Come Rain or Come Shine (The Jazz Messengers’s version)

The Jazz Messengers: Benny Golson (tenor sax), Lee Morgan (trumpet), Bobby Timmons (piano), Jymie Merritt (bass) and Art Blakey (drums). From the album Moanin’ (1959).

Harold Arlen composed this song in 1946 for the musical St. Louise Woman based on a novel by Arna Bontemps. The musical provoked controversy because the actors were African American and the author of the novel was also black, but the song became a standard and was performed by several big bands of the time.

Given the scarcity of melodic material and the richness of the harmonic bases, this composition resorts to the most introspective improviser. Only a few hard bop musicians have made good quality versions. Also of note are the versions by Ray Charles and James Brown, who performs the song in the most unexpected ways.

In the theme a single note is repeated over and over again, but it is compensated by an interesting harmonic structure. The first one to make his solo is Timmons based mostly on chords. Golson begins his solo with a fluid improvisation, but then unlocks the box of thunder as if the world were going to end tomorrow. Morgan follows him calmly, but soon begins to show his virtuous style. Then Merritt enters making a logical and coherent solo, and finally the group plays the re-exposure of the theme.