Transcribe Sonny Rollins – Surrey with the Fringe

The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” is a show tune from the 1943 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma!. It was recorded by Sonny Rollins on his 1957 album, ‘Newk’s Time’ which was released in 1959.

Sonny’s version features just him on tenor and ‘Philly’ Joe Jones on Drums.  It’s a great way of appreciating the genius of Sonny’s rhythmic improvisation as well as getting to know a very popular standard.

I’ve broken this down into 16 clips that I intend to cover in 8 lessons, so let’s get started!

Lessons

Transcribe Surrey with the Fringe – Lesson 6

Lesson six of Surrey with the Fringe on Top is clips 11 & 12.  In this lesson i’m demonstrating how I want you to go about practicing this, splitting each clip so you can get it and then pulling them all together.

Transcribe Surrey with the Fringe – Lesson 7

Today we’ve got something a little different. This clip 13 is HARD and it had me stumped for days, so I’ve decided to transcribe it onto paper for you so you can work through it.

Transcribe Surrey with the Fringe – Lesson 8

In this lesson we glue clips 14, 15 & 16 together so form the final part of our solo.  As I’ve said in the video, don’t attempt this until you’ve got clip 13 from lesson 7 done!

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!