In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
Welcome to this jazz standard tutorial on the tune “In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning” by David Mann.
This is a delightful little ballad which is perfect for solo jazz piano performance. There’s many great recordings of this tune, some of my favourites are the Oscar Peterson trio recording., the George Shearing trio Version, and finally the Gene Harris solo piano recording.
Form & Key
The tune is commonly played in the keys of C and G major, and we will be arranging the tune in the key of C.
The form of the tune is a little unusual at just 18 bars long. Most tunes in the jazz repertoire follow a 32 bar form, and so we will play through the form twice to create a 36 bar arrangement.
Simple & Advanced Voicings
For the first time through the form we will be playing somewhat simple voicings and we will stick close to the original melody.
The second time through we will introduce some bigger voicings. We will play around with the melody, and also add some interesting fills and reharmonisation.
Lesson Downloads
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Wee Small Hours – Chord Changes File Type: pdf -
Wee Small Hours – Midi File File Type: midi
Related Lessons
In this lesson we create a full solo piano arrangement incorporating chord substitutions and reharmonisations and advanced jazz theory.
In this lesson we will be exploring the common intros, endings, and turnarounds that are found in the Chicago blues piano style.
In addition to a full arrangement, we also cover the 4 bar introduction which is heard in the famous Nat King Cole recording of this tune.
