Just A Little Boy – Sergio Mihanovich

Just A Little Boy is a charming ballad with a simple melody that leaves plenty of room for rhythmic interpretation. Our audio excerpt begins with the instrumental interlude two measures before Gloria Cooper, the vocalist and pianist, begins singing the opening melody chorus for a second time. Don Sickler's arrangement of this piece shows how easy it is to customize this song for your own personal style. Gloria begins with a rubato first chorus accompanied by herself on piano, but as evidenced in her second chorus, this ballad sounds just as beautiful with a more complicated arrangement (the flugelhorn improvises around the melody for the second chorus). This recording then features lovely solos from Gloria on the piano and Don on flugelhorn. The out melody chorus is carefully arranged for two horns to fill around the melody.

Lyric Description: This touching lyric by Sergio Mihanovich is both sad and hopeful in its description of a lonely little boy who, with innocent and childish optimism, wishes on the moon, hoping that his fortunes will change.

No-Vocal Version: This version begins with the two measure instrumental introduction that sets up a chorus on Gloria's recording, the same way the lead sheet starts. The head is accompanied by the full rhythm section and flugelhorn fills, and subsequently repeated with the flugelhorn and tenor saxophone fills described above. This gives the singer an opportunity to practice the melody twice and respond to the instrumental fills. This version ends like the original recording. When working with this version, the singer should use open phrasing, lay back on the time and try to avoid rushing.

If another key would be better for you, send the key you'd like to Don and we'll post the transposition on the website for purchase. If you're not sure which key is best, send us your range and we'll work with you to figure out the best key.