This modern hard-bop song has a relatively simple melody throughout; it’s driven more by the rhythm section activity, both harmonic and rhythmic. A bass pedal point (on the dominant A♭) sets this song up, repeating dotted quarter notes over the barline. The pedal continues through the first half of the 16-measure A sections, which feature a whole-note melody and shifting stepwise harmonies over it. The rest of the A section has more tonal harmony, but with several slippery substitutions; the first A ends up in C major while the second resolves to the tonic D♭. The eight-measure bridge is open for a piano solo until the last two and a half measures, a long melody pickup into C which is the same as the second A. The bridge changes start in A major and then visit A♭ and F before resolving back to D♭.
Solos are on the head form, with the first chorus of each solo using the same bass pedal; in subsequent choruses the bass walks. There is also a drum chorus; a rhythmic variation of the head is used in the first half of the A and C sections as send-offs for the drums (including the pickup to C from the head). After the out head, the bass and drums play the pedal figure again alone for eight measures. The horns and piano then return for a final 10-measure phrase, continuing whole notes over the pedal but expanding the melodic and harmonic line ever upward to a final A♭m11 chord (sort of a substitute for a tonic D♭7).
About the arrangement: Our Condensed Score is also the rhythm section part; 2nd horn parts are available for the two-horn arrangement. The horns play harmony throughout the head, drum chorus, and coda. In the pedal point sections (A and C of the head, drum send offs, and coda), the two-horn voicings are the same as the top two notes of three-part piano voicings.
For Jim Rotondi’s solo, click on Solos.
This title track is one of two Jim Rotondi compositions on “
The Pleasure Dome”. Check out the other,
On Y Va—sort of the opposite of
The Pleasure Dome with its tricky melodic lines but simple rhythm section part.
“The Pleasure Dome” was the second of Rotondi’s three albums for the Sharp Nine label. The following month, he recorded “New Vistas” for Criss Cross, one of two Rotondi albums featuring guitarist
Peter Bernstein.
Jim Rotondi plays two choruses, one with and one without
CLIP the bass pedal figures. This lively solo is full of twisting and turning eighth-note lines that connect the changes through smooth yet unpredictable voice leading. Our transcription has detailed articulations and a few important chord alterations indicated below the staff.
