Bobby Watson

The bass player is very important in all these new compositions, so they also add to our growing Bass Corner repertoire. Both Bass-ment by Kenny Drew and The Fuzz by Bobby Jaspar feature the bass playing the melody. Important bass lines that hold the whole arrangement together are found in Bill Hardman’s Jazz Messengers classic Politely and Bobby Watson’s Lemoncello...

B’s A Plenty - Elmo Hope This is another great Elmo composition, the opening track on his classic 1959 Elmo Hope Trio album. We’re not really sure what the title means. However, a few nights ago I saw Bertha Hope while I was performing at the Jazz Standard. Bertha’s not sure, but during the period when B’s A-Plenty was written...

Hello, music fans. For this week’s jazzleadsheets.com releases, I decided it would be fun to compare compositions by two gifted pianist/composers from Second Floor Music. The compositions start out with some definite similarities, but develop very differently. A Touching Affair by James Williams (first recorded in 1984) vs. Flamands by Don Friedman (first recorded in 1995) —- melodic similarities Both...