One of Herbie Nichols’ few known compositions in 3/4,
Teddy Hale’s Three-Step is a fascinating song with a mysterious, exotic sound. It’s full of twists and turns, with lots of augmented seconds in the melody and chromatic side-slips in the changes. Though the ultimate key center is C major, it certainly doesn’t sound like a major-key song. The endings of the two A and C sections are all different in the way the melody approaches the tonic leading into the last measure: eighth notes F and D♭ to C in the first A, a chromatic run down from F to C in the second A, and at the very end eighth notes E-D♭-C.
There is an extended verse which starts the composition and unfolds continuously over 25 measures. It’s not related to the A melody, but has the same character in its unpredictable melodic and harmonic motion. Davis plays the verse rubato and sets up an even-8ths feel for the melody. After playing the melody, Davis plays two AABC solo choruses. After the out AABC melody he continues to improvise based on the A section.
Jon Davis’ solo piano recording is just as exquisite as the song itself; he explores all the intricate details of Herbie Nichols’ composition in his own unique style.
The tap dancer Teddy Hale remains obscure to this day, but as shown by this clip on
YouTube he was a very talented performer and an exciting showman. One of Herbie Nichols’ recorded songs,
Terpsichore, was also dedicated to Hale. As explained in his liner notes for “Herbie Nichols Trio”, “
Terpsichore was written with the great Teddy Hale in mind. Whenever I see and hear this great dancer I come away gladdened because I know that he is a great jazz voice.” Hale’s dates are not known with certainty, but according to an obituary in the New Pittsburgh Courier he died at the age of 32 in May 1959.
Teddy Hale’s Three-Step seems to have been written shortly thereafter; the date attached to Nichols’ manuscript is July 1, 1959.
At the
Herbie Nichols Piano Summit, Frank Kimbrough
[clip] demonstrated this song at a medium swing tempo throughout. After Frank played through all 24 songs, the other pianists at the summit each chose a song they would record for the
Herbie Nichols Centennial Project. There was no competition; everyone picked a different song. Jon Davis really fell in love with
Teddy Hale’s Three-Step; when he came to Van Gelder Studio he was very excited to record it. Jon played many takes, each time exploring a new approach and revealing a new facet of this song.
Check out all the new Herbie Nichols releases: "
The Second Six"
