Work Song (Nat Adderley song)
Jazz standard by Nat Adderley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Work Song" is a work song and jazz standard[1] by American trumpeter Nat Adderley and writer Oscar Brown Jr. It was first featured in Adderley's 1960 studio album of the same name, which was met with high praise and acclaim.[2][3] "Work Song" is one of Adderley's best known compositions.[4]
| "Work Song" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Nat Adderley | |
| from the album Work Song | |
| Released | 1960 |
| Recorded | January 25 & 27, 1960 |
| Genre | jazz |
| Length | 4:15 |
| Label | Riverside |
| Songwriters | Nat Adderley, Oscar Brown Jr |
The song was originally only an instrumental, but Oscar Brown Jr. included lyrics in a cover released the following year on his album, Sin & Soul.[5]
Background
"Work Song" was inspired by Nat Adderley's childhood experience of seeing a group of convict laborers singing while they worked on a chain gang, paving the street in front of his family’s home in Florida.[6]
Musical composition
The song is a 16 bar form in F minor. It is a minor blues.[7]
| F-7 | •/•[a] | •/• | •/• |
| F-7 | •/• | C7 | •/• |
| F-7 | •/• | •/• | •/• |
| F7 | Bb7 | Db7 C7 | F-7 |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz states: "'Work Song' is the real classic, of course, laced with a funky blues feel but marked by some unexpectedly lyrical playing."[8] In a musical analysis of Adderley's improvisational bebop style, Kyle M. Granville writes that the song is "connected to the soul-jazz style that Nat Adderley and his brother Cannonball Adderley immersed themselves into during the mid-1960s."[9]
Notes
- This indicates to stay on the chord that came before. See: Grid notation