Category: Transcriptions

A Jimmy Heath baritone solo!

Thank you to Anthony Pellegrini for another transcription! This one is pretty interesting – Jimmy Heath. Known more as a tenor saxophonist he did record a small amount on the baritone saxophone, and Anthony found a gem of a short little solo that has some very classic be-bop language. Its on a tune called “Short Life” from a Howard McGee album.

Jimmy Heath passed away earlier this year at the age of 93. If you enjoy jazz autobiographies his is well worth the read, “I Walked With Giants”.  He was a master saxophonist, a great teacher amazing composer, big band leader and frankly one of the wittiest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.  So please check out a rare baritone solo from this master saxophonist on the Transcriptions page.

Leo Parker Transcriptions and Frank Basile on a radio show

The transcriptions keep rolling in. Thank you to Avery Barten, for sending in another couple Leo Parker transcriptions. This time on “Glad Lad” and “VI”. Some nice medium-up tempo tracks off of Let Me Tell You Bout It. Head over to the transcriptions page and grab copies for yourself.

In other news, fantastic baritonist, record collector, and jazz scholar Frank Basile recently participated in a very interesting radio show. Its a show that features music found on 78 records. For you young ones out there, that’s not 1978, that 78 rpm vinyl shellac records (thank you for the correction, Frank) that were used mostly in the first half of the 20th century. Frank brought in and discussed a number of excellent Be-Bop era records. To listen to the show head over to the Hot Club of New York website and scroll down to “Frank Basile”.

Two ‘In a Mellow Tone’ Solos!

Thanks to Joseph Trahan we have another Gary Smulyan solo in the transcription repository. This is from another YouTube video, this time Gary is blowing over Ellington’s “In A Mellow Tone“.

We also now have our very first Joe Temperley solo in the repository. I can’t believe we didn’t have one before now, but thankfully that gap has at least somewhat been filled. Many thanks to Tom Sabin, for sending in a transcription to start us off for Joe. Quite coincidentally this solo is also on Ellington’s “In A Mellow Tone“!

This is a pretty cool opportunity to see how two very different players approach the same standard. I hope everyone is staying well and busy during the on-going quarantine. Hopefully the plethora of new transcriptions will keep you all busy.

Our first Paul Nedzela solo transcription

Thanks to Benjamin Trimboli we have our first solo transcription of a Paul Nedzela solo. Paul is the baritone saxophonist with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and recently released his debut album. The solo is on “Strange Bedfellows“, one of Paul’s tunes that uses the chord changes from the popular Benny Golson song, “Stablemates“. This transcription is from that album, so head on over to the transcriptions page and check it out!

Transcriptions are rolling in!

With everyone stuck at home the transcriptions are coming in regularly. This is great news for everyone else stuck at home looking for new solos to read down!

We have a new Leo Parker solo on TCTB, as well as new Gary Smulyan solo on “Jahbero” from his album Hidden Treasures – A contra-fact on the changes to “All The Things You Are”. And another Smulyan solo with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, on the tune “Dameron”, a contra-fact using the chord changes from “Giant Steps”. Thank you Leon Williams!

From Orlando Cialli we received the complete set of solos from Gerry Mulligan on his “What Is There To Say?” album. That’s a lot of work! Its a great album so check it out.

Head over to the transcription page to grab a download of these!
We are well over 100 transcriptions and approaching 300,000 downloads! Thank you everyone!

Andrew Hadro
Curator, JazzBariSax.com