Transcription: Orange, Brown, and Green

Composer:  Ray Brown
From the album:  Rhythm Willie
Leaders:  Herb Ellis and Freddie Green
CD:  Concord CCD-6010
Recorded: 1975
Transcription starts as 2:28; ends at 3:25

In this brisk sixty-four bar excerpt, Freddie offers an excellent lesson on creating melody using single note rhythm guitar playing. These two choruses were chosen to illustrate the melodic construction of his rhythm playing, even at a fast tempo. The chord changes are based on "I Got Rhythm." Included are some articulation markings that illustrate the variety in Freddie's note length.

In bar 13, Freddie plays a Db over a Bb7 chord, which beautifully anticipates and matches the blues lick of pianist Ross Tompkins.

Notice how the melodic motif in bars 21 and 22 is repeated in bars 23 and 24. A related motif appears in bars 51and 52, bars 53 and 54, and in bars 55 and 56.

In bar 29, Freddie starts on an Ab note, anticipating the Bb7 and again illustrating melodic movement.

The excerpt shows how well Freddie and Ray Brown played together, another example being the Count Basie and Oscar Peterson session Satch & Josh on Pablo Records.

For details on playing single note rhythm guitar, see the articles in Lessons and Technique.

Transcribed by Mike Rupsch
August 2006


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