Jazz Lines Publications
Presents
the jeffrey sultanof master edition

just friends
As recorded on ‘charlie parker with strings’ 1949

Arranged by jimmy carroll
edited by jeffrey sultanof

full scorefrom the original manuscript
jlp-8013
Music by JOHN KLENNER
Lyrics by SAM M. LEWIS© 1931 (Renewed) METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER, INC.
All Rights Controlled by EMI ROBBINS CATALOG INC. (Publishing) and ALFRED PUBLISHING CO., INC. (Print)
All Rights Reserved Including Public Performance for Profit
Used by Permission
Layout, Design, and Logos © 2009 HERO ENTERPRISES INC. DBA JAZZ LINES PUBLICATIONS AND EJAZZLINES.COM

Jazz Lines Publications
PO Box 1236
Saratoga Springs NY 12866 USAcharlie parker with strings seriesjust friends (1949)
Background:
When Billie Holiday signed a new recording contract with Decca Records in 1944, she told producer Milt Gabler she
wanted to record with strings. Anxious to establish Holiday as a pop singer, Gabler hired six string players for her firstsession, and the first song recorded was Lover Man, one of her biggest hits. Several years later, when Charlie Parker signedwith impresario/manager Norman Granz' label Clef, Parker asked for strings as well.
Granz was obviously keeping costs down, as only five string players
were hired for the session, but these were the very top New Yorksession players; some were members of the NBC symphony conductedby Arturo Toscanini. As much as he'd dreamed of playing with strings,
reportedly Parker walked out of a few sessions without playing a note(the number has never been authenticated). He later explained thatthe sound of the strings and the thought of working with such distinguished musicians scared him; he thought they were greater artists
than he. What finally took place was sheer magic. The parts for thestring players were relatively easy, so they listened and enjoyed Parker'simprovisations. It would appear that all of the released performancescame from a single recording date, November 30, 1949.
Parker would later say that these recordings were his favorites of hisown work, despite jazz critics' condescending reactions and their claims that he was 'selling out.' As it turns out, he wasselling 'in.' The albums sold well, and brought Parker to a whole new audience. As far as his own playing, many of his solos on
this first album were lovely and inspired. Just Friends is one of Parker's finest records and his solo is remarkable; I can't be
the only one who can sing it by heart at a moment's notice. It is a pity that none of the alternate takes seem to have survived.

The Music:
The arrangements for the first string album were written by Jimmy Carroll (Caruana), who, along with Mitch Miller and AlecWilder, attended the Eastman School of Music at the same time. Originally a clarinetist, Carroll was part of the very
influential ensemble, the Alec Wilder Octet (no doubt Parker knew these recordings). Carroll was almost certainly Miller's
suggestion as arranger. Miller was A&R chief of Mercury Records at the time of the recordings (Mercury distributed Granz'
Clef label during this period). In later years, Carroll and Miller would often work together when Miller took over as A&R for
popular recordings at Columbia Records and Little Golden Records, and Carroll was chief arranger for Miller's television
program based on his popular albums, Sing Along With Mitch. Carroll's brother Frank was a successful bassist in the studios
as well, and was often included on his brother's record dates.

