“The Secret Love Affair” (PDF) from the Delfeayo Marsalis album, Kalamazoo

A recurring theme of The Last Southern Gentlemen, the 2014 album on which the Delfeayo Marsalis composition “The Secret Love Affair” originally appears, is the allusion to more going on than what the public is presented. While the music honors those who persevere through the trying confines, the live performance captured on the 2017 album, Kalamazoo, demonstrates the musicians’ in-the-moment effort to make the work appear to be effortless.

The liner notes for Kalamazoo state that “The Secret Love Affair” is an 11-bar minor blues, skipping over the fact that the 11th bar is an abbreviated measure to accommodate the quick-turnaround phrasing. This is essentially the song’s form - the 11-bar form is observed during the improvised sections of the Gentlemen recording - but the melodic section includes an extra 4-bar tag before repeating the blues form. On the live recording, the band also struggles to agree on the turnaround phrase before eventually settling into a 16-bar chorus. The audience in attendance, however, remains unaware of anything other than the band of perfect gentlemen.

Here is a YouTube video of a Delfeayo Marsalis from the 2014 tour of The Last Southern Gentlemen that includes a brief shot of the lead sheet, and yet the solos use a 12-bar form:

Recommended reading: No Cell Phone Day by Delfeayo Marsalis. Published by Kidstown Press.