Byu Jazz Test 4

Front 1

Shaw ‘Nuff

Back 1

Bebop
Two of the three main originators of bebop, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

Hint 1

• There is an intro with angular unison and octave lines in saxophone and trumpet.
• The main melody is based on the chord changes to another standard. In this case it is “rhythm changes” (Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm).
• This melody is stated once. This is called the “Head.”
• Horn players and piano each take a solo. This may be as many time through the chorus as the soloist chooses. Once through the entire tune’s chord structure is one chorus.
• The tune ends with the Head again, followed by a coda made up of material from the intro.
This is typical of the larger form of a bebop performance. It is basically Head - Solos - Head.

Front 2

I Should Care

Back 2

Bebop
Here we have Thelonius Monk, the third in the triad of the most important originators of bebop
He is also first in the triad of important bebop pianists (the others being Bud Powell and John Lewis)

Hint 2

The song is a standard, a “torch song” from the “Great American Songbook.” The lyrics by Sammy Cahn
Monk’s trademark techniques can be heard here. They include the use of extreme dissonance (chords and melodies with unconventional note choices that create a kind of clash. This is expressed in tone clusters, bi-tonality, and alterations of certain notes within the chords. He also has “stabbing dissonant chords, which ‘evaporate’ leaving a single note.”

Thematic Improvisation, one of Monk’s trademark techniques is not heard here because it is only a one-chorus expression of a ballad.

Front 3

A Night in Tunisia

Back 3

Bebop
Bud Powell, the second in the triad of the most important bebop pianists. Powell is known for his Birdlike melodic lines in his improvisations. His piano style is a perfect example of cross-instrumental influence.

Hint 3

The song is Dizzy Gillespie’s most well known composition. It starts with an introduction of riff patterns building from drums (Max Roach) through bass, then the left hand of the piano. The first statement of the melody is built upon this pad set up by the rhythm section. The form is the popular song form of AABA. In the head, the style changes from a Cuban-influence Latin feel AA to swing B and back to a Latin A. The solo section is swing.
This so called “Afro-Cuban” style was introduced by Dizzy Gillespie by way of his musical relationship with Cuban conga drum player, Chano Pozo. Much of today’s “Salsa” and Latin Pop (like Ricky Martin and Gloria Estefen) can trace some roots back to the Pozo/Gillespie connection.

In the solo section, listen to the flow of those long phrases in Powell’s right hand. They are very much like Charlie Parker’s saxophone lines. Also listen for Powell’s vocalizations. He is singing his improvisations to himself as he plays. Many jazz musicians do this. The process of jazz improvisation is a mental one. It is natural for the vocal chords to respond to mental music making. The jazz musician must actually use the instrument as an extension and expression of the “mental/musical voice.”

Front 4

Koko

Back 4

Bebop
Again we have two of the triad of most important Bebop stylists, Parker and Gillespie. We also have the influential drummer, Max Roach. Gillespie also plays piano on this selection.

Hint 4

It starts with a crazy, angular, and odd introduction with improvised breaks by Diz and Bird. There is no Head, it just launches into Parker’s solo on the changes to Cherokee (the form is AABA popular song form). It is a showpiece for Bird. Gillespie only plays solos in the short breaks in the intro and coda. There is a 16-bar drum solo by Max Roach. Then the piece ends with a coda, that odd melodic line and solo breaks that opened the piece.

Front 5

Parker’s Mood

Back 5

Bebop
Here we have Bird with John Lewis, the third in the triad of influential bebop pianists. Max Roach is on drums.

Hint 5

It opens with a two measure introduction in minor with what I think is a reference to Gershwin’s Summertime. It then launches into a 12-bar blues improvisation by Bird. Parker’s Kansas City roots can really be heard in his blues interpretations. There are also amazing feats of rhythmic and metric variety, as he jumps from easy swing to double time and quadruple time passages.

Lewis’ piano solo reveals his uniquely sparse bebop phrasing and note choices, his contributions to bebop piano style. Lewis was very influenced by the music of J. S. Bach. He went on to be a cofounder (along with vibraphonist, Milt Jackson and drummer, Kenny Clarke) of the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Following Lewis’ single blues chorus, Parker returns with another 12-bar chorus followed by the coda, which is the same as the intro.

Front 6

Bernie’s Tune

Back 6

Cool
Here is our first recorded example of so-called “Cool Jazz.” This approach to jazz was introduced by Miles Davis in his set of recordings released in 1949 as “The Birth of the Cool.” Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis, and Kenny Clarke all played in these original recording sessions.

