Steve Neff Music Blog » Transcriptions

Transcription of Chris Potter’s solo on “All The Thing You Are”

steve — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:41:41 +0000

This bootleg recording is of Chris Potter teaching at a clinic. It’s been floating around the internet for a number of years now and is an amazing example of what Chris Potter can do with a jazz standard like “All the Things You Are”. He’s playing it solo! Just him and his tenor sax.

Now, if you are a follower of jazz and all things saxophone you are probably quite impressed if not in shock by this solo. But I have another item that will impress and shock you also. Ben Doherty has transcribed this whole solo! Every note. This is an amazing task. I know because I had the ambition to do this myself at one time. I transcribed about 4 choruses of the solo before I gave up. I thought “This is impossible and will take way too much time”. Well, shortly after this Ben came out with his transcription and I was one happy camper. I couldn’t believe that he had done this. Here’s the link to download the transcription.

You will notice that there is a donation link. You can download the solo without donating but I encourage any of you who are grateful to donate to Ben. Even if you can only donate a few bucks, I think it is important to acknowledge the work he has done here. Who knows maybe if we appreciate him enough he’ll transcribe another Chris Potter “monster solo” for us! Thanks again Ben!

Rick Margitza Solo-”What is this thing called love?”

steve — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:19:40 +0000

Here is a great solo that I transcribed a couple of years ago. It’s from Jeff Helmer’s album “Peak Moments”. The tune is a standard called “What is this thing called love?” and features Rick Margitza on tenor saxophone. It’s a great tune by Cole Porter that all jazz players should know. It’s a 32 bar AABA form and is pretty easy to learn. It has some cool minor ii-V sequences. I think it was the first tune i learned as a kid that had a minor ii-V in it. Rick Margitza takes a killer solo in it. When I first heard it I knew I had to transcribe it. He plays a bunch of lines in it that really intrigued me and I wanted to see what he was playing and maybe get an idea of how he thinks. Here’s a link to the song if you are interested in buying it. I would really suggest listening to it so you get the sound in your ear. Just reading it off the page won’t give you the big picture. What really attracted me to this solo were the flowing lines and the way that he uses tension and release. Check it out!

What is this thing called love?

Peak Moments-Whole album

What is this thing called love-Rick Margitza Solo (523)

Two Chris Potter Transcriptions from “Song for Anyone” CD

steve — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 02:49:11 +0000

Here are two Chris Potter transcriptions that I received from Corey Armstrong for tenor sax. I haven’t had the time to check them out note for note but these are two great solos from the “Song for Anyone” CD and must have taken quite a bit of time to figure out. Corey said I could share them if I like so here you go. The thing that fascinates me about Chris Potter is his rhythmic concept. It’s so free and flowing. He plays with the time continuously. Check out Chief Seattle. Note that in many instances he’s just playing sixteenth notes but he accents the notes in unique ways. The odd accents changes the sound of the sixteenth notes to make it sound very unique. It’s a cool concept to explore. Thanks to Chris Potter for the great solos and Corey Armstrong for the hard work on the transcriptions. Enjoy!

theabsencechrispotter

chiefseattlechrispotter

Joshua Redman Transcription “Blues for Pat” Solo

steve — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 02:48:11 +0000

Joshua Redman is one of my favorite tenor sax players out there. I especially love his early albums “Moodswing” and “Timeless Tales”. Here’s Joshua Redman transcription from the album “Live In San Francisco” with Pat Metheny. This tune is called “Blues for Pat” and it’s a great solo on a blues form. Redman does a lot of things rhythmically that really caught my attention on this solo. I love how he builds the energy on it. Check it out!
blues-for-pat

Chris Potter: Transcription of Body and Soul

steve — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:46:45 +0000

I received this Bb transcription from Kevin Jones who teaches at the University of South Carolina. This is from a version of Body and Soul that Chris played on for “Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis: Season 1, Vol. 3″. There are some great elements to check out in this solo. I haven’t played through it yet but I listened to it and it’s killer.Kevin kindly gave his consent to post it here. You can get the recording on itunes for .99. Also there is this link if you want to see it on video via youtube. Check it out!
potter-body-and-soul-bb

Transcriptions of Chris Potter On Rhythm Changes

steve — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:43:06 +0000

Here are two short transcriptions of solos Chris Potter did on a March 8, 2008 masterclass that he did somewhere. The bootleg was floating around the internet (www.dimeadozen.org) and I was lucky enough to grab it. In these two examples Chris is showing the differences in his playing style from when he was younger to now. The first solo is pretty straight forward rhythmically and he is sticking pretty close to the changes and a standard bebop type approach. The second solo (I call it “Potterized Rhythm Changes”) is a bit more advanced. He’s taking more liberties harmonically and rhythmically. The second one was much harder to transcribe and some parts were difficult to figure out rhythmically but I did my best. These are two great examples of how to play over Rhythm changes and take it away from the standard bebop sound. Really check out the rhythmic approach on the “Potterized” version. This has only been available to members of my site for the last 6 months but I thought I would share it with those of you who might enjoy it. If you are interested in the recordings of these feel free to email me and I can send them to you. Enjoy!
potter-simple-rhythm-changes

potterized-rhythm-changes

Free Cannonball Adderley Solos

steve — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 19:22:11 +0000

I found this site the other day. It has hundreds of Cannonball solos. If you don’t know Cannonball you need to check him out. He’s the man on alto! Whoever made all of these transcriptions………….Thanks You!

http://www.cannonballjazz.com/Cannonball/Cannonball_Solo_Song_List.htm