Sassy Lady – Tom McIntosh
A 16-measure blues with two melody lines, passed around between horns and piano or guitar. The arrangements for both James Moody’s sextet and Leo Wright’s quartet recordings are available.
- Recording: James Moody - Another Bag
- Recorded on: January 30, 1962
- Label: Argo (LP 695)
- Concert Key: D-flat
- Vocal Range: , to
- Style: Ballad
- Trumpet - Paul Serrano
- Tenor Sax - James Moody
- Trombone - John Avant
- Piano - Kenny Barron
- Bass - Ernest 'Ernie' Outlaw
- Drums - Marshall Thompson
Video
- Description
- Historical Notes
- Solos
- Piano Corner
- Bass Corner
- Drum Corner
- Guitar Corner
- Inside & Beyond
- Minus You
A 16-measure blues with a classic hard-bop sound—very swinging and funky. This song really has two melodies, layered on top of each other. The first melody is a rhythmic riff, related (as are the changes) to Fletcher Henderson’s Soft Winds though with hip chromatic side-slips. The second chorus adds a second melody, a line built out of blues vocabulary throughout though not strictly using the blues scale. The bass anchors this counterpoint with a 2-feel line (fully notated), catching many of the syncopated hits with the first melody.
About the arrangement: Full Score and parts are available reflecting the original sextet recording. The horns begin with the first melody, harmonized over bass and drums; on the second chorus the piano enters with the second melody in octaves. After the solos, the out chorus has the same counterpoint reversed for eight measures: horns on the second melody in octaves, with piano on the first melody in harmony. At the 9th measure the lines switch back to the original configuration. A rhythmic bass figure fills in the final chord.
The trumpet 1st part goes quite high, above the range of the alto sax so we do not have an alto 1st part.
About the arrangement: Full Score and parts are available reflecting the original sextet recording. The horns begin with the first melody, harmonized over bass and drums; on the second chorus the piano enters with the second melody in octaves. After the solos, the out chorus has the same counterpoint reversed for eight measures: horns on the second melody in octaves, with piano on the first melody in harmony. At the 9th measure the lines switch back to the original configuration. A rhythmic bass figure fills in the final chord.
The trumpet 1st part goes quite high, above the range of the alto sax so we do not have an alto 1st part.
“Another Bag” features five Tom McIntosh compositions, including the first recording of one of his best-known songs The Cup Bearers. James Moody’s next album, 1963’s “Great Day,” has four more McIntosh songs.
“Another Bag” was Kenny Barron’s first recording with Moody. In 1963 Barron and Moody played together on “Something Old, Something New,” the first recording of Dizzy Gillespie’s classic mid-‘60s quintet, again featuring three McIntosh songs including The Cup Bearers.
“Another Bag” was Kenny Barron’s first recording with Moody. In 1963 Barron and Moody played together on “Something Old, Something New,” the first recording of Dizzy Gillespie’s classic mid-‘60s quintet, again featuring three McIntosh songs including The Cup Bearers.
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- Recording: Leo Wright - Suddenly The Blues
- Recorded on: April 23, 1962
- Label: Atlantic (LP 1393)
- Concert Key: D-flat
- Vocal Range: , to
- Style: Ballad
- Alto Sax - Leo Wright
- Guitar - Kenny Burrell
- Bass - Ron Carter
- Drums - Rudy Collins
Video
- Description
- Historical Notes
- Solos
- Piano Corner
- Bass Corner
- Drum Corner
- Guitar Corner
- Inside & Beyond
- Minus You
In Leo Wright’s quartet recording, the arrangement is reversed relative to the original sextet version. The guitar begins with the first melody (with bass and drums), and on the second chorus the alto sax comes in with the second melody. The alto also plays the second melody throughout the out chorus; on the first half the guitar catches some of this melody and comps around it, returning to the first melody at the 9th measure. The phrasing is slightly different in this version in both melodies, and the bass line is looser going to walking for the out chorus. There’s a short vamp at the end, with a two-measure guitar pattern and one-measure bass pattern.
For this quartet arrangement we have melody parts for all instruments, a guitar part, and a bass part. Drummers can read either the bass part or the guitar part, though the guitar part is recommended as it includes plenty of rhythmic information for reference.
Click on Guitar Corner and Bass Corner for details about the respective parts.
For this quartet arrangement we have melody parts for all instruments, a guitar part, and a bass part. Drummers can read either the bass part or the guitar part, though the guitar part is recommended as it includes plenty of rhythmic information for reference.
Click on Guitar Corner and Bass Corner for details about the respective parts.
For another song from “Suddenly The Blues” check out Tali. Leo Wright’s only other recording with Ron Carter was a month earlier on Tadd Dameron’s big band album “The Magic Touch.”
Our bass edition includes Ron Carter’s bass lines from the two in-melody choruses. As this is the only part showing two different choruses here they are labeled A1 and A2. Ron plays around a 2-feel but catches many upbeat hits with the guitar. Toward the end of each chorus he goes to walking. Ron walks through the out chorus; this is shown with slashes until the vamp figure at the end.
Our guitar part is fully notated for the in head with Kenny Burrell’s voicings, which are three-note chords similar to the original three-horn arrangement. For the beginning of the out chorus, Kenny switches between doubling the alto melody and comping; both are shown here, though with rhythmic notation for the chords instead of complete voicings. At the 9th measure he returns to the voicings from the in head. He plays 4- and 5-note voicings in the ending vamp which are the same dominant 7♯9 chord structures from his classic song Chitlins Con Carne.
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Tom McIntosh
February 6, 1927 – July 26, 2017
Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, trombonist and arranger/composer Tom McIntosh studied voice at the Peabody Conservatory in 1944. In 1950 he was stationed in Germany with an Army band, where he first encountered reedman James Moody, who was touring Europe with Coleman Hawkins. Nine years later, after graduating from the Juillard School in NYC, Mac was hired by Moody to play in his sextet. The sextet became a septet for the first Moody recording, simply titled "James Moody," recorded in Chicago in August, 1959, for the Argo label. This album also contained Tom's first recorded composition With Malice Toward None, which Tom arranged as well. Read more...
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