Overtime – Charlie Shavers

Charlie Shavers' compositions are in the same style as his solos, and Overtime is a great example. It's a charming medium swinger with plenty of bounce in the arpeggiated ups and downs of the melody. The changes are quite simple: the A section loops II7-V7-I-VI7, and the bridge goes to the IV and back. There is no written melody on the bridge, which is a piano solo on the recording. There is an interlude, D in our lead sheets, that is played after both in and out heads. It's a series of rhythmic hits (related to Tadd Dameron's classic Tadd's Delight), alternated with drum fills. In typical Gene Krupa fashion, on the out head this section is set up with an eight-measure drum solo.

Though the out head on the recording starts from C (after a piano solo on the two A sections and a drum solo on the bridge), the out head can certainly start at A. Our lead sheets indicate a D.S. to the beginning of the head. On the recording, the horns play the melody in octaves throughout; our E♭ lead sheet is in the same octave as the trumpet but alto saxophonists can also play an octave lower.