When I first heard this I thought it was the single greatest soprano saxophone performance I’d ever heard. That was more than fifteen years ago.
To this day, I feel the same. (Though Branford’s soprano tone is a favorite of mine.)
I’ve been sharing this track a lot lately with students & readers who ask me about soprano tone—and intonation. I’ve transcribed and re-transcribed it many times over the years. Whenever I feel the need to hit “refresh” on my soprano playing, this does the trick.
Want to know what improvised melodic architecture is? Look no further than Chris’ solo here (~3:50); what he plays in measure 5-12 gives me goosebumps every time. And the way he lays back that line in measure 18, then speeds right back up to ‘catch up’ to the pocket…that is the shit.
This tune sounds simple, but as you can see from the chart below it’s decorated with difficult harmonic twists and turns. The way these two masters navigate the song (I realize I’m mixing metaphors) is a lesson in…well, in a lot of things. I don’t want to turn it into a science class. Just listen several times. Look at the chart if you like. There’s a lifetime of material to study in there.
And how about that ending?! Chills.
Here’s a PDF of the chord changes. Get the physical CD here (doesn’t seem to be on iTunes).
A note about concert chords: learn to read from them. Whether you play tenor, alto or trumpet, learn to read from a concert chart. It makes life a lot easier (even though it’s hard as shit at the beginning). To help you get started, rather than go looking for everything in “your” key, just copy out the chords by hand from a C chart. Trust me.
Incidentally, (and this is the type of thing I would geek out on back in the days of liner notes), two nights before he recorded this gorgeous duo with Kenny Werner, he was recording a very different type of live album back in NYC…
Thanks for sharing, man. Love your passion.
My pleasure, Justin. I love sharing these goodies.
Forgot about this record. Thanks for reminding me!
“The tune sounds deceptively simple..”
Looks at chart.
Riiiight. 🙂
Inspirational as always, great stuff.
haha! Well, I did say “sounds”, not looks. 😉 Thanks, Daniel.
Wow his soprano sax tone on this is strangely, bass clarinetty. What beautiful changes. Love the last 4 chords in the B section.
Potter is so great on this album, his chops and ideas have obviously developed since this album, but I like that he’s a little bit easier to follow on this album. I love that he also plays a really strong “rhythm section” member in this duo at times.
Yeah, those chords (C∆/D,Bb∆/C, Ab∆/Bb) are how I first discovered a better way to approach sus chords. I.e., Dsus or Dsus13 is easier (for me) to think of as C∆7/D.
Wow. Never heard that. Now am a better person because of it. Tender and beautiful.
it´s so cool to read the others´ comments…and thanks for another excellent post…and I´m with ya on the liner notes/historical context/details geek-thing; I did it with vinyl…Where was the album recorded, mixed, and mastered and by whom, who wrote the liner notes, who did cover art and/or photographs, what else had those musicians recorded in the same time period and with whom, where…et cetera ad obsessium 🙂
It really is a shame we don’t have that anymore…the liner notes. I’m astounded no one’s developed a site–or even an app within Spotify–that delivers this info.
Yes, good point!
Gorgeous tune. Chris gets a wonderful soprano sound. He also spends some of his solo at the bottom of the horn, which is fairly rare for soprano players. Love Kenny’s playing on this. Also a big fan of Branford’s soprano sound. Rest of that album’s cuts are on YT as well. Listening today and buying tomorrow. Thanks for sharing.
Great point about the lower range, Dave. It’s true. And it’s such a nice texture down there.
Guys: also check out “Hibiscus” from this album (It’s also on Chris’ ‘Sundiata’ album). It was something he wrote for a Kenny Werner composition class at the New School…it’s three-bar phrases. Beautiful tune.