Echoes Of Spring as performed by Ralph Sutton
For me, “Echoes Of Spring” represents the quintessential style of Willie ”the Lion“ Smith, who, along with James P. Johnson and his famous protégé, Fats Waller, was one of the big three (later to be referred to as) “stride” pianists of the day.
His style is totally unique, with a highly melodic and, especially in this solo, almost “pastoral” sound. His memoir, “Music On My Mind” is a fascinating read and gives a colourful insight into his rich musical life and the incredible jazz heritage of which he was a major part. He outlived Fats and James P. and lived long enough to directly influence (and even personally mentor in some cases) the later generation of stride pianists such as Mike Lipskin, Dick Welstood and the performer of this particular solo, Ralph Sutton.
Apparently, Willie singled out Ralph Sutton as being the most authentic interpreter of his music (apart from himself!) and the men exchanged many letters of mutual admiration. Consequently, I chose this particular performance to best exemplify the piece, plus the fact that I particularly love Ralph's interpretation of the piece. Despite Willie’s comments, Ralph still gives the piece his very own particular take, as stride piano is, after all, a jazz idiom.
I was fortunate enough to hear Ralph perform live here in Sydney in the early 90s and his autographed copy of this LP I will forever treasure.
The tempo is quite fast and the execution of the various “spring”-inspired ornamentations within the intricate left-hand 12/8 rhythmic interplay is flawless! While I specified 145 B.P.M., 150 B.P.M. is probably more accurate but it seemed way too fast for a "natural-sounding" performance via my software.
Willie "The Lion" first recorded his piano solo version in 1939 and the sheet music was published the same year as “Echo Of Spring”. The published version is written in 4/4 with dotted quavers in the left-hand figure, but I think a time signature of 12/8 better represents the music, especially as Ralph plays it. This digital performance can never accurately convey the subtle nuances of the performance, especially in the “freely” played moments, so always refer to the original recording as the ultimate performance reference!
Here is the original recording uploaded from my own collection:
https://youtu.be/z1ACwmkMjq0?si=NAFV-fbZzgk4B_w4
Here is Willie “The Lion” Smith’s performance:
https://youtu.be/0sTRPp8wV6w?si=Rj4tsdVnwTx-Ao8I
Youtube.com noteman
