That Ends Well – Herbie Nichols

A quirky song with an unusual form, in that unmistakable Herbie Nichols style. Bruce Barth recorded a swinging solo piano version for our Herbie Nichols Centennial Project.

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Recording: Herbie Nichols - The Fourth Six
Recorded on: December 28, 2019
Label: jazzleadsheets.com (JLS 1064)
Concert Key: B-flat
Vocal Range: , to
Style: Swing (medium)

Piano - Bruce Barth

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Herbie Nichols - That Ends Well (Bruce Barth)

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Quirky and subtly advanced in an elegant, swinging framework, That Ends Well is quintessential Herbie Nichols. This song has a unique form: six-measure A, eight-measure B and C and four-measure D for a total of 26 measures. There are no repeated sections, though the first measures of A and C are the same. The tonal structure of this song is also subtly unusual; though the ultimate key center is B♭, the song begins in F and some sections imply that key instead. The melody ends on an unanswered question: a skipping little 16th-note phrase (also appearing at the end of the B section) over a diminished chord that could seemingly resolve either to F or B♭, or remain hanging.

Bruce Barth’s solo piano recording is in a bebop style, focusing on the melody with relatively simple left-hand accompaniment. He chooses not to resolve the last phrase of the out head, instead holding out the final diminished chord.

February 9, 1960, is the date of the certified letter that includes Herbie Nichols’ manuscript for this song, along with Tell The Birds I Said Hello and L’Afrique. That Ends Well is a great example of his experiments with song form that characterize his later compositions.

At the Herbie Nichols Piano Summit, Frank Kimbrough [link] demonstrated this song in a similar bebop style to Bruce Barth’s recording, though slightly faster.

Also check out the rest of "The Fourth Six."

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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That Ends Well – Herbie Nichols

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