Sweet Georgia Brown
In his Hague workshops Barry used Sweet Georgia Brown for a scale exercise through the tune and to show singers a Monk theme on it. In an interview he held up an old record of it as proof of how brilliant the earlier players were.
- moments in class
- 3
- recordings
- 3
- Barry plays it
- 0
What he teaches through it
In a Hague workshop clip Barry counts the class into a scale exercise on the tune and has them do it again, all the way through. Vera Marijt’s transcriptions from Barry’s workshop videos include a scale outline of the tune, over its chain of dominants (F7 to B♭7 to E♭7) arriving in A♭.
Scale exercise on Sweet Georgia Brown0:00Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶227Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶228Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶229Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶231
In a clip titled ‘Monk Theme on Sweet Georgia Brown’ he tells the singers about a thing Monk used to do, plays it, and counts them in to try it. Marijt’s transcriptions include a ‘Monk’s theme on Sweet Georgia Brown’ over the opening F7 and B♭7 bars.
A Monk theme on Sweet Georgia Brown0:00Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶234Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶235
Asked how the drummers he played with feathered the bass drum, Barry points to a record he had just found of Sweet Georgia Brown: no bass player, the drummer playing four with his foot, Mel Powell striding at the piano. Hear it, he says, and you see how brilliant the music was and that his generation learned from the right people.
In his own words
They’re playing Sweet Georgia Brown. My brother, you had to hear that record. Then you’d see that our music was really brilliant. We had a lot to learn.
Let me tell the singers, Monk used to do a thing...
In class
Every moment he works on it, with the ideas of the method it shows.
Scale exercise on Sweet Georgia Brown
- 0:00
Hague workshop: counts the class through a scale exercise on the tune, all the way.
A Monk theme on Sweet Georgia Brown
- 0:00
Hague workshop: shows the singers a Monk theme on the tune’s changes and counts them in.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle
- 7:57
Radio interview: a Sweet Georgia Brown record with a drummer keeping four on the bass drum, no bass.
In the method
The ideas of the method these moments show, and how many moments each.