Little Sunflower by Freddie Hubbard has been my focus this month.
I’ve been part of Matt Warnock’s online jazz study group for a number of years now. Each month we work on a different tune, and at the end of it we submit a performance for feedback—from Matt and from other players in the group. It’s a great process. There are musicians from all over the world involved, and over time you really start to hear how people develop.
February’s tune was Little Sunflower by Freddie Hubbard. I love this tune, and I didn’t just want to play the tune from the lead sheet. I wanted to bring something of my own to it.
Depending on how you look at Little Sunflower, the harmony allows D and A to sit almost like drone tones throughout. That became the starting point. I set up a series of drones with swells and stutters, letting them evolve using delay, reverb and tremolo. The oscillation isn’t locked to the tempo—it moves independently—and I like what that does. It adds a sense of movement underneath everything, without being tied down.
I recorded the drones using my looper with an “empty loop” technique, then shaped them further with effects. In places I drop them out completely, just to let the piece breathe.
Everything was recorded in my little room at the end of the house—my music room. Guitar and bass are both me. The drums were part of a backing track provided by Matt for the month’s study (see my article on AI stem separation for more). I wanted to keep the whole thing fairly minimal, real, and feel like a band performance.
The arrangement grew quite naturally. The intro is made up of short chord punches that hint at the B section before moving into the full head. I play the melody in a few different ways—single line and with different harmonies—as this is something I’m submitting to my peers, so I wanted to explore that side of it a bit more.
After that there’s a solo over the form, with each A section getting a slightly different bass treatment. For the head out, the bass takes the melody. When the B section comes around, it starts in a more familiar way, then shifts—first into two-bar phrases, then into one-bar phrases. At that point it starts to feel less like a melody and more like a bass line, which opens things up for a kind of ride-out solo.
Right at the end, bass and guitar come together on the shortened B section.
I recorded and mixed everything myself. The final step was to do the live guitar take with video—one take, no overthinking—and that’s what you see here, and what I submitted.
I’ve built a bit of a reputation in the group for trying different things—textures, sounds, approaches—and for me that’s where the interest is. Just playing the tune as it sits on the page isn’t enough. I think we have to bring more of ourselves to it, and in my case that includes using technology as part of the process, not as a gimmick but as a way of shaping the music.
After submitting this, Matt shared some really kind words about it, which meant a lot given the level of players in the group and how long I’ve been part of it:
“Serge just posted his Little Sunflower Final Project, and it’s a beautiful example of what steady, patient growth can look like over time.
His playing has taken a big step forward. More atmosphere. More intention. More storytelling in the music.
For this project he didn’t just play the tune. He built an environment around it… It’s creative. Thoughtful. And very musical.
One of the things I love most is how Serge keeps experimenting… That curiosity is where real musical growth happens.”
That idea of steady growth, and staying curious, is really what this is all about. I hope you enjoyed it.