Errata:
Examining the score and parts gives us a window into the recording session itself. It is clear that Granz’ house rhythm
section for the Jazz at the Philharmonic tours (Ray Brown, bass, and Buddy Rich, drums) was not taken into account when
the scores were written, as the drum part includes a chord for vibraharp, which Rich could not play (as is well known, he
couldn’t read music). In addition, there is a chord for celeste in bar 1 that is inaudible on the recording; perhaps Reeves
Recording, the studio where the session was recorded, did not have one. Hank Jones was Granz’ pianist at the time; he wasreplaced here by studio regular Stan Freeman. Even though there is a
guitar part on the score and a part was extracted, there is no guitarist on
the session. Also interesting is that the chord names on Parker’s lead
sheet are in concert, even though the melody is transposed for alto sax.
Carroll uses a six-stave sketch format for the master score. Staves one
and two are the string parts written in treble and bass clef. Staves threeand four are for the harp (often doubling the string parts). Stave five andsix are reserved for the piano part with chord names in-between thestaves, and the string bass part is written one octave lower in the left
hand. Stave five also doubles as both Parker’s lead sheet and the solo oboe
part.
Carroll may not have had much experience with string writing at thisperiod of his career. Although he is hardly the first to write long slurs forstring players, these cannot be phrased that way by the players (bowsaren’t that long[!]) and have been changed for this edition. The bowings
were written in on the parts by the players, and have been reproduced here with minor clarifications in some spots.
Parker’s solo has been transcribed and reproduced in the score and as a part if desired. Of particular note is that thecopyist was not particularly careful about extracting the harp part; there are several instances where the notes in the left
hand are missing in the part. As shown in the following errata listing, this has been corrected. The most salient issues on themusic are detailed below:• Bar 1: The celeste and vibraharp parts were not played on the original recording.
• Bar 18: Strings were originally marked ‘arco’ in this bar.
• Bars 37-38: String parts were cut at the session. They are engraved in cue size for reference.
• Bar 42: Oboe - Beats 1 and 2 - This is played as quarter/two eighths on the recording.
• Bars 45-46 and 79-80: Strings and Harp - Notes in cue-size were cut for the recording.
• Bar 54, 60, 70, 88, 94 and 104: Harp - Left hand pitches are missing on the part. They are restored for this edition.
• Bar 76: Strings were re-voiced at the session and corrected on the parts via ‘goof-tape.’• Bars 109 to the end: Harp - The original part has only the first chord fully written out for every two bars.
Carroll clearly indicates that these should all be chords. This is corrected here.
• Last bar: On the score and parts, the original rhythm is a dotted quarter-eighth with a half rest. This has beencorrected as per the recording.

Notes to the Conductor:
This is a pretty straightforward arrangement once the string players can stay in ‘sync’ with the rhythm section. They needto listen carefully so that they do not play behind the beat, the common performance issue in ‘pops’ orchestra arrangements.
Make sure that every string player can hear the bass and drums clearly. The other problem is intonation between the soloist
and strings. Your soloist must listen carefully to make sure that he/she is in tune with the ensemble.

Jeffrey Sultanof- November 2009

the jeffrey sultanof master edition

jazz Lines pubLications

JlP-8013

Just FrienDs
as recorded by Charlie Parker"Charlie Parker with strings" 1949

Score
[1]


Solo Alto Sax.

Slow   Oboe   

Violin A   

Violin B   

Violin C  

Viola(Cello)







rit.









   





fp

mp








fp

mp




fp


mp







fp

mp











mf


      fæææææææææææ    ssGlif    gggg gs   3æisGlmf3Gl iss[C,Df,Ef,F,G,Af,Bf]

Guitar   Harp33{S`o`l`o`}
CelloMusic by JOHN KLENNER
Lyrics by SAM M. LEWIS
Arranged By Jimmy Carroll
Edited by Jeffrey SultanofGliss





[Dn]

{C`e`l`e`s`t`e`}*{T`o` `P`i`a`n`o`}p*Note: if no celeste, play one octave higher.

PianoBass      

{V`i`b`e`s`}

Drums/Vibes

1w
  wwmfwww2˙˙˙ 
3{T`o` `D`r`u`m`s`}4© 1931 (Renewed) METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER, INC.
All Rights Controlled by EMI ROBBINS CATALOG INC. (Publishing) and ALFRED PUBLISHING CO., INC. (Print)
All Rights Reserved Including Public Performance for Profit
Used by Permission
Layout, Design, and Logos © 2009 HERO ENTERPRISES INC. DBA JAZZ LINES PUBLICATIONS AND EJAZZLINES.COM

ãJust FrienDsJlP-8013

jazz Lines pubLications

Score - Page 2
A Tempo = 132{S`o`l`o`}G9’

Solo A. Sx.

fOb.

  Vln. A



’’

Eb9’’



’’’’


ææ


æ    æ
æ
æ


æ
  æ


ææ
æ

æ
   

æ
æ


æ


æ

æ

mfmf




   æ

æ

’





mfVc.

’

mfVla.

’

Vln. C’

Vln. B’F9æ

mfGliss  [Gf]Hp.

 ’’’’’’’’



’’


   ’’  mfmfPno.

  BassBb9

Bb9




G b9

Gb9



ã5

’A b9’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’















A b9






’’

A b9





mf

{B`r`u`s`h`e`s`}
Drms/Vbs



G b9’

Bb9
Gtr.   ’

ggg
gggg  gggg  gggg  gœœmfœœœ{P`la`y` `T`im`e`}’œ

6’’’’
7’’’’
8’

(4)