Under The Surface – Julian Priester

Our audio excerpt starts with the melody, which is preceded on the recording by an interesting two-horn line that starts over a rhythm section back beat. The head ends by overlapping for four measures into the first solo chorus. These four measures are also used to set up another soloist. This is a blues, but you'll notice Julian adds some interesting wrinkles to the chord progression—they're also used in the solo section.

Julian was only 24 years old at the time of this, his first date as a leader. Already he played and recorded the blues in a variety of ways, from his tenure with Dinah Washington, then Johnny Griffin's Blues For Dracula from the Philly Joe Jones recording, and Griffin's 63rd Street Theme from his own date, to Julian's own composition Battery Blues which opens Philly Joe's "Showcase" album. By this time he'd already teamed up with Tommy Turrentine to write their classic 5/4 blues As Long As You're Living. Julian gives you a few different ideas for the blues with Under The Surface.

Transcribed Trombone Solo Our audio excerpt starts with Julian's opening chorus trombone. You can tell the young man has certainly listened to the giants who came before him, while striving to create his own musical direction.