Transcription: Jo Jones – It Don’t Mean A Thing…

Here’s a  transcription  of Papa Jo Jones playing the intro and head of It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing, from a 1970 Black Lion recording, Paul Gonsalves Meets Earl Hines. There’s a strong quarter note pulse on the hihat throughout, and no comping at all in the modern sense. The sketchy arrangement has some drum breaks, and Jones plays some interesting linear things on the later ones. We can assume he’s playing the bass drum all the way through, though it’s only audible on the punctuations.

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YouTube clip of the track after the break: