Fats Navarro

Trumpet Chorus Book

The Music
Of the twenty three solos contained in this book, aIl but two come from Fats Navarro's complete recordings for the Blue Note record label during the period of September 1947 to August 1949. The two exceptions are from radio broadcasts during the same period and are included because of their musical value. It seems that Blue Note, for the most part, liked to have at least two acceptable versions of a song to choose from for their releases. The only exceptions with just one take available are 'The Skunk', '52nd Street Theme', and 'Boperation' (not included in this book because of Navarro's extremely short solo). These Blue Note recordings have been re-released many times and still can be found in record stores. It is recommended that the student make every effort to acquire them so that a thorough study of Navarro's phrasing, accents, and sound can be made.

Navarro's Harmonic Approach
Fats Navarro used major, harmonic minor, melodic minor, and diminished scales to construct his solos. Like Charlie Parker and Bud Powell he used the major and harmonic minor scales for the majority of his lin es with the melodie minor and diminished scales being used mainly to pro duce extensions and color on dominant 7 chords. 1 must point out, however, that though these scales are to be found in his music he had, through a combination of hard work and talent, risen far above such concerns or restrictions. U nlike many in jazz today he did not ignore harmonie theory; he simply mastered it to such a degree that he was free to create melodies that combined great beauty while retaining a feeling of form and order. Any discussion concerning Fats Navarro's concept of harmony also must include the mention of his extensive use of passing notes on chord changes. For example when he has a chord progression of 0-7 and C7 in measures 13 and 14 of the song' 'Double Talk', he not only uses every note of the correct corresponding scale (F major) but inserts passing notes of Eb, Db, A, B to make his line much more interesting. There are many more such passages in aIl of his improvisations and 1 will try to point out sorne ofthem in my remarks preceding each solo.