John Coltrane's versions of "Body and Soul"

Recently I spent several lessons with a sax student analyzing transcriptions of John Coltrane’s version of the Johnny Green tune “Body and Soul,” as played on the “Coltrane’s Sound” album. We looked at the transcription in the John Coltrane Omnibook, as well as the transcription by Andrew White. This project led me to check out other extant recordings of Coltrane performing “Body and Soul.” (Thanks, Luke!)

There are at least five different recordings on Youtube of Coltrane playing “Body and Soul." The tracks were all recorded between 1960 and 1965. They reflect an evolution from his relatively conventional chords-based "Coltrane changes" period to his later free-jazz/abstract/spiritual approach. They are:

1)  The studio recording released on the album "Coltrane's Sound,” 10/24/60
2)  An alternate take from the same recording session
3)  Jazz Gallery, 6/10/60 (four months before the studio recordings)
4)  Live at Birdland, 6/2/62
5)  Live in Seattle, 9/30/65

Below are discussions of each recording. Be sure to listen to each track first - the music itself is what's important.

"Coltrane's Sound"

 

The first publicly-released version of Coltrane playing "Body and Soul" appeared on the Atlantic LP "Coltrane's Sound." The material for this album was recorded on October 24-25, 1960, but was not released until 1964. This track is the one I studied with my student, and the version that we will use as a basic reference in comparing other recordings. 

The musicians are Coltrane, tenor saxophone; McCoy Tyner, piano; Steve Davis, bass; and Elvin Jones, drums. With the exception of Steve Davis, this is Coltrane's "classic quartet," with whom he recorded and performed for the next five years. McCoy had been a member of the group since May 1960; Elvin had joined the band just a month before the recording session, in September 1960.  

Coltrane had left Miles Davis' group in April 1960, and was just beginning to establish himself as a leader. His "Giant Steps" album, recorded in 1959, had already been released, in February 1960. The songs and arrangements on these two albums represented much of the repertoire for his new quartet. "Body and Soul" was one of several standard tunes that had been reharmonized with "Coltrane changes."

The arrangement on this album consists of:

• An 8-bar, double-time-feel vamp introduction on a concert Ebm chord (reminiscent of the intro in the 1938 Chu Berry version). Piano starts, drums join after 4 bars.
• Melody played by the saxophone, with some melodic alterations to fit the reharmonization, and fills
• Piano solo over one chorus of the form
• Return to the bridge and last A section of the melody by the sax, and 
• An arranged rubato ending, including a "chromatic third relation" chord sequence Db - A - F, and a gospel-like final cadence for the piano.

The form is AABA, same as the original tune. It is played with a "double-time feel," so the original 32-bar form feels like 64 bars. (In describing bar counts, I will assume a 64-bar format.)

The key is concert Db, as is standard in jazz renditions of “Body and Soul.” The A section is over an Ab pedal until the resolution to the tonic Db chord, with some whole tone scale suggestions set up by augmented chords over the pedal. 

The bridge goes up a half step to the key of D, as in the original song. Starting in bar 5 of the bridge, the arrangement uses a “Coltrane changes” sequence for 4 measures, with 2 beats per chord, beginning and ending on Dmaj7. The progression then goes to Dm7 in bar 9, as in the original. Bars 11-15 of the bridge are another “Coltrane changes” sequence, starting and ending on Cmaj7. The first 2 chords here, Cmaj7 and Eb7, are 1 measure each, the rest of the sequence 2 beats per chord. 

Here's a fairly serviceable chord chart.

Here's another (Coltrane changes are halfway down the page; click to enlarge). 

This original version from the "Coltrane's Sound" LP is a polished exposition of the arrangement. The mood is dignified, and respectful to the beauty of the tune and its jazz heritage. I’ve already mentioned that the intro may reference the Chu Berry recording; I hear echoes of Billie Holiday also.

Everything seems carefully planned. Judging by Coltrane’s later recordings of the tune, even some of the tenor fills were part of the arrangement. 

From Lewis Porter’s Coltrane biography:

His lovely ballad performances drew upon a repertory of unique ornamental features. Coltrane’s paraphrasing of a ballad melody did not vary much from one performance to another of the same piece, even in the specific locations and types of ornaments added…The paraphrase version became a distinct gestalt, ornaments and all.

