Sicily – Jon Gordon
Three recordings show different ways to explore this ear-opening F minor excursion. A two-measure vamping bass line establishes a great groove and the simple rhythmic melody is accompanied by specific voicings. Great for quartet, quintet or sextet as second and third parts are available.
- Recording: Jon Gordon - Witness
- Recorded on: December 8, 1995
- Label: CrissCross (1121)
- Concert Key: F minor
- Style: Swing (medium)
- Trumpet - Tim Hagans
- Alto Sax - Jon Gordon
- Tenor Sax - Mark Turner
- Piano - Bill Charlap
- Bass - Sean Smith
- Drums - Tim Horner
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This is a great opportunity to expand your ear to new F minor possibilities. Jon's sextet arrangement includes second and third horn parts that further emphasize the specific voicings that are also played by the Piano and are an integral part of this composition. You can play it with Jon's original instrumentation or with any of the variety of parts we offer. It's great for inexperienced players.
Bassists and drummers should use the Concert Condensed Score. Pianists can also use it or they might prefer to use Jon's Solo Piano Arrangement, which has voicings for all the chords.
Bassists and drummers should use the Concert Condensed Score. Pianists can also use it or they might prefer to use Jon's Solo Piano Arrangement, which has voicings for all the chords.
Jon writes, "I was looking to write something modal, for a three-horn recording, (Mark Turner, Tim Hagans and myself), using specific voicings to be doubled by piano. Most of the voicings are three notes as a result. I wanted to deal with specific voicings over the A section to create or imply various tonalities, rather than just writing chord symbols."
Solo Piano Arrangement
This is a bass-line-driven composition that explores many F minor possibilities. Jon's simple melody over the bass line is enriched with specific altered F minor harmonies that are guaranteed to stretch your ears. The Solo Piano Arrangement lets you see it all in one place.
This is a bass-line-driven composition that explores many F minor possibilities. Jon's simple melody over the bass line is enriched with specific altered F minor harmonies that are guaranteed to stretch your ears. The Solo Piano Arrangement lets you see it all in one place.
Essential Bass
The bass line is part of the Concert Condensed Score, which also shows how the line works with the melody and the harmonies.
This bass line is an integral part of the composition. Getting it under your fingers and playing it along with each of the three drummers (each one has a different concept and execution of 12/8 feel) is a very rewarding experience in itself.
The bass line is part of the Concert Condensed Score, which also shows how the line works with the melody and the harmonies.
This bass line is an integral part of the composition. Getting it under your fingers and playing it along with each of the three drummers (each one has a different concept and execution of 12/8 feel) is a very rewarding experience in itself.
- Recording: Jon Gordon - Within Worlds
- Recorded on: October 1, 2007
- Label: Artist Share (AS 0074)
- Concert Key: F minor
- Style: Swing (medium)
- Alto Sax - Jon Gordon
- Organ - Gary Versace
- Drums - Mark Ferber
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This time Jon's alto sax is the only horn. The slightly slower tempo makes room for a heavier swinging groove. The organ supplies the original A section specific harmonies while loosening up the bass line a little in the B sections on the recording. The result is a thrilling mix of modern jazz and classic sensibilities, with the swinging beat offering a bit of grounding to Jon's abstract compositional style. We recommend working with both tracks and comparing the arrangements.
Our audio clip begins at the top of the melody and fades out at the end of the B section, highlighting the same part of the head as the excerpt from the first recording so that you can compare them. You can also compare them with the quintet video (last album).
Bassists and drummers should use the Concert Condensed Score. Pianists can also use it or they might prefer to use Jon's Solo Piano Arrangement, which has voicings for all the chords.
Note: the lead sheets and Condensed Score are the same for all three albums, as are the second and third parts.
Our audio clip begins at the top of the melody and fades out at the end of the B section, highlighting the same part of the head as the excerpt from the first recording so that you can compare them. You can also compare them with the quintet video (last album).
Bassists and drummers should use the Concert Condensed Score. Pianists can also use it or they might prefer to use Jon's Solo Piano Arrangement, which has voicings for all the chords.
Note: the lead sheets and Condensed Score are the same for all three albums, as are the second and third parts.
The title for Sicily came from a TV show Jon enjoyed during the 1990s called "Northern Exposure" which took place in Cicely, Alaska. The unusual and groundbreaking nature of the show inspired Jon to give the name of the town to his new composition. Unbeknownst to Jon, the town's name was spelled differently from the way he spelled the title of his composition ("Cicely" vs. "Sicily"), leading his fans to think he named it for the Mediterranean island. He has, to date, never visited the island of Sicily.
Solo Piano Arrangement
This is a bass-line-driven composition that explores many F minor possibilities. Jon's simple melody over the bass line is enriched with specific altered F minor harmonies that are guaranteed to stretch your ears. The Solo Piano Arrangement lets you see it all in one place.
This is a bass-line-driven composition that explores many F minor possibilities. Jon's simple melody over the bass line is enriched with specific altered F minor harmonies that are guaranteed to stretch your ears. The Solo Piano Arrangement lets you see it all in one place.
