Promise – Charles McPherson

This song is an example of a distinctive ‘60s-70s post-bop style: largely modal, with a simple rhythm section ostinato and a melody based on fourths. The pattern of the five-note melodic theme—alternating a fourth up and a third down—is developed further as an intro, a rising figure doubled by the piano and bass in octaves. This intro figure, two measures long followed by a two-measure drum fill, reappears several times in the head.

The A section repeats the main two-measure theme four times, first twice in E♭ and then twice up a third in G. The following four measures have a melody mostly in dotted quarter notes, outlining a fourth-based Cm7sus structure; the rhythm is doubled by the piano and drums. The last four measures of the first A section are a repeat of the intro. At the end of the second A, this is replaced by four measures of piano and bass tremolos, winding down to B♭7sus for the bridge. The tremolos continue through the bridge, whose melody repeats a three-beat pattern over the barline, using mostly thirds for a contrast with the fourths used on the A section.

The bridge harmonies are four measures of B♭7sus and four measures of B7sus, followed by a four-measure drum fill. The C section is a truncated version of the A section: the first eight measures of A followed by the intro figure with a break to set up the first solo.

Solos are on a form similar to the head, with the rhythm section playing a four-feel on most of the chorus going to “broken time” on the bridge. Both A sections of the solo form end similarly to the second A of the head, while the last four measures of the bridge (a drum fill in the head) hold out B♭7. The C section of the solos is the same as the first eight measures of A. The intro figure is played after each solo, with a break for the next soloist; the drums have the break after the last solo going back to the head. On the recording, the head out is only the first A section; the whole head can be played out instead.

This song’s harmonic structure contains a few passing chords that make it not purely modal, and show a little bit of Charles’ bebop roots. For example, E♭maj7 is connected to Gmaj7 with two beats of D7 at the end of the fourth measure; the first A of the solo section features a “turnaround” at the end, B7 to B♭7 going back to E♭. Less predictable is the Bmaj7 in the eighth measure, breaking up the stretch of Gmaj7.