Mama Flosie – Al Cohn

Folksy and almost gospel-esque, this medium-up 3/4 song has a distinctive charm. The A section melody is largely pentatonic, with 8th-note lines recalling Charles Mingus' Better Get Hit In Your Soul. The form is 40 measures: 16-measure A, 8-measure B, and 16-measure C the same as A. The B section has a contrastingly simpler melody, and the only modulation in the song: the fifth and sixth measures of this section have a resolution to D♭. The changes are otherwise diatonic, with a lot of stepwise root motion, inversions, and a strategically placed Edim7 in the fourth measure.

Our lead sheets show the basic melody and changes; they come from Al Cohn's original manuscript.

In addition we have first and second saxophone parts (plus concert editions) for the quintet arrangement on this recording. Al and Zoot start the melody in unison; the last four measures of the A section introduce a countermelody, simpler than the melody here but continuing into the bridge where it fills in around the long notes of the melody.

There is an eight-measure rhythm section intro, with a piano melody shown in our first and second quintet parts. After the out head there is a coda with a two-measure solo piano break followed by a variation of the last melody phrase. Jaki Byard plays a wild, jangly fill in this coda that just barely implies the changes of the last four measures of the head.

Joe Cohn's version of Mama Flosie is quite a bit slower than his father's. He plays a slightly different melody on the bridge, and the changes are also different in a few places. For example, the second measure has B♭7/D instead of D7 to resolve to E♭maj7. The seventh measure has G♭7 instead of C7. This recording starts with a rubato organ intro, followed by a two-measure drum fill in time to set up the melody. The ending tags the last four measures, ritarding into the last chord followed by a IV-I cadence.

For our lead sheet editions, we've written the melody where it sounds, so the B-flat lead sheet works perfect for Trumpet players and the C treble clef lead sheet works for piano, vibes, violin, etc, Al's two-tenor quintet arrangement has both parts an octave higher where the tenors would read them, and the quintet C treble clef editions are where the Guitar would read them.