Ethan Semone

Charlie Baty is an ace blues, jazz and swing guitarist from Northern California.  In 1976 along with harpist and vocalist Rick Estrin, Baty formed Little Charlie and the Nightcats in Sacramento and they soon began playing clubs and festivals up and down the West Coast.  After spending a decade on the road they finally released their debut album, 1987’s All the Way Crazy, on Chicago’s famed Alligator Records.  “Eyes Like a Cat” is a stand out track from that album and a great introduction to Baty and Swing/Jump Blues in general.

Based on a familiar 12 bar from in B major, the song opens with a quick verse and chorus.  Baty then takes over playing a solo that goes through the form 9 straight times (108 bars).  He incorporates major and minor pentatonic runs along with licks that carve out the changes giving the solo a Bebop flavor.  Look at bar 56 where Baty plays a slick run that implies a C#-7  to F#9  (ii-V) change.  Beginning around bar 89 and continuing for the rest of the solo he begins using a number of double stops and other repetitive figures to finish things out.  Check out the neat little call and response bit at bar 121.

Download a .PDF of the transcription here:

Eyes Like a Cat

You can find Guitar Pro and Tab Pro versions here:

http://profile.ultimate-guitar.com/esemone/http://profile.ultimate-guitar.com/esemone/

Good luck with this one!

Ethan