Another quote from Porter:

Tom Dowd, Coltrane's recording engineer at Atlantic Records, remembers Coltrane's warmup routine: "John usually showed up about an hour before the session...he would stand in a corner, face the wall, play, stop, change reeds, and start again. After a while he would settle on the mouthpiece and reeds that felt most comfortable to him, and then he would start to work on the 'runs' that he wanted to use during the session. I would watch him play the same passage over and over again, changing his breathing, his fingering, and experimenting with the most minute changes in his phrasing."

The transcription of the album version in the Coltrane Omnibook is nicely done, though I do have some minor disagreements about rhythm here and there, and a couple of notes are shown in the wrong octave. The transcriber is not credited. Coltrane played the tune with a double-time feel, so each measure of the original tune shows as two measures in this transcription. The transcription seems to get the reharmonized chord changes pretty much right. The link above is to the Bb edition; concert key and Eb editions are also available.

Andrew White’s transcription of Coltrane’s solo (unavailable since Andrew passed away, as far as I know) is meticulous, as were all his transcriptions. The solo is notated in tenor key (concert Db, Eb for tenor sax). Andrew did not change the song’s original measures to fit a double-time feel, so his note values appear twice as fast (e.g., where the Coltrane Omnibook shows eighth notes, Andrew shows sixteenths). I like his rhythmic representations a little better than those in the Omnibook. 

The New Real Book Vol. 3 (Sher Music) has a lead sheet for the Coltrane arrangement, with a somewhat different take on how to represent the chords. Double-time feel is represented the same way as in the Omnibook. 

Alternate take

 

This alternate take, also from the 11/24/60 recording session, was released on a 1999 CD reissue of the album. It was recorded first, before the take that was selected for the original LP. The take originally chosen for release is more polished, and more carefully played. This alternate (first) take has a 16-bar vamp intro, where the second take tightens it to 8 bars. Coltrane's presentation of the head in the second take is somewhat pared down as well. Some of the sax fills and embellishments are nearly identical in the two takes. The rubato coda is exactly the same, including the piano's gospel-like final cadence.

Jazz Gallery 6/10/1960

This live recording is the earliest Coltrane version I've seen; it preceded the Atlantic recording session by four months. Personnel are Coltrane, tenor; McCoy Tyner, piano; Steve Davis, bass; Pete LaRoca, drums. In the Youtube track below, "Body and Soul" starts at 1:00:10.

 

McCoy Tyner had just joined the band, about two weeks earlier. Elvin Jones had not joined yet. The "Body and Soul" arrangement had already been in the band's book; according to Porter, McCoy's predecessor Steve Kuhn remembers playing it with the group.

Comparing this performance to the album version, we can hear that the arrangement had not quite jelled yet. There is no introduction, although McCoy plays a similar vamp figure for the A sections. Coltrane takes a solo chorus after playing the head. His playing is in general a lot busier, with more virtuosic display. Perhaps this was because of the energy that comes with a live club situation; perhaps it was because Coltrane was trying things out, exploring approaches to the tune.

Still, this was one of the mellower tunes played that night - compare this 7-minute “Body and Soul” to the 30-minute over-the-top version of “Liberia” (based on “A Night in Tunisia”) that is at the beginning of this recording. “Body and Soul” and "Every Time We Say Goodbye" were the ballads providing some variety in an otherwise up-tempo, high-energy set.

The coda as played here is pretty much the same as in the studio recordings. Even in this early version, it was already a composed, permanent feature of the arrangement.

Regarding McCoy's role in the band, here is a quote from an interview cited by Porter:

My playing, I believe, possessed also this metronomic rhythmic accuracy [McCoy is here comparing his playing to Monk's]...because I have a good strong left hand, John knew that he could count on this rhythmic foundation, on this carpet, and that even when he threw himself into his wildest improvisation, he would always have behind him, unshakeable, the regular tempo of his pianist.

Live at Birdland 6/2/62

The next recording we have is from two years after the studio recording - June 2, 1962. It was recorded from a radio program called "Live at Birdland." The full half-hour broadcast is here. (Note: This is not the Coltrane album called "Live at Birdland.")

The band is Coltrane’s classic quartet, with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones.

