Harlem Nocturne Septet

[rrayner]

Hi Sherry & David,

Thanks as always for the compliments. I have had a lot of fun over the early years and now again with this song.

Originally Posted by dj

Very interesting to see your use of the shorthand slash chords and repeat symbols we've talked about elsewhere. We don't, however, have a piano track here, just the slash chord symbols, so is there some "body" missing that the piano would have added?David

There is something "missing" alright, David. I did not graduate from Berklee, but left after 2-1/2 years to join the USAF Band. Perhaps in that final 1-1/2 years I missed, there would have been some instruction on how to write piano parts, but all I was given during my time there was, "Give the piano player a road map with the chord symbols and let him wing it!" Berklee probably handles that better now. Throughout the Forum, you will find pieces where I have written rudimentary piano parts, but not many. Where you do find some, they are written more like another horn part. If I could only find time to take some piano lessons, it might get better, but I am starting to feel the pressure of time, and I want so badly to write.

Another reason for the absence of an actual written piano part is that I believe that the horn riffs I used in this arrangement were essentially what he used to play behind me in my quartet.

Ralph