Walkin Shoes:

Arrangement by Marty Paich

Jess Dez Garca

Jazz Compositional Styles
Prof. Bill Kirchner
October 2, 2013

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Analysis
a. Form

b. Melody

c. Harmony

3. Score

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4. Bibliography

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Introduction
"Walking Shoes" is an original composition by Gerry Mulligan that was recorded
with the same group as "Nights At the Turntable" in 1952 by the original Gerry Mulligan
Quartet.

In an unpublished oral biography recorded in 1995, Mulligan

discusses the writing of Walkin Shoes:

I remember the first thing that I wrote for him was very
contrapuntal. I was trying to do a thing that built an
ensemble sound out of unison contrapuntal lines and
built up to a nice ensemble chorus. Stan didnt really
like it, so he said if I rewrote it, he would take it. So I
did. I took it and put the tune Walkin Shoes on the
first part, and used the out chorus from the piece that
was there [and had been rejected], and that was all
right. (Fine, p.205)

The arrangement being analyzed in this paper is from the album Art Pepper + Eleven, a
1959 jazz album played by a twelve piece big band that includes Denzil Bests original
"Move", Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight", Horace Silvers Opus de Funk, Gerry
Mulligan's "Bernie's Tune" and "Walkin' Shoes" among others. It was arranged by Marty
Paich, an accomplished arranger on the west coast music scene. Aside from his piano
career he arranged for diverse artists from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson.

It is

interesting to note that Paich studied with the composer Arnold Shonberg, just as Gil Evan
and Gerry Mulligan had studied with classical composers. This would have been an
important influence in his arranging techniques.

Form of the Arrangement

Walking Shoes is constructed on a thirty-two bar AABA set of chord changes but like
many other arrangements from the Birth of the Cool album it is not simply a head,
choruses, and head. The overall form includes four choruses plus the intro and an extended
four bars ending. The intro is four bars of a written bass line. The A part starts in the pickup to bar 5, where the melody starts. The A is divided into phrases of eight bars and the
bridge starts at bar 21 and continues to bar 28. In the last A section, the melody is a
variation of the melody found in the first A section. The second chorus starts in bar 37 with
the first alto solo. In the second A section there are some background figures in bars 45-46
and 49-50. At the bridge in bar fifty-three, the second alto and second trumpet play a
background and the tenor saxophone, trombone one and two, and piano play a descendent
background melody in half notes. In bar 61 to bar 68, the last A section of the solo chorus
ends with only the first alto playing with the rhythm section. In bar 69, the band plays the
first four bars as a shout chorus followed by a four bar solo by the first alto. The next four
bar shout chorus starting at bar 77 is a quote from Gerry Mulligans composition Jeru
which itself is derived from a Lester Young motif. At the bridge in bar 85 there is another
four bar shout chorus accompanied by a counterpoint line in half notes on the tenor
saxophone, the french horn, first and second trombone, and piano. It is noticeable that the
french horn does not play on the first two shout choruses but does come in at the third.
After this last four bar shout chorus the second trumpet starts a solo at bar 89. This solo
covers twelve bars finishing the third chorus of the song. In the last chorus, the A section
starts with a modulation, to Ab major, which is the sub-dominant region of the main
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tonality. It comes back from this modulation in the bridge in bar 117. The arrangement
finishes with 8 bars of the last A section plus an extended ending of four bars.

Melody
The original composition is in the key of G. This arrangement goes a mayor third to
the key of Eb, which makes the third trombone go to his low register, creating almost a tuba
sound effect. I think that this lowered version plus the inclusion of a french horn emulates
the sound of the Birth of the Cool recording.
The treatment of the melody in this arrangement is very similar to the original tune.
The tempo is a little bit up in relation to Mulligans versions. In the first chorus of the piece,
the melody is mostly played in unison/octaves until bar 9 where there is a harmonization of
the three eight note motive.
In the second A section, the first alto takes the melody and the band plays
background figures. The Bridge is a contrast to the A section with a harmonized
counterpoint line on the brass section and the piano, with the reed section playing the
melody in unison/octaves.
The melody is harmonized in the last A section. It is first played by the reed section
and then at bar 31, it is taken by the brass section.
The range of the melody is just one octave from Eb 3 to Eb 4.
The majority is composed of small scalitstic motifs. The melody starts with a
descendent scale on the pick up of the first bar.