This version has the energy of a live club performance. The group follows the arrangement, but is freer with it. There is a 12-bar intro; the vamp is looser than in the previous recordings. Coltrane plays the head, including fills that are similar but not identical to the worked-out fills in the 1960 LP version, then takes an additional chorus. Tyner takes two choruses, and Coltrane plays the head from the bridge. 

In this sax solo, I hear Coltrane displaying virtuosity in the service of conveying emotion. He's mostly inside the harmony, with what I'd call some outside overlays. In a couple of spots he splits overtones to produce a chord, a technique not heard on the earlier versions. McCoy, as usual, lays down a solid rhythmic foundation. Elvin and McCoy constantly anticipate each other's rhythmic kicks. There is a terrific band rapport.

Live in Seattle 9/30/65

The last recording that we have of “Body and Soul” is from September 30, 1965. It was released on the 1994 CD reissue of the album "Live in Seattle" (the LP was originally released in 1971, four years after Coltrane's passing). It is the longest version we have, at 21:25 minutes. The personnel is the quartet (Pharoah Sanders and Donald Garrett also participated in this gig, but do not appear on this track).

This is a much more radical, abstract version. We can hear a conflict between structure and freedom. Coltrane is testing the traditional boundaries of music: rhythm, harmony, melody, arranged structure. He is asking a lot out of the band, himself, and the audience.

Compared to the 1960 studio version, here are some differences and similarities:

The piece is still in Db; the eighth-note pulse is still swing.

The introductory vamp no longer uses the arranged rhythm and voicing.

The chords in the A section are "understood" - alluded to by both Coltrane and Tyner, but not necessarily stated explicitly. The "Coltrane changes" are still present in the bridge.

Solos are much longer. They are about exploration. 

The underlying beat is "understood," and downbeats are not always stated explicitly. However, there is still an implicit feeling of 8-bar units.

The AABA structure of the arrangement is mostly followed, though not always marked off as clearly as in the previous recordings. At about 14:57, in the second A of the seventh chorus, the pedal note changes from Ab to F for 8 bars. In the eighth chorus, starting at about 16:42, the bridge is eliminated (unless it's stated too abstractly for my ears). At 18:55 we hear Coltrane cue the bridge, beginning the out-head BA.

The arranged coda is almost exactly as performed in the 1960 Atlantic version. That may be the most conventional, straight-ahead moment on the album. Coltrane plays some nice split-overtone "chords" near the end.

McCoy Tyner seems to be trying to do his job of providing a chordal mooring for Coltrane.

Coltrane avoids jazz clichés like II V patterns or blues licks. For most iterations of the bridge, he plays melodically over the "Coltrane changes." McCoy's solo is much more "inside” than Coltrane’s.

Coltrane is exploring extended techniques on the saxophone - overtones, multiphonics, textures - that don’t have much to do with outlining chords. 

This period of Coltrane's music is sometimes described as "transcendent." This "Body and Soul" track, though it is much more "out" as compared to the earlier versions, is actually one of his more traditional recorded performances from this period. For example, in Cosmos, at the beginning of the Seattle album, even the concept of "beat" is challenged. 

It would seem that even in late 1965, "Body and Soul" was still being placed in the set as the ballad that provides a texture that is relatively comfortable (if that's the right word) to the audience. 

Following the Seattle gig, the group changed dramatically. In November 1965, Coltrane hired Rashied Ali as a second drummer. Presumably he was looking for a more multidimensional rhythmic tapestry. Pharoah Sanders and Donald Garrett also became regular members.

McCoy Tyner left the band at the end of 1965. Here’s a quote cited by Porter: 

What John is doing now is constructive for him, but not as compatible to me as before…I didn’t see myself making any kind of contribution to that music.

Another McCoy quote:

I felt if I was going to go any further musically, I would have to leave the group, and when John hired a second drummer, it became a physical necessity. I couldn’t hear myself. John was understanding.

Elvin Jones left the band in January, 1966. Here is a quote from a "Downbeat" magazine article:

At times I couldn't hear what I was doing - Matter of fact, I couldn't hear what anybody was doing. All I could hear was a lot of noise.

Another Elvin quote, from a radio interview, regarding Coltrane's late music:

Well, of course it's far out, because this is a tremendous mind that's involved, you know. You wouldn't expect Einstein to be playing jacks, you know?

Further reading

Here’s a great writeup about Coltrane and his music in late 1965 by Keith Raether, with reminiscences from the engineer who recorded the “Live in Seattle” album (the article is reprinted on Steve Griggs'  website, Joe Brazil Project).

