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Early 20th Century
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Riff-Based Compositions and Head Arrangements


A riff In pop and jazz compositions, a short ostinato, two to four bars long. A riff is a prominent feature of jazz music. is a short, melodic and rhythmic gesture, sometimes sounding like a melodic outburst. Basie built entire pieces around riffs, which allowed for a lighter, bouncier sound than other bands. Such pieces also lent themselves readily to a collaborative process in which the entire band would create the piece's arrangement during practice. After working out their various parts together, players would commit them to memory. Basie's band was renowned for creating such head arrangements. Take, for example, his 1938 recording of “Doggin' Around” . After an eight-bar piano solo introduction, a repeating reed-section riff propels a brisk, swinging thirty-two–bar chorus answered by brass outbursts in typical call-and-response fashion. The subsequent four choruses feature some of Basie's best soloists, including Basie himself.

Tenor saxophonist Herschel Evans solos in the second chorus, and then trumpeter Buck Clayton offers a bright, polished performance through the first half of the third chorus. Jack Washington, on baritone sax, completes the chorus. Basie's solo in the fourth chorus (at 1:39) is a model of economy, utilizing repeated riffs with a rhythmic subtlety that is the hallmark of his style. And tenor saxophonist Lester Young in the fifth chorus demonstrates a relaxed, fluid, behind-the-beat linear style that conveys harmonic sophistication. Let's listen to “Doggin' Around” .

Herschel Evans c. 1939

Herschel Evans c. 1939

Don't Worry 'Bout Me

Don't worry 'bout me Forget about me
Just be happy my love

I Must Have That Man

I'm like an oven
That's cryin' for heat
He treats me awful
Each time that we meet
It's just unlawful
How that boy can cheat
But I must have that man