Dizzy Gillespie, music · Introduced on the 1954 album Afro
Con Alma
Dizzy Gillespie recorded Con Alma in New York in June 1954 for his album Afro. The melody is easy to sing, yet the music under it changes about every two . Oscar Peterson, Wes Montgomery and Stan Getz all recorded it in the 1950s and 1960s.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Dizzy Gillespie's own 1954 recording and a long 1957 duet with Sonny Stitt. It then follows the tune through a piano trio, a six-piece band, a guitar with strings, a quintet with alto and tenor saxophones and a quartet led by a tenor saxophone, and ends with a second piano trio from 1994.
Dizzy Gillespie recorded his own tune in New York on June 3, 1954, with a flute, piano, bass and four percussion players. It came out that year on the Norgran album Afro.
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Listen for
Dizzy Gillespie plays trumpet, with a flute and four percussion players in the band. Listen for the melody staying easy to follow while the music under it changes about every two .
Try it on your instrument
Play the first 8 (the ) with one per bar: , , , , , , , . Then play the melody over them, or hum it if you do not know it yet.
Dizzy Gillespie Duets With Sonny Rollins And Sonny Stitt
Gillespie and tenor saxophonist Sonny Stitt recorded it in New York on December 11, 1957, with Ray Bryant, Thomas Bryant and Charles Persip. Verve issued it on the 1958 album Duets.
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Listen for
A trumpet and a tenor saxophone share the over piano, bass and drums. At nearly ten minutes, the track gives the soloists plenty of room.
Try it on your instrument
Play only the bass notes of the chart, one per , through the first 8 bars: E, C♯, B♭, E♭, D♭, B♭, G, C. If you can already solo over , take one over the full chart; if not, stay with the bass notes.
Oscar Peterson's trio with Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen recorded it in Chicago in a run of sessions between July 14 and August 9, 1959. Verve put it on The Jazz Soul of Oscar Peterson.
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Listen for
Peterson's piano leads, with Ray Brown's bass and Ed Thigpen's drums behind him. The track lasts just under seven minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the ( 17 to 24) slowly, one per bar: , , , , , Emaj7, , . If that is too much, play only the first chord of each pair.
The Jazztet (Art Farmer and Benny Golson) · 1960 · Hard bop
Big City Sounds
The Jazztet, led by trumpeter Art Farmer and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson, recorded it for the album Big City Sounds in September 1960. It is a six-piece band with trumpet, tenor saxophone and trombone up front.
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Listen for
Trumpet, tenor saxophone and trombone share the over piano, bass and drums. The track is five minutes long.
Try it on your instrument
Play 5 to 8 (, , , , , ) and stop on the C in bar 8. Then play from bar 1 and aim for that landing.
Wes Montgomery recorded it on May 19, 1965, the day after The Shadow of Your Smile, at Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey. Don Sebesky conducted strings and a harp, and Verve put it on the album Bumpin' that year.
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Listen for
Wes Montgomery's guitar leads, with a string section, a harp and hand percussion behind him. The track runs just over three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody of the first 8 in octaves on guitar or piano, with the same eight underneath as in step 1.
Alto saxophonist Charles McPherson recorded it on August 4, 1965, with Clifford Jordan, Barry Harris, George Tucker and Alan Dawson. His second album as a leader, issued by Prestige, is titled Con Alma!
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Listen for
Alto saxophone and tenor saxophone share the , with piano, bass and drums behind them. Barry Harris is the pianist.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first 8 of the melody by ear on any instrument. Then play it again with the of each bar, as in step 1.
Stan Getz recorded it on March 30, 1967, at Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey, with Chick Corea, Ron Carter and Grady Tate. Verve put it on the album Sweet Rain that year.
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Listen for
Getz's tenor saxophone leads, with Chick Corea's piano, Ron Carter's bass and Grady Tate's drums. At more than eight minutes, the track leaves room for long solos.
Try it on your instrument
Pick one , such as in 8, and play its notes up and down as a short pattern while the track plays. That is a small step toward soloing over ; the full version needs the whole chart under your fingers.
Fred Hersch recorded it with Drew Gress and Tom Rainey on February 16 and 17, 1994, in Astoria, Queens. It is on The Fred Hersch Trio Plays, his third album for Chesky.
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Listen for
Hersch's piano leads, with Drew Gress on bass and Tom Rainey on drums. The track runs six minutes, about a minute shorter than the 1959 Peterson trio.
Try it on your instrument
Play all 32 at a slow tempo with one per bar, using the chart on this page. Say the out loud for each pair of bars: E, E♭, D♭, C.
Dizzy Gillespie records it in New York in June 1954 with a flute and four percussion players, for the album Afro. In 1957 he plays it with Sonny Stitt, and in 1959 Oscar Peterson's trio records it in Chicago.
1960s
The Jazztet records it in September 1960. Wes Montgomery follows in May 1965 with strings and a harp, and Stan Getz plays it in March 1967 with Chick Corea.
1970s
Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Peterson record it as a trumpet and piano duet in London in November 1974. Stan Getz plays it live at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco in May 1976.
1980s
Gillespie plays it at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1981 with a sextet that includes James Moody and Milt Jackson. Pablo Live released the concert in 1982.
1990s
Fred Hersch's trio records it in Astoria, Queens, in February 1994 with Drew Gress and Tom Rainey, for the Chesky album The Fred Hersch Trio Plays.
More great versions
3 more, from 1960 to 1974. Tap a cover to play it here.
1960sThe Roy Haynes Trio1960 · Hard bop
Kenny Burrell With Richard Evans' Orchestra1967
1970sOscar Peterson and Dizzy Gillespie1974 · Swing
Drummer Roy Haynes led this trio with Richard Wyands and Eddie De Haas on July 5, 1960, at Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey. New Jazz issued it on the album Just Us.
Guitarist Kenny Burrell recorded it in Chicago in September 1967, with an orchestra arranged and conducted by Richard Evans. It is on the Cadet album Ode to 52nd Street.
Gillespie recorded the tune again as a trumpet and piano duet with Oscar Peterson, in London on November 28 and 29, 1974. Pablo issued the album in 1975.
The tune's layout, its keys and the chord chart, for anyone who wants to play along.
Show the form and chords
How the tune works
C majorusual key
32 barsA · A · B · A form
E major · E♭ major · D♭ major · C major · B♭ minorkeys it moves between
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
E
E♭
D♭
C
E
E♭
D♭
C
B♭ m
E
E♭
E
E♭
D♭
C
The tune is 32 in four 8-bar sections: A, A, B, A. Each moves through four , two bars at a time. Bars 1 and 2 sit in ( , ). Bars 3 and 4 drop to (, then ), and bars 5 and 6 drop again to ( , A♭7). Bars 7 and 8 land in the home key, , with and . The second A (bars 9 to 16) repeats the first. B, the , runs from bar 17 to bar 24. It opens in with and , then moves up to E major for four bars (, B7, Emaj7, Emaj7). and B♭7 in bars 23 and 24 point toward E♭ major, but the last A starts again in E major and settles in C in bars 31 and 32.