Spartacus Love Theme Tutorial – Bill Evans Style
In this lesson we create a solo piano arrangement of the song Spartacus Love Theme. The song was written by Alex North, who composed the entire score for the 1960 movie Spartacus, Love theme being part of it.
Spartacus Love Theme has been recorded and performed by several jazz musicians, including Bill Evans, Yusef Lateef, and Herbie Hancock, just to name a few.
Spartacus Love Theme Bill Evans Solo Piano
Good versions to check out are the original orchestral arrangement by Alex North, Bill Evans Solo piano version from an album called Solo Sessions, where the song is a part of a medley with Nardis and Yusef Lateef’s version from the album Eastern Sounds.
When listening these versions, you will notice that the form differs from version to version. That is why in our arrangement we are going to be using the original form from the score, with a repetition of the first A part.
Bill Evans Intro For Spartacus Love Theme
Also as you will notice already from the intro, the arrangement is influenced by Bill Evans version.
Related Lessons
The tune is written in ¾ so it’s played with a waltz feel. We interpret some of the tune quite freely, in particular in the introduction and the ending.
Cluster voicings are tightly spaced groups of 3 or more notes that act as a chord. They don’t usually contain both ‘essential chord tones which are 3 & 7.
To play a rootless voicing we leave out the root of the chord and play one of the upper extensions to get a richer, more colourful sound.
Practice Tips
-
Study the related lesson on cluster voicings to understand how to construct the tight and compact voicings that feature heavily in this arrangement.
-
Identify the repeated sections in the form to speed up the learning and memorisation of the tune.
-
Listen to the versions by Yusef Lateef and Herbie Hancock to expand your horizons on how the tune can be arranged and interpreted.
Great transcription and lesson!
One suggestion: it would be easier to follow your discussion of the arrangement if the bar numbering on our PDF matched the numbering on the sheet you use in the video. On ours, the bar numbering begins with 1 on the 8 bar intro and follows from there. Your sheet starts the numbering with 1 at the start of the first A section. Your 1 is our 9. Once you get several bars into the tune, it’s hard to find the bar being discussed.