Chris Cheek & Seamus Blake Limehouse Blues Tenor Saxophone Solo Transcription

Here’s another mind-blowing tenor saxophone transcription of Seamus Blake and Chris Cheek totally smokin’ on the jazz standard Limehouse Blues.  This transcription was done by German tenor saxophonist Fabian Willmann (he has studied with Chris Potter, Mark Turner and Joe Lovano).  Fabian was nice enough to let me post this transcription here on my site but please check out Fabian Willmann’s website as well.  He has many other great tenor saxophone solos transcribed by the likes of John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Warne Marsh, Sonny Rollins, Chris Potter and many more………

Seamus Blake & Chris Cheek-“Reeds Ramble”

Fabian Willmann has done a great job with this 24 page transcription of Seamus Blake and Chris Cheek just tearing it up on Limehouse Blues.  As well as the tenor sax solos, Fabian has also transcribed the melody and the harmonies of Seamus and Chris playing together over the melody.

Seamus and Chris recorded this popular jazz standard “Limehouse Blues” a half step down from the Real Book key of Ab concert so this version is in G concert (A for the tenor saxophone)

What caught my interest on this solo first were the interesting rhythmic lines Chris Cheek was playing on measure 105-112, 122-127, 169-174, 217-222, 267-273, 297-305, etc….  Chris Cheek is playing repeated 8th note lines that many times are what is called a “hemiola” and is laying a 3 beat pattern on top of a 4/4  key signature. I thought these lines were very hip and incredibly cool as they weave and float over the 4/4 time signature.

Seamus Blake uses the same concept of laying one time signature over another on measures 377-383 (3/4 over 4/4), 485-498 (6/4 over 4/4), 625-626 (3/4 over 4/4), 649-653 ( 7/4 over 4/4), 654-656 (5/4 over 4/4), 702-712 (3/8 over 4/4).

Besides these cool rhythmic lines, Chris Cheek and Seamus Blake do a masterful job navigating the changes.  There are a lot of great lines in this solo worth slowing down and dissecting to figure out the concepts being utilized.

Seamus Blake & Chris Cheek-“Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off”

Chris Cheek and Seamus Blake are two great sax players who were fellow student at Berklee College of Music around the same time as I was there in the late 80’s.  For more information on these two fabulous saxophone players, you can check out their websites at Chris Cheek and Seamus Blake.   They have many terrific recordings that you can check out as well.

Seamus Blake and Chris Cheek soloing over “Limehouse Blues”

Thanks again to Fabian Willmann who did an incredible job transcribing these two incredible tenor saxophone solos and was kind enough to let me share his transcription here.  Check out Fabian’s site for more great transcriptions and information about him.

If you have any thoughts on Chris Cheek, Seamus Blake or this transcription of their solos on Limehouse Blues,  I would love to hear from you in the comments below.   Steve