Product Description

Performed entirely with the left hand (with bass and drum accompaniment), Newborn begins with a soulful and free introduction that leads into a tuneful blues melody that is harmonized with two voices. The tempo is slow and bluesy at q.n. = 88  The second chorus of the head adds four-note open voiced chords that answer the melody, creating a full two-handed sounding texture. The first solo chorus is relaxed and soulful, with sparse chords answering blues-based melodic lines that seem to harken back to Newborn’s days of growing up in Memphis, just a few short miles from the Mississippi Delta.  The second solo chorus launches into quadruple-time bebop phrases of increasing gravitas, while remaining playful with interspersions of laid back blues-based phrases.  The third and final solo chorus serves as a “shout chorus,” with a higher-ranged riff theme that is answered by four-part closed chord voicings, with interjected exciting blues-based melodies played in octaves.  After the return to the head a coda emerges in bar 11, as Newborn works the opening thematic motif through four different keys and a blues-filled break.  This transcription will aid in developing strength and independence in the left hand and provide the player with some of the most soulful blues material ever recorded.

This digital download includes the tutorial & sheet music.

Composed & Recorded by Phineas Newborn Jr.
Released June 18, 1959 on Piano Portraits by Phineas Newborn Jr.
Roulette Birdland SR 52031.
(6 pages – single staved)

Take a look at the sample.