• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Website of Steve Neff

  • BLOG
  • SHOP
  • MY ACCOUNT
  • RAVES
  • CONTACT

Search Neffmusic

You are here: Home / Transcriptions / Joel Frahm “All the Things You Are” Tenor Sax Transcription

Joel Frahm “All the Things You Are” Tenor Sax Transcription

July 2, 2015 by Steve 6 Comments

Here’s another solo by another great tenor saxophone player and incredibly nice guy, Joel Frahm.  Joel has commented on neffmusic.com quite a few times over the years and his passion for everything to do with the saxophone is very obvious. (I imagine we could spend a few hours in a bar talking about mouthpieces very easily……..)

This is a solo on the jazz standard “All the Things You Are” from a gig at Small’s jazz club a couple of weeks ago. (I’m not sure who else was on the gig or who’s gig it was but if someone has that info I would love to add it to this post……. )

This solo caught my attention because of Joel’s use of hemiolas during the first chorus. A hemiola is a rhythmic pattern that can be superimposed over a given time signature to create interesting overlapping rhythms.  In this case,  Joel is playing rhythms in 3/4 time against the 4/4 time signature.  ( I jokingly titled the transcription “All the Hemiolas There Are”…………

I was first introduced to this hemiola concept in lessons with Jerry Bergonzi back in the early 90’s and interestingly enough he had me work on it over “All the Things You Are”…………

Years later, I  also recorded a video lesson for neffmusic.com on this subject called “3 Against 4 Hemiola Lesson” in which I teach and talk about this same concept that Joel is using here and even demonstrate how to practice and use hemiolas over “All the Things You Are” on the alto sax.

Frahm

Joel Frahm 

Here is a short bio about Joel Frahm from Joel’s website in case you don’t know about him:

“Joel Frahm’s May 1st release, We Used to Dance, places him in the company of master musicians Kenny Barron (piano), Rufus Reid (bass), and Victor Lewis (drums).  Frahm more than holds his own in showing both the chops and lyricism that has made him an irreplaceable part of so many sessions in his two decades on the jazz scene.   Surrounded by jazz legends, Frahm makes this recording a true “coming out party” for his maturing artistry. It is his most ambitious CD to date,  featuring six of his original compositions that come to life in beautiful and variegated ways in the hands of this remarkable band. “It was an honor and a watershed experience to make this record with these incredible musicians” he says. Having made a name for himself through his associations with singer Jane Monheit and boyhood friend,  pianist Brad Mehldau,  Frahm hones his own voice on this breakout recording. Joel has also worked with a vast array of musical peers and jazz legends including Maynard Ferguson, Betty Carter, Matt Wilson, Larry Goldings, Dewey Redman, Lee Konitz, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Andrew Hill, Ben Allison, Pat Martino, Ingrid Jensen, Dena Derose, The Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Kyle Eastwood and many others. Born in Racine, WI in 1969, Frahm attended the Mason Gross School for the Arts and earned his B.A. in Jazz Performance at Manhattan School of Music. He released three highly regarded CDs on Palmetto: The Navigator, Don’t Explain (with Mehldau), and Sorry No Decaf. Don’t Explain, his latest, was the number one jazz release for radio play in the United States for two consecutive weeks in 2004, according to jazzweek.com airplay chart and also reached number one on college radio for one week, according to College Music Journal’s airplay chart.  Joel was also recently selected in DownBeat Magazine’s Critics Poll as a Rising Star in the category of tenor saxophone.”

This is only chorus 1 of the solo but I thought it would be a good solo to transcribe because of the hemiola concept being used.   Be warned about the run during the last 7 bars of this  transcription.  If you try to read it and play it exactly as written you will probably fail miserably.   Joel is basically starting this run in triplets in measure 31 and then in measure 32-36 he’s speeding up the line just slightly (It actually comes out to 3.25 notes per beat which x 4 beats is 13 notes over 4 beats!) Good Luck on that one……………. Enjoy!!

PS.  Make sure you buy Joel’s recordings!  I have most of them and they are terrific!

Joel Frahm Solo on All the Things You Are-Chorus 1 Bb PDF

Added chorus 2 below,  the 5th line is 8va as labeled.  Also, from measures 24-to the end of the chorus Joel is playing a line in triplets.  Although measure 24 starts out with two sets of triplets, in measure 25 onward he changes the articulation of the triplets to mimic eighth note articulation.  The triplet pulse is still constant although the new articulation gives the line a floating feeling over the time.   For more on this subject you can check out Playing with a Triplet Pulse Lesson in which I walk you through how to use this concept…………

*If you would like to support me here at neffmusic.com, you can do so on the support page of my store by debit or credit card.   Any support is appreciated and will go towards keeping this site running, saxophone reeds, mouthpiece patches, coffee, and towards justifying the many hours I spend on providing free transcriptions to the saxophone community!  Thanks,   Steve

Joel Frahm Solo on All the Things You Are-Chorus 2 Bb PDF
Joel Frahm Solo on All the Things You Are-Chorus 3 Bb PDF

https://cdn.neffmusic.com/2015/July/All%20the%20Things-Joel%20Frahm.mp3

Joel Frahm Solo-All the Things You Are Solo

Filed Under: Transcriptions Tagged With: All the Things You Are, hemiolas, jazz sax, Joel Frahm, solo transcription, tenor saxophone

Steve

About Steve

Steve Neff has been playing and teaching saxophone and jazz improvisation around the New England area for over 30 years. He is the author of many best selling jazz improvisation methods as well as founding the popular jazz video lesson site Neffmusic.com.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. SteveSteve says

    July 2, 2015 at 1:38 pm

    I haven’t had time to transpose it to C yet but will post it on here when I do……………

    Reply
  2. AvatarJared Jackson says

    July 10, 2015 at 9:55 am

    Killlin it!!!!

