Night Wind

Here's my transcription of Fats performing a gorgeous, haunting ballad called Night Wind from his 1935 Associated Transcription session. It's a solo performance, and we are blessed with the luxury of hearing just Fats and his piano.

Fats' delicate side is on display here with his subtle use of dynamics, ornamentation and deliciously rich voicings including 3 (sometimes 4) note chord LH tenths!

This performance also reveals what an outstanding singer Fats actually was. His ability to sing expressively and weave in and out of tempo to suit the lyrics and keep absolute tempo in his accompaniment playing is astounding.

I've included the entire performance, including Fats' accompaniment while he sings, as I think there's much to learn from here. Note his use of staccato LH bass notes to support and contrast with his RH playing.

This is another "hybrid" performance where I've merged my digital notation with the original recording to hear Fats' playing in context.

Here's a link to the actual recording for the ultimate source of reference:

https://open.spotify.com/track/1gv382...

Youtube.com noteman