Mingus Ah Um is one of those records to recommend to people that want to get into jazz and don't know what to listen to. I remember when I first discovered this record when I was in High School. It blew me away. Everything about it is off the hook.
Anyway, one of the things on this record that knocked me out was the tenor break which starts the song Open Letter to Duke. Once I found out who this sax player was (Booker Ervin) I went out and bought everything I could find from him. To me, his best albums as a leader feature the rhythm section of Jaki Byard, Richard Davis and Alan Dawson (The Freedom Book and The Space Book, but The Song Book, which replaced Byard with Tommy Flanagan is pretty killing as well.) Also check out Tex Book Tenor, which features Kenny Barron, Woody Shaw, Billy Higgins and a bass player I never heard of named Jan Arnet.
Well, here's a transcription (in bass clef) of Booker Ervin's tenor break which starts off Open Letter to Duke, along with a youtube link to it. Send me a line if you want a copy in treble clef or transposed. The form is a little weird: 16 bar section (A), 8 bar section (B), A, B, then 16 bars of B♭. I'm pretty sure I got the chords right.
Video:
Transcription:
Anyway, one of the things on this record that knocked me out was the tenor break which starts the song Open Letter to Duke. Once I found out who this sax player was (Booker Ervin) I went out and bought everything I could find from him. To me, his best albums as a leader feature the rhythm section of Jaki Byard, Richard Davis and Alan Dawson (The Freedom Book and The Space Book, but The Song Book, which replaced Byard with Tommy Flanagan is pretty killing as well.) Also check out Tex Book Tenor, which features Kenny Barron, Woody Shaw, Billy Higgins and a bass player I never heard of named Jan Arnet.
Well, here's a transcription (in bass clef) of Booker Ervin's tenor break which starts off Open Letter to Duke, along with a youtube link to it. Send me a line if you want a copy in treble clef or transposed. The form is a little weird: 16 bar section (A), 8 bar section (B), A, B, then 16 bars of B♭. I'm pretty sure I got the chords right.
Video:
Transcription:
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