Sonny Stitt – Barkan The Blues (part 2)

Wrapping up Tenor Month with part 2 of Barkan the Blues!

Part 1 ends where the piano solo comes in after rehearsal mark ‘Q’. Sonny picks up in bar 3 of section ‘R’ after the piano solo and blows for two choruses before jumping right into trading fours with the drummer for two more choruses (sections ‘T’ to ‘W’).

The drummer takes a chorus at ‘W’ and Sonny is back in with the head at ‘X’. At ‘Y’ it sounds like he’s going to play the head again, but really they go into a four-bar vamp/tag that carries them through the end of the tune. I did my best to pick up the changes that they are using on the turnaround, but it’s likely wrong!

This was a fun one to transcribe and play! I’m glad I toughed it out to the end. Although this concludes tenor month, I think I’m going to try to mix it up more in the future.

I should probably do a bari month at some point as well…

• Artist: Sonny Stitt
• Album:  Work Done (1976)
• Track: Barkan The Blues
• Instrument: Tenor Sax

Enjoy!

@SdartSax