So, Samba! – Freddie Redd
Pianist Freddie Redd's challenge: it you want to, samba! Concert condensed score, melody and second parts. Do it if you feel it!
- Recording: Mark Elf - The Eternal Triangle
- Recorded on: December 22, 1988
- Label: Jen Bay Jazz (JBR 0002)
- Concert Key: F minor
- Style: Latin (Samba)
- Guitar - Mark Elf
- Tenor Sax - Jimmy Heath
- Piano - Hank Jones
- Bass - Ray Drummond
- Drums - Ben Riley
Note that we're now creating condensed scores as separate editions for quintet versions. They're especially valuable for drummers and bass players because counter melodies and hits are notated. We're able to make the C treble clef lead sheet less complicated, as a result.
If you're wondering why composer/pianist Freddie Redd was not the first to record So, Samba!, Don Sickler recalls: "Uptown Records hired Freddie for two leader recording sessions in January, 1985. I was lucky enough to get to work on the project. Freddie came up from Washington, D.C. with a lot of original music. In fact, Freddie had so many great original compositions that it became hard to choose material for the sessions. At that time the release medium was LP, so we could only use about 40 minutes of music. So, Samba! was not picked for either of these sessions, so when guitarist Mark Elf approached me for material for his 1988 session, I suggested it. Mark loved it! Freddie loved that pianist extraordinaire Hank Jones was on Elf's recording."
Freddie Redd
May 29, 1928 – March 17, 2021
Pianist Freddie Redd, best known for his role as composer and actor in the play and movie "The Connection," started playing the piano when he was in the Army. Mostly self-taught, he learned while performing in clubs with other musicians. According to Nat Hentoff's liner notes to "Shades Of Redd," Freddie says he's "been influenced by many things I've heard on a lot of instruments. What I do is try to piece together what stimulates me into my own way of feeling things musically." Redd's music is simultaneously optimistic and knowing—it makes you want to play along with it, to join in the experience. Read more...