If you’re looking for the infamous Invitation Lead Sheet, you’ve most definitely come to the right place!
The song was written by Bronisław Kaper for the movie A Life Of Her Own in 1950.
The very first time I actually learned and heard about the song Invitation was through Jaco Pastorius’ rendition. Its bass line was and still is very unique and Jaco’s solo in it was a fantastic and iconic.
With that being said, there are many many more renditions and recordings that made a notable impact and helped make the song become famous as performed and recorded by Les Brown, John Coltrane, Roy Haynes, Joe Henderson, Stan Getz, Tony Bennett, Bill Evans and many many more.
How To Master The Invitation Lead Sheet and Song.
The invitation lead sheet is actually a pretty easy jazz standard to play and perform. Yes, there are lots of two five one progressions, but even though the song is at a fast tempo, there harmonic tempo is rather slow, meaning how fast chords past by.
While that makes it easy for the song, it is unfortunately also what makes it a bit more difficult considering that the feeling of it is vastly different from any other general jazz or bebop stand.
In general, as always, we recommend three things. Memorize the melody, memorize the harmony and practice soloing over the harmony. Practice all of these 3 things at a high speed tempo, much faster at which original renditions pac at, and you’ll be able to comfortably play it.
Next, you should take everything you’ve practiced and head on over to a jam like situation, whether it’s with friends or on a jam session stage (the latter is better) and try out every single one of your patterns, lines arpeggios and everything!
Enjoy!
