[pc1234]

There are some improvised solos I've heard that that I've wound up humming repeatedly in my car, at work, or wherever without even realizing I'm doing it. I guess that, to me, these are solos that are exceptionally "melodic" or tell a story - the kind you end up memorizing without really trying or consciously wanting to. Here are a very small few (mixing in the old and more recent to make it interesting):

"Body and Soul" by Coleman Hawkins
"One for Daddy-O" and "Work Song" by Cannonball Adderley (yes, I know Nat wrote both )
"The Nearness of You" by Branford Marsalis

What are some of yours?

 

[RootyTootoot]

Rollins: Slow Boat to China and/or Newk's Fadeaway. Once I start humming one or the other it seems to go on all day.. Then I'll start whistling.. Mrs T is actually a very tolerant woman. [edit: Davis and Coltrane on "Kind of Blue" are fairly memorable too, I spose..:;]

 

[sycc]

I like Lenny Picketts solo on Squib cakes. I like Stan Getz and Gerry mulligan solos on Gerry Mulligan's A Ballad. Howard Johnson's Bari Solo on O raggedy man from the Right Now Howard Johnson CD. The bari solo from Maynard's Macarthur park and the tenor solo in chameleon.

 

[saxguy007]

Several solos on Mulligan's Walk on the Water big band album.

This thread brings back memories of a recent open jazz jam session I attended at a restaurant. So many young guys would get their turn and just try to cram in as many notes as they could per unit time, but they really weren't SAYING anything.

I say, play fewer notes, give the audience's brains a chance to process the notes, and then only here and there unleash a flurry for effect if you feel compelled to johnson-swing your chops to establish that you have them.

THESE are the solos that get remembered.

 

[DTExpress]

Joe Henderson- Mode For Joe

 

[Agent27]

Pretty much any Miles solo from Kind of Blue. I was in a big band where we were all hanging around listening to this album and everybody was able to sing along to Miles' solos note for note. They're not complicated but they're all memorable.

 

[ramZsax]

Lee Morgan's solo Moanin, actually Benny Golson's too

 

[pc1234]

Several solos on Mulligan's Walk on the Water big band album.

This thread brings back memories of a recent open jazz jam session I attended at a restaurant. So many young guys would get their turn and just try to cram in as many notes as they could per unit time, but they really weren't SAYING anything.

I say, play fewer notes, give the audience's brains a chance to process the notes, and then only here and there unleash a flurry for effect if you feel compelled to johnson-swing your chops to establish that you have them.

THESE are the solos that get remembered.

I think you're absolutely right about that - it goes along with what some of the others have said about Kind of Blue. Now that I think of it, I've had every solo in "Flamenco Sketches" engrained in my head so long I didn't even think of it in my initial post! :shock: I really love how all the players used space on that album -- guess there's a reason why it's the best selling jazz record of all time...

 

[hakukani]

I love the interaction between Herbie and Miles on the live versions from 1964 of 'Stella by Starlight' and 'My Funny Valentine'.

I also love all of the solos from 'Blue Trane'.

I also love 'Just Friends' from the Parker with .


Man, there's just too many that stick in my head.

 

[saxfreak]

One solo that has lived with me since the late 1960's is Oliver Nelson's tenor solo on "Stolen Moments" from the "Blues and the Abstract Truth" album.

Another solo of a completely different nature is Coltrane's sop sax on the original version of "My Favorite Things".

 

[jacobeid]

There's one lick that has stuck with me since I've started listening to jazz. In basie's recording of corner pocket, during the trumpet solo he plays what I assume is a written part (since it's always played) at 2:00 until 2:11. I'm not sure why, but that lick is always in my head.

Whenever somebody mentions a song I start singing it. I have way too many to list. What about Clifford Brown on Ceora? Joe Henderson on Our Thing. Dexter on Guess I'll hang my tears out to dry.

 

[pc1234]

I love the interaction between Herbie and Miles on the live versions from 1964 of 'Stella by Starlight' and 'My Funny Valentine'.

I agree with that -- and George Coleman's solo on that version of 'My Funny Valentine' has always been one of my favorites as well. I can't explain it, but it's like you can almost hear the audience at that concert holding its breath so they won't miss anything...

 

[SuperTourist]

Favorite improvised solos

Cannonball Adderley - Now I Have Everything on his Fiddler on the Roof Album
Eric Dolphy - Round Midnight - on a George Russell Sextet album
Michael Brecker - Dry Cleaner from DesMoines - on a Joni Mitchell Album
Coltrane - Giant Steps
Miles Davis - Miles Runs the Voodoo Down - on Bitches Brew
Charlie Parker -- K C Blues

I think these solos are constantly running around in my subconscious whether or not I'm actually thinking of them at any particular time.

 

[Blueskiestenor]

[edit: Davis and Coltrane on "Kind of Blue" are fairly memorable too, I spose..:;]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I love Miles's solo on that, but the way Coltrane entered kinda got me. I often find myself humming the Coltrane intro on that one. :space0: :line2: :line3: :space3: ..... (just add the flats).

[edit]Also, as mentioned, Blue Trane had a great Coltrane solo.

 

[Adderleysfasthands]

kenny garretts solo on "waynes thang" from his trilogy album, especially when the beat drops and suddenly turns into swing.

some licks from cannonballs solo from so what

i find myself whistling furiously to lee morgans solo on moaning and
charlies on "bird gets the worm"

many others that are usually stuck in my head while i'm walking to school.

and at night time i find myself usually pretending that i'm pressing the buttons on the saxophone as well heh heh

 

[Adderleysfasthands]

oh and sorry of course all the solos from charles mingus's "moanin"

 

[Tryptykon]

There's one lick that has stuck with me since I've started listening to jazz. In basie's recording of corner pocket, during the trumpet solo he plays what I assume is a written part (since it's always played) at 2:00 until 2:11. I'm not sure why, but that lick is always in my head.

Whenever somebody mentions a song I start singing it. I have way too many to list. What about Clifford Brown on Ceora? Joe Henderson on Our Thing. Dexter on Guess I'll hang my tears out to dry.

I think Lee Morgan played Ceora .

a Brownian slip, .. I know ..

 

[LiAm84]

Eddie Lockjaw Davis's solo on Splanky with Count Basie!!!

 

[BlueNote]

McCoy Tyner's solo on "Wise One" (Crescent). I have yet to hear a piano solo with so few notes and such beautiful phrasing.

Of course everything off Kind of Blue.

 

[roger]

John Helliwell's solo on Joan Armatradings " Love and Affection"