Waltz for who? Zweetie??

 I was all set to write about Waltz for Debby as recorded by The Bill Evans Trio at the Village Vanguard.   As lovely a song as has ever been recorded. I have mentioned Bill Evans a couple of times already and have certainly focused a lot on bassists, so the Trio’s masterful Scott LeFaro would have given me no shortage of material.  He was massively influential, played in a very unique manner, and died a couple weeks after this seminal performance was recorded. 

I was thinking about perhaps comparing the versions (I have three on my iPod) and I could have even talked a bit about the vocal version recorded by Johnny Hartman, about a father singing about his little girl growing up and how her toys, including her ‘silly old bear’ will miss her once she grows older, as will he - a song which has all the more impact now that I have a little girl of my own.

Well, as I sat down and spun the wheel to get to Waltz For Debbie I went a little too far and ended up on Waltz For Zweetie instead and decided to stay.

Zweetie? Sure.  Sounds like an interesting woman, doesn’t she?  You must admit, the name Debbie sounds a bit dull but the same could not be same for Zweetie!

The song is by tenor sax man Joe Henderson and on the 'Tetragon' album recorded in 1967-68.  It’s a solid piece of music which is what us fans of Joe have come to expect.

The piano intro is reminiscent of McCoy Tyner (who worked with John Coltrane on his later period - who can forget those power chords on My Favorite Things?) but it is Kenny Barron doing his best impression.  There is an echo of Waltz For Debbie in that opening as well.  I need to mention the bass of course, in this case it’s Ron Carter, another master of four strings (I have already introduced you to some great bassists, haven’t I? With more to come, my friends!) who is bouncing around in my right ear at this moment along with the drums of Louis Hayes.  On the left is Kenny Barron and Joe blows his smooth tenor dead centre.  Gorgeous tone.  Gorgeous tune.  Well worth a listen, my friends! I haven’t sat and listened to this one, really listened to it with my full attention, since the title track is such a winner that it pulls me towards it.

I am sure this will not be the last time we take a look at Joe Henderson and I hope you will not mind this trip into a somewhat obscure jazz track instead of looking at an all time classic.  There are many riches to be found if you stray.  Isn’t there some poem about the road less traveled something something something?  We will likely look at jazz and poetry at some point (Mingus’ The Clown comes to mind...), but not now.

Who was Zweetie?

What would a woman named Zweetie look like?

Great hair I bet.  Gorgeous too.  And cool sunglasses. And attitude to spare. A real firecracker!