Tell Me What's Your Name – Idrees Sulieman & Kathe Laursen
A thoughtful, tender ballad in a swing-to-bebop style.
- Recording: Idrees Sulieman - Groovin'
- Recorded on: August 2, 1985
- Label: SteepleChase (SCS 1218)
- Concert Key: F
- Style: Ballad
- Trumpet - Idrees Sulieman
- Tenor Sax - Per Goldschmidt
- Piano - Horace Parlan
- Bass - Mads Vinding
- Drums - Billy Hart
This tender song is distinctively a bebop ballad. Like classic bebop ballads such as Dizzy Gillespie's I Waited For You, the melody often rests on the chords' upper extensions. For example, the notes on beats 1 and 3 of the first four measures of the A section are the 9th, flat 9th, 9th, flat 9th, 9th, sharp 9th, 5th, and sharp 11th of their respective chords. In contrast, the bridge begins with a more bluesy feeling, more like a swing song; however, the E-flat that makes the melody particularly bluesy is the flat 9th of the chord, D7. On this recording, Idrees takes the first half of the melody, with tenor saxophonist Per Goldschmidt taking over for the B and C sections.
This was Idrees' last album as a leader; he led only four albums, all recorded in Europe. The one before this, "Bird's Grass" from 1976, was also recorded in Copenhagen and also features Per Goldschmidt and Horace Parlan as well as bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen and drummer Kenny Clarke. Earlier that year (February 16-17), Idrees recorded his album "Now's The Time" with Cedar Walton, Sam Jones and Billy Higgins.
- Recording: Idrees Sulieman - Idrees Sulieman Plays His Compositions On Piano
- Recorded on: June, 1990
- Label: jazzleadsheets.com (JLS 1017)
- Concert Key: F
- Style: Ballad
- Piano - Idrees Sulieman
While in New York for a few weeks, he stayed on the couch in the rehearsal studio (at Second Floor Music/jazzleadsheets.com), and Idrees and Don Sickler spent days documenting his music.
Don Sickler: "Idrees would amaze me every day, playing song after song that he had composed. Some he said were written way back in the 1940s, but they didn't sound like '40s melodies and harmonies! Remember, Idrees was one of the 'deep ones.' In the '40s he was associating with musicians who were at the forefront of the new music. For example, Thelonious Monk's first recorded song and session as a leader (October 15, 1947) for Blue Note Records featured Idrees on trumpet.
In the early 1990s, Idrees also played on Randy Weston's album "The Spirits Of Our Ancestors" and some of Joe Henderson's "Joe Henderson Big Band" album. The latter was produced and conducted by jazzleadsheets.com's Don Sickler. Idrees also played on Miles Davis' 1989 Grammy Award winning album "AURA."
Idrees Sulieman
August 7, 1923 – July 25, 2002
Idrees Sulieman was a bop and hard-bop trumpeter who achieved more success in Europe than the United States but left a worldwide legacy as a sideman on some of the most important recordings in jazz and as a composer of unusual, beautiful pieces. Born Leonard Graham in St. Petersburg, Florida, Idrees took up the trumpet when his father couldn't afford to buy him a saxophone. His passion for music brought him to the prestigious Boston Conservatory in the mid-1930s. Shortly after, he began his professional career playing with the Carolina Cotton Pickers in 1939 and the wartime Earl Hines Orchestra (1943-1944). The 1940s brought Idrees into the circles of some of the most important figures in jazz—he worked closely with Mary Lou Williams; had stints with Cab Calloway, Count Basie and Lionel Hampton; and was a sideman on Thelonious Monk's first session as a leader for Blue Note in 1947. Read more...
Kathe Laursen
born on October 16, 1934
We don't know much about Kathe Laursen. When Idrees Sulieman left Denmark and came back to the US, he spent some time at Second Floor Music, working with Don Sickler on documenting his music. Idrees told us of his friendship with Kathe Laursen and how she co-wrote some compositions with him. Read more...