Rainy Afternoon
Rainy Afternoon is a fairly conventional jazz ballad that has a nod of appreciation to Billy Strayhorn. Recorded by Amy Leonard, violin; Jeff Knoettner, piano; E. Shawn Qaissaunee, guitar; and Peter McCarthy, bass.
When I started to compose again in 1989, after being away from music for 12 years, this tune was one of the first ones that I wrote. It came to me one day as I was hiking by the Potomac River. I heard it in my mind being played by the Duke Ellington band. Happily, I remembered the music until I got home and wrote it down. The original title was Potomac Reflections. I showed the tune to several musician friends but nothing happened with it. I went on to write other tunes and over time I forgot about this one.
The lead sheet gathered dust in my music files for 21 years until I discovered it in 2010. As I played this ballad on piano I found that I liked it but I decided to make a revision -- having the double-time phrase in measures 11 & 12 and 27 & 28. With that phrase, it seemed to me that everything fell into place. No other changes were made. It was raining on the day when I reworked this tune. It occurred to me that "Rainy Afternoon" would be a better title than the original one. So, it became Rainy Afternoon.
As it turned out, of all of my tunes that have been recorded so far, Rainy Afternoon is among those that receive the most comments from musicians and listeners.
When I started to compose again in 1989, after being away from music for 12 years, this tune was one of the first ones that I wrote. It came to me one day as I was hiking by the Potomac River. I heard it in my mind being played by the Duke Ellington band. Happily, I remembered the music until I got home and wrote it down. The original title was Potomac Reflections. I showed the tune to several musician friends but nothing happened with it. I went on to write other tunes and over time I forgot about this one.
The lead sheet gathered dust in my music files for 21 years until I discovered it in 2010. As I played this ballad on piano I found that I liked it but I decided to make a revision -- having the double-time phrase in measures 11 & 12 and 27 & 28. With that phrase, it seemed to me that everything fell into place. No other changes were made. It was raining on the day when I reworked this tune. It occurred to me that "Rainy Afternoon" would be a better title than the original one. So, it became Rainy Afternoon.
As it turned out, of all of my tunes that have been recorded so far, Rainy Afternoon is among those that receive the most comments from musicians and listeners.
