Wedding Waltz – Jon Davis
A warm, festive 3/4 song with quite a long form; it originally comes from a 1986 recording with bassist Jaco Pastorius. Our "Jon Davis Trio" recording is available in Rhythm Section Workshop format, with Minus You parts for piano, bass, and drums. Jon's Solo Piano recording, and his piano arrangement, are also available.
- Recording: Brian Melvin - Standards Zone
- Recorded on: 1986
- Label: Global Pacific (R2-79335)
- Concert Key: A-flat
- Vocal Range: , to
- Style: 3/4 swing (medium)
- Piano - Jon Davis
- Bass - Jaco Pastorius
- Drums - Brian Melvin
Video
- Description
- Historical Notes
- Solos
- Piano Corner
- Bass Corner
- Drum Corner
- Guitar Corner
- Inside & Beyond
- Minus You
See more detailed notes regarding this song under the "Jon Davis Trio" album cover.
Related Songs
Email Send Wedding Waltz to a friend
- Recording: Jon Davis - Jon Davis Trio
- Recorded on: September 4, 2010
- Label: jazzleadsheets.com (JLS 1043)
- Concert Key: A-flat
- Vocal Range: , to
- Style: 3/4 swing (medium)
- Piano - Jon Davis
- Bass - Daryl Johns
- Drums - Steve Johns
Video
- Description
- Historical Notes
- Solos
- Piano Corner
- Bass Corner
- Drum Corner
- Guitar Corner
- Inside & Beyond
- Minus You
There is no intro on this recording; the coda changes the end of the C section to the same as the end of the second A section, followed by an eight-measure "tag" that is a variation of the preceding eight measures. This leads to an eight-measure vamp, a sort of V-of-V-of-V-of-V turnaround embellished with added tritone substitutions. After the vamp, the same "tag" that appeared before it is repeated one more time to end.
On the recording, the bass plays with a steady 1-feel for the first A section of the in head, embellishing slightly on the second A section.
Our Minus You piano and drum parts show the bass rhythms below the staff, starting on the second A section and continuing through the in head, the out C section and most of the coda including the last time through the vamp. The bass part has all important drum rhythms notated under the staff. Both the bass and drum parts include the piano melody as recorded for most of the coda, again including the last repeat of the vamp. Unlike most of these Jon Davis Trio recordings, there is no piano melody transcription. An arrangement for solo piano is available; click on the Piano Corner tab for more details.
Perhaps most notably, Davis' Wedding Waltz has been recorded twice by legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius, once on drummer Brian Melvin's trio record "Standards Zone" (see cover above left) and again the same year on Jaco's "Jazz Street." Second Floor Music's first copyright, Rodgers Grant's Morning Star, was also recorded and released on "Standards Zone."
Jon recorded a solo piano version two years later, at a session where he also recorded solo versions of five other songs from this 2010 trio session. Click on the "Solo Piano" album cover, above right.
It might be interesting to watch Jon's solo piano performance from his solo piano session at Van Gelder's, comparing it with the arrangement. Click on the "Solo Piano" album cover above right, then scroll down for the video of that performance.
Because of the long form, this recording is only two choruses long. After a piano solo on the two A sections and B section of the second chorus, the out melody is played from C.
CLIP The format is:
-- melody
-- piano solo AAB
-- out melody C
-- coda: vamp 11 times
-- "tag" (indicated as [1]) to end
mp3 minus Piano
-- count off sets up the melody
-- play the melody
-- solo AAB
-- play the out melody C and coda (solo on the vamp 11 times then play [1])
mp3 minus Bass
-- count off sets up the melody
-- 1-feel for the melody
-- 1-feel for the piano solo AAB
-- 1-feel for the out melody C and coda (vamp 11 times then [1])
mp3 minus Drums - sticks on the recording, but brushes could be used
-- count off sets up the melody
-- comp for the melody
-- comp for the piano solo AAB
-- comp for the out melody C and coda (vamp 11 times then [1])
Related Songs
Email Send Wedding Waltz to a friend
- Recording: Jon Davis - Solo Piano: Jon Davis
- Recorded on: May 26, 2012
- Label: jazzleadsheets.com (JLS 1044)
- Concert Key: A-flat
- Vocal Range: , to
- Style: 3/4 swing (medium)
- Piano - Jon Davis
- Description
- Historical Notes
- Solos
- Piano Corner
- Bass Corner
- Drum Corner
- Guitar Corner
- Inside & Beyond
- Minus You
It's interesting to compare this recording to the Solo Piano Arrangement. Though his recorded solo interpretation is quite free, as expected, there are several places where he plays the same voicings as his written arrangement. This is particularly notable in the first half of the bridge. As with our trio version, but not the written Solo Piano Arrangement, this recording vamps at the end. The eight-measure vamp phrase is slightly different here from the trio version, without the tritone substitutions on the 6th and 8th measures.
Check out Jon's other solo piano compositions recorded by Rudy Van Gelder.
Related Songs
Email Send Wedding Waltz to a friend
Jon Davis
born on July 22, 1957
Jon Davis is a pianist and composer based in New York. He has performed with and contributed compositions to many of the top jazz musicians worldwide throughout his career, which has spanned over 35 years, and has recorded several albums as a leader. Jon took up piano and guitar as a young teenager; he was inspired to play jazz after hearing records of Red Garland and Miles Davis. He briefly studied with Lennie Tristano then attended New England Conservatory, where his teachers included Ran Blake, Jaki Byard, and Madam Chaloff. After six months, he left to begin gigging around Boston. Read more...