Velvet Rain – Eli "Lucky" Thompson

Romantic and subtly sophisticated, Velvet Rain is a Lucky Thompson classic that deserves to be better known. This song starts with a Latin groove and goes to swing in the seventh and eighth measures and at the bridge; the solos swing throughout. All four eight-measure sections are different, though the first two start out the same. The A section has simple changes with an up-and-down melody that arpeggiates the chords; the second half of B modulates up to G minor. C starts in A♭ major and visits G major, F major, and back to G major before returning to the tonic for the D section, a variation of A ending in a solo break.

There is an intro which begins with four measures of groove in the drums, followed by four measures adding a rhythmic bass figure. This bass line doesn’t continue into the head but appears again as a tag ending.