i think that the stan getz kenny barron version is the best of this timeless classic, what do you guys think?

kenny barron's technique and facility with this song is amazing. to be honest i don't even think oscar could play this song as well as kenny...


jv'
There are 17 comments, leave a comment.
well, kenny is one of my all-time favs.
is that on "people time"?
head (music)
from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

in jazz music, the head is the main melody or theme of a piece[1]. it is usually played at the beginning and end of a performance before a series of improvised solos, and sometimes in-between them. the head of a piece can be any number of bars long, though the most common numbers are 12 and 16. it sets the key and chord progression of the piece. the combination of the melody, key, and chord progression then sets to stage for the improvised solos which are to follow.


[edit] overview
the head is often referred to as the "a" section of the piece, if section lettering is used, as is common in jazz standards for relative ease of performance. in a typical 16-bar blues chart, a common ordering of sections is:

rhythm vamp (4 or 8 bars);  
head (the "a" section, usually repeated once);  
bridge (the "b" section);  
"a" (head) for solos, repeated for each soloing musician;  
sometimes, but not always, the bridge is performed after the last solo;  
head (usually twice);  
if the chart does not have a defined outro, the last three measures of the head are performed three or four times.
i don't know this particular version.
but i discover an album of stan getz/kenny barron from a friend of mine which plays tenor saxophone. i like their sound.
we tried to play "voyage", a very beautiful theme.
in addition to what jazz+ is presenting, i have heard the following about "heads":

if you are playing the main melody section of a tune as such, with the harmony and melody more or less intact, then you are playing the "a section of the tune", and not a "head".

the difference between playing through the tune as written and playing a "head" is that the "head" keeps the chord progressions of the original tune (or reharmonizations of that progression), but not the original melody as written.

if you play "someday my prince will come" with melody and accompaniment intact, then you are not playing a head, you are playing the tune!

but if you keep the same chord progression or reharmonize it a bit, and create something new over it with a new melody or improvisation, then you are playing a head based on the tune "someday my prince will come".

i found this explanation by reading some books about jazz music that show examples of "heads" based on "jazz standards".
yeah is on people time, that particular version was what got me into playing more solo piano, kennys solo is so good, it sounds like he has 3 hands!
i should clarify a bit!

if you start out playing a tune and then start to improvise over the chord changes your second time through, you are not playing a "head" on your second time through; you are just improvising over the chord changes of the tune in question.  

but if you take a tune, remove it's melody, and create a new melody over it, or a new way to reharmonize chords over it, and then you rename it, and then you present it as a new composition, then you have created a "head".

if my new tune "summer blossoms this winter" sounds to you very much like bacharach's "a house is not a home" because of the underlying harmony only, and regardless of melody, then you can bet your bottom dollar that i created a head based on bacharach's "a house is not a home".

not so sure if i'm right about this definition of head, and hoping for input and correction from jazz+ and others.

thanks and pleasant sounds
yes, here is the link yo listen to it:

https://download.yousendit.com/1c4bf3371a34a164  



jv'
i'm sorry to say you are not right.  the first paragraph of jazz+'s wiki article states it very well.  although, i never thought of a head as being limited to the "a" section - to me and all colleagues i've known, the head is simply the main tune.  for example, the tune, i've got rhythm is aaba - all of which is the head
oh btw the piano solo starts right @ 3:27. and its out of this world too!

i didn't know he could play like this, he's a superb virtuoso!


jv'
thank you dr. whack!  i love when someone corrects me and points me back to the books.  gives me a chance to get it straight.

r-m
he is a pianist's pianist.
he has great control, like a classical player.
thanks dr.  got to wondering about the guys who point to their heads when they are ready to go back to the tune from the solos.  head means (to me) whole form (aaba) with at least some fidelity to the composed melody.  and, yes, it's typically, head, solos, head.

what, wiki wrong?  nah, couln't be!!
just for reference, here's where i learned about the other way to define head:
"in classical music, a melody based on the harmony of an existing tune is called a contrafact.  in jazz, new melodies based on the changes to existing standard tunes are called heads (footnote 1).  some heads closely follow the original changes.  this is true of miles davis''dig', which is based on "sweet georgia brown".  other heads bear only a remote resemblance to the original tune.  a good example is coltrane's 'exotica', based on 'i can't get started'.  heads are often derived from the changes of two different tunes.  for instance, 'ah-leu-cha'is an aaba tune with the a sections derived from 'honeysuckle rose'and the b section derived from 'i've got rhythm'.  there are even heads based on heads:  coltrane's 'fifth house'is based on tadd dameron's 'hot house', which is based on cole porter's 'what is this thing called love' ....."

footnote 1:  "  'head' can also mean the melody of any tune "  

this opinion about the definitions of "head" come from chapter twenty of "the jazz theory" book by a musician named mark levine.  

i'm happy to know of alternative definitions, helps me to understand more about the jazz lingo.

r_m.
i'm wondering if anyone else can confirm that i'm not crazy, and that there are at least a couple of ways to define "head" in the language of modern day jazz.
thanks!
r_m
you're not crazy, i have also read things where 'head' was used to describe a new melody written over changes to another tune.  

however, in terms of practical use, i have never heard it used in any other way by a working musician than to describe, as whacky said, the main tune.
a large, collective thank you, one and all, for your remarks, explanatories, etc. on the head question. i sense dedication and a willingness to help a "pilgrim". and i'm feeling "glad all  over", to be a part of ljp.
another way of looking at it, when you read a leadsheet from a real book, the entire music written there is the "head" (chords and melody). then when you improvise, you use only the same chords from the leadsheet and ignore the melody. being that the leadsheet contains all sections (aaba, etc.) then, the entire thing is usually the head. but --- there are tunes where only the chorus is played in jazz. so only that agreed upon section is the head (at least in common lingo).
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