Alegre Correa – composer

I have been a fan of this guy since I came across his 1997 CD ‘Terra Magica’ in a secondhand record store in Guildford, Surrey (Ben’s Collector’s Records). His writing and arranging is exceptional and Correa is one of those guys who doesn’t just play music, he is music (Hermeto Pascoal is another, as is Jacob Collier).

This chart is a twelve-bar melody that you can play on the bass as a etude. It’s straight sixteenth notes so the only variable that will impact upon your ability to read it is the tempo. The tune is played quite fast but it still sounds great at slower speeds and is a great test of your note recognition skills. Don’t be afraid of the ledger lines. If you stick with it, they will become as familiar as the staff itself. Practice, practice, practice – that is all it takes. The video is a guy called Eduardo Machado playing it with his trio. Great tone – I don’t know anything about this guy and all the stuff on-line is in Portuguese so I can’t read it!