Our Delight Explained

"Our Delight" is a 1946 jazz standard, composed by Tadd Dameron.^[1] It is considered one of his best compositions along with "Good Bait", "Hot House", "If You Could See Me Now", and "Lady Bird".^{[2] [3]} It has an AABA construction.^[4] A moderately fast bebop song, it featured the trumpeter Fats Navarro, who is said to "exhibit mastery of the difficult chord progression".^[5] One author said, "'Our Delight' is a genuine song, a bubbly, jaggedly ascending theme that sticks in one's mind, enriched by harmonic interplay between a flaming trumpet section led by Dizzy, creamy moaning reeds and crooning trombones. The written accompaniments to the solos-in particular the leader's two statements-are full of inventiveness, creating call-and-response patterns and counter-melodies. What is boppish here is the off-center, syncopated melody, as well as the shifting, internal voicings of the chords, especially at the very end. These voicings, along with a love of tuneful melodies that one walks out of a jazz club humming, were Tadd's main legacy to such composers and arrangers as Benny Golson, Gigi Gryce, and Jimmy Heath."^[6] Rolling Stone describes it as a "bop gem". The first publication is by Dizzy Gillespie in August 1946. In total there are more than 120 covers of Our Delight.^[7] Bill Evans recorded his version of it for his debut album New Jazz Conceptions in 1956.^[8]

Notes and References

1. Book: Randel, Don Michael. The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. 2 February 2012. 1996. Harvard University Press. 978-0-674-37299-3. 194.
2. Book: Gioia, Ted. The History of Jazz. 2 February 2012. 9 May 2011. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-539970-7. 214.
3. Book: Yanow, Scott. Jazz: a regional exploration. 2 February 2012. 2005. Greenwood Publishing Group. 978-0-313-32871-8. 133.
4. Book: Owens, Thomas . Bebop: The Music and Its Players . 1996 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-510651-0 . 218 .
5. Book: Carnes. Mark Christopher. Betz. Paul R.. American National Biography: Supplement. 2 February 2012. 12 May 2005. American Council of Learned Societies, Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-522202-9. 242.
6. Book: Rosenthal, David H.. Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music 1955-1965. 2 February 2012. 9 September 1993. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-508556-3. 31.
7. https://cover.info/en/song/Dizzy-Gillespie-and-his-Orchestra-Our-Delight cover.info database
8. Book: Swenson, John. Rolling Stone Jazz and Blues Album Guide. 2 February 2012. 27 April 1999. Random House. 231. 978-0-679-76873-9.