Tadd Dameron

  • You asked for it, we got it!

    The Feelin’s Good - Hank Mobley
    Recently I got a very nice email from one of our customers, Steve Christian: “I wanted to express my gratitude for the wonderful resource you have created …” He went on to say great things about Hank Mobley music, and asked: “I hope you have plans to release more of Hank’s treasures in the future. I would love to see The Feelin’s Good from “Straight No Filter.”

    This jogged my memory, and I remembered the session was recorded sometime in 1963. Lo and behold, I discovered the 50th anniversary was right around the corner. March 7, 1963. Today! A perfect time to make The Feelin’s Good available. That Mobley recording session produced three more gems that are already on jazzleadsheets.com. Instead of releasing that session on one LP, Alfred Lion of Blue Note Records put these four selections on three different recordings. Check out the others for more historical information:
    East Of The Village
    Old World New Imports
    Up A Step

    Happy 50th Anniversary! Hank Mobley’s music: it’s always feelin’ good.

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    Adding another great composer to jazzleadsheets.com: Freddie Redd - And Time Marches On
    Pianist Freddie Redd is a marvelous composer we’ve known since 1985 when I produced two albums for him for Uptown Records. The second trio album, where Freddie played this title, with bassist George Duvivier and drummer Ben Riley, is still unissued. However, you can hear this great track as Freddie played it with his International Jazz Connection. Freddie’s music is a delight to play. Listen to this one; more is on the way.

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    Joao - Tommy Turrentine
    A beautiful slow samba first recorded by tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, brother of Tommy. Take a look at the descriptive notes to learn about the brothers’ differing views on the song. Recorded on Stanley’s “Nightwings” album.

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    Fred’s Delight - Tadd Dameron
    We’ve also received some requests for more Tadd Dameron lead sheets. Plus, the long awaited Paul Combs book, The Life and Music of Tadd Dameron, has just been released. Paul Combs was instrumental in getting me a copy of Tadd’s big band score (in Tadd’s manuscript) for “Fred’s Delight,” and the big band arrangement (score and parts) is available from ejazzlines.com. Even without a big band, everyone should get a chance to play Dameron’s distinctive melody and harmonies and add it to their combo repertory.

    Thanks for visiting jazzleadsheets.com!

    Don Sickler (phone 212-741-1175, email don@secondfloormusic.com)

  • end-of-January music from jazzleadsheets

    Click on the links to get more info and to hear the music.

    Bevan’s Birthday - Tadd Dameron
    Another Tadd Dameron composition from the famous Magic Touch album - a lilting melody enhanced by Tadd’s complex harmonies that starts Latin and then goes into swing.

    Early Bird - Carl Perkins
    An easy-going and fun swinger from the talented, unfortunately short-lived composer/pianist Carl Perkins.

    Hank’s Tune - Hank Mobley
    Recorded by Horace Silver, with Hank on tenor and Donald Byrd on trumpet.

    Splittin’ - Ray Bryant
    Three different C treble clef lead sheets for a very popular Ray Bryant title: two from trio recordings where Ray was the pianist, and the third from a quintet recording with Hank Jones on piano. Melody and second parts for horns.

    Transition Blues - Hank Mobley
    Hank Mobley’s tribute to the Transition label finally gets the correct title. Check the Historical Notes to read about it.

    Thanks!
    Don Sickler

  • 12/17/10 jazzleadsheets.com additions

    B’s A Plenty - Elmo Hope
    This is another great Elmo composition, the opening track on his classic 1959 Elmo Hope Trio album. We’re not really sure what the title means. However, a few nights ago I saw Bertha Hope while I was performing at the Jazz Standard. Bertha’s not sure, but during the period when B’s A-Plenty was written, Elmo was naming quite a few of his titles for her, like Minor Bertha. Bertha always thought the “B” meant her. When I saw Bertha I was playing in a special tribute to Johnny Griffin with pianist/composer Norman Simmons and the Fiftieth Anniversary Big Soul Band. This special evening included an on-stage phone call to the original trumpeter on the 1960 Big Soul Band recording: Clark Terry, who that day was celebrating his 90th birthday. Look for titles by Johnny Griffin and Norman Simmons soon, on jazzleadsheets.com.

    Dark Days - Robert Watson
    Bobby Watson is, for me, another easily recognizable composer who has created a wide variety of beautiful music over the years, all with his own distinctive stamp. I’ve always loved his ballads. Bobby is a very sensitive person, and when he is moved by something, he makes a powerful musical statement. The music tells you how he feels about Dark Days.

    Just Plain Talkin’ - Tadd Dameron
    This composition comes from Tadd’s Magic Touch album, where he arranged for larger groups. Just Plain Talkin’ was written for a nine-piece ensemble. Now, everyone can learn and play this great melody. If you’re familiar with Tadd’s writing, you’ll immediately recognize that this has to be a Tadd composition. Read more about this composition in the Historical Notes.

