Bish's Green Dolphin Street solo from the Speak Low LP (1961)

Alright here is the first transcription. It is from Bishop's Speak Low recording made in 1961. Note that this album was re-released on the Black Lion label under the title "Milestones."  The Milestones album has a few alternate takes but none of Green Dolphin Street. Also, I think the pitch on the Speak Low LP is off by about 70 cents sharp or so. The pitch has been corrected on the Milestones album.

Now about the transcription. I just transcribed the right hand line and none of the left hand comping, which I may work on later after I get the rest of the album down. Right now I am just trying to see how he builds his lines and reverse engineer his soloing, the comping and exact voicings are not important to me since I pretty much know what he is doing there and can play something pretty darn close without the hard work of transcribing.


The magic of the solos is what I am after, like when Barry Harris said he first got out in Detroit to play with kids from the other side of town. Barry went on to say that while he could play chords better than kids from the other side who didn't know how to play them, they could solo like mothers and Barry couldn't. He asked his sister how to learn to solo and she gave him a Fats Navarro recording of Webb City with Bud Powell on piano. He had an adjustable record player and could knock it down half-speed to learn what Bud was doing and figure out how to solo. That is what I am aiming at here except I am learning from Walter Bishop, Jr. instead of Bud. Just click on the score below to see or download the whole pdf of the transcription.

Click here to hear an mp3 of Bish's Green Dolphin Street solo.

In a later post I will give a quick run down of my analysis and breakdown of the solo, but in this post I am just presenting it. Oh also the chords written over the lead line are just the standard changes to the tune, just used to help in analyzing the lead line. Like I said I didn't transcribing his chording but it sounds like he is sticking close to the standard changes throughout. If a line doesn't look like it fits, check the record to see what Bish actually played in terms of chords but just my first big picture glance tells me that he was playing and thinking standard changes.

As for future posts, we have the breakdown of this solo and right now I am about halfway through Bish's Blues in the Closet solo. In a few weeks I should have new solo down and posted as well. Oh by the way, I am only going to be transcribing the main versions of the tunes which were originally put out on the Speak Low LP, not the alternate takes that are included on the Milestones CD. Also would like to transcribe a Rhythm changes tune from Bish but I haven't found one yet. Any suggestions?

Peace Out,
D