It can be inferred that there is a line which hits the first beat of every bar and this
forms the framework of the melody. (see figure1)

A second line is produced by the high notes of the melody. This line is hard to hear
in the recording but it makes the melody to lead into the anticipation of bar 6 and then the
next three bars of resolution. (see figure 2)

Both lines lead into the fourth bar that is resolved on a pick up in the fifth bar using
a similar motif. It is then followed by a retrograde, or ascendant, motif, which hits the D on
the sixth bar at the most tense point in the A section. Over the bridge there is more space in
between motifs and a new rhythmic figure, two groups of triplets, creates a contrast with
the rhythms of the A section. Bars 15 and 16 are a reexposition of the ascendant and
descendent motifs. Bar 15 would be heard as a question, an ascendant motif that ends the
bridge. Therefore, the descendent motif on the pick up to Bar seventeen creates as answer
effect to the previous question, as well as starting the melody of the last A section. (see
figure 3)

In bars 21, 22, and 23 there is a variation of the original A section that works as an
ending. It is a simple but very effective melody and most of it is shaped in conjunct
motion. It is constructed with clear defined ascendant and descendent motives that create an
overall feeling of motion, as the title says the melody recreates a sound effect of walking.

Harmony

The arrangement starts with a succession of homophonic (octaves) and harmonized

parts. The harmonized parts are used to finish at the end of the musical phrases in the A
section. In the second A section, the lead alto takes the melody and the band harmonizes
background figures in block harmony emphasizing the notes of the melody with chord
position inversions. For example, on the third beat of bar 14, the alto has the b7, which is
doubled by trumpet and the first and second trombone.
In the bridge, there are two counterpoint lines that move against the melody in half
notes. The french horn plays one line and the second counterpoint line is harmonized by
parallel sixths on the trombones, which are doubled on the piano. The use of contrary
motion is noticeable in between the french horn line and the trombone/piano line.
The last eight bars of the bridge are the most complex part of the arrangement. The
brass section plays a counterpoint line with parallel minor thirds in between the second
trombone, first trombone, french horn and second trumpet and a major fourth between the
second trumpet and first trumpet. This counterpoint harmonized line sounds like a thick
wall of sound in contrast to the simplicity of the melody that is played by the reed section.
In bar 31, the brass section plays the melody and the reed section plays a counterpoint line
of octaves and unisons that take us through bars 32 to 34 where the whole band harmonizes
the melody.
During the solo, the band plays block harmony backgrounds. In the bridge of the
solo, the counterpoint lines are woven into two big groups: counterpoint lines one, two, and
three and counterpoints four and five (see bars 53 60). The last A section of the solo is
played only by the lead alto and the rhythm section.
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In bar 69 the band plays a four bar harmonized shout chorus without the french
horn, followed by a four bar solo by the first alto. In bar 77, there is another shout chorus,
which is a quote of Gerry Mulligans composition Jeru from Birth of Cool. I found
that the first two beats in bar 77 has a different rhythm than Mulligans recording, perhaps
in an effort to distinguish the quotation from the original start of Jeru. In bar 89, the
second trumpet starts a twelve bar solo that completes the third chorus. The last chorus
starts with a modulation to the key of Ab major, which is the subdominant of the main tonal
center. In this final reexposition, there is a mix of melody and counterpoint lines that
comes from the material on the bridge in the first A section. In bar 109, the melody is
harmonized in block harmony by the whole band. In the last A section, there is a variation
of the melody in bar 131 that leads into a four bar ending. The last two chords of the
arrangement are a bII maj7 that resolves on a half-step descendent cadence to an I maj7.

Bibliography

Fine, Richard Samuel. The Birth Of Jeru: Gerry Mulligans Early

Composing/Arranging Career (1945-1953).
Accessed October 1, 2013.
http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/11136/1/Fine_umd_0117E_11692.pdf
Paich, Marty. Walkin Shoes. 1953. New York: The Jazz Lines Foundation Inc. 2011. Print.

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