Our audio excerpt begins at the very top of the recording, with Norman Simmons' beautiful solo piano set up for the vocal entrance. The excerpt includes the complete opening head of Rachel's lyric and her beautiful performance.
The melody form is A-1, A-2, B, C, which (as in many ballad recordings) is followed by one more chorus. After Rachel's opening melody chorus on the complete recording, pianist Simmons takes a solo for the first two A sections, then Rachel returns to sing from the bridge. The last C section is expanded into a coda.
Rachel's lyric fits perfectly with Dexter's melody. Like most great ballad singers, Rachel frees up the rhythmic content of the melody during her performance in order to tell the story in a very personal way. It's especially fascinating to listen to Rachel as she interprets her own lyric.
Lyric Description: Rachel Gould turns this lovely Dexter Gordon ballad,
Jodi, into a captivating vocal chart with her evocative lyric. The phrases describe many of the simple pleasures we've come to associate with the changing seasons. Rachel captures the warmth of this piece with her inviting poetry.
No-vocal version: As in Rachel's recorded version, the piece begins with a four-bar piano introduction. The pickup is left open for the singer before the entire rhythm section enters on the downbeat of the first A section. This is a vocal-only feature (no instrumental solos): after singing through the melody once, take the
D.S. only ending which goes back to B for another bridge and continues to the Coda. The rhythm section stops after playing the downbeat of the third measure of the Coda and re- enters for a last chord only. An additional chord (taken from Dexter Gordon's recording of
Jodi) before the last chord is indicated in the arrangement and can be used for further vocal accompaniment before the final chord.
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