Bud Powell - 1949
Bud Powell’s ‘Celia’, recorded with Ray Brown and Max Roach, was first released on the album “Jazz Giant” in 1950.
‘Celia’ is a great example of “be-bop” construction, both melodically and rhythmically. The hardest part might be getting the placement of the punch chords down.
The piece begins with a Pedal on ‘f’ – the V chord of the Bb tonic. The A-section (Example 1) stays in Bb but is not a typical set of Jazz changes. It makes good use of “Sister chords” and has a Tri-tone substitution leading back to the tonic. For more on these ideas see the analysis of ‘Donna Lee’ and the section on Dominant Substitutions.
The B-section moves away from the tonic briefly (Example 2) but sneaks back to the V chord for a return to the A-section.
