Little Joe – Frank Socolow

Like Frank Socolow's other songs on this album, Little Joe has a happy sound. It's a medium-up "rhythm changes" head in a bebop-to-cool style. The bridge is different from the standard "rhythm changes" bridge, going to E♭ (the IV chord), to B♭ and back to E♭ again. In both melody and changes this bridge is slightly reminiscent of that of Clifford Brown's Tiny Capers.

This recording has an arrangement by Bill Holman which features three-part voicings on some of the head (tenor sax on the melody, trombone and guitar harmonizing below). There is a "send off" for the piano solo, a shout chorus, and a clever coda. This song works without the arrangement, but the coda is shown in our lead sheet. It starts with a tag from the last two measures of the head, followed by four measures of 3/4 in which the beginning of the melody is stretched out to dotted quarter notes, harmonized in rising and falling chords into a final hit.

One measure of the head—the last measure of the second A section—is different on the recording from our lead sheet. We've chosen to go with Frank's original manuscript; the different notes on the recording may be a mistake.

The range of this melody is relatively specific for tenor sax. In the sounding octave it goes too low for trumpet, so our B♭ lead sheet works for both instruments in their respective octaves. Trumpeters have the option to play the coda down an octave. The E♭ lead sheet is written in the same register—rather low for alto sax; alto players have the option to take the head an octave up.