Manuel Valera
Piano Solo on
I Hear a Rhapsody

About

Closing out the solo section, this piano improvisation spans three choruses of the 32-bar AABA form at an uptempo swing feel at 206 BPM. Pianist Manuel Valera follows with three increasingly energetic choruses, pushing the tempo slightly to 206 BPM as the intensity builds. The 32-bar AABA form, a staple of the Great American Songbook, offers both structural clarity and ample harmonic terrain for improvisation. Coming after Chad Lefkowitz-Brown's tenor sax solo, this is the final improvisation before the ensemble returns to the head.

Manuel Valera was 36 to 37 years old at the time.