Duke Jordan
Piano Solo on
Klauntsance

About

Duke Jordan closes out the solos on piano with half a chorus, following Miles Davis at approximately 296 BPM. Set within a swinging rhythmic framework, the 68-bar AABA' form and the key of F, the solo tests the player's command at high velocity. The tune borrows its harmonic structure from "The Way You Look Tonight," a set of changes that generations of improvisers have used as a testing ground for new ideas. Coming last in the solo order, Jordan has the task of building on everything that came before while steering the performance back toward the closing head. Davis rises to the challenge of the long chorus with growing confidence, and Jordan's half-chorus on piano is a focused display of bebop vocabulary.

Duke Jordan was 24 to 25 years old at the time.