Transcription: The Elder

Composer: Thad Jones
From the album: Back With Basie
LP: Roulette R-52111
Leader of the session: Count Basie
Recorded: July 1, 1962
Transcription: starts at 4'23"; ends at 5'22"
Tempo: 125 beats per minute

At 59 seconds, this could be Freddie's longest solo on record and it is a good one.

Bars 1 - 14: Thad Jones' arrangement features "call and response" between the band and Freddie's guitar.

Bars 15 - 16: Freddie Green suddenly becomes Igor Stravinsky, playing a parallel progression of eight major chords using the same voicing. This passage is quite striking as it is in stark contrast to the typical harmonic language of Basie's music.

Bars 17 - 24: Freddie continues his chord solo accompanied only by the rhythm section with bar 22 containing the highest voicing of his solo - a G9.

Bars 25 - 30: "Call and response" returns as Freddie finishes his solo in the sparse style typical of Bill Basie himself. The F6 chord in bar 25 consists of "ghost-notes", i.e., notes that are 90% percussive and 10% pitch.

Transcribed by Michael Pettersen, January 2006