Janek Gwizdala – Bass

So, you can play ‘Donna Lee’ – you and every other electric player in the known universe! Playing BeBop heads is a great way to develop your ear and your phrasing chops but there are a million heads out there and knowing the first three in the Charlie Parker Omnibook is denying yourself a whole range of possibilities. There are literally thousands of 12/24/32 bar BeBop heads that you can spend a few minutes with learning and this one is a perfect way to get something else under your fingers other than all the Parker hits. It is a tune called ‘Algorithm’ from the 2011 Kazumi Watanabe album, ‘Tricoroll’ on which Gwiz doubles the guitar part, a standard BeBop vehicle for showcasing the bass player’s technique. I have only put the head in as the ‘changes’ over which Kazumi blows are just an endless string of Bb7. There are a few solo bass ‘fours’ later in the tune but I just wanted to get around the head on this one so didn’t get to them. One bar of triplets that you will need to spend some time with so that you can get around it and play that high G, otherwise the only challenge is the tempo.