Tokyo Blue – Charles McPherson
A transcription is available for Charles McPherson's solo on this slow blues, which starts right on the solo without a head. This is a great resource to explore bebop vocabulary at this tempo.
- Recording: Charles McPherson - Live In Tokyo
- Recorded on: April 14, 1976
- Label: Xanadu (131)
- Concert Key: C
- Vocal Range: , to
- Style: Swing (slow)
- Alto Sax - Charles McPherson
- Piano - Barry Harris
- Bass - Sam Jones
- Drums - Leroy Williams
Video
- Description
- Historical Notes
- Solos
- Piano Corner
- Bass Corner
- Drum Corner
- Guitar Corner
- Inside & Beyond
- Minus You
We have a solo transcription of Charles McPherson for this slow blues, which doesn't have a head but gets right into the solo after a four-measure piano introduction. This transcription is a great opportunity to explore the blues in a bebop style at this tempo. Click on Solos for a more detailed description.
"Live In Tokyo" was Charles McPherson's second live album as a leader. Ten years earlier, Charles recorded "The Quintet/Live!" at the Five Spot in New York, also featuring Barry Harris as well as trumpeter Lonnie Hillyer.
Barry's trio set from the same concert in Tokyo was also recorded and released on Xanadu. Charles makes a guest appearance on one song, alongside guitarist Jimmy Raney.
Barry's trio set from the same concert in Tokyo was also recorded and released on Xanadu. Charles makes a guest appearance on one song, alongside guitarist Jimmy Raney.
Our three-page Charles McPherson solo transcription is available in C, B♭, and E♭ editions. It contains very detailed dynamics and articulations for an in-depth look at his particular style. This transcription may look very complicated with all his 16th-note lines, but at this slow tempo nothing sounds too rushed or busy.
CLIP A four-measure piano intro sets up the tempo, and then Charles solos for five choruses. After piano and bass solos, he returns for one more chorus to finish. This solo is full of classic bebop lines, interspersed with plenty of blues vocabulary. Check out the way he varies the articulation and rhythmic placement of a repeated blues-scale phrase at the beginning of the fourth chorus. CLIP Also notable, harmonically, are the ways his lines connect C major to D minor between the eighth and ninth measures of each chorus. In each of the first three choruses and the last chorus, he really leans on a B here—both the 9th of A7 and a sort of suspended "sixth" of E♭dim7; in the first chorus this is part of a little quote of the standard You're My Everything.
CLIP A four-measure piano intro sets up the tempo, and then Charles solos for five choruses. After piano and bass solos, he returns for one more chorus to finish. This solo is full of classic bebop lines, interspersed with plenty of blues vocabulary. Check out the way he varies the articulation and rhythmic placement of a repeated blues-scale phrase at the beginning of the fourth chorus. CLIP Also notable, harmonically, are the ways his lines connect C major to D minor between the eighth and ninth measures of each chorus. In each of the first three choruses and the last chorus, he really leans on a B here—both the 9th of A7 and a sort of suspended "sixth" of E♭dim7; in the first chorus this is part of a little quote of the standard You're My Everything.
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Charles McPherson
born on July 24, 1939
Charles McPherson's new CD, "Jazz Dance Suites" is available. A product of his love and admiration for his daughter Camille, Charles wrote two suites of new music for the CD. Read more...
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