Joe Henderson’s tenor saxophone solo on his reharmonized version of Cole Porter’s “Night & Day” (downloadable transcription below), was recorded for the Blue Note label at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio (where else!) in Engewood Cliffs, NJ on Nov. 30th, 1964, ten days before John Coltrane recorded “A Love Supreme” in the same studio. “Night & Day” would be the final track on the “B” side of the original vinyl LP “Inner Urge”, Henderson’s fourth as a leader for Blue Note; and featured then current Coltrane Quartet members McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones on piano and drums respectively; as well as … Read More
Category Archives: Recordings
This transcription of the first chorus of John Coltrane’s tenor solo on Duke Ellington’s “In a Mellow Tone”, was taken from a live (possibly radio) recording from sometime in mid 1954, when ‘Trane was on the road with Johnny Hodges’ septet. The band included Hodges’ fellow Ellingtonians, Harold “Shorty” Baker – trumpet, and Lawrence Brown on trombone. This version of “Mellotone” was originally released, to my knowledge, in on a “bootleg” vinyl in the 1970’s on the “Enigma” label. A friend of mine had it and I promptly copied it to cassette (remember those?…..OK, maybe not). Then as now, ‘Trane’s … Read More
It’s Joe Henderson time again, ladies and gents! Joe, as you should know, was one of the music’s more stylistically unique and influential tenor saxophonists and improvisers, as well as the composer of a healthy number of classic originals. His influence and legacy live on in his many recordings, made both as leader and sideman, during a career which spanned nearly four decades. Henderson’s tenor saxophone solo on one of those original compositions, an uptempo C Minor Blues entitled “Granted” (dedicated to the renowned NYC Jazz Radio personality and promoter, Alan Grant, who recently passed away at 93), is the … Read More
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
As I’ve been frantically trying to finish my new eBook “Slick Licks That Stick!” during the past several weeks and hadn’t had the chance to post anything new, I thought I’d do a quickie “Marc Meyers type” record review of an album I’ve been digging a lot lately, Bobby Hutcherson’s 1963 recording, “The Kicker”. Featured here, besides Hutcherson on vibraphone, is the always amazing Joe Henderson on tenor (of course), as well as Duke Pearson – p, Grant Green – guitar (tracks #4-6), Bob (he’s everywhere, he’s everywhere!) Cranshaw – bass, and Al Harewood on the tubs. Not only does … Read More
Riding the wave of innovation pioneered by Jimmy Smith and the resulting popularity of the Hammond B-3 electric organ, B-3 organ groups soon sprang up like mushrooms in bars and lounges all across urban America during the late 1950’s and throughout the next decade. By the early 1960’s, as organ / tenor saxophone groups were approaching the peak of their popularity, the best of the rest of these groups was the one led by the husband & wife team of tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine and organist Shirley Scott. … Read More
“Satellite” – John Coltrane’s “Giant Step-ed” treatment of the standard “How High the Moon” was recorded as the final tune of the evening session on Oct. 24th, 1960 for Atlantic Records. This late session also produced all of the tracks (with the exception of “Mr. Syms”, recorded earlier that afternoon) for the album which eventually became known as Coltrane Plays the Blues, which wasn’t released until 1962. The afternoon & evening sessions from that day, as well as the sessions from the 21st & 26th of Oct., yielded all the material for 2 other albums as well: My Favorite Things (released … Read More