Ron Carter’s “Tail Feathers” Is a Lighthearted Fusion of Styles

By Kip Jones | From the May/June 2025 issue of Strings

“Tail Feathers,” by the great bassist Ron Carter, is the third track from his 1981 album Patrão. Like much of Maestro Carter’s recorded work as a leader, it features an all-star lineup: Kenny Barron on piano, Jack DeJohnette on drums, and Chet Baker on trumpet. I recommend listening while reading this article—the quartet plays with ease and joy. “Tail Feathers” is not a mountain to summit, but a graceful interaction among friends, each confident in the nature of the tradition.

First, Carter’s composition is something of a bagatelle, with an unassuming 32-bar AABA form, harmonically balanced between blues (the first change is from the tonic I to IV dominant 7) and gospel (the very next, up to #IV diminished, then up again to I in the second inversion). The A sections have a call-and-response melody, with accented calls and easeful responses, followed by a quick jaunt out to VI-II-V and back to the tonic with a button-nose of a cadence.

The B section chord changes are from the 1944 Ellington et al. standard “I’m Beginning to See the Light” (a song I loved listening to as a child, on borrowed cassettes from the library). Like the bridge of the famous 1930 Gershwin standard “I’ve Got Rhythm,” it begins on the dominant III (a striking moment in each chorus). But unlike Gershwin, who “cycle-fives” his way through, resolving each chord down a fifth to the next dominant until reaching the tonic at the top of the last A, Ellington steps chromatically down.

Beautiful simplicity! Did you know that dominant chords a tritone apart share the set of their third and seventh degrees? When a composer or improviser swaps one for the other, it’s called a tritone substitution. And it’s why Ellington’s bridge can descend chromatically from III–bIII–II-bII, still arrive on the tonic at the top of the last A, and really open the texture for musicians to say any number of interesting things.

Recently, suddenly, my string quartet, ETHEL, had the pinch-me-I’m-dreaming opportunity to work with Carter, not for a commercial date but for an honest-to-goodness “what do you want to do?” kind of opportunity—at Carnegie Hall, no less. So we all got together and talked about it. Carter recalled a record date he had done with the Kronos Quartet back in 1985 of music by Thelonious Monk, arranged for string quartet, that was never publicly performed. With permission from Kronos, we got in touch with the arranger, pianist Tom Darter, who still had his pencil scores from the session (a small miracle). Darter graciously made us a copy, and we engaged our New York City colleague, violist Andrew Griffin, to prepare the pencil scores for the quintet’s performance. Now, here we are in 2025, 40 years after the original record date, giving these now-historic “Monk meets string quartet” charts a première. How excited am I allowed to be about this?

That Kronos record, Monk Suite, is a proper LP at 40 minutes in length. We needed a second half for the concert. Carter plays a great (and highly polyrhythmic) Brandenburg III, so that was a shoo-in. Ethel’s cellist, Dorothy Lawson, who has played in Ron Carter’s Nonet project for many years, wanted to add two charts from that book, Carter’s original ballad “Song for a Friend” and a much-loved funk version of the gospel classic “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.”

As for me, I wanted to arrange “Tail Feathers”: something elegant, lighthearted, fun—something I could convince my more classical colleagues to improvise on. I wanted to keep to the form, thus preserving our rehearsal time. I loved the quirky whole-tone figure that Carter uses in the bridge melody, so I based a 16-bar intro and an eight-bar interlude on it. More than anything, I wanted to try and highlight the intersection between the blues, gospel, and mid-1940s cool that makes the piece so special. 

Some closing pointers for musicians who choose to read or rehearse this arrangement: 

1) Staccato quarter notes define the accompaniment figures. As we know, our instruments have almost too many articulation options! Finding a great time-feel on quarter notes is the basis for stringed instrument jazz accompaniment. Once you have that, embellishment will be second nature. 

2) Lines are often slurred starting on offbeats. This is a horn player’s breath pattern that translates wonderfully to the bow, and can be heard in the work of Stuff Smith, Eddie South, Ray Nance, Regina Carter, and others. 

3) Play along with the track! Pick up a copy of Ron Carter’s Patrão, and use the lines, chords, and ideas in this arrangement to find your way to soloing alongside the recorded greats.

Please allow me to close with a note of gratitude to Maestro Carter. He’s tireless in his generosity and commitment to younger musicians. This kind of teaching takes place both on and off the bandstand, and I’m deeply grateful to him, and to others who shoulder that mantle, as we continue studying and learning how to foster familial musical experiences full of listening, kindness, and good choices in this complex and troubled world.

Violinist and composer Kip Jones has performed throughout the world and is a member of string quartet ETHEL. The work studied here is Jones’ 2025 arrangement of Ron Carter’s 1981 composition “Tail Feathers.”

“Tail Feathers” will be available until July 1.

What Kip Jones Plays

Instrument David Folland violin, 2021

Bow Arcus S6 octagonal 

Strings Thomastik-Infeld Dominant Pro

Pegs Perfection

Shoulder Rest Pedi

Case Gewa Air