Phineas – Donald Brown

Striking and dramatic in Donald Brown's distinctive style, Phineas has two contrasting sections. The A section repeats a two-measure stop-time figure four times with the whole band. There's no melody in the breaks between the hits; instead the piano solos with spare, light fills over minimal drums (hi-hat on 2 and 4, cross stick on 4). At this slow tempo, tension really builds in these breaks. The rhythm section comes in with a 2-feel for the B section: 12 measures of flowing, bluesy melody over a colorful set of changes. Though the A section chord is Em11, the key center of E♭ major is established toward the end of the B section.

Solos are on the same form as the head, with the same A section stop-time and slightly simplified B section changes. After the out head, the A section is repeated again, vamping and fading out. A bass part is available; it comes from Donald's original manuscript.

Our lead sheets include the two-horn harmonies from the recording. The A section hits are voiced in thirds, and the last measure of the B section is also harmonized.

Note that the lead sheets available under each album cover are the same, except Donald's transcribed piano solo from "The Classic Introvert" is available only under that cover.

A piano melody and solo transcription is available for this recording; click on Solos for more details. This version has slightly different B section changes from the original quintet recording. More passing chords are added, mostly extra V-Is such as in the third measure where G7 is added after Cm7, leading back to Cm7 in the next measure. The fourth measure also has different chord qualities: Emaj7 to A7 rather than E7 to Amaj7. The 11th measure in this version adds a slick descending series of chords in quarter-note triplets.