    WE’VE ALSO ADDED SOMETHING NEW - a new relationship with ejazzlines.com

    As most of you are probably aware, Second Floor Music has many combo and big band arrangements available through Hal Leonard. In addition to this relationship, we’re going to be able to make more product available through a new relationship with ejazzlines.com. We’re giving them permission to publish a Don Sickler Jazz Lines Edition series.

    This new series will give me the opportunity to make more arrangements available as they were recorded. The Don Sickler Jazz Lines Edition series will include full scores and recorded parts for compositions where the arrangements, especially because of the complexity of rhythm section parts, make it impossible to represent the music correctly as just a lead sheet.

    Since we’re also getting lots more requests for transcribed solos, this new relationship with ejazzlines gives us the opportunity to often make both a solo and the original arrangement available, and there will be links on both sites to help you connect the editions.

    I can see this can easily get confusing, so I’m going to immediately show you how this works:
    Jazzleadsheets.com has two more great Hank Mobley solos: Hank’s solo on Late Show and his solo on Deciphering The Message.

    Both titles are from the second edition of The Jazz Messengers, when Donald Byrd replaced Kenny Dorham. Second Floor Music has had two other arrangements available from this important recording session for years. Since the whole quintet recording session is now available as an album mp3 download (or as individual titles), we thought that, in addition to our new transcribed solos, we should make three more arrangements available from this recording session. Here are two links to the whole album: from Amazon or from iTunes.

    Here are links to the quintet arrangements that are available:
    Deciphering The Message
    Late Show
    Hank’s Symphony
    Infra-Rae
    Weird-O

    Let music make your holiday season more fun. Especially jazz music.
    Don Sickler

  • pre-Thanksgiving jazzleadsheets.com additions

    The Breakdown - Hank Mobley
    Last Saturday (November 13), I was trying to decide what to put on jazzleadsheets.com next. We have so many great Hank Mobley titles to choose from. Then I realized it was the 50th anniversary of Hank’s “Roll Call” album (recorded November 13, 1960), so it was easy for me to pick “The Breakdown” (lead sheets and Hank’s transcribed tenor solo are available). Previously we posted “My Groove, Your Move” from this same album. Second Floor Music has printed charts of “Roll Call” (quintet) and “Take Your Pick” (octet) available on Music Dispatch. Now there’s only one title left from this classic album: Hank’s original “The Baptist Beat.” Coming soon.

    Cranky Spanky - Bill Hardman
    I get many requests for more Jazz Messengers arrangements. This group, with the front line of Bill Hardman (trumpet) and Jackie McLean (alto sax), was the first band known as “Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers.” Before this recording (December, 1956), “The Jazz Messengers” was a co-operative group, with a trumpet and tenor sax front line.

    The Dream Is You - Tadd Dameron
    This is our first Tadd Dameron lead sheet, but there’ll be more. Melodies are very important—I feel everyone should learn the melody, first. That’s the main goal of jazzleadsheets.com, to make available correct melodies and chord changes to great jazz compositions. Dameron’s compositions are often recorded in beautifully orchestrated formats, like this medium slow swing gem: perfect to play along with. When learning a new song, I always recommend to start by playing along with the recording. I’m a trumpet player, and, once again, I’ve just enjoyed playing “The Dream Is You” with Tadd’s beautiful arrangement for Milt Jackson.

    Bobbie Pin - J.R. Monterose
    J.R.’s lovely ballad Alone Again has been available on jazzleadsheets.com as a vocal leadsheet. If you’re not familiar with J.R Monterose, this new addition, from his first album as a leader, is a great introduction. We’ll be making more of J.R.’s compositions available soon, plus other compositions on this album, like Philly Joe Jones’ original “Ka-Link.”
    Philly Joe was the first one who told me about J.R. In fact, it makes for a pretty unbelievable story. I was in the dressing room with Philly Joe on one of his gigs many years ago. I don’t remember the exact conversation, but Joe started talking about J.R (I think it probably had something to do with “Ka-link”). Anyway, I told Joe that I didn’t know much about J.R., so he went into great and fascinating detail, telling me about this fantastic musician that he’d been involved with. After ranting and raving about J.R. for quite some time, just before Philly Joe was ready to go back to the bandstand, there was a knock on the dressing room door. The door opened to reveal J.R., whom Philly Joe hadn’t seen in years. I remember Joe astonishing J.R. by saying something like: "J.R.! We were just talking about you! Say hello to Don Sickler. You’ll want to talk at length with him." That started my personal, and beautiful, relationship with J.R.

    Minor Bertha - Elmo Hope
    Again, I have Philly Joe Jones to thank for my in-depth discovery of Elmo Hope. Philly Joe (like Thelonious Monk) thought Elmo was one of the great composers. After discussing and playing for me many of Elmo’s recordings, Joe told me that I should talk to Elmo’s widow, Bertha Hope. He said Bertha was also a great pianist and really knew Elmo’s music. So that’s what I did, and Bertha and I have been cataloging and notating Elmo’s music for years.
    Elmo dedicated quite a few of his compositions to Bertha. When Bertha and I played “Minor Bertha” together at the Jazz Standard, I kidded her about how Elmo really captured some of her complex personality in that composition.

    Play the music!
    Don Sickler

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