Bad Case Of The Bu's – Donald Brown

Not technically a blues as the title seemingly implies, A Bad Case Of The Bu's is a dramatic blues variation in Donald Brown's signature style. The melody chorus is full of dynamic contrasts, with colorful harmonies that resolve into a funky sort of "breakdown". Though the melody is 12 measures long, the changes never establish a I-IV-V blues progression, though the A7 in the fifth measure is sort of a tritone substitute IV. Though B♭ is the basic key center, the first chord of the song is A♭maj7; we show no key signature.

After the repeat of the head, the tempo becomes twice as fast in a four-measure interlude to set up the solo chorus. Solos are on a 32-measure form with relatively simple changes, unrelated to the head. In the last solo chorus, the rhythm section holds out an F pedal on beat 2 of the last measure, leading into the out head.

Our lead sheet shows a repeat on the melody. This recording begins with solo piano; Donald Brown plays an intro (not included in our lead sheet) and the melody once alone, with the rest of the band coming in on the repeat of the melody. A solo piano edition is available showing Donald's intro and first chorus; click on Piano Corner for more details. Our audio excerpt begins on the repeat of the melody.

Our C treble and bass clef lead sheets show detailed rhythm section figures throughout the head, as well as the rhythm section dynamics where they are different from the melody.

The title refers to drummer and leader Art Blakey. "Bu's" is a pun on "Bu," a nickname for Blakey short for his Muslim name, Abdullah Ibn Buhaina. Donald Brown had just left Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1987 at the time he recorded his debut album "Early Bird."

For another Donald Brown composition that combines colorful harmonies with blues vocabulary, check out Phineas, especially the solo piano version from "The Classic Introvert."

CLIP Donald Brown begins this recording by himself, playing a six-measure intro and the melody once before the rest of the band comes in for the repeat of the melody. Our solo piano edition is transcribed from this intro and melody chorus, adding his voicings from the coda to create a complete arrangement. Donald plays mostly triplets in the intro, so it is written here in 12/8 switching to 4/4 for the melody. This transcription has detailed dynamics and articulations for an in-depth look at Donald's style. Check out the direction of his rolled chords: in the first measure of the melody chorus he rolls a two-handed chord all the way up, but in the third, fourth, and fifth measures he rolls down in the right hand and up in the left.