DB Hall of Fame

SOLO  FLIGHT

THE  CHARLIE  CHRISTIAN  LEGACY

DB Hall of Fame


 

 

I CAN’T GIVE YOU ANYTHING
BUT LOVE
 
mx  CO 29260-2
 
DECEMBER  19,  1940     Thursday Columbia Studios,  NYC
 

 
  32  BARS    (ABCD) Key of   A Quarter Note =   108 Time:   3:37
 
 
  3  CHORUSES:
 
    32  bars  –  muted trumpet (Melody) (over tenor sax & clarinet obbl)
 
    16  bars  –  tenor sax [A/B]
    16  bars  –  clarinet [C/D]
 
  16  bars  –  CC [A/B]
      8  bars  –  piano [C]
      8  bars  –  muted trumpet (Melody) (over tenor sax & clarinet obbl)
 
 

 
Personnel:
 
  Benny Goodman and his Sextet
  CHARLIE CHRISTIAN Guitar
  GEORGIE AULD tenor sax
  BENNY GOODMAN clarinet
  COOTIE WILLIAMS trumpet
  KEN KERSEY piano
  ARTIE BERNSTEIN bass
  HARRY JAEGER drums
 
 

Composed by: Jimmy McHugh  (lyrics by Dorothy Fields)
 
©   VALDÉS   2/25/18


 

Transcription

I Can’t Give You Anything But Love

2nd take     mx  CO 29260-2

 



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.



 
Issued Recordings:
 
  [ LP ] Jazz Archives JA-6 (side 2, track 2)
 
  [ CD ] Archives of Jazz 380106 2 (track 10)
    Archives of Jazz 389106 2 (track 10)
    Columbia/Legacy AC4K 65564 (disc 3, track 14)
    Columbia/Legacy C4K 65564 (disc 3, track 14)
    Masters of Jazz MJCD 68 (track 2)
    Sony/Legacy 93035 (disc 3, track 14)
 

 



Home ] Up ]

 

 


This Web site is designed and managed by

LEOVALDES

soloflight.cc

 

Copyright © LeoValdes 1998

All text and images in this site protected by copyright laws.
No text or images (including transcriptions) may be copied, reused, or altered without written permission from the owner of this site.