Transcribe Coleman Hawkins – All The Things You Are

Our third transcription project, following on from our ‘Memorising Chord Changes‘ course is Coleman Hawkins’ version of ‘All the Things You Are.’

Coleman Hawkins, (1904 – 1969) was the one of the pioneers of the tenor saxophone. Whilst he is associated with the Big Band era, (in particular Fletcher Henderson) he was also one of the early BeBop pioneers and had a huge influence on many of the Bebop players, including Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins.

Indeed Sonny Rollins wrote ‘Hawk’ a three page letter in 1962, acknowledging the huge influence he had on Rollins own music.

This course is NOT EASY! It will take at least eight weeks of careful, diligent work to complete, but I PROMISE it will be worth it – you will have some incredible vocabulary when you’ve completed it.

Lessons

Transcribing Coleman Hawkins – All The Things You Are, Lesson 1

Here is our first lesson on Transcribing Coleman Hawkins version of the Jerome Kern standard, ‘All The Things You Are.’

Transcribing Coleman Hawkins – All The Things You Are, Lesson 2

There’s a lot to get right in this lesson, but it’s quite a straightforward diatonic lick, which with the help of this video you should be able to get down in one practice session. ‘Gluing’ the clips together is a whole different ball game – (it took me a few takes in this video

Transcribing Coleman Hawkins – All The Things You Are, Lesson 3

This is a tough clip to get down, but remember what the chord sequence is here, you’re dealing with Eb | Em7 A7 | Dmaj7 on tenor / soprano and Bb | Bm7 E7 | Amaj7 (so a little hint, think of D major on Tenor / A major on Alto)

Transcribing Coleman Hawkins – All The Things You Are, Lesson 4

A number of you are finding Clip 3 difficult, so I’ve decided to give you a fantastic practice ‘Hack’ to help you this week.

Transcribing Coleman Hawkins – All The Things You Are, Lesson 5

This clip is based over a ii V I IV progression, (so on tenor it’s Gm C7 F Bb / alto Dm G7 C F) – an incredibly common chord progression which any improvisor needs to feel comfortable playing over.

Transcribing Coleman Hawkins – All The Things You Are, Lesson 6

We move onto Clip 5 and this one is a bit shorter and easier than the previous two clips, which were a little difficult!

Transcribing Coleman Hawkins – All The Things You Are, Lesson 7

Lesson 7 on our Transcribing Coleman Hawkins course guides you through clip six, highlighting how Hawk approaches yet another ii V I progression.

Transcribing Coleman Hawkins – All The Things You Are, Lesson 8

If you just get two clips ‘nailed’ on this course, Clip 1 and Clip 8 are going to save your bacon so many times.

Transcribing Coleman Hawkins – All The Things You Are, Lesson 9

The vi ii V I progression is a very common chord progression in all music, so it’s always a good idea to have plenty of vocabulary at hand when you’re improvising over this progression.

Transcribing Coleman Hawkins – All The Things You Are, Lesson 10

Lesson 10 features clip 9, which involves a chromatic descending minor 7th progression. This is Bebop language of a Shakespearean calibre, it’s brilliant and quoting it will always make you sound more intelligent than the next guy – understanding it and putting your own spin on it will make you a genius!

Transcribing Coleman Hawkins – All The Things You Are, Lesson 11

It’s FINALLY here the last lesson on our Coleman Hawkins Transcription project. It’s not been an easy or a short course, but if you’ve stuck to it you are REALLY going to reap the rewards in your playing.

Lecturer

Dan Forshaw

I'm passionate about creating inspirational experiences through music and other arts. A life changing experience under the influence of the music of John Coltrane lead to study in New York and London. My thesis was on the Theology of John Coltrane as expressed through A Love Supreme. I perform across Europe with various jazz groups and teach through my innovative website, www.cambridgesaxophone.com. I'm a total Apple Geek, Cricket, Rugby, F1 and Football fan and I'm learning to listen opinions before giving my own!

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