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!
This song and Pentimento are good examples of Hazeltine's medium-tempo, even-eighth-note compositions. This one truly lacks a key center; there are no chords that sound like tonics, and the few major chords are held onto only for a short time. There are in fact only two V7-I resolutions in the form: B7 to E minor from the end of the form back to the beginning, and F♯7 to B minor in the fourth and fifth measures of the D section.
The form consists of five eight-measure phrases, with the last section a vamp that also appears as an intro and ending. Each section is different, but the last four measures of the B section are the same as the first four of the D section. With all its convolutions, this song is a fascinating challenge to improvise over.
David's creativity with interesting chord substitutions even brought to life the Christmas standard Little Drummer Boy featured on pianist Marian McPartland's "Piano Jazz" radio program Christmas album.
Solo Piano Arrangement: Hazeltine's Solo Piano Arrangement has mostly full two-handed voicings on the long notes of the melody. These are essentially stacks of thirds.
Heralded by pianist Cedar Walton as the "brightest star on jazz piano's horizon," David Hazeltine is considered to be one of jazz's premier pianists as well as composer-arrangers. With a mantra to "swing as much as humanly possible," David's style is infused with influences of Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Buddy Montgomery, Barry Harris and Cedar Walton while still retaining his own fiercely individual voice. Hailing from Milwaukee, David made his professional debut on the organ when he was just thirteen years old. Read more...
