Paul Desmond - Black Orpheus solo transcription

Paul Desmond had a different conception on how to improvise, here displayed on the beautiful Black Orpheus, written by Luis Bonfa. Desmond had a few simple core principles he went by, as he wrote to his father in a letter. "The qualities in music which I consider most important are beauty, simplicity, originality, discrimination, and sincerity." -Paul Desmond

To Purchase Sharp Eleven Merchandise:

----------------------CONNECT-------------------

Instagram:

----------------------------------------------------

[SharpElevenMusic]

Not too hard to copy the notes, yet, nearly impossible to come up with it yourself. The ingenuity of having this minimalist approach but so much storytelling capacities is beyond words to me.

Sure, people may find it easy-listing and perhaps rather easy (compared to most jazz) to play the notes in the right order. But to come up with these beautiful lines, which could easily been mistakingly thought of as the melody, is unmatched imho.


Let me know what you think,

/Jorre

[MusicLiberates]

Desmond always had a beautiful sound, relaxed feel, and a very logical & intelligent development of his musical motives. It’s deceptively difficult to improvise as coherently as Paul did.

[JohnSmith-qywm]

I think the key thing with Desmond is that his solos are *melodic* and they develop. Its not just a bunch of patterns strung together (of course melodies contain patterns, too).

[mpcguy]

His super powers as an improvier involved a few less used techniques for developing a solo. Firstly, his abilities to create a variation on the theme, or varied repetion, are incredible. His ability to Seamlessly incorporate a quote from another tune, or solo, equally amazing. Finally making it all sound like it just came naturally from within, all coupled with the exquisite tone, were his hallmarks.

[sgsax]

Top of my list for favorite alto players. Great solo here.

[normalizedaudio]

He got all his scales in 3rds. Plays that a lot.

[bobpremecz]

Desmond explains it best: "Beauty" - because he recognized the transformative power of music to convey profound beauty, touching the hearts and souls of listeners to a wide audience, right? "Simplicity" - because music should communicate musical ideas without unnecessary complexity, not be a puzzle. "Originality" - because copying is for machines, not musicians. "Discrimination" - not in a bad way, folks; it means having a discerning ear for what makes a tune stand the test of time. And last but not least, "sincerity" - because nobody likes a faker, especially in the jazz world. To me, Desmond created impactful and timeless musical compositions.

[cyschmidtslc]

Hey Jorre and the group. What a wonderful tune and solo to Transcribe with you. On to the next one. ❤️🎷😎

[solup]

This is transcribed in e minor but black orpheus is written in f sharp minor. Is this a transpose from the original key to e minor then?

[SkwisgaarScampini]

“Simplicity”? Some of my favorite music isn’t simple at all