Blues Sonata

by Charlie Byrd

Blues Sonata cover art
  • Type: Album
  • Released: 1962
  • Label: Riverside
  • Country: United States
  • Length: 40:44
  • Community rating: 3.64/5 from 3 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Recorded around the same time he was helping ignite the Bossa Nova craze, 'Blues Sonata' finds Charlie Byrd applying his classical nylon-string technique to a highly ambitious, three-part jazz suite. The album bridges cool jazz restraint with Third Stream structural ambition, utilizing formal classical movements to explore traditional blues frameworks. It is a stunning showcase of his unique fingering approach to modern jazz repertoire.

Genres

Descriptors: complex, instrumental, acoustic, bluesy, melodic, virtuosic, guitars

Tracklist

  1. Polonaise Pour Pietro (7:01)
  2. Ballad in B Minor (5:03)
  3. Scherzo for an Old Shoe (9:09)
  4. Alexander's Ragtime Band (5:26)
  5. Jordu (4:38)
  6. That Old Devil Called Love (4:51)
  7. Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart (4:33)

Credits

  • Charlie Byrd - primary artist, guitar [unamplified on 1 to 3]
  • Keter Betts - bass
  • Buddy Deppenschmidt - drums
  • Barry Harris - piano
  • Irving Berlin - written-by
  • Duke Jordan - written-by
  • Allan Roberts - written-by
  • Doris Fisher - written-by

More from Charlie Byrd: full discography