Wildwood – Gigi Gryce
A swinging early Gryce song that's been recorded surprisingly many times, including several live versions by Stan Getz.
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- Recording: Stan Getz - Music Of The Future 556
- Recorded on: August 15, 1951
- Label: Royal Roost (556 [78 rpm])
- Concert Key: G, No key center
- Style: Swing (medium up)
- Tenor Sax - Stan Getz
- Guitar - Jimmy Raney
- Piano - Horace Silver
- Bass - Leonard Gaskin
- Drums - Roy Haynes
This first version of Wildwood is slower than the live version recorded two months later, from which our lead sheet is taken. This recording still swings just as hard, however, with a walking bass on all four beats and the drummer swinging with sticks on the hi-hat. In this earlier studio version, however, the chords in the coda are ambiguous, and not all of the same rhythm section hits are played throughout the head. Pianist Horace Silver plays different changes in the intro as well, with the drums coming in on the fifth measure, and the bass doesn't enter until the head.
For more details about the song itself, click on the second album cover.
Note: the lead sheets shown under the different album covers are all the same; they are based on the October 1951 recording (second album cover).
For more details about the song itself, click on the second album cover.
Note: the lead sheets shown under the different album covers are all the same; they are based on the October 1951 recording (second album cover).
This is the only studio recording Stan Getz made of this song, although it was featured in several live performances. It was originally released on a 78 rpm Getz single, with Horace Silver's Penny on the other side. We weren't able to find an image of the Wildwood side, so we Photoshopped the Penny label for our image. Here's the unaltered image:
Another studio version was recorded by trumpeter Art Farmer in June 1954 (Art Farmer Septet); Horace Silver was also present on that recording, which features a septet arrangement by Gigi. This arrangement is available from ejazzlines.com in two formats: print and download.
August 15, 1951, is one of only two dates on which Horace Silver and Roy Haynes recorded together. The other was September 6, 1955, for Nat Adderley's album "Introducing Nat Adderley" with Cannonball Adderley and bassist Paul Chambers.
Another studio version was recorded by trumpeter Art Farmer in June 1954 (Art Farmer Septet); Horace Silver was also present on that recording, which features a septet arrangement by Gigi. This arrangement is available from ejazzlines.com in two formats: print and download.
August 15, 1951, is one of only two dates on which Horace Silver and Roy Haynes recorded together. The other was September 6, 1955, for Nat Adderley's album "Introducing Nat Adderley" with Cannonball Adderley and bassist Paul Chambers.
On this medium-up Gigi Gryce swinger, guitarist Jimmy Raney displays why he was at the forefront of bebop guitar with his advanced grasp of the language and superlative articulative abilities. Nailing all of the sneaky syncopations of the melody in perfect unison with Stan Getz, Raney then takes a brilliant half-chorus, complete with all of the idiomatic rhythmic snakes and chromaticism of bebop.
The melody on our C lead sheet is written in the correct octave for guitar players to read from. However, if you wish to be completely authentic to Raney's performance on the 8/15/51 recording, note that he does not play on the coda except for the final note, which he plays as a chord.
The melody on our C lead sheet is written in the correct octave for guitar players to read from. However, if you wish to be completely authentic to Raney's performance on the 8/15/51 recording, note that he does not play on the coda except for the final note, which he plays as a chord.
- Leadsheets $1.49 /ea
All selected items will be available for download after purchase.
- Recording: Stan Getz - Complete Roost Recordings
- Recorded on: October 28, 1951
- Label: Roost (570)
- Concert Key: G
- Style: Swing (medium up)
- Tenor Sax - Stan Getz
- Guitar - Jimmy Raney
- Piano - Al Haig
- Bass - Teddy Kotick
- Drums - Tiny Kahn
This medium-up swinger fits the style of the early '50s Stan Getz quintet very well. A relatively simple, subdued melody allows for the more complicated chord progression to shine through, with plenty of II-V7s and some unexpected key centers in the bridge. The plethora of II-V7s allows room to develop solos that are both harmonically rich and melodically fluid. Any syncopation in the melody, which creates a rhythmic push, is paired with strong quarter notes on the beat in order to support the swing feel and lock in with the walking bass.
The first two measures of the melody are very similar to the beginning of Clifford Brown's Joy Spring, but the different rhythm of the second measure leads to simpler melodic material. While the A sections are centered around G major, the bridge shifts to E♭ and G♭ major—the flat VI and the natural VII. The last note of the second ending serves as both a delayed resolution of the A section, and a harmonic anticipation of the bridge: the melody is expected to land on the root (G), however it actually acts as the third of E♭ major in this context.
Our lead sheets are based on this recording, including the changes of the piano intro and several rhythm section figures. On both quintet versions, tenor sax and guitar play the melody in unison. This is the fastest of the four Getz recordings.
Note: the lead sheets shown under the different album covers are all the same; they are based on this recording (October, 1951).
The first two measures of the melody are very similar to the beginning of Clifford Brown's Joy Spring, but the different rhythm of the second measure leads to simpler melodic material. While the A sections are centered around G major, the bridge shifts to E♭ and G♭ major—the flat VI and the natural VII. The last note of the second ending serves as both a delayed resolution of the A section, and a harmonic anticipation of the bridge: the melody is expected to land on the root (G), however it actually acts as the third of E♭ major in this context.
Our lead sheets are based on this recording, including the changes of the piano intro and several rhythm section figures. On both quintet versions, tenor sax and guitar play the melody in unison. This is the fastest of the four Getz recordings.
Note: the lead sheets shown under the different album covers are all the same; they are based on this recording (October, 1951).