Here's my account of the only time I saw John Coltrane live, in January 1966, after McCoy Tyner had left, but while there were two drummers, Elvin Jones and Rashied Ali (actually three, counting percussionist Juno Lewis).

This post draws a fair amount of material from the biography John Coltrane: His Life and Music by Lewis Porter, and from The John Coltrane Reference by Chris DeVito, Yasuhiro Fujioka, Wolf Schmaler, and David Wild, ed. Lewis Porter. Both are excellent works of jazz scholarship. Click for the Amazon links:

    

"Body and Soul" - What was the original key?

Recently I spent several lessons with a student analyzing transcriptions of John Coltrane's version of "Body and Soul," as played on the "Coltrane's Sound" album.

As often happens, that effort brought up some questions. One was, why do we play it in Db? Was that really the original key? 

One of my college teachers, Eddy Flenner, who had been an arranger in the 1930s, told me that the tune was originally written in the key of C, but was often taken up a half step “to brighten it up.” This idea seemed questionable to me, as it would assume that most listeners can somehow perceive the difference in keys. I don't think that people generally have perfect pitch, even subliminally.

It turns out that the 1930 sheet music was indeed in the key of C (click to enlarge):

"Body and Soul" was originally written for the British singer Gertrude Lawrence, but she apparently never recorded it.

The website jazzhistoryonline.com lists 17 early versions of “Body and Soul,” all from the year 1930, with sound files of each recording. Five are in Db, 3 in C, 3 in Bb, 2 in Eb, 2 in F, and one each in G and Ab (I'm leaving out some modulations within the arrangement). 

True, different keys would have often been chosen to fit a vocalist’s range, or could be the result of inaccurate recording speed or playback speed. But with the sheet music in C, and with so many early recordings in Db, I have to consider that perhaps Eddy was right after all.

In one of these 1930 versions, Louis Armstrong begins in Eb with trumpet, modulates to C for his vocal, and finishes in F#. Louis uses a different set of lyrics, as explained in the article:

Some other early jazz versions:

Red Allen	1934	solo in C, modulates to Ab
Benny Goodman	1935	Db
Django Reinhardt	1937	Eb
Chu Berry and Roy Eldridge	1938	C (Chu), to Db (Roy), back to C
Coleman Hawkins	1939	Db
Art Tatum	1938, 1940, 1941	B
Art Tatum	1937, 1943	Db
Art Tatum	1953	C
Billie Holiday	1940	Ab
Charlie Parker	1942	Db
Charlie Parker	1943	Db

On the Chu Berry/Roy Eldridge recording, guitarist Danny Barker plays an intro that strongly resembles the piano vamp intro in the Coltrane’s Sound recording. I could believe that Coltrane’s intro referenced Chu Berry's. I should also mention that the modulation up a half step for Roy's trumpet solo (from C to Db) would definitely have a "brighten it up" effect within the arrangement:

Tatum’s key of B may seem to have been a glitch in recording speed or playback speed, but that's how it sounds on three different recordings. Tatum would have had no problem with that key, or any other. In 1937 he recorded it in Db, in 1953 he recorded it in C.

The key of Db for jazz versions was set in stone with Coleman Hawkins’ definitive 1939 recording, a jazz version that was also a best-seller:

In Lewis Porter’s John Coltrane: His Life and Music, there is an interesting quote from Jimmy Heath:

We were talking about the fact that the older tenor players like Hawkins and Webster played in the key of D-flat because it was the heaviest key for tenor - gets the best sound. “Body and Soul,” all those tunes were in D-flat…Trane said, “I’m going to practice in D-flat.” Being who he was, he would zoom in and practice in D-flat for the next six months.

It’s true that concert Db is a fat-sounding key on tenor, especially on the lower notes. However, though Hawkins played the head to “Body and Soul” in the lower register; Coltrane favored the higher register of the tenor, and played the head an octave higher than Hawkins did.

In the next post, I'll discuss John Coltrane's recordings of "Body and Soul" from 1960, 1962, and 1965.

To close, here's Billie Holiday in 1940. I'm including this just because it's so nice.

