“Scratch” Thad Jones Solo

“There are no bad notes, just bad organization.”

Thad Jones, a soloist praised by Charles Mingus as being “Bartok with Valves,” is a master at voice leading ideas that connect with the band and the listener. Mark Stryker in his book Jazz From Detroit heralded Jones’ solo on “Scratch” as one of his best recorded solos. On Detroit- New York Junction, Thad Jones is joined by pianist Tommy Flanagan, drummer Shadow Wilson, bassist Oscar Pettiford, guitarist Kenny Burrell and saxophonist Billy Mitchell. Beyond his effortless virtuosity, it was particularly striking how little he repeats himself, despite that fact that there are themes that trail his solo, such as call and response, sequences and typical bebop quotes.

Thad Jones frames his vocabulary, particularly his virtuosic double-time lines, with call and response lines. All of the opening A sections of each chorus contain call and response lines, and they grow denser and denser for each solo: In the A of the first chorus of the solo, measure 36 is the call and measure 37 is the response. The whole A section of the second chorus, starting measure 70, is a section of call and response. And, in the A section of third chorus, and the call and response figure occurs four different times in four different transpositions. It is also notable that for every time he repeats the call and response there is a new element added, such as an ornament, passing tone or a chromatic enclosure. He is a master at building density over time, and the heavy implementation of call and response in his solo allows his fiery double-time lines to really stand out in the overall structure of the solo. Also, his phrasing is ever so slightly behind the beat in these section, but he articulates the time so well within the ensemble, and this is especially felt in his quarter notes (particularly in the third example).