythm section on this recording; the piano and guitar voicings focus on a hip Cm6(9) chord.

The head has an eight-measure A section, four-measure B and six-measure C which starts the same as A but extends the melody phrase of the fourth measure for two more measures. This leads to a double-time D section/interlude which is the same as the intro. This section is not part of the solos, making a cyclical ABC solo form; however, it returns at the end of the out head, with a descending melody line added as a coda.

The plaintive quality of the melody comes from the many unresolved phrases, which often end on sharp 11ths or flat 9ths of the chords. The B section alternates D♭ major and minor chords, with the melody focusing on the major and minor 7ths; this section is cleverly anticipated by a minor-3rd sub II-V7 in the key of D♭ (F♯m7-B7). There is a triplet countermelody on the second and fourth measures of the bridge that fills in around the melody; played by the guitar and bass on the recording, this is shown in our C treble and bass clef lead sheets.

Our lead sheet is based on this recording. The C treble and bass clef lead sheets show the complete rhythm section intro, with the unison piano and guitar voicings in the sounding octave and bass line in the written octave. The chord on the third measure of the intro in this version is a simple E♭ triad, accentuated by the bass line. On the recording there is a bit more rhythm section arrangement on the head; this is not shown in our lead sheet as this song certainly works with improvised piano and/or guitar comping.

We show the A section as the sign to go back to after the solos, but all three recordings split up choruses for the solos. On this recording the guitar plays the first solo on the A section, followed by a piano solo on B and C. The next and last chorus skips A and goes straight to a flute solo on B and C, and then D is played to the coda.

Click on the first album cover for a detailed description of this song and the available lead sheets. Chet Baker's recording was the first version of In A Little Provincial Town. This five-horn arrangement is slower and in a lower key for a particularly subdued, even noir-ish sound. Our melody part is essentially a C treble clef lead sheet reflecting this version, with a few key elements of the arrangement. The horns play on the intro; we show the top note of the voicings and the bass line, which is doubled by the baritone sax for the rhythmic hits. Unlike the other two versions, the bass line and chord hits don't overlap; the hits really "bounce" off the bass notes.

In the head, the melody phrasing and changes are slightly different from the other recordings. A notable descending chromatic countermelody is shown in the A section, which is similar to the J.J. Johnson version. The baritone sax plays a variation of the triplet countermelody in all four measures of the B section; this is shown an octave higher. The horns again play the D section, but with different voicings from the intro; again the top notes are shown. This recording is only two choruses long; Chet solos on A and B of the second chorus, followed by the out melody at C. This goes directly to a new coda which extends the rhythmic hits of the intro into a three-measure cycle which vamps and fades out, with Chet soloing.

The lead sheets shown here are the same as those under the Bobby Jaspar Quintet album cover. In addition, a concert melody part is available for J.J. Johnson's recording. The horns play in the 3rd, 4th, and 7th measures of the intro and D section; voicings are shown as well as the piano voicings for the hits in the intro. These are largely the same voicings as in Bobby's version, though with the piano hits an octave lower. The bass fills are different, and imply G7♯5(♯9)instead of an E♭ chord in the 3rd and 4th measures even though the voicing is the same.

J.J. and Bobby split up the melody: trombone at A and C, flute at B. The two horns play countermelodies around each other; our melody part shows a chromatic descending flute line in the 3rd and 4th measures of A, and the trombone countermelody in the B section which is just slightly different from Bobby's recording. The drums play a double-time feel on the C section; the flute and piano countermelody here is not shown in our melody part. The solos are in double time throughout, with the chords moving twice as slowly. On the recording, the flute and trombone solo for a chorus each; after a piano solo on A, the out melody starts from B.