Stratosphere – Herbie Nichols
A beautiful early composition by Herbie Nichols, full of elegant melodic lines and intricate chord progressions. This song gets a wildly inventive solo piano treatment in our Herbie Nichols Centennial Project recording by Sullivan Fortner. A solo piano arrangement is also available by Herbie himself.
- Recording: Herbie Nichols - The Second Six
- Recorded on: January 1, 2020
- Label: jazzleadsheets.com (JLS 1063)
- Concert Key: E-flat
- Vocal Range: , to
- Style: Swing (medium)
- Piano - Sullivan Fortner
Video
- Description
- Historical Notes
- Solos
- Piano Corner
- Bass Corner
- Drum Corner
- Guitar Corner
- Inside & Beyond
- Minus You
A lovely song in an advanced “swing to bop” style, with many hallmarks of the Herbie Nichols sound. The melody is elegantly constructed, with two rising scales followed by two descending scales in the A section of the 32-measure AABC form. Though the key center of E♭ is clearly established, there are a lot of chromatic “side-slips” in the changes which are reflected in the melody. The bridge modulates to G major, with a bouncy melodic theme that is then repeated a half step higher—but harmonized with F minor instead of A♭ major.
Our Herbie Nichols Centennial Project recording is an ingenious, highly personal, wildly creative interpretation by pianist Sullivan Fortner. He improvises nearly throughout, only stating the melody toward the end (as heard in the audio cilp above). Sullivan combines abstract two-handed textures and quarter-note stride in the left hand; this can be seen as an updated version of the sort of “avant-trad” style that Herbie Nichols explored on some of his Blue Note recordings.
As this project consists of songs that have not yet been recorded, we wanted to present the songs as written as much as possible. Here's CLIP a separate recording by pianist Jake Sasfai, a former jazzleadsheets.com intern. Jake is playing Herbie’s solo piano arrangement—click on Piano Corner for more details.
Our Herbie Nichols Centennial Project recording is an ingenious, highly personal, wildly creative interpretation by pianist Sullivan Fortner. He improvises nearly throughout, only stating the melody toward the end (as heard in the audio cilp above). Sullivan combines abstract two-handed textures and quarter-note stride in the left hand; this can be seen as an updated version of the sort of “avant-trad” style that Herbie Nichols explored on some of his Blue Note recordings.
As this project consists of songs that have not yet been recorded, we wanted to present the songs as written as much as possible. Here's CLIP a separate recording by pianist Jake Sasfai, a former jazzleadsheets.com intern. Jake is playing Herbie’s solo piano arrangement—click on Piano Corner for more details.
Herbie Nichols wrote an article for Rhythm magazine about Thelonious Monk in July 1946—before either pianist had recorded as a leader. In 2017, Ethan Iverson posted that article on his blog (https://ethaniverson.com/2017/11/07/herbie-nichols-on-thelonious-monk) Do The Math. Nichols details a visit with Monk: “I played some of my tunes which he seemed to like. We promptly agreed to swap three piano arrangements of our tunes. I would arrange Stratosphere, Strivin’, and Sailing for him and he agreed to arrange Ruby, My Dear, ‘Round Midnight, and another very expressive tune which he hadn’t named or whose name he had forgotten. On the day of the proposed swap my tunes were the only ones completed.” Of these arrangements only Stratosphere survives; click on Piano Corner for more details.
When he demonstrated this song at the Herbie Nichols Piano Summit, Frank Kimbrough read from the solo piano arrangement. His interpretation [clip] is ultimately based on the arrangement, but rhythmically a bit looser, with some of the left-hand voicings simplified.
Check out all the new Herbie Nichols releases: "The Second Six"
When he demonstrated this song at the Herbie Nichols Piano Summit, Frank Kimbrough read from the solo piano arrangement. His interpretation [clip] is ultimately based on the arrangement, but rhythmically a bit looser, with some of the left-hand voicings simplified.
Check out all the new Herbie Nichols releases: "The Second Six"
Our recording by Jake Sasfai CLIP demonstrates Herbie Nichols’ own solo piano arrangement which he wrote out for Thelonious Monk. Spread-out, two-handed voicings complement the important melody notes throughout. Several voicings leave out the 3rd or 7th of the chord, such as B♭7♯5(♭9) in the fourth measure, with no 7th, followed by B7 with no 3rd in the next measure. The ends of the first A section and C add rhythmic fills that are not included in our lead sheet version from Herbie’s melody manuscript. The ending fill ends unexpectedly on a C minor chord.
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Herbie Nichols
January 3, 1919 – April 12, 1963
Don Sickler "On January 3, 2019, we were at the Van Gelder Recording Studio celebrating Herbie's 100th birthday with his family and pianists Frank Kimbrough and Glenn Zaleski. Both Frank and Glenn each recorded a previously unrecorded Herbie Nichols composition, on the same piano Herbie played for his Blue Note sessions. These were the initial recordings that started my new project, the Herbie Nichols Centennial Project, which debuts January 3, 2024. Read more...
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