Calypso Minor

Michael Blake's arrangement & improvised solo on his tune "Calypso Minor", from the his album Elevated, one of my favorites.

Caravan

Freddie Hubbard's arrangement of Caravan, from the Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers album of the same name.

For Once In My Life

Just finished transcribing James Jamerson's bass line on the Stevie Wonder classic "For Once In My Life".

A Belated Update..

Clearly, I've been less than rigorous in keeping this updated; here's a selection of a some of the transcriptions I've done over the past few weeks:

5 new tunes

These are 5 songs from a large project I'm doing for a great singer-songwriter here in Portland. I'm creating charts for and album's worth of his original tunes; in these I've provided the vocal melody, lyrics, chord progressions and a staff indicating important hits in the rhythm section.

Herbie Hancock - Gentle Thoughts

Here's a transcription of Herbie Hancock's tune "Gentle Thoughts", from the album Secrets. I provided the melody, chord progression, bass line and important fills & harmonies.

The Blues Brothers - Jailhouse Rock

Here's a transcription of the Blues Brothers' version of "Jailhouse Rock", from their classic movie. This is a great band made up of some killer R&B, blues and rock players. I did a full transcription of this one - four horns and a rhythm section part, including bass, drums, guitar and piano.

I just finished a batch of tunes for another new client - three motown tunes. "Tears Of A Clown" by Smoky Robinson, "I'll Be There" and "Never Can Say Goodbye" by the Jackson 5, and "My Cherie Amour" by Stevie Wonder. I provided chord changes, the bass line and bass tablature for each. This is some of my favorite music, so I really enjoyed these!

Bill Evans - Night And Day

This is a tune that I transcribed for my own learning. It's Bill Evans' solo - mostly only right-hand on the recording, and that's all that's represented here, as well as the chord changes. I'm working on learning this one myself and hope to have a performance of it on my YouTube channel soon.

Chicago: What's This World Coming To?

A bass transcription for a new client. This is from Chicago's 1973 album Chicago VI. I transcribed the bass line and chord changes on this one, and provided another staff of tablature to represent the ideal fingerings for the tune.

All Of The Time

A chart for another new client, also a singer-songwriter. Again I've transcribed the vocal melody and chord changes. I worked closely with the client to make sure that inflections and rhythm in the vocal melody were exactly as he wanted them.

Beauty In The Feast

 

Here's a tune I did for a new client, a singer-songwriter; this is one of his original tunes, with the melody, chords and chord voicings notated.  

Transcription Archive

Made some updates to my website; a transcription archive is now available.

Harry James solos

Just finished a new batch of 5 transcriptions for Greg, a regular client.  These are all classic tracks by the great trumpeter Harry James; I transcribed the solo trumpet parts and chord changes.   Here are some samples of the first 3 lines of each tune.

James Jamerson - "I Can't Get Next To You"

James Jamerson's line on the early funk classic, from the 1969 Temptations album Puzzle People. 

Chris Potter - "The Source"

Chris Potter's tenor sax solo on "The Source", from his 2001 album Gratitude.

2 pages.

Sting - "Rehumanize Yourself"

Sting's groove on "Rehumanize Yourself", from Ghost In The Machine by The Police. Sting is a hugely underrated bassist - he's tight, melodic and always has a great tone.

2 pages (tablature included).

James Jamerson - "Right On"

Here's my transcription of James Jamerson's line on "Right On", from Marvin Gaye's classic 1971 record What's Going On. This is an interesting bit of playing from Mr. Jamerson - his lines are usually free & loose, with lots of variation; in this case his playing is super straight-forward, almost machine-like in its consistency.

Some folks claim that this was actually played by Bob Babbitt, who was present on a few of this album's tracks. The album jacket, however, says it's Jamerson.

2 pages.

Why is a good bass sound so hard to find?

I've noticed lately that on so many recordings the electric bass is incredibly boomy, muddy, or just generally hard to listen to. Case in point: "Furr", the new album from local Portland band Blitzen Trapper. The other instruments on the album are beautifully recorded, particularly the acoustic guitar on title track and the piano on "Not Your Lover". There's a tangible sense of space in the vocals and drums as well, so obviously the producers know what they're doing; so why such a bad bass sound? I've noticed this all over the place, but particularly in "indie" recordings.

With all of that said, it's still a great album. There are some truly fantastic songs, like the aforementioned "Furr", and other quasi-country efforts. The one thing I'd like to hear from these guys is a bit more cohesiveness - things tend to change pretty drastically from song to song. This is still a young band, and I think we're still hearing the development of their sound. I'll certainly be on board to hear new things as they come.

R.I.P. Freddie

Not much to say for this first post; here's what I'm listening to. This is a double-LP live album from 1977 featuring some heavy post-bop/hard-bop hitters.  Wayne Shorter's playing on this is particularly great.  The sound of Tony Williams' drums is superb (overall production is great) and it's some of Ron Carter's best playing as well.