A unique song in a rather delicate mood. The melodic theme is essentially a trill, but measured: two alternating pitches in 16th notes. This trill repeats with different pickups and leads to more swinging phrases in the last three measures of the A section. These swinging lines continue in the bridge of the 32-measure AABC form. Though the key is essentially C major, the two alternated notes in the theme are G♯ and A♯, harmonized with a C augmented triad as the tonic chord; together, the melody and harmony outline a whole-tone scale. The rest of the changes are relatively straightforward, with a brief modulation to D major in the third and fourth measures of the bridge. The chord progression is cyclical, finishing on G7 to resolve back to the tonic for the next chorus.
In her solo piano recording,
Cecilia Coleman adds descending whole-tone scale left hand figures that really complement the “raindrops” of the trilled melody. She plays left-hand “stride” on her solo choruses, and switches the tonic chord here to C major. At the end she adds an extra measure to resolve the cyclical changes back to C.
For the
Herbie Nichols Piano Summit, Frank Kimbrough
[clip] played
Summer Rain around the same tempo as Cecilia Coleman’s version, though with simpler left-hand voicings.
Pianist Jake Sasfai, who helped with choosing takes and editing, when necessary, performed his own version at the Van Gelder Studio
CLIP.
The date on Herbie Nichols' certified letter containing the original manuscript for
Summer Rain is March 7, 1957. This song has a few harmonic and melodic qualities in common with
Nick At T’s and
‘Orse At Safari which Herbie had recorded for Blue Note in 1955.
Check out all the new Herbie Nichols releases: "
The Second Six"
