Here’s a brief look at another great Charlie Parker tune based on the Blues. I learned this out of the Omni Book when I was young and it turns out that a lot of the notes on the melody are incorrect in the Omni Book transcription. The Omni Book is a fantastic resource and I always recommend all my students have a copy but digging in more deeply with the original recording will help flush out any discrepancies between the written material and what Bird actually played, which is most often much better.
I compared the two versions of Visa that I could find to come up with a possible lead sheet. The septet version from 1950 is more well known and so a lot of the melody in my chart comes from what Bird plays on that recording.
A few of the melody notes I took from the 1949 St. Nick’s bootleg recording. Bird plays some parts from the Trumpet melody which he may have considered the actual single note melody. After working on singing the melody and memorizing it I with the different possible note choices, I came up with what I thought was a strongest single note line for the primary melody to the tune. I included the alterative melodies in the lower octave of the chart for reference (note that these lower notes are not always the harmony notes from the septet version).
Interestingly, the Omni Book version has at least 4 mistakes that are not in either recorded versions. The “and” of 4 in Bar 5 for instance is always the 13th of the chord (A natural on F7)in both versions but the Omni Book puts it as a 5th (C natural on F7). Bar 8 should be the Major 3rd on the “and” of 3 (C# on A7) but the Omni Book puts it as a sharp 9 (C on A7). In bar 10 the “and” of 4 should be a concert G not a concert Gb.
I included the slowed down mp3s of the melody below so you can hear easily for yourself. The chord chart was my best attempt to put a strong and logical chord progression to the melody. There are many ways this could go so I chose one that I liked the sound of. I suggested a C pedal for the first pass as a possible arrangement. I also really like playing this as a straight 8th tune (Steve Cardenas, Panoramic).
~ Enjoy!
I’ve been singing the melody over and over and imagining the fingerings and this specific chord progression in 12 keys. I like doing this before actually playing it through the keys on my horn. By doing this I’ve found these Bird tunes to be endlessly beneficial and inspiring.
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