Description

So Sorry Please is a beautiful tune composed by the legendary jazz pianist Bud Powell. Bud recorded the tune in 1950 on his record “Jazz Giant” (Verve) probably one of his best recordings that period (“Genius of Bud Powell”, “Swinging With Bud”, “Blues In The Closet” released on Verve). I should mention the Tommy Flanagan Trio version of the tune from the recording with J.J.Johnson.

This is a detailed transcription of Bud Powell’s composition So Sorry Please.

The tune has a form similar to “Rhythm Changes” with the “Honeysuckle Rose” bridge. Bud Powell uses some pentatonic ideas and fourths intervals in the melody of an intro and the “A” section.  The pentatonic sound is quite unusual for the music of that time and bebop tunes. It is more associated in the context of Art Tatum and Teddy Willson who used lots of pentatonic run in their playing. John Coltrane and McCoy Tyner and later Woody Shaw developed their language from pentatonic sounds. Bud Powell certainly uses pentatonic in his tune with some sense of humor. So Sorry Please yet another great example of Bud Powell’s writing and playing.