Waltz For Phineas – Geoffrey Keezer

With its mysterious sound, this song is very different from Geoffrey Keezer's other Phineas Newborn, Jr. tribute, Newborn Spirit. Waltz For Phineas is ominous and vaguely melancholy, due to its soaring melody over dark, rich harmonies. The AABC form has 16-measure A and C sections and a 12-measure bridge. Though the A section is anchored by a bass pedal figure (see the Piano/Bass part), there no single key center. This bass figure pivots between B♭ and F♯, but the chords, which are all played over the F♯ bass notes, imply an F♯ minor tonality with several unusual alterations. Each A section and C ends in a different place: E♭7sus in the first A, E♭ major in the second, and B major in the third. This final B major chord is written as C♭maj7 in some editions, including the solo piano arrangement; the melody note here is F♮ which is voiced as an upper-structure D♭ major triad.

The changes in general are often unpredictable, but the long notes of the melody connect them and keep this song flowing elegantly.

In the solos, the bass pedal section (first 12 measures of A and of C) is replaced with a single chord, B♭7(♭9). The bass is not playing a 1-feel here, but instead a two-measure pattern. A sample of Charnett Moffett's lines from the recording is shown in our Piano/Bass part. This part includes the melody, bass pedal figures, and important piano comping rhythms. It also includes the piano voicings on the intro, which repeats the first four measures of the A section twice.

The ending vamps on the last chord. Geoffrey begins this vamp by repeating a rising series of upper structure triads, which are shown in the Piano/Bass part; our lead sheets include the top notes of these as well.

A solo piano arrangement is available; click on Piano Corner for more details. Bassists, check out the Piano/Bass part.