Thoughts on Tricotism

[AllanAllen]

I’m working on the Oscar Pettiford song Tricrotism.

He wrote and performed it in Db, but the real book has it in C. All the Spotify ones I listened to seemed to be in Db too. Just weird that someone transposed it for the real book. It’s also wrong, which drives me nuts on these BeBop Jazz Standards.

Why do they simplify the melody when it’s the language. They took a 1 4 b3 3 enclosure and made it an octave drop on the root. (bar 6) They took the jazz out of the head. Very strange.

[Mick-7]

I’m working on the Oscar Pettiford song Tricrotism.

He wrote and performed it in Db, but the real book has it in C. All the Spotify ones I listened to seemed to be in Db too. Just weird that someone transposed it for the real book. It’s also wrong, which drives me nuts on these BeBop Jazz Standards.

Why do they simplify the melody when it’s the language. They took a 1 4 b3 3 enclosure and made it an octave drop on the root. (bar 6) They took the jazz out of the head. Very strange.

Real Book, Vol. 3 has it in Eb major.

[AllanAllen]

That's odd too, the Real Book song finder PDF I have says its in RB Vol. 5. I checked RB Vol 3, and it's got the same octave drop at bar 6 instead of the enclosure, I should listen to more versions before deciding which way to go. Still not in the recorded key, which is weird.

Like having Giant Steps in G.

[pcjazz]

The MuseScore site has a lead sheet in Db. No idea how accurate it may be.

[John A.]

I’m working on the Oscar Pettiford song Tricrotism.

He wrote and performed it in Db, but the real book has it in C. All the Spotify ones I listened to seemed to be in Db too. Just weird that someone transposed it for the real book. It’s also wrong, which drives me nuts on these BeBop Jazz Standards.

Why do they simplify the melody when it’s the language. They took a 1 4 b3 3 enclosure and made it an octave drop on the root. (bar 6) They took the jazz out of the head. Very strange.

Given the origins of the Real Book, you just have to live with some tunes being some combination of different and wrong. When you stumble on a problematic one, you just have to move on to better sources (which usually means transcribe it yourself, though if it's just for changes iReal has a lower error rate than RB). No point in asking why the RB whiffed since only its anonymous authors know why they did what they did.

[djg]

it is in Db and there are at least two different versions of the melody, one with the enclosure and one without. i also faintly remember a version with the enclosure in the first a section and without in the second one (possibly oscar peterson).

[Sam Sherry]

It’s also wrong, which drives me nuts on these BeBop Jazz Standards.

Goodness gracious! A fake book with an error!

Why do they simplify the melody when it’s the language. They took a 1 4 b3 3 enclosure and made it an octave drop on the root. (bar 6)

Perhaps there's more than one recorded version and those charts accurately reflect different versions than the one you're used to.
Or maybe they're just fooked up.

They took the jazz out of the head. Very strange.

There was a time when many jazz musicians believed that jazz was an aural tradition.
For some of those people learning jazz by ear was the only legitimate way to learn jazz, and learning jazz from fake books 'took the jazz out.'
For some of those people learning jazz outside of the bandstand or woodshed -- i.e. academic study of jazz -- 'took the jazz out.'

For me, there's more than one way to skin a cat but I honor those who disagree.

[AllanAllen]

Wow, that’s a lot of attitude.

If anyone wants to talk about the music that’s cool, but Sam.. You can stroll.

[AllanAllen]

it is in Db and there are at least two different versions of the melody, one with the enclosure and one without. i also faintly remember a version with the enclosure in the first a section and without in the second one (possibly oscar peterson).

Yeah that’s correct, the Lucky Thompson version and the Oscar Pettiford Modern Quintet version have the enclosure on A1 but a different lick for A2 and A3.

I’ll check the Oscar Peterson ones out. Maybe he even did it in C.

[AllanAllen]

Given the origins of the Real Book, you just have to live with some tunes being some combination of different and wrong. When you stumble on a problematic one, you just have to move on to better sources (which usually means transcribe it yourself, though if it's just for changes iReal has a lower error rate than RB). No point in asking why the RB whiffed since only its anonymous authors know why they did what they did.

I feel like by Real Book Vol. 5, not book 1 5th edition, but the 5th real book, they should have the idiosyncrasies worked out.

[pamosmusic]

I feel like by Real Book Vol. 5, not book 1 5th edition, but the 5th real book, they should have the idiosyncrasies worked out.

Yeha it’s weird. The new series of various Omnibooks seem to be super accurate, down to the articulation.

who knows

[AllanAllen]

The octave drop is from the Oscar Peterson versions. So, I’ll allow it as jazz language, but I’ll know anyone who plays that way didn’t learn it from the true source.

I didn’t check if Peterson played it in C.

[deacon Mark]

I do it in Eb but once you have the tune down as such I supposed does not matter much. The best playing on this tune is Joe Pass and NHOP duets. Taken pretty quick for sure. Outside of a longer melody line and more notes it is not terribly hard play. Not a huge amount of offbeat stuff. A jam tune but playing just the melody is ok too lots of chopping.

[AllanAllen]

The bass player in my group suggested it as a way to break up the format, giving him a chance to play the melody.

It should be fun. I did notice the longer melody line compared to the last two bebop heads I learned, Joy Spring and Ornithology. Where the lines are shorter, I suppose, because the composer has to breathe.

[deacon Mark]

The bass player in my group suggested it as a way to break up the format, giving him a chance to play the melody.

It should be fun. I did notice the longer melody line compared to the last two bebop heads I learned, Joy Spring and Ornithology. Where the lines are shorter, I suppose, because the composer has to breathe.

Joy Spring on the guitar leaves much room for the melody interpretation. If played at a very fast tempo the 16th note triplets are hard to get clean. I like to do Joy Spring with the least amount of pull offs and added notes. Ornithology can ge taken many different ways and in fact the more I hear bebop heads the less I take any as the Gospel Truth. That would be outside the historical recording since that would be the measure. Same thing with Anthropology. I have seen so many different chord changes and melodies that I completely lost except to get one version down I can but it and work from that point.

[backliner]

Joy Spring is fun.
’Bout the only BeBop tune I got under my fingers.

[djg]

here's another fun pettiford tune:

[AllanAllen]

I have seen so many different chord changes and melodies that I completely lost except to get one version down I can but it and work from that point.

I’ve found a lot of the codified changes are just turnarounds that are totally flexible. If you can hear(or understand) what’s a turnaround instead of important changes, it helps.

| Dm G7 | Dm G7|

can also be

|Dm | G7 |

or

| E7 A7 | Dm G7 |

And that’s before you get clever with chord substitutions.