An unusual ballad: subtle and spare, with more of a focus on harmony than melody. This song's cleverly unusual phrase lengths, combined with the stillness of the longer melody notes as chords shift slowly beneath them, make it less obvious that the form is an even 32 measures. The trio arrangement, as shown in our piano trio edition, also obscures the form a bit; the first measure starts with two quarter notes of solo piano melody, with bass and drums entering on the third beat. We include several important piano voicings as well as bass rhythms.
This recording is two choruses long: head, piano solo on A, and out melody from B. On our piano trio edition we put the D.S. at B, but the out melody could be played from A. There is an ending based on the first two measures of B.
Doug Miller is an active jazz bassist, composer and teacher living in the Seattle area. Before moving to Seattle, he played professionally in New York City and Indianapolis. He has toured with the Count Basie Orchestra, the Ellington Orchestra (under the direction of Mercer Ellington), Ernestine Anderson and New Stories. Read more...
