Blue Bossa Challenge - with Video

[Question]

I wrote this transcription for myself and decided to post it here for anyone who would also like to play it.

My goal is to play it as close as possible to the original. Don't be deceived into thinking that this is easy. This isn't about learning how to play Blue Bossa, it is about focusing on time and articulation.
This challenge is not about "making it your own" or "taking liberties"; this is a pedantic exercise to really get control of note length, time, phrasing and accuracy. Sort of "walk a mile in his mouthpiece".

I have found that really learning to play simpler things well has had more long term benefits than playing more complex things poorly.

This is a the original version with Joe Henderson and Blue Bossa composer Kenny Dorham.

I edited together the head, then the backgrounds behind the bass solo then the head at the end. You can download my edited Joe Henderson audio track here if you wish to give it a try: www.edwardharris.de/JGO/Bluebossa.zip

In the video that I posted, the original is panned mostly left and the guitar mostly right in case you want to hear one or the other louder.

Blue Bossa (which is not really a bossa) is one of those tunes that most everyone learned wrong from the real book, and has heard it being butchered by so many bands over the decades. If you listen to the original, it is actually a pretty hip tune.

I notated the articulations and note lengths. If you are new to articulation notation; a dot above or below a note means short, a line above or below means hold for its full notated value; a curved line up to a note means play a grace note or slur.

The note lengths are not arbitrary, if there is a half note tied to an eighth, play and cut off the note on the "and of three". Horn players are typically much better at this than guitarists partly due to the fact that a wind instrument can sustain a note at the same dynamic, which makes it more obvious exactly how long that note is. Also, they are often playing together in sections where this is critical to sound together.
Anyone who has been yelled at by the lead trumpet or lead alto player for not phrasing together with them knows what I am talking about!

I am playing it an octave below Kenny Dorham, mostly with Henderson, except where he leaves Kenny a few times and plays a harmony.

I will include my transcription.

[AllanAllen]

This is not about "making it your own" or "taking liberties"; this is a pedantic exercise to really get control of note length, time, phrasing and accuracy. Sort of "walk a mile in his mouthpiece.

I have found that really learning to play simpler things accurately has had more long term benefits than playing more complex things poorly

Say it loud for the people in the back.

[kris]

I'm sorry to post this tune here but it has a lot in common with Blue Bossa:

[supersoul]

Fun exercise. I mainly just imagined that I was in a horn section with Joe and Lee.

[Question]

@Supersoul

very nice!

I think you mean "Kenny" and not "Lee".

That is it exactly, you are hired to play that melody in perfect unison with Tenor and Trumpet, which includes the note lengths, timing, slurs, and when they cut off the notes etc..

As I said earlier, this exercise is NOT about learning to play Blue Bossa correctly, it could be any tune.

To get on my soapbox; I think many guitarists underestimate the value of articulation.

Learning to be aware of and attempting to copy the articulation of another player has helped my playing immensely.

I recently posted a video playing a transcription of Sonny Rollings playing Doxy that was quite a phrasing/timing challenge, but I improved by learning his solo as close as I could to the way that he played it.

To get nit-picky; in the bass-background section, play all of the eighth notes on the and of three short. This feels sort of strange, but that is how they are articulating it.

[supersoul]

I think you mean "Kenny" and not "Lee".
...
To get nit-picky; in the bass-background section, play all of the eighth notes on the and of three short. This feels sort of strange, but that is how they are articulating it.

My bad, yep, Kenny Dorham, he even wrote the tune!

You're right about those 8th notes. I hadn't noticed that. It's like that note pops going into the other two notes. Cool little rhythmic detail

I also tried to match their dynamics a bit more. The backgrounds are played quieter than the head.

[Question]

@Supersoul

yes!

This articulation thing is pedantic, but I found that really focusing on it allowed me to absorb it automatically into my playing.
I don't think about it consciously very often, unless I am playing in unison with a section in a Big-Band and the lead player in a section or the conductor yells "the and of three is short!"

I have found that placing emphasis on HOW I play something equal to WHAT I am playing really makes a difference.

High on the the priority list are: Time-Content-Phrasing/Articulation-Tone-Dynamics. Not necessarily in that order.