A minor-key medium swinger with a bouncy hard-bop sound. The AABC form has 12-measure A and C sections and a 10-measure bridge. In the seventh and ninth measures of A and C, piano and bass unison lines fill in around the melody followed by breaks for the next melody phrase. These lines are shown in our C treble and bass clef lead sheets.
Though the melody makes the F minor key center obvious—staying in a pentatonic scale for most of the A section—the changes travel to a few different tonalities. In the A section these include G♭ and B major, which results in an unusual chord quality on the 9th measure: Bmaj7♭5(♭9), due to a C♮ in the melody. The bridge has a stepwise descending cycle of major chords, followed by further descending II-V7s.
Though the two A sections are almost the same, they are written out separately in our lead sheet because the first note of the second A, which is the last note of the preceding melody phrase, is an octave higher than the first note of the first A. The same melody phrase extends into a note on the downbeat of the first solo chorus, which we show as a partial measure to complete the phrase; at the end of the out head, it's held out as a whole note.
Grant Stewart's next recording after "The Shadow Of Your Smile" was his Sharp Nine album "Young At Heart." This and his 2006 album "In The Still Of The Night" for the same label feature pianist Tardo Hammer and bassist Peter Washington, with Joe Farnsworth on drums.
A swinging tenor saxophonist, Grant Stewart is a powerful, expressive stylist in today's jazz scene. Born in Toronto, Stewart's early exposure to giants like Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins came from his father, an English teacher and semi-professional guitarist. By the age of 14 Grant was so advanced on the alto saxophone that he began playing professionally in the Pete Schofield Big Band. At 17, he made the switch to tenor and starting playing with some of his greatest influences in the Toronto jazz scene, Pat LaBarbera and Bob Mover. (He still does play alto saxophone to this day, but his love of artists like John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins encouraged him to make tenor his primary instrument.) Read more...