    Great transcription work, Steve!

    Reply
    • SteveSteve says

      July 28, 2015 at 1:30 pm

      Thanks Jared! I’m glad you dig the solo. Steve

      Reply
  3. AvatarMichael Favreau says

    October 23, 2015 at 5:30 pm

    Thanks for another great transcription from a great player. These are greatly appreciated.

    Reply
  4. AvatarDan says

    January 1, 2016 at 11:22 am

    Thanks Steve, just making this gig my New Year’s Day listening.

    Reply
    • SteveSteve says

      January 1, 2016 at 11:25 am

      Happy New Years Dan! May 2016 be the year we all get a little closer to the Joel Frahm’s and Chris Potter’s of the world…………..

      Reply

Leave a Reply to Steve Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Steve Neff

Cart


NEFFMUSIC PRINTED BOOKS

Testimonials

To manage your subscriptions, please enter your email address here below. We will send you a message containing the link to access your personal management page.

… Read more

Manage subscriptions

Featured Video Lessons

  • Mastering the Dominant Pentatonic Sound over a Blues (Digital PDF Book) Mastering the Dominant Pentatonic Sound over a Blues (Digital PDF Book)
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $19.99 Original price was: $19.99.$14.99Current price is: $14.99.
  • The Secret to Modern Outside Jazz Lines Lesson-Minor The Secret to Modern Outside Jazz Lines Lesson-Minor $9.99
  • Creating Modern II-V-I Lines with Simple Pentatonics Lesson Creating Modern II-V-I Lines with Simple Pentatonics Lesson
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $9.99
  • The Best Embouchure for Tone, Intonation and Endurance Lesson The Best Embouchure for Tone, Intonation and Endurance Lesson
    Rated 4.91 out of 5
    $9.99
  • The Secret to Altissimo (no one has ever told you about before) Lesson The Secret to Altissimo (no one has ever told you about before) Lesson
    Rated 4.75 out of 5
    $9.99

Now over 600 video and audio lessons to choose from!

Free Lessons

  • Free Lesson on The New Ultimate II-V-I Primer-Major Keys
  • Free Video Lesson on Mastering Altered Pentatonics
  • Free Video Lesson on Mastering the Blues Scale Volume 1 & 2
  • Free Video Lesson on Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale and Language Book 1 & 2
  • Free Video Lesson on Approach Note Velocity Book

Recent reviews

  • Bebop Scale-Altered Scale II-V-I Practice Lesson Bebop Scale-Altered Scale II-V-I Practice Lesson by Noah
  • Mastering the Dominant Pentatonic Sound over a Blues (Digital PDF Book) Mastering the Dominant Pentatonic Sound over a Blues (Digital PDF Book) by Andy
  • Mastering the Dominant Pentatonic Sound over a Blues (Digital PDF Book) Mastering the Dominant Pentatonic Sound over a Blues (Digital PDF Book)
    Rated 5 out of 5
    by Russ
  • Creating Modern II-V-I Lines with Simple Pentatonics Lesson Creating Modern II-V-I Lines with Simple Pentatonics Lesson
    Rated 5 out of 5
    by Timothy
  • The Best Embouchure for Tone, Intonation and Endurance Lesson The Best Embouchure for Tone, Intonation and Endurance Lesson
    Rated 5 out of 5
    by Ray Holland

Footer

Recent Comments

  • Leo on Phil-Tone Tenor Mouthpiece
  • Randy Cosby on GetASax GS Supersonic 50s Dukoff 7* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
  • Brian at GetASax on GetASax GS Supersonic 50s Dukoff 7* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
  • Brian at GetASax on GetASax GS Supersonic 50s Dukoff 7* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
  • Steve on GetASax GS Supersonic 50s Dukoff 7* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review

Top rated products

  • Mastering the Major Bebop Scale & Sound (Digital PDF Book) Mastering the Major Bebop Scale & Sound (Digital PDF Book)
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $14.99
  • Tune of the Week-Softly as a Morning Sunrise Lesson Tune of the Week-Softly as a Morning Sunrise Lesson
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $9.99
  • The Style of Dexter Gordon-Lady Bird Lesson 1 The Style of Dexter Gordon-Lady Bird Lesson 1
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $9.99
  • Tune of the Week-Days of Wine and Roses Lesson Tune of the Week-Days of Wine and Roses Lesson
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $9.99
  • Tune of the Week-Invitation Tune of the Week-Invitation
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $9.99

Product tags

alto sax alto saxophone approach notes audio lesson bebop scale beginner beginner saxophone blues blues licks blues patterns blues scale blues scales diminished scale dominant chords ear training fundamentals II-V-I improvisation jazz improvisation jazz lines jazz patterns jazz sax jazz saxophone jazz standard jazz standards licks Mastering the Blues Scale Michael Brecker modern improv modern improvisation online lesson patterns playing outside practice habits reading music sax basics sax lessons saxophone scales smooth jazz steve neff tenor sax tenor saxophone video lesson video lessons
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • SUPPORT

Neffmusic © 2005–2025