Week 16 27-03-15 Armando’s Rhumba and So Nice

In the first part of this session we played through So Nice, initially at a constant tempo (thanks to Steve for his fine conducting) and then attempting to follow the tempo changes and pauses. Building on the success of our beautiful trios (over the last two sessions) I invited the whole group to try an extended collective improvisation - we discussed the options of having a pre-agreed tonality or complete freedom. (I mentioned an album by Chris Biscoe entitled Full Monte  http://www.chrisbiscoe.co.uk/fullmonte.shtml ). I recorded this performance and have attached an excerpt at the bottom of this message. The full version is now in the Dropbox.

In the second half of the session we ran ArmandoÂ’s Rhumba and everyone took 2 choruses. Listening around the room I felt we had made quite a lot of progress on this chord sequence with itÂ’s various tricky corners. In particular I heard a number of you playing some well constructed lines over bars 13&14 (where we explored the possibility of using whole-half diminished scales). Rhythmically the piece sounds much more secure than it did when we started on it - some nice comping ideas from Mike and Stuart and a most captivating bolero groove from Charlie. IÂ’m sorry I didnÂ’t record this.

The one area in ArmandoÂ’s Rhumba that still deserves some attention is the last 4 bars (ie 17-20). Bars 17&18 are really a disguised ‘II V IÂ’ cadence to end the piece, and bars 19&20 are a sort of chromatic ‘turnaroundÂ’ to takes us back to the start again. Unfortunately, due to an editorial oversight (on the part of the editor!) there were two incorrect chords in bar 18 on the lead sheets (including the transposed parts). For those of you who may have been concerned about these chords, I can only say: “well done for being concerned”. Some of you may have spotted that my Chick Corea transcription sheet contains some different chords in these bars - they are in fact the correct ones.

CORRECT CHORDS  for bars 17&18

C instruments Abm/Bb | Abm/Bb      Bb7   Eb  |

Bb instruments Bbm/C | Bbm/C        C7     F    |

Eb instruments Fm/G | Fm/G          G7     C   |

The chord in bar 17 (talking in concert key) is marked as Abm/Bb. It could also be labelled Abm6/Bb (as it is on my Chick Corea transcription sheet). Abm6 contains the same notes as Fm7b5  (namely F  Ab  Cb  Eb  ). The chords in bars 17&18 are in effect a minor ‘II VÂ’ resolving to a major ‘IÂ’ (in concert:  Fm7b5  Bb7  Eb  )

On our Dropbox recording (from “My Spanish Heart”), the bass player (Stanley Clarke) actually uses a tritone substitution for chord V . He changes the Bb7  to an E7  creating the following sequence in bar 18:  Abm6/Bb    E7  Eb . I have attached two edited mp3 clips for you to check this out. I suggest listening through headphones, if you can, as it is hard to hear the bass notes clearly otherwise. The first clip is of bars 13-20 slowed down. The second clip starts on bar 18, even slower with the bass EQ turned up  -  listen for the notes   Bb  E  Eb .

I have also attached an info sheet for bars 17&18 with some soloing ideas (I couldnÂ’t resist making a reference to Night And Day which uses the same three chords!)

Well thatÂ’s it for now. Have a good Easter and hope to see you on April 24th (for Chris PotterÂ’s Pop Tune #1  and Gil EvansÂ’ Las Vegas Tango )

Cheers Mark

mark@markbassey.com