Van Allen Belt – Herbie Nichols
Advanced and ahead of its time, Van Allen Belt combines unusual phrase lengths, meter changes, and a unique diminished key center. For our Herbie Nichols Centennial Project recording, we have three extraordinary takes by pianist Micah Thomas.
- Recording: Herbie Nichols - The First 6
- Recorded on: December 20, 2019
- Label: jazzleadsheets.com (JLS 1058)
- Concert Key: E-flat
- Style: Swing (medium)
- Piano - Micah Thomas
Video
- Check out our teaser video showing excerpts for the first 6 songs we're releasing that were recorded and filmed for our Herbie Nichols Centennial Project - a solo piano recording project featuring 23 gifted pianists playing 24 previously unrecorded compositions by Herbie Nichols. Order of pianists and Herbie Nichols songs (excerpts) on the teaser video: Jeb Patton - The Afterbeat Frank Kimbrough - Blues No. 1 David Berkman - Games And Codes David Kikoski - She Insists Frank Kimbrough - Tell The Birds I Said Hello Micah Thomas - Van Allen Belt
An advanced song—but subtle in that classic Herbie Nichols fashion, held together by a charming rhythmic melody. The form is an extended AABC, with the A sections each 14 measures long. B is also 14 measures, but with meter changes: four measures in 3/4, two measures of 4/4, then four more in 3/4 (the same as the first four down a whole step) and the last four in 4/4. C starts the same as A, but extended to 18 measures with a tricky rhythmic "tag" in the melody. Though Herbie's manuscript (and thus our lead sheet) has an E♭ major key signature, the tonic chord at both the beginning and end is E♭ diminished, with "double diminished" upper extensions in the melody: D (the major 7th) at the beginning, and F (the 9th) at the end.
All 24 songs that make up the Herbie Nichols Centennial Project were recorded at the Van Gelder Recording Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on the same piano that Herbie Nichols played when he recorded his Blue Note trio sessions in 1955 and 1956 at Rudy Van Gelder's first recording studio—his parents' living room in Hackensack. Check out all of "The First 6" titles released January 3, 2024.
Included in a certified letter Herbie sent to himself on November 1st, 1961, Van Allen Belt is one of Herbie Nichols' latest known compositions. The song is named after the Van Allen radiation belts, zones of charged particles in planets' magnetospheres, which were discovered in the late 1950s.
Hear Frank Kimbrough's initial take on this title CLIP, at the Herbie Nichols Piano Summit
Don Sickler: "Knowing that I had pianists from eight generations committed to our Herbie Nichols Centennial Project, my next goal was to make sure I got all 24 of the previously unrecorded compositions recorded. Somewhere near the end of organizing the last of the recording sessions, I knew I would have space for one more pianist. I decided to first of all ask Frank Kimbrough if there were any other pianists in their 20s that he would recommend. He immediately mentioned one that he thought I didn't know about: Micah Thomas. His comments about Micah intrigued me, so I called Micah and gave him Herbie's Van Allen Belt to check out. Micah got back to me saying he'd love to record it for the project. On December 20, 2019, 21-year-old Micah Thomas came to the Van Gelder Recording Studio for the first time. After scoping out the incredible acoustic studio, Micah sat down at THE Steinway B and prepared himself to record. My reaction: Magical. Just listen to this inspired young man play! After ending his first take, his only comment was, 'Can I do one more?'
"Micah Thomas recorded three takes of Van Allen Belt for our Herbie Nichols Centennial Project. These wildly creative interpretations are completely different, each with its own unique intro setting up the melody; rather than pick a master take, we have decided to make all three available. Our audio excerpts below illustrate how his three different set ups create distinctive new environments for expressing the melody.
Take 1 CLIP1
Take 2 CLIP2
Take 3 CLIP3
"After Micah recorded for us at Van Gelder's, I had a phone conversation with Frank asking me if I was pleased with the recording. All I said was, 'Wait till you hear it—three absolutely intriguing takes!'
"Unfortunately, Frank never got to hear his former student's performances. Frank's death on December 30, 2020, is a great musical loss, and this Project is dedicated to him."
Included in a certified letter Herbie sent to himself on November 1st, 1961, Van Allen Belt is one of Herbie Nichols' latest known compositions. The song is named after the Van Allen radiation belts, zones of charged particles in planets' magnetospheres, which were discovered in the late 1950s.
Hear Frank Kimbrough's initial take on this title CLIP, at the Herbie Nichols Piano Summit
Don Sickler: "Knowing that I had pianists from eight generations committed to our Herbie Nichols Centennial Project, my next goal was to make sure I got all 24 of the previously unrecorded compositions recorded. Somewhere near the end of organizing the last of the recording sessions, I knew I would have space for one more pianist. I decided to first of all ask Frank Kimbrough if there were any other pianists in their 20s that he would recommend. He immediately mentioned one that he thought I didn't know about: Micah Thomas. His comments about Micah intrigued me, so I called Micah and gave him Herbie's Van Allen Belt to check out. Micah got back to me saying he'd love to record it for the project. On December 20, 2019, 21-year-old Micah Thomas came to the Van Gelder Recording Studio for the first time. After scoping out the incredible acoustic studio, Micah sat down at THE Steinway B and prepared himself to record. My reaction: Magical. Just listen to this inspired young man play! After ending his first take, his only comment was, 'Can I do one more?'
"Micah Thomas recorded three takes of Van Allen Belt for our Herbie Nichols Centennial Project. These wildly creative interpretations are completely different, each with its own unique intro setting up the melody; rather than pick a master take, we have decided to make all three available. Our audio excerpts below illustrate how his three different set ups create distinctive new environments for expressing the melody.
Take 1 CLIP1
Take 2 CLIP2
Take 3 CLIP3
"After Micah recorded for us at Van Gelder's, I had a phone conversation with Frank asking me if I was pleased with the recording. All I said was, 'Wait till you hear it—three absolutely intriguing takes!'
"Unfortunately, Frank never got to hear his former student's performances. Frank's death on December 30, 2020, is a great musical loss, and this Project is dedicated to him."
- Recording: Allison / Cardenas / Nash - Tell The Birds I Said Hello
- Recorded on: April 8-9, 2023
- Label: Sonic Camera (SC 2401)
- Concert Key: E-flat
- Style: Swing (medium up)
- Tenor Sax - Ted Nash
- Guitar - Steve Cardenas
- Bass - Ben Allison
This trio version proves that Van Allen Belt still holds together at a medium-up tempo—there are no drums here but it’s easy to imagine Herbie Nichols playing it at this tempo with bass and drums. The tenor sax and guitar play unison for the second half of the A and C section melodies; this really accentuates the stop-and-start rhythms. In addition the last eight measures of C have a rhythmic pedal point in the bass, lining up with the melodic rhythms. These eight measures are also used as an intro, with the last two measures being rests. These last two measures are otherwise used as a break to launch each soloist.
Guitarist Steve Cardenas has recorded with bassist Ben Allison in a wide variety of settings, including seven of the latter’s albums as a leader. “Tell The Birds I Said Hello” is Steve’s first recording of Herbie Nichols compositions. Steve worked with jazzleadsheets.com's Don Sickler on the Thelonious Monk Fake Book, available from Hal Leonard.
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...