Mulgrew Miller, Promethean, Tony Williams Trio, Young at Heart, Columbia (1996) CK 69107

promethean.pdf

A contrafact over “The Days of Wine and Roses” this presented me perhaps the greatest challenge of all the transcriptions presented here in attempting to actually play. From a theoretical standpoint this corresponds quite closely to many of the lessons one might learn about composing and performing jazz music. The rhythm is extremely carefully “measured” (eight notes abound) and phrasing could not have been written any better.

Mulgrew miller both in writing the tune and in improvising over it super-imposes triads and fourth structures (often inverted) above underlying harmony with a brilliant sense of tension and resolution. Unique passages of intervalic combinations incorporating jagged steps and leaps seem to contribute largely to the modern sound. Thematic development includes not only melodic, but seeming development of rhythmic “cells” or groups of notes that move around.

One important lesson I learned form this was that often the continuation of an idea or development of a theme with a sense of resolution seems less dependent on the specific notes contained within, but more the overall contour. A harmonic analysis of the transcription reveals numerous notes that from a pedagogical stand point don’t correspond to the harmony.

Fingerings are included in difficult passages and as I mentioned this was very difficult to play and took great effort to get up to the quite blistering speed of the recording. My hope is that in doing so I improved my ability to play at these speeds through increased control over rhythm and phrasing. I have also incorporated some of melodic and harmonic ideas into my own improvising and writing.