Here’s a transcription of John Coltrane’s soprano saxophone solo on his composition “Big Nick”, recorded April 11th, 1962 at Rudy Van Gelder’s famed studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ and was included as part of the CD release of the album “Coltrane”, on the Impulse! label. This is the first of two versions of the tune recorded by Coltrane that year; the second, which appeared on the aptly titled Impulse! classic, “Duke Ellington and John Coltrane”, was recorded in September. The main difference between the two versions, is the form (and the intention). The “Ellington” version is a standard 32 bar, AABA … Read More
Monthly Archives: March 2013
This is a basic, fundamental exercise dealing with Major Triads and their inversions. The triads are spaced a whole tone apart with the scheme being ascending / descending in an upwards direction for 2 octaves, then ascending / descending back down. Each inversion is presented in four groupings, as each measure is a Major Third apart, thus dividing the octave into 3 equal parts. Therefore, the triads repeat after the fourth grouping. Triads are one of the more basic tools in an improviser’s arsenal. A good technical facility, as well as a basic theoretical understanding of their usage both in … Read More