"Blues Walk," "Loose Walk," and "Somebody Done Stole My Blues"

Recently I learned that the Bb blues that I knew as Clifford Brown's "The Blues Walk" is also called "Loose Walk," credited to Sonny Stitt. A little internet research turned up the fact that it is also known as "Somebody Done Stole My Blues," written by alto saxophonist Chris Woods.

Chris Woods seems to have been the actual composer; he recorded "Somebody Done Stole My Blues" on February 24, 1953 (Delmark DL-434 - for documentation, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page). If I understand correctly, this session was not released until 1976. Sonny Stitt recorded the same tune as "Loose Walk" on November 16, 1953 (Opus 202, Vogue VJD 555). Clifford Brown recorded "The Blues Walk" on February 24-25, 1955 (EmArcy 26043).

A 1962 Tubby Hayes recording, featuring Sonny Stitt, calls it "Stitt's Tune."

Although somebody apparently did indeed steal Chris Woods' blues, his title, though ironic, was not in response to that, as his recording seems to have been titled that way from the beginning.

I could imagine that the title "Blues Walk" for Clifford Brown's tune might have resulted from a misunderstanding. Perhaps the recording engineer asked Clifford for the title, Clifford called it "Loose Walk," and the engineer heard it as "Blues Walk." That's just a wild guess. The attribution to Clifford could have been a mistaken assumption. A more cynical person might speculate that royalties were involved in some way.

I couldn't find the Chris Woods 1953 recording on Youtube, but here is a 1978 live version with Clark Terry, Horace Parlan, Victor Sproles, and Bobby Durham. Clark Terry is burning. Chris Woods may not have been well known, but he could really play:






Here's Sonny Stitt's 1953 recording:






And of course, the classic Clifford Brown track:






All of the above versions are in Bb concert. Dexter Gordon liked it in F, and called it "Loose Walk":

"I Remember You" - the tag

While comparing versions of the harmony to Victor Schertzinger's "I Remember You," I  got distracted by another feature: the often-used tag that repeats the last phrase, up a minor third. Cannonball Adderley uses this ending in this great 1959 version (6:38 in the video):

The tune was written in 1942. The up-a-minor-third tag doesn't appear in any early versions that I could find (Jimmy Dorsey, Harry James). And although I don't have the original sheet music, I did check the chart in the Hal Leonard Real Jazz Standards Fake Book, which shows original sheet-music changes, and the tag didn't occur there.

Browsing Youtube, the earliest usage I could find was in this Dave Brubeck version, recorded 12/14/53. He uses it as both intro and tag (or "outro," as we sometimes say):

Interestingly, Horace Silver uses a similar intro/outro approach in this version, recorded 11/23/53. Horace doesn't use the melody line, but does use the up-a-minor-third device in both intro and outro:

Wikipedia lists this track as having been released in 1953, but does not give an exact date. It's possible, but not too likely, that Brubeck had heard Silver's version prior to his own recording of "I Remember You." My guess is that neither Brubeck nor Silver actually originated this tag, but that it was "in the air" by late 1953. If any readers know of an earlier version using this tag, please let me know in the comments.

While I was listening to these recordings, my wife recalled that there had been a country-sounding version on Los Angeles pop radio in the 1960s. She mght have been remembering one of these versions - Frank Ifield (#1 on the charts in England in 1962), or Slim Whitman, who covered Ifield's version in 1966. Both versions use the up-a-minor-third tag.

Here are the Beatles in an early recording in Hamburg, covering Ifield's version, and again with the tag:

Some excellent Charlie Parker analysis

This article goes on my list of first-rate Parker scholarship: Four Studies of Charlie Parker's Compositional Processes, by Henry Martin, published in the July 2018 issue of the journal "Music Theory Online."

Martin studies four Parker compositions that show some evidence of Parker's compositional processes. His article covers the tunes and issues below, in considerable detail:

"Ornithology" has been credited to Benny Harris, to Parker, or to a collaboration of the two. The end of the song was changed (for the better) in later Parker performances. Martin considers the lineage of melodic motives used in the tune as they occur in earlier recordings by Harris, Parker, and others. In the end, it's not possible to positively ascribe authorship to one or the other, though it would seem most likely that Harris wrote the tune, basing the beginning on one of Parker's licks, which in turn derives from Lester Young. The revised ending seems to have definitely come from Parker.

