Analyzing Lines-Donald Byrd on Nica’s Dream
Analyzing Lines – Donald Byrd on Nica’s Dream
Analyzing Nica’s Dream. In 2012, I started a series on Analyzing Lines. We took a look at a few lines of some of the giants of jazz and broke them down to see why and how they worked. If we can uncover those questions we can learn to build our own lines. Unfortunately, the jazz community lost a great jazz trumpeter on February 4th in 2013, Donald Byrd.
I remember the first time I heard him play was on Nica’s Dream on The Jazz Messengers album by Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers (Columbia, 1956). There is a YouTube link at the bottom if you haven’t checked it out.
This is a tribute analysis from one of my favorite lines in his solo on Nica’s Dream. Like mentioned in some of the previous Analyzing Lines series-this is a breakdown of what I see him playing and how we can relate and build from it. I’m not inferring in any way that this is how Mr. Byrd played or thought about improvisation.
Below is the line that occurs in bars 42-45 on his solo in Nica’s Dream:
For those that have been following my posts, you know how much I dig targeting concepts. So let’s take a look at how Mr. Byrd targets specific notes in the line above. Bar 42 looks like he is thinking in the key of Db. You will then notice that he chromatically targets the “F” in bar 43:
Then he uses a diminished targeting concept to target the “F” in bar 44 on the Bb7(b9):
Finally, notice a similar targeting concept is used to target the Bb in that same bar:
I love the way this particular line flows. It has a great combination of targeting concepts, key centered playing and soul. If you’ve never checked out Donal Byrd’s playing, I would highly recommend it. If you would like to know more about how to construct your own lines with different targeting principles (like those mentioned above), I would suggest you check out Targeting: Improvisation With Purpose which you can find at my Digital Store available as a digital download or for only $15/month get access to everything (every course, book, PDF, album, etc).
I enjoyed listening to Nica’s Dream but I could not catch measures 42-45 during his solo. I tried though! Thank you for providing the Utube of this song. It was delightful to listen to!!
Hey Michele,
You have to count the measures out, but be sure to NOT count the break when his solo begins (start when the rhythm section joins him). I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Jason