This version was recorded at the Storyville Club in Boston. Besides one session in 1948, the Stan Getz Quintet with Jimmy Raney recorded prolifically in 1951 and '52, both live and in the studio. Though little remembered today, this group was particularly important in launching Stan's career as well as that of Horace Silver. The rhythm section of this group frequently varied, drawing from an eclectic variety of players including at various times Silver, pianist Duke Jordan, bassists Charles Mingus and Bill Crow, drummers Roy Haynes and Connie Kay. In fact, one Birdland broadcast of this quintet from April 1952 is one of two recordings with the improbable combination of Silver and Mingus—the other being half of an obscure and equally improbable Sonny Stitt-Johnny Richards album the following year!
With a brisker tempo and live performance setting, this rendition of Gigi Gryce's Wildwood provides the opportunity to hear the foremost guitar acolyte of bebop, Jimmy Raney, stretch out in a comfortable setting with a working band. Taking two whole choruses, Raney demonstrates his deep grasp on the bebop vocabulary, unwinding idiomatically articulated, serpentine strings of eighth notes and triplets through the numerous ii-V progressions, weaving between the syncopated dance of the rhythm section's (Tiny Kahn, Teddy Kotick, and Al Haig) active comping, and earning an empthatic "Yeah Jimmy!" at the end of his solo from a listener near the microphone.
The melody on our C lead sheet is written in the correct octave for guitar players to read from. However, if you wish to be completely authentic to Raney's performance on the 10/28/51 recording, note that, for the coda, he plays chords on the rhythm section hits and a chord on the final note.
The melody on our C lead sheet is written in the correct octave for guitar players to read from. However, if you wish to be completely authentic to Raney's performance on the 10/28/51 recording, note that, for the coda, he plays chords on the rhythm section hits and a chord on the final note.
- Leadsheets $1.49 /ea
All selected items will be available for download after purchase.
- Recording: Stan Getz - Stan Getz At Newport
- Recorded on: July 3, 1961
- Label: Raretone (5010-FC)
- Concert Key: G
- Style: Swing (medium up)
- Tenor Sax - Stan Getz
- Piano - Steve Kuhn
- Bass - Scott LaFaro
- Drums - Roy Haynes
This version is much slower than the 1951 quintet recordings. Steve Kuhn's piano intro (with bass and drums throughout) has different changes. This time Stan Getz plays the melody by himself, so he has more freedom to interpret the melody. He adds more embellishments to quarter notes in particular, to make sure they keep their bounce despite the slower tempo. The rhythm section is also more interpretive than earlier recordings, which creates a more relaxed and open feel. The 2-feel in the bass as well as the drummer's use of brushes gives rhythmic space for Getz to play with the time. However, the band swings harder during the solos and the head out, when the drums switch to the ride and the bass begins to play a 4-beat walking bass line.
Note: the lead sheets shown under the different album covers are all the same; they are based on the October 1951 recording (second album cover).
Note: the lead sheets shown under the different album covers are all the same; they are based on the October 1951 recording (second album cover).
This performance at the 1961 Newport Jazz Festival is particularly significant as it is the last known recording of bassist Scott LaFaro. It is fascinating to compare this and the Birdland recording (click on the fourth album cover for more details) to the other two versions by Stan Getz ten years earlier—especially as all but one of these four versions have Roy Haynes on drums. Roy enlivens the original studio recording with his classic over-the-barline "snap, crackle, and pop," but his interaction with Scott LaFaro and Steve Kuhn on the Newport version is a whole new layer of conversation within the rhythm section that just didn't exist in 1951!
Stan inexplicably announces this song as Alec Wilder's Where Do You Go?—it's possible his announcement was taken from another song.
Stan inexplicably announces this song as Alec Wilder's Where Do You Go?—it's possible his announcement was taken from another song.
- Leadsheets $1.49 /ea
All selected items will be available for download after purchase.
- Recording: Stan Getz - Stan Getz Quartet At Birdland
- Recorded on: November 11, 1961
- Label: Fresh Sound (FSRCD 741)
- Concert Key: G
- Style: Swing (medium up)
- Tenor Sax - Stan Getz
- Piano - Steve Kuhn
- Bass - Jimmy Garrison
- Drums - Roy Haynes
This version is similar to the Newport recording, as the piano intro has the same chord changes and Getz embellishes the melody in a similar manner. However, while the bass plays a similar two-feel, the drums provide more support by playing less freely than at Newport, and therefore it swings more overtly. The rhythm section plays more hits as well, particularly in the bridge; Getz thus has a little less rhythmic freedom and plays fewer embellishments in those areas.
Note: the lead sheets shown under the different album covers are all the same; they are based on the October 1951 recording (second album cover).
Note: the lead sheets shown under the different album covers are all the same; they are based on the October 1951 recording (second album cover).
Jimmy Garrison, Scott LaFaro's replacement in the Getz quartet, had just joined John Coltrane's band at the time of this performance. His playing is considerably more grounded than LaFaro's, holding the beat together while still allowing the piano and drums to interact around the bass line.
"Symphony Sid" Torin announces on this show; in his honor Stan develops the Jumpin' With Symphony Sid riff on the bridge of his first solo chorus.
"Symphony Sid" Torin announces on this show; in his honor Stan develops the Jumpin' With Symphony Sid riff on the bridge of his first solo chorus.
Gigi Gryce
Nov 28, 1925 – Mar 17, 1983
Gigi Gryce was a fine altoist in the 1950s, but it was his writing skills, both composing and arranging (including composing the standard Minority) that were considered most notable. After growing up in Hartford, CT, and studying at the Boston Conservatory and in Paris, Gryce worked in New York with Max Roach, Tadd Dameron, and Clifford Brown. He toured Europe in 1953 with Lionel Hampton and led several sessions in France on that trip. Read more...