A trio performance of Johnny Mercer's I'm An Old Cowhand from Chad Lefkowitz-Brown's YouTube jazz standards series, recorded in 2020. This tune, best known in jazz through Sonny Rollins's recording on Way Out West, features an unusual 18-bar form that gives the music a slightly asymmetric quality. Played in E-flat at a moderate swing tempo around 150 BPM, the arrangement allows both soloists space to explore. Lefkowitz-Brown takes five choruses on tenor saxophone, while Dan Chmielinski follows with three choruses on acoustic bass. The tune's novelty-song origins belie the sophisticated harmonic and structural challenges its odd-length form presents to improvisers, who must navigate the unusual phrasing without losing the thread. The pianoless trio format further connects this reading to Rollins's classic trio approach, where the interplay between saxophone and bass carries both melodic and harmonic weight. This interpretation balances the tune's playful character with committed improvisation.
