Symptoms – Curtis Fuller

A simple swinger with a 32-measure form. The changes are similar to Charlie Parker's My Little Suede Shoes (or Elmo Hope's Bellarosa), but starting on the relative minor chord, in this case C minor. The two-horn arrangement is particularly interesting because the voices cross over and weave around each other. In the fifth measure of the A section, the harmony part (trombone on the recording) is simply an embellishment of the melody, adding notes in between (above) but going to unison on the two melody notes. For an interesting transformation of the harmonies, try displacing one of the parts by an octave; this will disentangle the harmony, with one part consistently above the other. (Another song available on jazzleadsheets.com with this property is Al Cohn's The Note.)

The lead sheet represents the first part (the melody); the second part is also available in all transpositions. The Concert Condensed Score would also be the preferable part for piano, bass and drums when playing the quintet arrangement. Benny Golson (tenor sax) played the melody (which is our B-flat Tenor Sax leadsheet. Curtis Fuller (trombone) played our Trombone 2nd part.