“Sweet Georgia Brown” is a foxtrot composed in 1925 by Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard, with lyrics by Kenneth Casey. It has become a standard in the jazz repertoire and has been covered by many artists over the years.
The song is written in a 32-bar ABAC form. Each section is made of 8 bars and is divided into two 4-bar phrases.
The harmonic progression is based on a series of secondary dominants to arrive on the tonic chord at the end of the B section while the first phrase of the C section briefly modulates to the relative minor.
Contrafacts of Sweet Georgia Brown include “Bright Mississippi” by Thelonious Monk, “Sweet Clifford” by Clifford Brown, “Tea Pot” by JJ Johnson.
“Dig” is also a contrafact and was recorded on October 5, 1951 for Prestige Records and first released on his album The New Sounds. Davis recorded the tune again on May 9 1952, this time for Blue Note, but under the title “Donna” and credited to Jackie McLean, who played alto saxophone on both sessions (Young Man with a Horn and Miles Davis Volume 1).
In this lesson we compare versions, study the melodic architecture, the harmonic analysis, the bass line, the 4 levels of improvisation, different improvisation techniques and I will answer any questions you have.
Video lessons:
Lyrics:
No gal made has got a shade on Sweet Georgia Brown
Two left feet, oh so neat, has Sweet Georgia Brown
They all sigh and want to die for Sweet Georgia Brown
I’ll tell you just why, you know I don’t lie not much
It’s been said she knocks ’em dead when she lands in town
Since she came why it’s a shame how she cools them down
Fellas she can’t get must be fellas she ain’t met
Georgia claimed her, Georgia named her Sweet Georgia Brown
No gal made has got a shade on Sweet Georgia brown
Two left feet, oh so neat, has Sweet Georgia Brown
They all sigh and want to die for Sweet Georgia Brown
I’ll tell you just why, you know I don’t lie not much
All those gifts, those courters give to Sweet Georgia Brown
They buy clothes at fashion shows with one dollar down
Oh boy, tip your hat, oh joy, she’s the cat
Who’s that, mister? It ain’t a sister, Sweet Georgia Brown
In this lesson we do a detailed analysis of the solos by Coleman Hawkins and Benny Carter.
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Here is a quick video about Improvisation Level 1 (with triads only) from our lesson about Sweet Georgia Brown. If you want the course and PDF in concert, E-flat and B-flat you can simply join us on this page below.
The complete course about triads can be found on this page: https://jazzvideolessons.net/daily-triads-exercises/
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8 comments on “Sweet Georgia Brown”
wow what an interesting version of these two songs! Thank you for sharing this, I added it to the playlist 🙂
Version Flute / Hautbois de 1958
other contrafact Art Pepper Miss who https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE9Ehpp2oQQ or Coleman Hawkins Hollywood stamped https://youtu.be/Pc-ohEl8RdY
Contrafact Tea Pot by JJ Johnson
Contrafact Sweet Clifford
“Dig” by Miles Davis is based on Sweet Georgia Brown:
Thelonious Monk “Bright Mississippi”, composed over the form of Sweet Georgia Brown: