The Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers

Many thanks to Mick Foster for an interesting session in which we covered

“The Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers” by Steve Kuhn
“Jumping at the Woodside” by Count Basie

The first part of the session was taken with an investigation of the Steve Kuhn composition “The Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers.” In this we were shown the various modes used in the piece. Mick kindly supplied some worksheets for further study here:

Chords and Modes used in Saga Of Harrison Crabfeathers Bb

Chords and Modes used in Saga Of Harrison Crabfeathers Eb

Chords and Modes used in Saga Of Harrison Crabfeathers

For the second part of the session, Mick whipped out his Bass Sax (if it’s possible to do so with such a beast) and took us through “Jumping at the Woodside” making us improvise rythmically with only restricted chord tones: Root and 5th, triads and then chord tones to the 7th. He pointed out how restricting to the chord tones can make the improvisations sound less modern.

Many thanks again to Mick for coming to visit us.