Jazz Blues for transcription

[dodgy_ian]

Hey all,

I'm just working my way gradually through transcribing lots of straight blues (B.B King etc) and want to move onto transcribing some jazz blues - both the walking bass lines and also some of the solos. Has anyone got any good suggestions of tunes / albums.

I've just started on Freddie Freeloader - the first piano 12 bar is beautiful and lies well on the bass and obviously the walking is great.

Any other suggestions aside from this? I really just want to stick to the blues form for the moment though so I can really get it cemented in my playing before IO move on!

Thanks in advance.

[cpaterso]

hi - anything with Paul Chambers, Ray Brown, Oscar Pettiford, Rufus Reid for a start - all great blues players.

Craig

[Nathan Parker]

This guy is one of my faves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZusYDwbppDg

And, in addition to working on your transcribing, you will also get to work on your transposing, as people seem to rarely play the blues in D. Well, jazz musicians at least.

Edit: Whoops, doesn't list the persons who is playing. That's Percy Heath on bass, Wes Montgomery on geetar, and I believe the others are Tommy Flannigan on piano and Al "Tootie" Heath on drums. The album is The Incredible Guitar of Wes Montgomery, or somethin' fancy like that.

[Mesa]

Doug Watkins was a fantastic blues player who played with Donald Byrd, Kenny Burrell, and Sonny Rollins, among others.

I like his work with Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers on the album of that name.

[Grantrudd]

Last transcription i did of walking lines was Hank Mobley's tune "Dig Dis" with the infamous Paul Chambers on bass and Art Blakey on drums. Check it out, its a straight ahead blues after the head, with some nice ideas.

[Nathan Parker]

Originally Posted by Grantrudd

with the infamous Paul Chambers on bass

Eh?

[dodgy_ian]

That Hank Mobley is lovely - I'll get to work It's really uncluttered too which is good for transcription!

Any other ideas people? Specific songs if possible?

[pickerpete]

I recently worked thorugh Ray Brown's blues line in The Pary's Over sung by Blossom Dearie with Kenny Burrell on guitar. Great recording with a classic Ray Brown feel.

Its available on Blossom Dearie, Jazz Masters 51, Verve.

[meandering]

i second the recommendation for transcribing Percy Heath's walking lines. Two great blues are with Miles Davis: "Walkin'" and "Bag's Groove". "Walkin'" has a great two-feel on the head and nice walking on the solos. i've always enjoyed the Percy Heath/Kenny Clarke rhythm section with Miles. They don't get talked about as much as Chambers/Philly Joe.

For solos, there is a fantastic Johnny Griffin record called "Way Out!" with Wilbur Ware on bass. There are two blues on the record and Ware solos on both. His ideas are simple, clear, and swinging. i learned a lot transcribing these.

[Robert Ellison]

I would recommend C Jam Blues by Duke Ellington for starters. It is in the key of C and uses the most basic jazz blues progression of C7 F7 C7 C7 F7 F7 C7 A7 Dm7 G7 C7A7 Dm7G7. It uses the I II IV V VI chords only. Or you can try Straight, No Chaser and Blue Monk by Thelonius Monk, Tenor Madness and Sonnymoon For Two by Sonny Rollins. Bass lines for these basic jazz blues songs can be found, many for free. Check out music.sc.edu for example. This University Of South Carolina website has some of those bass lines and more B flat and F bass lines and more useful info.

[Robert Ellison]

They also have Percy Heath's bass line transcribed there for Wes Montgomery's D Natural Blues, along with Wes' guitar solo and Tommy Flanagan's piano solo. Nice bass line to learn for a jazz blues song.

[hdiddy]

I've always been fond of Ron Carters walking. Simple, straightforward, and melodic most of the time. Not too much tickety-tack type of walking.

Check out
* United Blues off of the Third Plane album with Herbie and Tony Williams. There's a bit where he does a 2-feel over the drum solo with some cool double stops.
* Blue Seven from the Houston Person/Ron Carter duet album "Something In Common"

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by Nathan Parker

Eh?

+1.

In what way was Paul Chambers "infamous"? Kindly, do tell.

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by pickerpete

I recently worked thorugh Ray Brown's blues line in The Pary's Over sung by Blossom Dearie with Kenny Burrell on guitar.

What the hell is a "Pary"?
Could it possibly be "party"? I think so, unless yer speaking Spanish, in which case, folks are gonna have a tough time Googling the mother.

[eh_train]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

What the hell is a "Pary"?

I think the poster meant to say par-tay, as in "The Par-tays Over" or "It was a serious par-tay"

[Anonymatt]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

+1.

In what way was Paul Chambers "infamous"? Kindly, do tell.

Maybe he had bad gas.

[pbass888]

Red in bluesville.. Redgarland with the infamous pc..

[pbass888]

Sorry that is Red Garland with Paul Chambers, and the album "Red in Bluesville " has great walking lines.

[Shakin-Slim]

There's one I've been listening to a lot recently. It's from Pee Wee Russell and Red Allen's 'College Concert'. First track is Blue Monk, Charlie Haden on bass. Very audible bass lines and very melodic.

Also Jimmy Smith's album 'Six Views of the Blues'. You should be able to find sufficient material there. His left hand on the organ is often more audible than many recorded basses.

[Raka]

Red garland with sam jones, I think. (it's the line I'm transcribing at the moment)