Michelle – Bobby Hackett

"The Bobby Hackett Quartet" was the tenth of Bobby's 13 albums for the Capitol label. The same lineup, expanded with guitars, woodwinds and percussion, appears on Bobby's next album recorded three weeks later, "Hawaii Swings;" bassist Bob Carter was of Hawaiian origin. Dick Scott, the drummer on these albums, is best known for his work with Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh. For a recording featuring his son Skip Scott, also a drummer, check out the "At Liberty" trio version of pianist Billy Lester's G-Minor Jazz.

Our melody and solo transcription is available in C, B♭ and E♭ editions. This recording is three choruses long: after Bobby plays the melody, there's one chorus of piano solo before Bobby comes back for a final chorus divided into eight measures of solo and eight measures of melody to a tag ending. Parts of the transcription may look busy with all their 16th-note lines, but at this slow tempo there's plenty of room for Bobby's distinctive vocabulary of scoops, shakes, and grace notes. Articulations are clearly marked, as well as arrows indicating where notes are laid back or pushed forward.

For all its complexity, Bobby's solo is really just a further embellishment of the melody. This is especially obvious if you look at the last note of each phrase, but most notes of the melody are hidden in the lines. He really returns to the melody two measures before the second half of the chorus. It's a classic earlier style of improvising, one that is particularly effective in any setting to make a melody more memorable.