Bernie's Tune
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"Bernie's Tune" is a 1952
jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive List ...
. The music was written by Bernie Miller, with lyrics added later by
Jerry Leiber Leiber and Stoller were an American songwriting and record production duo, consisting of lyricist Jerome Leiber (; April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933). As well as many R&B and pop hits, they wr ...
and
Mike Stoller Leiber and Stoller were an American songwriting and record production duo, consisting of lyricist Jerome Leiber (; April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933). As well as many R&B and pop hits, they wr ...
. It was popularised with a recording by the quartet of the American saxophonist and composer
Gerry Mulligan Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996), also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, pianist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing t ...
, on the 1952 album of the same name, which also featured
Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...
on trumpet. Despite this association, the piece was actually composed, as aforementioned, by a slightly unsung composer Bernie Miller, who also wrote the tune "Loaded" which was also covered by
Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...
and saxophonist
Stan Getz Stan Getz (born Stanley Gayetski; February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wis ...
(to name a few). The tune was a popular choice for musicians jamming at the time, though information about the composer ("Bernie" Miller) himself is scarce, all that people really know of him is that he was a piano player from Washington DC. Mulligan speculated that by the time he had discovered any of Bernie's tunes, Bernie was dead. Later on in Mulligan's life, he took the same changes but invented a new melody to fit over the piece, entitling it 'Idle Gossip'.


Composition

The song is typically played in D minor, and has a 32 bar AABA structure. Harmonically, it starts on the root minor chord, then travels to form a dominant on the minor 6th of the D. This is what gives the A section of this piece a slightly blues-orientated tonality, as the flatted 7th of the Bb dominant is an Ab, the b5 of the root minor chord, being the definitive note of a blues scale. It then moves down a semitone to the dominant 5th of the root minor, preparing to go back to the root minor. This repeats for the second A section, although instead of the minor 2-5 back into D minor, there is a major 2-5-1 into Bb Major (leading to the B section.) The B section of the piece is a standard 1-6-2-5 in Bb repeating 3 times, then leading to a Bb dominant, and a minor 2-5 back into the root minor. The A section then repeats once to lead back to the start. The melody of the A section is primarily chromatic and conjunct, except the quaver length four note arpeggios at the end of each second bar. The melody of the B section is far less chromatic but still moves in a predominantly conjunct style.


