Work Song

Work Song is a bluesy jazz standard written by Nat Adderly, brother to the famous Cannonball Adderly and longtime member of the Cannonball Adderly Quintet.  I love their work for how they fuse brainy, sophisticated bebop jazz with soulful blues.  Here's a link to the quintet playing this song (in the key of F).  Notice that the musicians play the tune of the song once through, then alternate solos over the same chord changes, then come back to the tune at the end to finish the song.  This is exactly what "lead sheet" playing is, where the tune of the song is a jumping off point for improvisation. And check out the great piano solo at 2:37, where you can see Joe Zawinul improvise a solo with his right hand and accompany himself with his left hand.  


Work Song videos:

Two Hands (book 1-2A):
Horse-Donkey-Horse-Cow (A section)
A section + Pig-Donkey
Pig-Donkey-Chicken-end (B section)
A and B section (whole thing)

One Hand (book 2A-2B):
Horse-Donkey-Horse-Cow (A section)
A section + Pig-Donkey
Pig-Donkey-Chicken-end (B section)
A and B section (whole thing)

One Hand with ornaments (book 3A and up):
whole thing
slow speed turn in Pig section
slow speed turn in end section
A section + Pig-Donkey
whole thing + left hand