Dat Dere

"Dat Dere"
Song
Genre	Jazz
Language	English
Writer	Oscar Brown, Jr.
Composer	Bobby Timmons

"Dat Dere" is a jazz song with music by Bobby Timmons and lyrics by Oscar Brown, Jr.

Creation

Timmons composed the music in succession with the songs "Dis Here" and "Which Were?".^{[citation needed]} It was first recorded in 1960 by Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers on the album "The Big Beat" while Timmons was the band's pianist.^[1]

Oscar Brown Jr. penned the lyrics later for the song's release on his 1961 début album "Sin & Soul...and Then Some", as he did with two other recent jazz instrumentals, Mongo Santamaría's "Afro Blue," and Nat Adderley's "Work Song".^[2] Brown's lyrics describe a child's curiosity and excitement on a visit to the zoo with his father, and the parent's reflections on the child's growing up. The song was inspired by a zoo visit with his son Oscar "Bobo" Brown III.^{[citation needed]} Oscar Brown Jr. wrote song lyrics in honor of each of his children; "Brown Baby" is a tribute to his first born son David "Napoleon" Brown.^{[citation needed]}

Musical structure

It features a joint trumpet and tenor solo from measures 9 through 23. Then the saxophone takes its own solo from measures 34 through 59, sporting a D minor- B minor7 (b5)- E minor7 (b5) chord progression. At measure 59 the whole band joins in for a loud and proud "shout chorus." It takes the coda back to 18, and once measure 30 is finished, it is open to the whole band to solo individually.

Other versions

• Cannonball Adderley recorded/performed a version of this song when Bobby Timmons was a member of the quintet, and so did Art Blakey.
• A Swedish version, "Va' e' de' där", was performed by Monica Zetterlund. The Swedish lyrics were written by Beppe Wolgers.
• Rickie Lee Jones recorded the song for her 1991 Pop Pop album.
• Mel Tormé performed his version of this song on Raph J. Gleason's exemplary Jazz Casual series. Taped on May 2, 1964, features Mel with Gary Long on piano, Perry Lind on bass, and Benny Barth on drums.

References

1. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r783803 retrieved 25 Jun 2010
2. ^ http://biography.jrank.org/pages/2789/Brown-Oscar-Jr.html