Transcription III - Ben Van Gelder "Countdown"

This performance comes from a bootleg recording made, I think, by a friend of a friend of mine and was circulated among our musical community pretty broadly. Van Gelder’s solo on “Countdown” is remarkable for many reasons, from the heavy handed back-phrasing which opens the solo to the dizzying and long eighth-note lines that end it. Upon closer inspection it seems like Van Gelder was probably working out some rather specific musical ideas at this time—certain contours and melodies make repeated appearances. Harmonically, he seems to favour hexatonic colours rather than the changes verbatim. Without an accompanying chordal instrument, however, this particular emphasis is less apparent. The full transcription can be found here and you can watch me perform the last minute of it here.