"My Little Suede Shoes" is a combination and reworking of two c.1950 French pop songs, "Le Petit Cireur Noir" and "Pedro Gomez." I discussed this in a previous post, but Martin presents much more detail. Parker's compositional process here consisted of altering and combining the two songs into a coherent and melodically satisfying new tune. 

With "Red Cross" and "Blues (Fast)," we have the opportunity to observe Parker reworking tunes during recording sessions. Parker changes the melodies over the course of subsequent takes, until a final satisfactory result is reached. Martin examines the development of each tune in detail.

Going beyond the discussion of Parker's composition process in these four pieces, Martin considers the question of what exactly "composition" means in a jazz context, proposing a wider definition of the term, including instances of what one might otherwise consider improvisation. It's an interesting question; to me it immediately brings up the issue of what can be copyrighted. Martin has the good sense to stop short of this difficult, thorny question.

Anyone interested in Bird scholarship really should check out this article; a brief review can't do it justice. Just click the link at the beginning of this post.

Monk's "Dreamland"

If you haven't yet read it, be sure to check out Ethan Iverson's recent post, Thelonious Sphere Monk Centennial: Primary and Secondary Documents. It's an excellent overview of Monk's recording career, his compositions, Monk biographies, articles, tribute recordings, and Monk-related documents.

I'd like to offer some comments on just one song mentioned in the article, "Dreamland." Monk may or may not have written it. Recordings exist from 1958, 1969 (available as part of a Mosaic Records DVD box set), and 1971. Monk never copyrighted it.

Iverson posts two charts for Monk's "Dreamland," one that was done by Paul Motian (without barlines), and a version re-charted by Bill Frisell (with barlines). You can find the charts towards the end of Iverson's article, along with a discussion of the tune. 

Here's the 1958 version. Monk did not approve this track for release, and it was not included in the original "Thelonious in Action" album pictured below; Orrin Keepnews eventually released the track on an album called "Blues Five Spot" (1984), after Monk passed away in 1982. On the 1984 album it was titled "unidentified piano solo."

Here is Monk's only studio recording of "Dreamland," done in London for Black Lion Records in 1971: 

When the 1971 track was released, the record company titled it "Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland." Most people who are familiar with "Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland" would call this a mistake, as Monk's tune seems to have nothing to do with the old 1909 waltz that has been recorded countless times over the years. 

Although Monk's tune is definitely not "Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland," I do hear some similarity to the original verse (introductory lead-in) of the 1909 tune. Here are Elizabeth Wheeler and Harry Anthony singing the tune, starting with the verse, recorded in 1909:

Here are the first two pages of the original sheet music, showing the verse (click to enlarge):

Here are the opening bars to each song, with "Meet Me..." transposed to Eb, for easier comparison. In "Meet Me...," if you remove the third note in bars 1, 3, 9, and 11, you will see a melodic curve very much like "Dreamland."

It seems at least possible that Monk took the melodic shape of the verse to "Meet Me" as a starting point, then wrote his own tune. In his recordings, Monk plays "Dreamland" straight through as an arrangement, with no real improvised solo, much as he did in his performances of "Crepuscule With Nellie."

Iverson writes that he is "unconvinced that ['Dreamland'] is not just some old parlor piano tune we haven’t found yet, mainly because the bones of Monk’s original ballads are so much more idiosyncratic than the quite conventional 'Dreamland.' " That's a good point - the changes don't resemble other Monk tunes - but the chord progression in Monk's "Dreamland" is not in a style you'd typically find in a 1910s or 1920s parlor tune. To me, the harmony sounds more 1930s or 1940s (of course, Monk might have done some reharmonizing).

Note that the melody of "Dreamland" falls on the #11 of a dominant chord in bars 4 and 8, and on the b9 in bar 16. Also note the pickup/triplet shape in bars 3 and 7. These are characteristic bop features, although it's always possible that they were added as part of a Monk interpretation.

There's a notation at the top of the first page of the 1909 sheet music that cautions us:

PLEASE NOTE:--Owing to the phenomenal and unprecedented success and sale of this beautiful song, there have been placed on the market, imitation "Dreamland" songs with very similar titles.

This song written and composed by LEO FRIEDMAN and BETH SLATER WHITSON is THE ORIGINAL song of this title and WE CAN PROVE IT.

