Well, You Needn't

"Well, You Needn't" is a jazz standard composed by Thelonious Monk in 1944. According to Robin Kelley in his seminal biography Thelonious Monk: the Life and Times of an American Original, the title was inspired by a protégé of Monk's, the jazz singer Charlie Beamon: Monk wrote a song and told Beamon he was going to name it after him, to which Beamon apparently replied "Well, you need not".

Like another Monk standard, "Epistrophy," the song is notable for a chord sequence in which the root note moves by semitones. There is some disagreement about the chord progression and melody in the bridge. On many club dates and jam sessions, musicians play the bridge of the tune as it was transcribed in the original Real Book:

G7 | G7 | A♭7 | A♭7 | A7 B♭7 | B7 B♭7 | A7 A♭7 | G7 C7 |

This is how Miles Davis recorded the tune on his album Steamin' with The Miles Davis Quintet. The wide proliferation of the Real Book makes this progression the de facto standard for the bridge. The "New Real Book" shows alternate bridge chords:

D♭9 | D♭9 | D9 | D9 | E♭9 E9 | E♭9 D9 | D♭9 C9 | B9 C7 |

This is the progression played by Monk himself.

Mike Ferro wrote lyrics for the song in the 1970s, sometimes recorded under the title "It's Over Now".

Performances

References

  1. ↑ See also "Miles Davis, Volume 2 (BLP 1502)". Discogs. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  2. ↑ "Tricycles overview". Allmusic.com.
  3. ↑ "Larry Coryell - Tricycles". Jazzreview.com.


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