Just Close To You Alone – Cecil McBee & Verena McBee

Our audio excerpt starts with a short piano lead in to the melody. On Verena's recording the piano plays a full four-measure intro.

Verena has a big vocal range so she elected to sing it in Cecil's original instrumental key of D♭.
If another key would be better for you, send the key you'd like to don@secondfloormusic.com 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.

Our vocal lead sheet starts with the melody. Don Sickler: When I sent Verena proofs to look at for the vocal lead sheet, she immediately added a ♭9 to all of the B♭7 chords because that's the way she prefers it. I had already discussed and finalized the instrumental lead sheet for Close To You Alone with Cecil, and we had discussed the B♭7 notations. Obviously the only crucial ♭9 for Cecil is where the melody lands on the ♭9 in the last measure of the bridge. Cecil said that of course, if you like, all the B♭7s could be ♭9 chords, but he doesn't want you to be locked in, so he prefers the B♭7 notation for the rest of them. If Verena likes them all to be ♭9s for her arrangement, great! Also, for dramatic effect, Verena likes to put a hold on the ♭9 in the last bar of the bridge, before starting the last A section. Each A section of this beautiful AABA ballad is extended to 10 measures in length.

Lyric description: Musings on love, absence, desire; how love changes everything.