Sometimes songs with very few changes can be the most complex. The improviser is provided with minimal structure and must use all available compositional techniques to build and maintain interest so as not to become too repetitive, leading to listener disinterest.

As with most of my improvisations in this style, I lean heavily on the pentatonic scale. Changes in cadence, phrasing, speed and use of space are all important facets in the development of a solo of this type. As time permits, I will try to add some annotations using the annotation feature of YouTube.

This is a difficult melody for me to get under my fingers, so I really only play the first phrase of it. There are two other phrases played by Coltrane that 1: work better on saxophone then on piano and 2: were probably improvised at the time of playing anyway which tells me this is the type of head that is subject to interpretation by the performer.

NOTE: I have transposed this down a 1/2 step from the original key.

I have a notation file of my performance available on my website in PDF format and a MIDI file of my playing as well as the backing track that I used in this video. You can find these and other items of interest at [ Ссылка ]

Technical notes: Roland FP-4 keyboard sound has been mixed with a touch of the Pianoteq III software piano to give added fullness. Band in a box backing track and virtual keyboard by PGMusic.

Again, thanks for listening and for your continued support. We all have a Lot2learn.

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