Jeff Berlin – Bass

I post this partial chart with an apology. I got to the 79th bar and couldn’t get past a bar of some weird polyrhythm that I just couldn’t find. It feels like 5 against four but, if it is, it doesn’t resolve properly and I cannot find where it lands so that I can work backwards or pick up the next phrase. I post it here so that you can enjoy the melody and, if you are of a mind, try to find a solution.

Jeff Berlin has developed a soloing technique that is increasingly fluid but his slides and bends create difficulties in transcribing some of his work accurately. When he does these descending phrases using weird phrases, I struggle to pin it down. I guess things like this are so idiosyncratic that they are not supposed to written down. That’s why I never transcribe any Percy Jones – you just cannot get his style onto paper.

This is the tune ‘Heart Of A Child’ from the 2002 Jeff Berlin album, ‘In Harmony’s Way’. The melody is easy enough to read but, past that, it gets very tricky.