Tune written by Horace Silver. His solo comes first, then Joe Henderson on Tenor Sax.
At about 3:55 Joe Henderson starts his solo.
Listen to the solo a few times. Write down a few phrases you like. Then leave a comment with where exactly they happen. For example, 4:02 – 4:08. Then I’ll show you how to play those phrases after you have demonstrated you can play the melody.
You can get the sheet music/recording to play along with for the song and some others in the Jamey Aebersold book, Volume 54 – Maiden Voyage
The melody is played twice from 0:08 to 1:40. The form for the melody is “A A B “. A is one section of the melody and B is a different section, sometimes called a ‘bridge’.
In the recording, the melody is played twice.
A A B A A B, then into solos.
Have started working on this, here’s what the first phrase looks like (as I played it)
And here’s what it sounds like, at speed, slowed down, and at speed again.
355_400_Joe_Henderson_Saxophone_Tribe (mp3, right click and save)
This first part is played over a G- (G minor) chord for tenor sax which is a D- chord for alto sax.
The first note is the root of that chord. And this first phrase doesn’t deviate much from the chord tones. The solo starts pretty simply and then gets pretty crazy quickly!
Three notes, then four notes, then a section with six notes.
For tenor, the notes are G Bb C, G, C, Bb, G G, Bb, C, F, A C
For alto, that would be D, F, G D, G, F, D D, F, G, C, E, G
Playing like Joe Henderson is much more than playing just the notes, listen carefully to the phrasing and articulation. Not every note is tongued!
Try playing this phrase, listen to how I played it and listen to the original.
I’ll do a few more phrases, but after thinking about it, the beginning parts of this solo are more manageable, the later parts get fairly crazy. So get the first parts first.
There’s another listening assignment the solo by Miles Davis on So What. There will be more phrases you take from there and use more places.
Part of my philosophy on improvisation is that you take the simplest building blocks and make something interesting. But if you don’t have the simplest parts mastered, nothing you build will sound that good.
charles B says
Neal,
I really love the beginning 3:55-4:25.
I’m not sure what learn the melody means. why does it seem like 4 notes in the second “3 note part”.
D- D- C7 C7 Bb7 E-/A D- D- am not sure how to approach the cord changes
Neal says
Hey Charles,
It’s four notes but made up of three different notes, just edited that. Thanks.
Also wrote about the melody in some detail. In this song, the melody is played from 0:08 to 1:40. What the melody is…. should be something memorable that is ‘melodic’. Often times that means that patterns come back. For this song there is a certain pattern with the turns that is eight measures long, it repeats, and then a different section that is eight measures long is played.
What do you think of when you hear the word ‘melody’?
-Neal
Donny Piela says
I have a transcription of Joe Henderson’s solo. When I attended my first Jamey Aerbersold jazz camp, Jamey used this solo as an example of a perfect sax solo. He said it contains all of the elements that should be included in a sax solo.
Neal says
Cool, I have a transcription too. One of my favorite solos, has been for a long time. Not all that easy to play though. How did Jamey describe the elements that should be in a sax solo?
KT says
Solo sections 4:19 to 4:39 of Joe Henderson song For My Father would be on my list of sections to learn
Neal says
Modified the directions for this, learn the melody first.
Gil Ross says
Hi Neal, I liked 5:45 to 5:50, Im on the Alto
Neal says
Hey Gil,
Have you learned the melody of the tune yet? I would actually recommend doing that before working on the solo for everyone.
KT says
Neal,
Love it all. Would like to be able tp play 4:00 to 5:00 and 6:00 to 6:12. I have an alto….yamaha YAS 200AD.
Neal says
Hey Kate,
4:00 to 5:00 is a bit of a section of the solo, which pieces of it specifically do you want to learn first? I think it’s better to learn one thing that you’ll really know than practicing the whole minute. It’s much more likely you’ll throw a piece that you really like into your own solo that using the entire minute. Of course, it’s not bad to work on whole solos sometimes to help understand how the pieces are connected.
Des Monahan says
Hi the bits I select are
3.55 – 4.00
4.03 – 4.08
4.20 – 4.25
5.07 – 5.12
Would like to learn whole thing – but then if I knew the key(s) it was in would be nice to use the aboveand do my own thing.
Cheers Des.
Neal says
Hey Des,
Thanks. I think I’ll basically approach this in order of how the licks come up in the solo, starting with that first piece.
This is an ‘AAB’ form piece. So there’s an A section that repeats and then a B section which is a ‘bridge’ back to the start.
The A section of the tune starts in (concert pitch) with F- for two bars, then goes to Eb7 for two bars. After that, it’s Db7 for a bar, G-/C for a bar and back to F- for two bars.
For tenor sax/soprano the changes are up a whole step from that, so
G- G- F7 F7 Eb7 A-/D G- G-
For alto sax/bari sax it’s
D- D- C7 C7 Bb7 E-/A D- D-
-Neal
Samuel Golden says
Hey Neal, from 4:46 Along 5:00 Phrase soars ! Sam .
Neal says
Hey Sam, yep, Joe plays some good stuff in there. Working on this now.
Asha says
I liked 4:01 to 4:23 and 5:10 to 5:22. I am also on alto sax.
Neal says
Thanks Asha, will keep that in mind.
Ermel says
4:29 to 4:36 is nice. I’m on the alto Neal!
Neal says
Hey Mel, thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.
Jerry Price says
I liked the tune and especially these phrases. 4:06 -4:38, 4:54 – 5:30.
Neal says
Thanks Jerry, but will you narrow it down a little more. Like something that is five seconds long rather than 30.
brad bird says
I love the phrases at 4:20-4:26, but REALLY dig it at 6:01-6:09
I’d love to learn those…
thanks Neal!
Neal says
Thanks Brad, I’ll listen to those parts.
Neal says
6:01 to 6:09 is part of the melody of the tune, definitely a good thing to know if you want to improvise over it! It’s in the Maiden Voyage book if you have that one.