If Iverson is right that Monk's "Dreamland" is an old parlor tune, one might guess that it could be one of those "Meet Me Tonight" knockoffs that the sheet music warns us about - but the style of both melody and changes is all wrong for 1909. 

In his definitive biography Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, Robin D. G. Kelley writes,

"Dreamland" has been mislabeled and misrepresented many times...I have reviewed both songs ["Meet Me..." and a song titled "Dreamland" by Goetz and North], along with dozens of other songs with the title "Dreamland" (Harry L. Newman's "Take Me Back to Dreamland," Harold Arlen's "Hit the Road to Dreamland," Francis Paul, "Dreamland," ad nauseum). None of these songs bear any resemblance to what Monk played on those two occasions. After ten years of searching, querying, and digging, I have come to the conclusion that...it is a Monk original. Perhaps it is a sketch of a song never quite finished.

My own opinion is that there's a pretty good case that Monk composed the tune, taking off from a paraphrase of the verse to "Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland."


Finally, here's one last video, a 1950s Les Elgart big-band version of "Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland." Sitting in the sax section of local big bands, I played this arrangement countless times, but it took a few gigs before I recognized the original melody buried in the arrangement:

The "Honeysuckle Rose" II V lick - Charlie Parker, K-Ximbinho, and Mauricio Einhorn

One of the staple bop solo clichés is the "Honeysuckle Rose" II V lick. Bop-era jazz players utilized it quite a bit, and it is still part of the jazz improviser's language.

Here's the lick as it originally appeared in Fats Waller's 1929 song "Honeysuckle Rose" (key sig. is one flat):

Use of the lick in soloing is associated with Charlie Parker, but I really can't say when American jazz players first started using "Honeysuckle Rose" as an improv element. If any reader can point out a recorded 1930s instance in a solo by a jazz artist, please let me know in the comments section below.

One interesting early use is in the head to Tadd Dameron's "Lady Bird." According to one source, this tune was written around 1939. At that time Dameron would still have been living in Cleveland, Parker was not well-known, and bop had not yet taken shape as a distinct style. (See this post for more about this tune.)

Here's the "Honeysuckle Rose" phrase in "Lady Bird" as it appears in the Hal Leonard Real Book (bars 3-4). The last note was originally F, not E.

Another well-known use of the lick is in "Donna Lee," written by either Miles Davis or Charlie Parker in 1947 (see this post regarding authorship) (key sig. is 4 flats)

By Parker's own account, "Honeysuckle Rose" was the first complete tune that he ever learned, as a teenager. He used the lick throughout his career.

Parker got extra mileage out of the "Honeysuckle Rose" lick by varying its notes and rhythmic placement. A few examples from the Charlie Parker Omnibook are below:

Marmaduke head (Omnibook, p. 68)

Scrapple from the Apple solo (Omnibook p.17)

Blues for Alice solo (Omnibook, p.19)

Bloomdido head (Omnibook, p. 108)

7

Donna Lee solo (Omnibook, p. 49)

Perhaps solo (Omnibook, p. 72)

Klaunstance solo (Omnibook, p. 90)

Parker uses the lick in various ways, not just over a straight II V. For example, the "Donna Lee" solo clip above is over what I would have called IVm bVIIdom (as is the Dameron "Lady Bird" instance). The Scrapple example is pretty heavily disguised, and played in Eb, "side-slipping" a half step above what the rhythm section is playing. 

I also ran across a couple of examples in some Brazilian classics - a 1946 choro by K-Ximbinho, "Sonoroso," and a 1960's bossa by Mauricio Einhorn, "Estamos Ai." That seemed a little surprising, but upon further reflection, maybe not so surprising after all. K-Ximbinho (stage name of Sebastião Barros) was a Brazilian jazz saxophonist and clarinetist, born in 1917. His bio is here (translation from Portuguese Wikipedia). It's quite likely that he would have been listening to records from the US in 1946.

Mauricio Einhorn is a jazz harmonica player, born in 1932. He was active as a performer in Rio in the 1950s, and was prominent in the early days of bossa nova. He's still performing. American jazz fans might remember him as the composer of "Batida Diferente," recorded by Cannonball Adderley. Einhorn certainly would have been familiar with the bebop language. His bio is here (translation from German Wikipedia).

