Don't confuse this piece with the Booker Little composition of the same name! This approachable medium swing makes a great introduction to the underrated (but always impressive) hard bop composer Bill Barron.
Purchasing this song through our affiliate links with certain retailers provides jazzleadsheets.com with additional support to help keep us bringing you the best lead sheets available. Thank you!
Many Bill Barron compositions are intimidating: Fox Hunt, for example, is impressive and striking, but the wild chromatic lines make it a beast to learn. Minor Mode, however, is approachable for jazz lovers at a variety of levels. If you're not hip to Bill Barron yet, this swing is the place to start. Our audio excerpt begins with the introduction and continues through the head, fading out after the B section. The composition will work great in a quartet setting, but in case you have a sextet, we've made second and third parts available.
Bill Barron has two original compositions on Philly Joe Jones's "Showcase" album (also see Interpretation). Both were recorded on the second day of the sessions that comprise the album, both are sextet arrangements; they are the only arrangements on the session that feature Sonny Clark on piano. After this session, Barron continued working with Philly Joe mostly in Joe's quintet, which recorded on May 20, 1960 (see Got To Take Another Chance).
Philadelphia-born tenor saxophonist Bill Barron was also a gifted composer. His first record date was with Cecil Taylor in 1959. In November of that year he recorded Interpretation with drummer Philly Joe Jones on the Riverside label. Barron continued to perform and record with Jones through 1960. In 1961 he started recording as a leader for Savoy records and began his association with trumpeter Ted Curson which resulted in several more recordings. Barron also had a successful career as an educator in the NY area, directing a jazz workshop at the Children's Museum in Brooklyn, and teaching at City College of New York, before leaving the city to become the chairman of the music department at Wesleyan University. He also introduced his younger brother, pianist Kenny Barron, to the jazz recording world and featured him on most of his own recordings. Read more...
