No Argument – Hank Mobley

An exciting minor-key medium-up swinger, in an angular hard-bop style. The A section melody is entirely in a pentatonic scale, which may suggest a modal harmonic structure, but the changes here are built on II-V7s. The bridge develops the second half of the A section melody over stepwise rising and falling triads. A pedal point interlude is used to launch the first soloist; it only happens once on the recording, but if you're playing this song you can use the interlude between solos as well.

The rhythm section arrangement is what really makes No Argument come to life. The first measure of the A section starts with only a drum hit on the downbeat; the melody, piano and bass come in (with the drums) on beat 3. In the bridge, the piano plays triads tied over from the "and" of 4 in each measure, while the bass holds down the root and fifth (double-stops) in repeated half notes right on beats 1 and 3. The pedal point interlude has a similar piano/bass interplay, with open fifths in the piano tied from the "and" of 4 over the bass pedaling quarter notes. Detailed piano, bass, and drum parts are available. The drum part includes some of Billy Higgins' fills from the recording, plus his pattern on the interlude.

Our lead sheets are also the first horn parts for the quintet arrangement. The horns play in octaves except on the last two measures of the bridge: the seventh measure is in contrary motion while the following phrase is voiced in tritones and fifths. The last note of the out head is also harmonized; this is shown with a smaller notehead in the second parts instead of making a first and second ending. The melody in the lower octave is a bit low in the alto sax's range; our alto second part is written in the same range as the first, indicated "optional 8vb."