Versions

*
Gerry Mulligan Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996), also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, pianist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing t ...
Quartet, on ''Bernie's Tune'', 1952. *
Al Haig Alan Warren Haig (July 19, 1922 – November 16, 1982) was an American jazz pianist, best known as one of the pioneers of bebop. Biography Haig was born in Newark, New Jersey, and raised in nearby Nutley. In 1940, he majored in piano at Ob ...
, on ''Al Haig: Live in Hollywood'', 1952. *
Red Rodney Robert Roland Chudnick (September 27, 1927 – May 27, 1994), known professionally as Red Rodney, was an American jazz trumpeter. Biography Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he became a professional musician at 15, working in the mid-1940 ...
, on ''The New Sounds'', 1952 (titled "The Baron"). * Konitz Meets Mulligan, 1953 *
Cal Tjader Callen Radcliffe Tjader Jr. ( ; July 16, 1925 – May 5, 1982) was an American Latin Jazz musician, often described as the most successful non-Latino Latin music (genre), Latin musician. He explored other jazz idioms, especially small group mod ...
, on ''Ritmo Caliente'', 1955. *
Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973) was an American jazz drummer, bandleader, and composer. Krupa is widely regarded as one of the most influential drummers in the history of popular music. His drum solo on Benny Goodman ...
and
Buddy Rich Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time. Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, ...
, on ''Krupa and Rich'', 1955. *
Mel Tormé Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "the Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arrangement, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roa ...
, on ''Gene Norman presents Mel Tormé at the Lighthouse'', 1955. *
Milt Buckner Milton Brent Buckner (July 10, 1915 – July 27, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and organist, who in the early 1950s popularized the Hammond organ.Arwulf ArwulfMilt Buckner biography All Music. He pioneered the parallel chords style Feather ...
, on ''Rockin' With Milt'', 1955. *
Shelly Manne Sheldon "Shelly" Manne (June 11, 1920 – September 26, 1984) was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, ...
& His Men, on '' Swinging Sounds'', 1956. *
Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...
, on ''Ella At Zardi's (Live at Zardi's 1956)'', 2018 *
Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though ...
, on '' Kenton Live from the Las Vegas Tropicana'', 1958 *
Art Pepper Arthur Edward Pepper Jr. (September 1, 1925 – June 15, 1982) was an American jazz musician, most known as an alto saxophonist. He occasionally performed and recorded on tenor saxophone, clarinet (his first instrument) and bass clarinet. Active ...
, on ''
Art Pepper + Eleven – Modern Jazz Classics Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...
'', 1959. *
George Shearing Sir George Albert Shearing (13 August 191914 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 so ...
, on '' On the Sunny Side of the Strip'', 1960. * George Barnes and Carl Kress, on ''George Barnes & Carl Kress: Town Hall Concert'', 1963. *
Billy Strange William Everett Strange (September 29, 1930 – February 22, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, guitarist, and actor. He began as a session musician with The Wrecking Crew, a famous session band of the 1960s and 1970s, and was i ...
, on ''The James Bond Theme/Walk Don't Run'', 1964. *
Earl Hines Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, " ...
, on ''Here Comes Earl "Fatha" Hines'', 1966. *
Frank Morgan Francis Phillip Wuppermann (June 1, 1890 – September 18, 1949), known professionally as Frank Morgan, was an American character actor. He was best known for his appearances in films starting in the silent era in 1916, and then numerous sound ...
, on ''Frank Morgan'', 1975. * Anachronic Jazz Band, on ''Anthropology'', 1976. *
Clare Fischer Douglas Clare Fischer (October 22, 1928 – January 26, 2012) was an American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. After graduating from Michigan State University (from which, five decades later, he would receive an honorary doctorat ...
, on ''Crazy Bird'', 1985. * Scott Hamilton, on ''East of the Sun'', 1993. *
Karrin Allyson Karrin Allyson (pronounced ''KAR-in''; born Karrin Allyson Schoonover on July 27, 1963) is an American jazz vocalist. She has been nominated for five Grammy Awards and has received positive reviews from several prominent sources, including the ' ...
, on ''
Azure-Té ''Azure-Té'' is the third studio album by American jazz singer Karrin Allyson. The album was recorded in the Soundtrek Studios of Kansas City, Missouri and was released on March 21, 1995 by Concord Jazz label. Reception Chuck Berg writing for ...
'', 1995. *
Chris Flory Chris Flory (born November 13, 1953) is an American jazz guitarist. Early life and career A native of New York City, Flory was playing guitar by his early teens and around that time heard his first jazz album, '' Forest Flower'' by Charles Lloy ...
, on ''Blues in My Heart'', 2003. *
Harvey Mason Harvey William Mason (born February 22, 1947) is an American jazz drummer, record producer, and member of the band Fourplay. He was the original drummer for Herbie Hancock's band The Headhunters. Life and career Mason was born and grew ...
and
Kenny Baron Kenny is a surname, a given name, and a diminutive of several different given names. In Ireland, the surname is an Anglicisation of the Irish ''Ó Cionnaith'', also spelt ''Ó Cionnaoith'' and ''Ó Cionaodha'', meaning "descendant of Cionnaith". ...
, on ''With all My Heart'', 2003. *
Greg Osby Greg Osby (born August 3, 1960) is an American saxophonist and composer. Biography Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, then at the Berklee College of Music. He moved to New York City in 1982, where he played with Jak ...
, on ''Public'', 2004. *
Tommy Emmanuel William Thomas Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Originally a session player in many bands, he has released many award-winning recordings as a solo artist. In June 2010, Emmanuel was appointed a Member of the Order of Aus ...
and Martin Taylor, on ''The Colonel and the Governor'', 2013.


See also

* List of jazz standards


References

{{authority control 1950s jazz standards 1953 songs Jazz compositions in D minor