Baritone Saxophone solo: Gerry Mulligan

It is always good to transcribe and to learn solos by other instrumentalists than bass players and the following represents Bilbo’s first attempt to transcribe a full saxophone solo. Transcribing modern saxophonists can be fairly problematic for a bass player as players like Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano and Chris Potter can cram so much in one bar that it becomes all but impossible for a bass player to actual play any of it (unless you are a nine year old Japanese kid on YouTube). Bilbo thought it made sense to start with a solo that would be playable on a bass so took this particular performance of Gerry Mulligan’s beautiful composition ‘Song For Strayhorn’ from the Mulligan Big Band album ‘Walk On The Water’. The transcription features the whole of Mulligan’s performance including the tunes melody and solo. It is almost entirely playable on a four string bass (there is on passage that has to drop an octave to stay ‘en piste’). A lovely little solo and perfectly playable by most bass players who are inclined to spend the time learning it.