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As you hear from the audio excerpt, this 2-feel minor blues melody immediately starts setting a groove that climaxes into a stop time melody triplet run to set up the first and second ending. The solo section is 4-feel and is written out in all leadsheets. The opening two melody chorus's chord progression is approached in two ways; the second chorus changes are indicated under the melody.
Harold Vick had just recorded on Big John Patton's Blue Note session "Along Came John" less than two months before his "Steppin' Out" date. The Patton session was Harold's first for Blue Note, and Harold obviously impressed Blue Note's owners, Alfred Lion and Frank Wolff. They gave Harold his own date, this recording, which was Harold's first as a leader. Harold would also record again with Big John Patton on Patton's Blue Note session "Oh Baby" in 1965.
Harold Vick is a quintessential example of a great saxophonist and composer who never gained wide public recognition, but was always highly regarded by his fellow musicians. Even jazz legend Sonny Rollins paid compositional tribute to him in 1998 with Did You See Harold Vick?
Harold was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, which is also the birthplace of Thelonious Monk. At 13, Harold received a clarinet and inspiration from his uncle Prince Robinson, a well-respected clarinetist and tenor saxophonist who played with the likes of Duke Ellington, Roy Eldridge and Louis Armstrong from the 1920s-1950s. Read more...
