Well you needn't
Well You Needn't is one of Thelonious Monk's most popular compositions from 1944. Within a few years of being released in 1947, it has become the jazz standard .
Structure of the piece
The composition "is prototypical Monk" and kept in the song form AABA. The melody of the A section "develops from a single figure (bars 1 and 2): the broken F major chord (cf, -acaf) is followed by two striking bebop intervals, seventh and fourth ". This “bird call” with call and response is then varied in Ges in a further question-and-answer round. The B part is a sequencing of the theme and a chromatic shift of the line and the chords - first in three-stroke figures, then condensed into a long eighth note chain.
Harmoniously , the piece only consists of seventh chords that are shifted whole-tone and chromatically. While the A part only oscillates between F major and G major, the chords in the B part are in a half-measure alternation: G-As-ABHBA-As-G. The final chord of the B-part (C7) indicates, if a definition is possible, the starting key of F major.
Impact history
Monk first played the piece at the end of 1947 in a trio (for Blue Note Records ) ( Genius of Modern Music ); However, it only became a “parade number” in its performances in the 1960s. Miles Davis recorded the composition in 1953; his best-known interpretation was created in 1956 in a quintet with John Coltrane , Red Garland , Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones for Prestige Records . Now also took Randy Weston and Jimmy Smith (both 1956), Art Taylor (1957), Nat Adderley (1958), Kenny Burrell (1959), Cannonball Adderley , Johnny Griffin / Eddie Lockjaw Davis (1961), Chet Baker (1962) and Klaus Doldinger (1963) on the piece. It was created by Franco Ambrosetti and Horst Mühlbradt in the big band -Context and Poncho Sanchez in the salsa music streamed, but also as a fusion number (of the Lounge Lizards and later in the hardcore punk of Cruel Frederick ) and as string quartet (the Kronos Quartet set up). Avant-gardists such as Steve Lacy , Don Pullen or the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble also worked regularly with the composition.
Versions with text
Texts for the instrumental title were written much later; the most famous of Mike Ferro sang Carmen McRae and Judy Niemack . Even Jamie Cullum interpreted the song (on Pointless Nostalgic ).
literature
- Hans-Jürgen Schaal (Ed.): Jazz standards. The encyclopedia. 3rd, revised edition. Bärenreiter, Kassel u. a. 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1414-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Schaal Jazz-Standards p. 525f.
- ↑ for Chet Baker and the NDR Bigband