Transcription

I Can’t Give You Anything But Love

3rd take     mx  CO 29260-1

(master)

C&A:

We meet pianist Kenny Kersey for the first time at this session – an excellent pianist who provides some very pleasurable moments on the three tunes recorded on this date.  I Can’t Give You Anything But Love would be the only one to be released by Columbia.  The other two tunes would be redone the following month.  We will hear a lot more from Kenny again five months later at Minton’s.

Charlie Christian gets the first 16 bars (A/B sections) on all three takes of this A/B/C/D tune.
In order recorded:

mx CO 29260-3     I CAN’T GIVE YOU ANYTHING BUT LOVE

Excellent solo that Charles begins two full beats before the start of the chorus.  The phrase spanning mm 2-3 is a bit unusual.

There’s about four bars of triplets on the first four bars.  When he gets to the last four bars it’s all sixteenths with a great slide at the midpoint transition.  Those last four bars begin with three 3-note Bb13/9/b7 clusters;  the slide conveys CC to the Eb7 measures.

[ mx CO 29260-x     breakdown – no solo ]

mx CO 29260-2     I CAN’T GIVE YOU ANYTHING BUT LOVE

Love this solo.  It is so beautifully melodic.  One can hear the meaning of the words in the song, even better stated than the actual words.  Charles enhances the melody, surpassing what the lyricist herself did (personal opinion, obviously).  The second four bars get blues phrasing, the third four bars get blues notes.

As in the first take the last four bars are sixteenths;  the first six notes are the same but then he is goes on a divergent course – same traversing slide at the juncture, but on a different string – and closing with different phrases but with a similar flavor as the first take.

mx CO 29260-1     I CAN’T GIVE YOU ANYTHING BUT LOVE

It’s usually difficult to pick a best CC solo among different takes.  This last take, the released master, is everyone’s favorite.  Not that there’s anything amiss in the other two takes (well, maybe four final bars of double-timing was a bit much) but, simply, this one is perfect.  Splendidly paced, sublimely melodic;  on the last four bars of this solo, mm 13-14 are triplets, mm 15-16 sixteenths – typical CC phrases, ideally situated.  Seems like Charles sensed that the first two choruses had gone better than on the other takes and that this would be the sanctioned one.  It was released as I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby.