Love Letter To Karen – Kenny Drew, Jr.

This beautiful Latin song is a great example of the romantic side of Kenny Drew, Jr. The melody flows lyrically through a moderately long AABCDE form, 58 measures in total. This form has an unusual contrast in the length of the sections: the A and C sections are eight measures long, but the B section is 20 measures. D is six measures and E is again eight. The first four measures of the A and C sections feature a rhythmic dialogue between the melody and the bass line, which on the recording is doubled by the piano.

This song's key center is generally A minor, but with visits to many other keys. The D section, which has no melody and is essentially like an interlude between choruses, vamps two measures of A minor and two of A major; it is also used as an intro and ending. The A section changes start in A minor but modulate to B♭ major and D♭ major, resolving back to A minor at the end. The first eight measures of the bridge have a pedal on E♭; the next four move the same pedal down to D♭, with the same melody transposed. The last eight measures of this section feature a colorful, classical-sounding progression that goes through a descending series of minor keys, with the melody rising in contrary motion, before modulating back to A minor. After the C section, which is like A but ending in D♭ major, the D section features more contrary motion based on the end of the B section, getting back to A minor for the E section vamp.

Our lead sheets feature a fill that Kenny plays near the end of the B section. The C treble clef lead sheet also shows two-note voicings that Kenny plays in the second half of this section and also the beginning of the D section, where he voices the melody in sixths. The melody has quite a wide range, and our E♭ and C bass clef lead sheets have some phrases an octave lower. The whole melody can be played on tenor sax an octave below where Kenny plays it on piano, but trumpet players will probably want to take some of the B and D sections down an octave; these are indicated in our B♭ lead sheet.