Pawn Ticket – Ray Bryant

This Ray Bryant tour de force gem demonstrates his swinging technique. Ray's original chord changes and hits and the bass line for the head are indicated in the C treble clef lead sheet. This composition will make your audience feel good—like all of Ray's music does—as well as your band.

This was the second session of Ray Bryant's trio date for Epic. The trio first recorded on April 3, 1956, with drummer Kenny Clarke. They completed a take of Philadelphia Bound (later recorded by the Jo Jones Trio), but their take of Pawn Ticket was apparently unsuccessful, as it was never released. They tried it again in May with drummer Osie Johnson, and you can hear the results in the audio clip above.

This composition was immediately popular. Guitarist Johnny Smith recorded it next, with Johnny Rae on vibes, a few months later on September 29, 1956. Smith chose a more relaxed tempo (approximately 224). Next, George Shearing, Ray's good buddy and always a champion of Ray's music, recorded it at the Newport Jazz Festival (July 5, 1957—click on the next album cover). We clock this performance at a brisk 246. At the end of that month, Shearing recorded another version (click the third album cover), at a slightly more relaxed tempo (approximately 238). In May, 1958, Billy May arranged it for his "Big Fat Brass" album on Capitol Records. Ray Bryant recorded it again in Japan in October, 1989, for his "All Mine & Yours" recording (EmArcy).

This version was recorded live at the Newport Jazz Festival.

Although this was billed as the George Shearing Sextet, with the Adderley brothers Nat and Cannonball, neither one plays on this track.

With its fast tempo and slippery triplet runs, the melody to Ray Bryant's Pawn Ticket presents a hefty challenge for guitarists seeking to play it with clarity and conviction. However, as guitarist Joe Freund illustrates in this video performance, there is no reason to be intimidated by such difficulty.

In this video, Freund demonstrates an effective practice method for demanding melodies such as this one, playing along with the original recording at various speeds and showing you how to manipulate the speed of the recording on your own computer using the GarageBand program. With its step by step instructions and clear camera-views of the guitar, this video is perfect for guitarists who not only want to see and hear this melody played cleanly on guitar, but want to understand how to reach such proficiency themselves.