Lou Donaldson "Blues Walk" Transcription

"Blues Walk" was recorded in 1958 on the Blue Note album 1593 of the same name by Lou Donaldson.

"Blues Walk" is a classic minor blues in the hard bop style, and a mainstay of beginning jazz saxophonists for transcription learning. It is considered now to be his "undisputed masterpiece". I know this transcription is widely available but decided to put it here it as I added some important details of expression that a lot of transcriptions leave out.

As with so many great performances, it's not about WHAT you play but HOW you play that matters. "H" for a "hoo" type of attack, "V" for a "voo" type of attack, "L" for a "loo" type of attack, "x" ghost note, as in "dooden" and "T K" is double tonguing like "taka-taka".