Third Phase – Kenny Drew, Jr.
An uptempo blues-like tune with an angular melody reminiscent of McCoy Tyner.
- Recording: Kenny Drew, Jr. - Kenny Drew, Jr.
- Recorded on: June 6 and 7, 1991
- Label: Antilles (314-510303-2)
- Concert Key: F minor
- Style: Swing (uptempo)
- Trumpet - Wallace Roney
- Tenor Sax - Ralph Moore
- Piano - Kenny Drew, Jr.
- Bass - Christian McBride
- Drums - Winard Harper
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Our audio excerpt starts with the horn melody. On the recording, the rhythm section has an eight-measure set up which is similar to their melody accompaniment (notated on the C treble clef lead sheet). This piece works great for a single line melody, and, obviously, as a quintet piece. As you'll notice, the second parts are available separately. The harmony parts use different harmony notes depending on what octave the melody is played in. A great energy piece.
Guitar players should check out our guitar part based on Jack Wilkins' recording "Keep In Touch" (click the second album cover for details). Rhythm section players accompanying guitarists should use the C lead sheet available here, from the "Kenny Drew, Jr." album.
Guitar players should check out our guitar part based on Jack Wilkins' recording "Keep In Touch" (click the second album cover for details). Rhythm section players accompanying guitarists should use the C lead sheet available here, from the "Kenny Drew, Jr." album.
Kenny Drew, Jr., first recorded this composition on a trio date with Buster Williams (bass) and Marvin "Smitty" Smith (drums) for the Japanese label Jazz City. After the recording featured here, he also recorded it on a co-leader date with guitarist Jack Wilkins in 1995 (click on the second album above).
- Recording: Jack Wilkins - Keep In Touch
- Recorded on: May 18-19, 1995
- Label: Claves Jazz (50-1295)
- Concert Key: F minor
- Style: Swing (uptempo)
- Guitar - Jack Wilkins
- Piano - Kenny Drew, Jr.
- Bass - Andy McKee
- Drums - Akira Tana
This quartet version of Third Phase is similar to earlier recordings. Our guitar part shows the melody in the octave that Jack Wilkins plays it on this recording, an octave below Kenny Drew's piano melody throughout. The melody is not harmonized in the 9th through 12th measures as in earlier versions.
Rhythm section players accompanying guitarists should use the C lead sheet from the "Kenny Drew, Jr.," recording; click on the first album cover.
Rhythm section players accompanying guitarists should use the C lead sheet from the "Kenny Drew, Jr.," recording; click on the first album cover.
Though "Keep In Touch" is the only recording with this personnel, the pairings of Kenny Drew Jr./Andy McKee and Jack Wilkins/Akira Tana recorded together several times both before and after this session.
Wilkins and Tana first recorded together on the former's 1983 album "Captain Blued"; they have accompanied several vocalists together including Amy London and Nancy Harrow.
The recorded relationship between Drew Jr. and McKee dates back to 1993, with the Mingus Big Band's "Nostalgia In Times Square"; a month before the "Keep In Touch" session, they both played on baritone saxophonist and fellow Mingus Big Band member Ronnie Cuber's album "In A New York Minute." The last recording of Kenny Drew Jr. and Andy McKee together was another Mingus Big Band album, 1996's "Live In Time."
Wilkins and Tana first recorded together on the former's 1983 album "Captain Blued"; they have accompanied several vocalists together including Amy London and Nancy Harrow.
The recorded relationship between Drew Jr. and McKee dates back to 1993, with the Mingus Big Band's "Nostalgia In Times Square"; a month before the "Keep In Touch" session, they both played on baritone saxophonist and fellow Mingus Big Band member Ronnie Cuber's album "In A New York Minute." The last recording of Kenny Drew Jr. and Andy McKee together was another Mingus Big Band album, 1996's "Live In Time."
On the brisk tempo of Third Phase, guitarist Jack Wilkins displays his formidable technique and musicality as he stretches out over this post-Coltrane-styled minor blues. After first nailing the tricky, intervallic melody in unison with pianist Kenny Drew Jr., Wilkins stands aside to let the trio (Drew, bassist Andy McKee and drummer Akira Tana) churn with intensity. When Wilkins returns, he begins to unwind one fearsome chorus after another, making extensive use of chromaticism, diminished scale vocabulary, and pentatonic patterns.
The main post-Coltrane reference here seems to be the linear language of Chick Corea, making Wilkins' solo an excellent study for intermediate/advanced musicians interested in how guitarists translated Corea's vocabulary (and the post-bop vocabulary more broadly) onto the instrument.
The main post-Coltrane reference here seems to be the linear language of Chick Corea, making Wilkins' solo an excellent study for intermediate/advanced musicians interested in how guitarists translated Corea's vocabulary (and the post-bop vocabulary more broadly) onto the instrument.
Kenny Drew, Jr.
June 14, 1958 – August 3, 2014
Kenny Drew, Jr., son of pianist/composer Kenny Drew, Sr., started music lessons at the age of four. He studied classical piano with his aunt Marjorie, but soon found he enjoyed playing jazz as well. He performed worldwide with a comprehensive variety of musicians, including Stanley Jordan, OTB, Stanley Turrentine, Slide Hampton, the Mingus Big Band, Steve Grossman, Yoshiaki Masuo, Sadao Watanabe, Smokey Robinson, Frank Morgan, Daniel Schnyder, Jack Walrath, Ronnie Cuber and many others. Read more...