Here's the lick as used in K-Ximbinho's "Sonoroso" (it occurs at the end of the "B" section) (key sig. is one flat):

There are many recordings of  "Sonoroso" on Youtube. The first one below is probably the original. It's from 1946 with the Orquestra Tabajara; K-Ximbinho played with the group at that time. Following it is a more modern version with Altamiro Carrilho and Paulo Sergio Santos.

Here's the "Honeysuckle Rose" lick as it occurs in Einhorn's "Estamos Ai" (bars 16 and 32):

A 1965 version by Leny Andrade:

A two-harmonica rendition by Einhorn and Toots Thielemans, played with a swing beat:

Steve Swallow interview

A friend sent me a link to this video - Steve Swallow and John Scofield, interviewed by Dr. David Schroeder. It's over an hour, but well worth the time. Topics include "ear" playing versus reading skills; the origin of the Real Book; Steve's experiences working with Gary Burton, Stan Getz, Carla Bley and others; and Steve's transition from double bass to electric bass. Some great stories here!

I'd long wondered why the old Real Book had changes to "Here's that Rainy Day" that seemed so wrong - according to Steve, they were Jim Hall's reharmonization. Steve also mentions that the Real Book changes to "My Romance" are the "Bill Evans changes." That made me wonder what the original chords to the song actually were, since pretty much all modern fake books show something close to the changes in the old RB. The original harmonization was quite a bit different; I'll get to that in a future post. Here's the interview:

Charlie Parker's "Cool Blues" and Bizet's "Carmen"

Charlie Parker's "Cool Blues" is a "riff blues" in C, first recorded in 1947. 

The riff itself was in Parker's vocabulary at least as early as his March 28, 1946 recording session in Los Angeles for Ross Russell's Dial label; he uses the lick in his "Yardbird Suite" solo. About a year later, on February 19, 1947, Russell set up a recording session with Parker, pianist Errol Garner, and Garner's rhythm section. Parker had recently been released from Camarillo State Hospital. He was relaxed and refreshed, and playing beautifully. One of the tunes recorded was "Cool Blues," a setting of the riff as a 12-bar blues. Here are the four takes from this session:               

These recordings of "Cool Blues" were titled differently in various Dial releases: "Cool Blues," "Hot Blues," and "Blowtop Blues."

In the biography Charlie Parker: His Music and Life, author Carl Woideck mentions some possible sources of the "Cool Blues" riff. One possibility is the very brief use of a similar lick in Duke Ellington's "Blue Ramble" (1932). The riff occurs at 1:40 and 1:58:

Woideck also quotes Phil Schapp's liner notes for The Complete Dean Benedetti Recordings of Charlie Parker as stating that "Cool Blues" is "similar to a set-closing theme...reportedly used several years beforehand by bassist John Kirby's sextet." In a telephone conversation with Woideck, Schaap also mentioned that "at least one musician who remembered the Kirby theme sang it to Schaap in a way similar, but not identical to, Parker's version."

A footnote in Schapp's liner notes:

Bird told Benedetti that his title for "Cool Blues" was "Blues Up and Down." This same blues theme was used earlier by the John Kirby Sextet to take the "Biggest [Little] Band in the Land" off the stand. Bird learned it by hearing the Kirby Sextet and through his friendship with Russell Procope, that group's alto saxophonist.

This speculation on the origin of the tune does seem credible. However, there is another likely source, in Georges Bizet's opera, "Carmen."

The "Cool Blues" riff shows up briefly, but unmistakably, in Act 2 of "Carmen." In this recording, it occurs from 1:16:22 to 1:16:52:

Woideck added the Bizet information in the (later) Italian edition of his Parker biography, mentioning also that the Kirby group was known for its jazz interpretations of European classical music. The Italian edition also mentions that "[the Kirby set-closing theme] does not appear in any of the official records of the orchestra for various labels, and the search for live performances and radio tunes for the band has not identified any version as yet."

Schaap makes a good case that Parker might have adapted the Kirby melody. But Parker might equally well have lifted the theme directly from "Carmen" - he was definitely a classical music fan. Or both, or neither. The Ellington fragment is pretty fleeting, and seems less likely as a source.

Quite a few recorded live versions of "Cool Blues" exist; below are four from Youtube:

With Fats Navarro and Bud Powell (1950):

 "The Washington Concerts" (1953) (note the "Habanera" quote):

"Summit Meeting at Birdland" (1953), with John Lewis:

With a very young Chet Baker (1953):