Freedom Jazz Dance?

[rlyacht]

Last week I saw Oz Noy play songs from his new project Twisted Blues, and he ended the set with Freedom Jazz Dance, an old favorite of mine. I think the first version I ever heard was done by Eddie Johnson, who wrote lyrics to it, and then I subsequently heard the original.

Oz's rendition was so great it made me want to finally learn how to play it. I have transcribed some, and also found some tab on the internet, but I am struggling with how to handle the fingering, especially the bits which have lots of consecutive fourths. In some sense, the easiest is just to go across the neck, but it feels weird and I also have trouble making the transition (if that makes sense).

Anyhow, I'm assuming that people have thought about this a lot, and hoping to get a steer in the right direction. If I'd had the presence of mind, I'd have filmed Oz, but I was too busy listening :-)

To be very concrete, here's how I've written down the second phrase. I think it's right, but feels awkward to play

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------5-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------4-------5----------------7-------4-------5------------------------------------
---7------------------------------7-----------------------------------5------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------5---------------7--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5----------
 

[FatJeff]

I spent a good deal of time getting this difficult tune under my fingers for my juries last semester. It's a b*tch no matter how you play it, but I managed to find the least painful fingering that worked for me. I can shoot you a copy if you would like - just PM me.

Bear in mind that the fake book sheets I've seen have all had mistakes (in the third phrase, IIRC). The sheet I prepared is transcribed from the way Miles Davis plays it on "Miles Smiles," and Eddie Harris himself on two different recordings.