Essential Bass
The bass line is part of the Concert Condensed Score, which also shows how the line works with the melody and the harmonies.
This bass line is an integral part of the composition. Getting it under your fingers and playing it along with each of the three drummers (each one has a different concept and execution of 12/8 feel) is a very rewarding experience in itself.
The bass line is part of the Concert Condensed Score, which also shows how the line works with the melody and the harmonies.
This bass line is an integral part of the composition. Getting it under your fingers and playing it along with each of the three drummers (each one has a different concept and execution of 12/8 feel) is a very rewarding experience in itself.
- Recording: Scott Reeves / Masayasu Tzboguchi - Reeves & Tzboguchi Quintet at the 55 Bar
- Recorded on: August 26, 2012
- Label: YouTube ()
- Concert Key: F minor
- Style: Swing (medium)
- Alto Sax - Jon Gordon
- Trombone - Scott Reeves
- Fender Rhodes, efx - Masayasu Tzboguchi
- Bass - Mike McGuirk
- Drums - Andy Watson
Video
- Reeves & Tzboguchi Quintet at 55 Bar, New York, Aug 26, 2012: Alto Sax - Jon Gordon; Trombone - Scott Reeves; Fender Rhodes, efx - Masayasu Tzboguchi; Bass - Mike McGuirk; Drums - Andy Watson
Now you can hear (and see) Jon Gordon in action playing Sicily with a different instrumentation: a quintet, with alto sax and trombone (trombone playing the second part from the sextet arrangement) as a front line. Watching musicians perform can be very informative. Check out bassist Mike McGuirk, really getting into Jon's bass line. Jon is the first soloist, and his solo from this video performance is available. Click on the Solos tab for details.
Bassists and drummers should use the Concert Condensed Score. Pianists can also use it or they might prefer to use Jon's Solo Piano Arrangement, which has voicings for all the chords.
Note: lead sheets, etc., are the same for all three albums. This version is the only one with Jon's transcribed solo.
Bassists and drummers should use the Concert Condensed Score. Pianists can also use it or they might prefer to use Jon's Solo Piano Arrangement, which has voicings for all the chords.
Note: lead sheets, etc., are the same for all three albums. This version is the only one with Jon's transcribed solo.
When Jon wrote Sicily, he began with the bass line. The F minor pentatonic scale that arose in the bass line gave him many harmonic possibilities, he recalled in a later interview with jazzleadsheets.com. "I just like the idea of implying harmonic motion over a simple static bass line," Jon explained.
Jon's solo alto on this live version is three choruses long. Jon describes the mode on this song's A sections as "F minor anything," meaning that he uses the F minor tonality as a launching pad to explore other directions that relate in different ways. This solo contains a lot of motivic development, often based on the rhythm of the 12/8 feel groove; he uses this development to extend ideas based in F minor into other keys. The 16th-note passages are mostly freely chromatic and not "key-based." Also of note is the way this solo explores the entire range of the alto saxophone, extending up to the C five ledger lines above the treble clef staff (concert E♭, three ledger lines above staff), a fifth above the "standard" written upper limit of the instrument's range.
Solo Piano Arrangement
This is a bass-line-driven composition that explores many F minor possibilities. Jon's simple melody over the bass line is enriched with specific altered F minor harmonies that are guaranteed to stretch your ears. The Solo Piano Arrangement lets you see it all in one place.
This is a bass-line-driven composition that explores many F minor possibilities. Jon's simple melody over the bass line is enriched with specific altered F minor harmonies that are guaranteed to stretch your ears. The Solo Piano Arrangement lets you see it all in one place.
Essential Bass
The bass line is part of the Concert Condensed Score, which also shows how the line works with the melody and the harmonies.
This bass line is an integral part of the composition. Getting it under your fingers and playing it along with each of the three drummers (each one has a different concept and execution of 12/8 feel) is a very rewarding experience in itself.
The bass line is part of the Concert Condensed Score, which also shows how the line works with the melody and the harmonies.
This bass line is an integral part of the composition. Getting it under your fingers and playing it along with each of the three drummers (each one has a different concept and execution of 12/8 feel) is a very rewarding experience in itself.
Jon Gordon
born on December 23, 1966
Modern alto saxophonist and composer Jon Gordon is a driving force in cutting-edge jazz. A native New Yorker, he began his musical exploration at the age of ten, encouraged by his musical family. He attended Performing Arts High School and studied saxophone privately in his teen years and showed significant promise, winning numerous awards at a young age. His love for jazz began as a teenager after listening to a Phil Woods record; not long after, he began to study with Phil Woods himself after sitting in with Eddie Chamblee at Sweet Basil. Jon studied at Manhattan School of Music, during which time he worked with Roy Eldridge, Leon Parker, Doc Cheatham, Larry Goldings, Al Grey, Eddie Locke, Red Rodney, and Mel Lewis. Read more...