Three Gifts – Bill Mobley

A medium swinger with a modern post-bop sound. The melody has a few tricky, angular lines, but it's held together by simpler, more lyrical phrases and a neatly symmetrical structure. The basic key center is G major, but we show no key signature; the melody and changes often slip between major and minor tonalities.

The form is 40-measure AABC—eight-measure A and C and a 16-measure bridge. The end of the second A contains the only resolution to a G major chord; the first A and C end on A♭maj7. The bridge has a D♭ major or B♭ minor tonality; it's based on a rhythmic two-measure pattern of call and response between the melody and rhythm section. There are rhythm section figures nearly throughout the head; at the beginning of the A section, a rhythmic bass line fills in around the melody, followed by stop-time hits. The solo changes are the same as the head but with a 4-feel throughout.

There's an intro that vamps the first two chords of the head, G7sus and F7. These are repeated for four measures over a G pedal, and then eight measures with the bass figure that appears at the beginning of the A section. These eight measures are also played after the solos to set up the out head.

About the arrangement: A full score and parts are available for the sextet arrangement from the recording. The horns are voiced on the longer notes of the A section and most of the bridge, in angular harmonic shapes: stacked fourths, or a fourth above a second. The first note of the melody is an interesting harmonic choice: B over a G7sus chord, voiced with the fourth (C) in the lower octave in both the three-horn arrangement and the piano voicings of the intro.
The rhythm section parts for this arrangement would also work in a quartet setting with one melody instrument.

Our trumpet and alto sax 1st parts are also the B♭ and E♭ lead sheets. The C treble clef lead sheet is written an octave lower than the range where the melody would be played as a 1st part on guitar with the sextet arrangement, so we also have a guitar 1st part written an octave above.