Blues with a bridge, with an open-ended melody filled in by rhythm section hits. Bertha Hope’s solo piano arrangement is available with an exclusive recording by Glenn Zaleski.
A blues variant extended to an AABC form with an eight-measure bridge, In Search Of … has quite a simple melody but plenty going on under the surface. The first four measures of the A section are filled in with rhythm section hits in a hip over-the-barline pattern. The last two measures are a break: for drums in the first A, and for a soloist in the second A and C. Our lead sheet shows Bertha Hope’s recorded bridge melody from the in head; though originally improvised, it’s quite a clever and logical take on the chord progression which is taken from the bridge of “rhythm changes”. Though the solo choruses use standard blues changes in the A sections, on the head there’s a circle of fourths on the 5th through 8th measures without going back to the tonic.
As indicated in our lead sheet, on the original recording there’s a bass solo intro for one blues chorus before the head. The last two measures of Walter Booker’s recorded bass solo are shown as a cue. In the C treble clef lead sheet, the piano voicing and bass line are shown for the first three measures of the A section; rhythm section players should read this lead sheet.
Click on the second album cover for Bertha’s solo piano arrangement, recorded by Glenn Zaleski.
“In Search Of…” was Bertha Hope’s debut as a leader. For more from this album check out You Know Who! and A Wise And Wonderful Book. This was Bertha’s only recording with drummer Billy Higgins, but Walter Booker (Bertha’s husband at the time) and Higgins recorded several times together.
Another Bertha Hope composition with similar altered blues changes is Bai Tai Blues, from her second album “Elmo’s Fire."
Bertha Hope’s solo piano arrangement recorded by Glenn Zaleski is one chorus long. The bridge melody is taken from her improvised melody on the original recording. Click on Piano Corner for more details.
Check out more Bertha Hope solo piano arrangements in this project. You can also hear Glenn Zaleski on jazzleadsheets.com on our Rhythm Section Workshop tracks as well as his recording of James Williams’ Roadlife.
A straightforward solo piano arrangement, close to Bertha Hope’s original recording throughout with similar voicings to the ones she uses. The chord hits filling in around the melody are voiced with both hands. In the bridge the melody is closely based on Bertha’s improvised bridge melody from the recording, but the left-hand comping has more rhythmic definition accenting the “and” of beat 2 in each measure. The ending adds a tag of the last melody phrase, up an octave followed by a final left-hand lick.
A dynamic force in improvised music, pianist Bertha Hope has been making headway in the jazz scene since the early 1960s. Raised in Los Angeles, Bertha attended Manual Arts High School. She began her jazz journey with pianists Elmo Hope and Richie Powell in her youth. Although she studied piano at Los Angeles Community College, she received her B.A. in early childhood education from Antioch College. She married Elmo in 1960; they moved to New York where Bertha worked as a telephone operator by day and performed at night. Read more...
Walter Booker, from Washington D.C., experimented first with the clarinet and alto sax, and didn't begin playing the bass until he joined the the U.S. Army band in 1959. After his discharge, Booker moved to New York City and began working immediately with the great trumpeter Donald Byrd. Walter quickly worked up the ranks and became a highly sought after musician, working and recording with greats such as Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins and pianist Ray Bryant. However, Booker's most significant relationship in music came when he joined Cannonball Adderley's Quintet in 1969. This version of the quintet helped lead the advent of "soul jazz" and gave Booker even more visibility, for they toured nonstop and released no less than eight albums between 1969-1975. Read more...
