Bilbo's Transcription Archive

[Bilbo]

i have bit more space now, Dave, so I will try and make sense of it for you. A head refers to the tune's melody. If you take something like the Wynton Marsalis tune on the website called 'Play The Blues And Go', the head is the first 44 bars. In reality, it is and 8-bar intro followed by 3x12 bar heads repeated (first piano only, second and third with horns). After that it is just a band playing fairly conventional 12-bar blues. A head chart would just have the 12 bar tune with something like 'solo over a C blues'. A 'chorus', in this case, is 12 bars i.e. once around the chord sequence. Sounds complicated written down like that but it's simple enough once you understand the principle. It then translates to any tune however simple or complicated. Many of the tunes on the website are of this type; round and round the same chord sequence with someone soloing over the songs changes. 

  

 

[Bilbo]

I am working on a long complicated Branford Marsalis tune and needed some respite so I have put together this transcription of the Adalberto Cevasco bass part for the tune 'Milonga Del Angel' from the 2010 Astor Piazzolla release 'Piazzolla En Suite'. An easy read but a lovely piece. You can't have enough Piazzolla.

 

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/milonga-del-angel-astor-piazzolla/

[dmccombe7]

On 30/06/2025 at 21:00, Bilbo said:

i have bit more space now, Dave, so I will try and make sense of it for you. A head refers to the tune's melody. If you take something like the Wynton Marsalis tune on the website called 'Play The Blues And Go', the head is the first 44 bars. In reality, it is and 8-bar intro followed by 3x12 bar heads repeated (first piano only, second and third with horns). After that it is just a band playing fairly conventional 12-bar blues. A head chart would just have the 12 bar tune with something like 'solo over a C blues'. A 'chorus', in this case, is 12 bars i.e. once around the chord sequence. Sounds complicated written down like that but it's simple enough once you understand the principle. It then translates to any tune however simple or complicated. Many of the tunes on the website are of this type; round and round the same chord sequence with someone soloing over the songs changes. 

  

 

Thanks Rob. This level is beyond what i did at lessons back in 70's and some of the terminology i've either not heard before or wasn't sure what it meant.

Dave

[Bilbo]

This one took me days - a bit of a roast. I think it would have been easier had I not Moised it! The bass sounds better in the original mix. The is the Reginald Veal bass part to the tune 'Blutain' from the 1996 Branford Marsalis Trio album, 'The Dark Keys' (was it really 30 years ago?). Veal's part is stunningly creative whilst retaining the core aspects of swing, sounding simultanously fresh and ancient. Jeff Watts is incredible also. A great album that is highly recommended. I wish I could have done these transcriptions 30 years ago.

 

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/blutain-branford-marsalis/

[Burns-bass]

11 hours ago, Bilbo said:

This one took me days - a bit of a roast. I think it would have been easier had I not Moised it! The bass sounds better in the original mix. The is the Reginald Veal bass part to the tune 'Blutain' from the 1996 Branford Marsalis Trio album, 'The Dark Keys' (was it really 30 years ago?). Veal's part is stunningly creative whilst retaining the core aspects of swing, sounding simultanously fresh and ancient. Jeff Watts is incredible also. A great album that is highly recommended. I wish I could have done these transcriptions 30 years ago.

 

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/blutain-branford-marsalis/

 

What a challenging transcription to have made! 

 

It's not just the notes, it's the feel too – what a player!

 

I have one request (and you can ignore me and throw stuff at the screen if you want). When you're doing these walking jazz transcriptions, could you put the chord at the top of the bar? That way I can sit there and try and figure out what he's doing as it relates to the key? (I know I can do this myself, and I do)

[Bilbo]

It's a blues in F.

F7, Bb7 F7 /

Bb7 / F7 D7

Gm7 C7 F7 /

 

I don't normally do chords as the purpose of the transcriptions is to promote reading not learning theory. There are people/websites out there that do all that better than I can. I'm just dumb enough to sit there for hours transcribing details that no-one else can be bothered to look for.

[Burns-bass]

28 minutes ago, Bilbo said:

It's a blues in F.

F7, Bb7 F7 /

Bb7 / F7 D7

Gm7 C7 F7 /

 

I don't normally do chords as the purpose of the transcriptions is to promote reading not learning theory. There are people/websites out there that do all that better than I can. I'm just dumb enough to sit there for hours transcribing details that no-one else can be bothered to look for.

Thanks for this. It makes perfect sense this way.

 

As sad as it sounds, as well as playing it, I’ll study these to see what he’s doing against a chord to try and understand it. 
 

I’ll just print it and write the chords at the top in pencil and we’re good. 
 

Appreciate it’s an improvised line!

 

 

 

[Bilbo]

It's absolutely brilliant in terms of creative walking bass. Veal is massively underrated because he is not noted as a flashy soloist but he is, for me, one of the greatest Jazz players of his era. Solid as a rock and drenched in the Blues.

[itu]

26 minutes ago, Bilbo said:

Veal is massively underrated because he is not noted as a flashy soloist...

I think - although not my idea - that a good sideman is far more important than a flashy soloist. It may even be so that a flashy soloist can be a lame sideman. Such a player may not be the best bandmate. 

[Bilbo]

The evidence supports that, absolutely. Pino, Lee Sklar, Will Lee, Charlie Haden, Steve Swallow, even Marcus. All these guys have massive CVs whereas the Jeff Berlins, Hadrien Fraud, Michael Manrings etc crowd are much more limited in their catalogues. Who gets the Steely Dan gigs etc? Always the solid guys.