Drawing courtesy of mauricestern.org. Click pic for more info. Horace Silver's classic, "Nutville" was recorded on Oct. 22nd, 1965 and released as part of his Blue Note album, "The Cape Verdean Blues".
Along with Silver on piano, the hall-of-fame lineup included Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, Woody Shaw - trumpet, J. J. Johnson - trombone, with Bob Cranshaw and Roger Humphries - bass and drums, respectively.
While the solos by Shaw and Johnson have often been the subject of study, Henderson's brief 4-chorus improvisation is the focus here. Being a tenor player myself, I guess I've always been a little nuts on the subject of Joe.
Along with Silver on piano, the hall-of-fame lineup included Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, Woody Shaw - trumpet, J. J. Johnson - trombone, with Bob Cranshaw and Roger Humphries - bass and drums, respectively.
While the solos by Shaw and Johnson have often been the subject of study, Henderson's brief 4-chorus improvisation is the focus here. Being a tenor player myself, I guess I've always been a little nuts on the subject of Joe.
"Nutville" is a slightly modified, double-time, 24-bar C minor Blues taken at a healthy 280-something beats per minute. The slight modification occurs in the last eight bars of the form (17 - 24, see Ex. 2 below), which features chromatically descending dominants (one per bar) from the bVI7 for four bars , back to a typical bVI7-V7alt-i Minor Blues cadence for the final four measures.
A driving "latinesque" rhythmic figure supports the soloists, subtly changing to a swing feel from the 17th to the 22nd baars of each chorus, returning to the "Latin Tinge" for the final two bars.
A couple of noteworthy spots in Henderson's solo:
Henderson instinctively picks up where Woody Shaw's solo ends. Ex. 1 below begins on beat one of the beginning of Henderson's first chorus (3:02), with Shaw holding over a Bb (concert),
Rolling back about a second (to approx. 3:01), reveals Woody's complete phrase to be - C up to F and down to Bb - an 027 Trichord. Henderson reacts immediately with the exact same trichord and shape - transposed up a whole step (D-G-C). Smokin' Joe works with it as his opening statement - changing accents and rhythm - for the next several bars.
Ex. 1 - Measures 1 - 8 (All examples in Concert key)
A driving "latinesque" rhythmic figure supports the soloists, subtly changing to a swing feel from the 17th to the 22nd baars of each chorus, returning to the "Latin Tinge" for the final two bars.
A couple of noteworthy spots in Henderson's solo:
Henderson instinctively picks up where Woody Shaw's solo ends. Ex. 1 below begins on beat one of the beginning of Henderson's first chorus (3:02), with Shaw holding over a Bb (concert),
Rolling back about a second (to approx. 3:01), reveals Woody's complete phrase to be - C up to F and down to Bb - an 027 Trichord. Henderson reacts immediately with the exact same trichord and shape - transposed up a whole step (D-G-C). Smokin' Joe works with it as his opening statement - changing accents and rhythm - for the next several bars.
Ex. 1 - Measures 1 - 8 (All examples in Concert key)
In the final eight bars of Joe's first chorus (Ex. 2), he employs simple three-note groupings - simple ascending 5-b7-1 patterns on each of the descending dominant chords. Notice how he varies the rhythm of each in measures 17 to 20, creating a single, balanced 4-bar phrase.
He continues along the same lines from bar 21, over Ab13 - G7alt (bVI7 - V7alt), but doesn't resolve to to the tonic C min (i) as might be expected. Instead, he resolves up a half step (Db min) from the tonal center, using the same trichord grouping. He continues to play with this dissonance for the first few bars of his second chorus.
I don't know if he was called "Crazy Joe" in his day, but I do remember someone fondly referring to some of his lines as being "Cuckoo Crispy".
Ex. 2 - Measures 17 - 24
He continues along the same lines from bar 21, over Ab13 - G7alt (bVI7 - V7alt), but doesn't resolve to to the tonic C min (i) as might be expected. Instead, he resolves up a half step (Db min) from the tonal center, using the same trichord grouping. He continues to play with this dissonance for the first few bars of his second chorus.
I don't know if he was called "Crazy Joe" in his day, but I do remember someone fondly referring to some of his lines as being "Cuckoo Crispy".
Ex. 2 - Measures 17 - 24
The graphic below (Ex. 3), from measures 46 - 52, illustrates a classic "Joe-ism" from this period. His effective use of a repeating 6-note motif, in this case - over and through multiple bar lines while shifting accents to different places in the measure - serve to build tension and create excitement.
Ex. 3 - Measures 45 - 52
Ex. 3 - Measures 45 - 52
After a quick pause for a breath in bar 52, Henderson repeats the same rapid motif (Ex 4), whirlpooling into a trill (bar 54 - 55) before spinning out into a hemiola (ever have one of those?), executed flawlessly across the bar lines from 56 thru 60.
Another signature Blue Note era "Joe-ism"..
Ex. 4 - Measures 53 - 60
Another signature Blue Note era "Joe-ism"..
Ex. 4 - Measures 53 - 60
From measures 72 thru 80 (Ex. 5) - leading into and beginning his fourth chorus - Henderson creates tension with the use of 3-note intervallic groupings in 4ths & 5ths, expressed in quarter note triplets, moving some or all of the notes up or down by a half or whole step at various points along the way.
Ex. 5 - Measures 69 - 80
Ex. 5 - Measures 69 - 80
This four-chorus solo illustrates Joe Henderson's originality on multiple fronts. His use of the techniques described in the previous examples illustrate his profound influence on subsequent generations of improvisers.
A pdf in your choice of flavors (Bb, Concert & Eb) can be downloaded gratis via the links below.
If it doesn't do so automatically, cue the below YouTube vid to 3:01 for the start of Henderson's solo.
Go Nuts!
A pdf in your choice of flavors (Bb, Concert & Eb) can be downloaded gratis via the links below.
If it doesn't do so automatically, cue the below YouTube vid to 3:01 for the start of Henderson's solo.
Go Nuts!
B. Stern
For a closer look at even more improvisational elements , the following Shortbooks™
are recommended and available for immediate download.
are recommended and available for immediate download.
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