Minor Mode – Booker Little
A challenging and unusual minor blues, full of shifting feels and tricky licks. Lead sheets, second parts and Booker Little's trumpet solo (in B-flat and C editions).
- Recording: Max Roach - Max Roach + 4 At Newport
- Recorded on: July 6, 1958
- Label: EmArcy (MG 36140)
- Concert Key: F minor
- Style: Swing (medium up)
- Trumpet - Booker Little
- Tenor Sax - George Coleman
- Tuba - Ray Draper
- Bass - Art Davis
- Drums - Max Roach
Video
- The Max Roach Quintet, 1958 on "The Stars of Jazz:" Max Roach (d), Booker Little (tpt), George Coleman (ts), Ray Draper (tuba), Art Davis(b)
- Miki Yamanaka (p), Jimmy Macbride (d), Hillel Salem (tpt), Alon Near (b), "Miki's Mood - The Music of Booker Little," 5/25/22
- The Max Roach Quintet, 1959 on "Look Up And Live:" Max Roach (d), Booker Little (tpt), George Coleman (ts), Ray Draper (tuba), Art Davis(b)
This recording was Booker Little's second recording: his first was a little more than a month earlier in Chicago (June 3, 1958) in a more conventional Max Roach quintet setting.
Transcribed Trumpet Solo: Ray Draper plays the first solo on the recording, on tuba. His last note can be heard on the downbeat of our audio clip for the start of Booker Little's solo trumpet. This incredible new young trumpet player must have opened plenty of eyes at that Newport Festival. At the age of 20 he could fly all over the trumpet, as this five-chorus solo shows.
Check out other Booker Little trumpet solos on jazzleadsheets.com, where you can also read more about this incredible artist who unfortunately had such a short life.
Bee Tee's Minor Plea
The Grand Valse
Minor Sweet
Opening Statement
Booker Little
April 2, 1938 – October 5, 1961
A tragic loss to the world of jazz at age 23! Hearing is certainly believing: in Booker's short life, he still was able to leave us with recordings and compositions that are guaranteed to astonish and captivate. His effortless-sounding virtuosity ranks him as one of the greatest trumpet players. He was also a gifted composer, who obviously took composing very seriously, as his recording output shows. Booker began on trumpet when he was 12 and played with Johnny Griffin and the MJT + 3 while attending the Chicago Conservatory. He worked with Max Roach (1958-1959) and then freelanced in New York. He recorded with Roach and Abbey Lincoln, was on John Coltrane's Africa/Brass album, and was well-documented during a July 1961 gig at the Five Spot with Eric Dolphy. Booker Little led four sessions before his tragic early death. Read more...