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Malagueña” is a song by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona. It was originally the sixth movement of Lecuona’s Suite Andalucía (1933), to which he added lyrics in Spanish. It is one of the most recognizable pieces of music that instantly evoke a Spanish feeling.

While the original is in 3/4 time, Jerry Byrd arranged in 4/4 with some passages briefly in 12/8 time. As many others did, Byrd freely picked the sections he liked and created variations on those themes in lieu of playing the music exactly as the composer envisioned. Byrd’s rhythmic notation in his hand-written Pro Arrangement was not always crystal clear. So I have further interpreted Byrd’s arrangement to my taste in places that were ambiguous in his tablature. Byrd played the whole piece in free time, allowing his own feeling to dictate how he played it and changing it somewhat in each performance. Byrd’s brilliance as a player/arranger comes through clearly in this beautiful arrangement.

E9 ^th Tuning (low to high) E, G#, D, E, F#, G#, B, E