Level: 3
Tuning: Dropped D

This arrangement is based on the piano arrangement by J. Rosamond Johnson found in The Book of American Spirituals, edited by James Weldon Johnson and published by The Viking Press in 1925. I used more or less the same bass lines as Johnson and the B-Part is also similar. However, I did sneak in a few different chords here and there and added the extra passages between the A and B parts and at the end. It was really refreshing to discover Johnson’s beautiful rendition of this old classic, as the versions I’ve heard have always been more simplified harmonically. There is a heavy swing on this piece, and a lot of movement as well, particularly in the bass. Once you lock it in, keep it swinging!