Sonny Rollins F Minor Lick from Strode Rode

I have posted a line Sonny played on this tune before, (off of Saxophone Colossus), it was a very juicy lick from the bridge of Strode Rode, and here is another equally juicy lick from the beginning of his solo.

The band drops out and it is just bass and Sonny playing over the chords, and it is basically just F minor, but not natural minor, (with an Eb) but melodic minor, with an E natural.

Here is the lick as Sonny plays it


And here it is written out, first at a slower tempo and then at a faster more Sonny-like tempo.

Slow Speed

bass lick tempo 100 4/4 |Fmin r8 e8 f ab g f e g |f e f c ab f b ab |bb ab g f e f g e |f2 r2

Insanely Fast

bass lick tempo 220 4/4 |Fmin r8 e8 f ab g f e g |f e f c ab f b ab |bb ab g f e f g e |f2 r2

There are a ton of things to learn from this lick:

1. What chord tones does he use? (hint - all of them)
   
2. How does he make those chord tones fall on strong beats?
   
3. Why does the lick sound so strong and resolve so well?
   
4. What non-chord tones does he use, and where do those get placed?
   

And this is just two measures of his solo, he goes on and on like this for two full choruses. Gonna post more licks as I decipher them.
Check out how awesome his entire solo is here via YouTube:

"Pent-Up House" Recorded On This Day!

Or so says PassionForJazz on twitter. So there ya go, you can play the same thing Clifford Brown did today if you want.

Join yours truly on the twitter here - http://twitter.com/BassoRidiculoso

Daily Licking 034: 1st Chorus of Clifford Brown on "PentUp House"

Another new one today. And, yes, I realize there are multiple tunes in progress, but hey, I get bored easy. So piano, tenor, trumpet, bass...that should do it for a while. Maybe.

After Mr. Evans and Mr. Coltrane, Clifford Brown is almost easy to transcribe. His tone is so clear, there is no ambiguity in either his notes or his rhythms, his execution is very, very precise. It's like he plays piano, but just with his mouth.

Daily Licking 032: 16 Measures of Bill Evans on "Oleo"

Happy Pi day. And Albert Einstein's birthday. So if you saw a black hole today, thats why.

And speaking of Nobel-prize winning german physicists and the speed of gravity, how about some Bill Evans licks?

I took this one from "Oleo" off his record "Everybody Digs Bill Evans". I predict that after listening and checking out what he did in just the first 16 measures of the tune you will see why the title of that record is very accurate. It was a trio with Sam Jones and Philly Jo Jones.

Sonny Rollins Awarded National Medal of Arts

Right on.

From the page at whitehouse.gov announcing this:

Sonny Rollins for his contributions to American jazz music. Widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians of the post-bebop era, Mr. Rollins’ melodic sensibilities, playing style, and solos have delighted audiences and influenced generations of musicians for over 50 years.

How about one for McCoy too, while you are at it?

Sonny Rollins Lick From The Bridge of Strode Rode

I needed a palate cleanser after listening to all this Coltrane. No offense, but sometimes the man is just rather intense. I needed something a little more not Coltrane to clear my ears.

So I am putting up this awesome Sonny Rollins phrase from the bridge of his tune Strode Rode on Saxophone Colossus. The actual lick is included, and lets see how this embedding mp3 snippets works out. This way you can hear how he does it, both at regular speed and at half speed. He takes this one really fast, but it is such an awesome lick the way it just rolls off his horn. Another total Maestro Ridiculoso. Check it out. This one is guaranteed to perplex your fingers and use some patterns they have not run across doing those ol' pentatonic and dominant shapes.

Half-speed of Sonny playing it

120 bpm

bass lick swing 50 4/4 tempo 120 | Bbmin7 r8 f- a db f db a+ c | Eb7 bb ab g f eb d db f | Fmin7 eb b bb ab bb g ab bb |Gmin7b5 b db eb b C7#5 bb+ g r4 |

Actual Tempo Sonny playing it

250 bpm version

bass lick swing 50 4/4 tempo 250 | Bbmin7 r8 f- a db f db a+ c | Eb7 bb ab g f eb d db f | Fmin7 eb b bb ab bb g ab bb |Gmin7b5 b db eb b C7#5 bb+ g r4 |