Rich Perry on "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise"

About a month ago I posted a few thoughts about Rich Perry's playing along with a transcription of his solo over "Wee." I thought it was about time for more Perry, so here's his solo from the opening track of Oatts & Perry (2005), a contemporary two-saxophone pairing that's pretty much up there with any other classic two-horn pairings, in my opinion. This might have been the particular track I heard the first time somebody played Rich Perry for me, back in high school at Manhattan School of Music Pre-college (thanks, Joe Peri!) Most of the classic Perry-isms are present in this solo: diverse attacks and articulations (slur-tongue and staccato are of particular interest), inward bending lines that weave around target notes in surprising ways, bending seamlessly from a held note down to another, and Rich's inimitable way of both playing completely in agreement with the pulse yet somehow floating above it, too. The only thing that's missing is the "Perry wail," which I've been gradually documenting while listening to his recordings. I might make a "the Lick"-type YouTube compilation at some point, but that's for another post. 

Here's the solo:




* * *

I should take a moment to add that this is another installment of "Transcription Tuesday," a recent idea that Ottawa-based trumpeter Craig Pedersen invited me to join on Twitter a few weeks back. Jamie Breiwick, Dave Fink, and Nate Weiss have also been contributing, so be sure to check them out for great music and some diverse transcriptions of arrangements and original compositions, in addition to solos. If you'd like to join in too, feel free: all these transcriptions are tagged on twitter with #ttmusic, so partake and be merry—next week or anytime.

Comments

Post a Comment