Hint 6

Cool jazz was a reaction against Bebop’s highly technical and aggressive approach to music making. Although Miles first introduced it, Cool jazz has its roots in the sound of Lester Young.
Young white musicians like trumpeter/vocalist, Chet Baker and baritone saxophonist, Gerry Mulligan, adopted the Cool Jazz sound. Cool Jazz also had the name “West Coast Jazz,” even though the first Cool Jazz recordings by Miles took place in NYC. Baker’s approach was modeled after Miles and Mulligan’s sound was much like that of Lester Young. Like almost all Cool Jazz artists, they had a kind of transparent, non-aggressive sound and an “understated” approach.

Obviously missing from this quartet is a “comping” instrument like a piano or guitar. The drums and bass lay down a rhythmic/harmonic pad for the horns to solo over. Notice how Mulligan comps for Baker. Mulligan plays contrapuntal lines behind Baker’s solo. After the solos, there is a free counterpoint section when both horns improvise over the chord changes at the same time. This is reminiscent of the New Orleans front line style.

Front 7

Concorde

Back 7

Cool
The Modern Jazz Quartet was one of the most innovative groups in jazz. John Lewis and Milt Jackson decided they did not want to play in nightclubs, where there were many distractions to the musicians and serious listeners. They started to promote their group as a serious chamber music ensemble, like a string quartet. They began to get gigs in art museums and concert stages and wore tuxedos in performances. Their approach was also much like classical music. John Lewis was a first-rate composer who wrote in classical forms, incorporating jazz elements. This kind of music became known as “Third Stream.” If classical music is one stream and jazz is another, then the combination of the two is a “Third Stream.”

Hint 7

This piece is in the form of a fugue, an imitative form of counterpoint. It is like a complicated musical “round” (Row, Row, Row Your Boat) in which the main melodies (subjects and countersubjects) enter at different points to create the polyphonic texture.

Front 8

Gertrude’s Bounce

Back 8

Hard Bop
Two of the first Hard Bop musicians, Sonny Rollins and Clifford Brown, are on this recording along with bebop drummer, Max Roach. On piano is Bud Powell’s younger brother Richie Powell, the composer of this tune.

Hint 8

The melody of this tune has West Coast Jazz elements, perhaps as a parody. Harker says part of it sounds like “a cross between Santa Claus is Coming to Town and the theme to Leave it to Beaver.” Can you hear this? The solo section takes on more Hard Bop characteristics. Clifford Brown was one of the brightest young stars of jazz in the 1950s whose life was cut short by an auto accident that also killed Richie Powell and Powell’s wife shortly after this recording was made. Brown was only 26! Unlike many jazz musicians of his time, Brown was a “clean liver.” He did not use drugs or alcohol. Had he lived longer, I’m sure that jazz trumpet playing would be different today.

Sonny Rollins continues to be one of the most influential living jazz artists. Through his work with Monk, Rollins further developed the idea of thematic improvisation, what Harker calls “motivic improvisation.”

Max Roach is, in my view, the most melodic of jazz drummers. Along with being a percussionist, he was an award-winning composer. His solo in this selection has real melodic structure expressed through the relative pitch of the various drums in his kit.

Front 9

Boogie Stop Shuffle

Back 9

Hard Bop
Charles Mingus was a proponent of Hard Bop and later was a leader in Free Jazz. Along with being an accomplished and innovative bass player, Mingus is one of the leading composers of jazz. This selection really emphasizes the roots of blues and gospel, essential elements of Hard Bop.
Mingus uses the following elements of earlier jazz roots in this composition.
• Blues form (this one is a minor blues)
• Boogie-woogie-style bass lines
• Wah-wah effects rooted in King Oliver and Duke Ellington
• Riff-based structure like a Basie “head arrangement.”

Hint 9

Mingus composed and arranged music in his head and then taught the individual parts to the members of his band, rather than writing them out. Towards the end of his life he suffered from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Even though he was physically debilitated, he continued to compose hundreds of works by singing the individual instrumental parts into a tape recorder. In recent years, these compositions have continued to be transcribed into scores and parts. New Mingus compositions continue to be premiered.

Front 10

Groovin’ High

Back 10

Bebop
Here we have Diz and Bird playing a Gillespie composition, based on the chord changes to Whispering, an old tune that was a hit for Paul Whiteman.

Hint 10

After a short intro and the head in unison and octaves between saxophone and trumpet, Parker launches into an extended solo, followed by Gillespie’s break and solo.

Front 11

Misterioso

Back 11

Bebop
This is a 12-bar blues that features Monk and Milt Jackson.

Hint 11

Listen to Jackson’s solo with its Birdlike bebop lines and how it contrasts with Monk’s solo. Rather than long flowing lines, Monk plays little chunks of phrases that are derived from the melody of the song and the spinning out of his improvisation. This is a good example of thematic improvisation. Here Monk takes melody notes, deconstructs them, and reconstructs them in variations. Two other important improvisers further refined this technique through their association with Monk. They were the tenor saxophonists, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane.

Front 12

Blue Rondo a la Turk

Back 12

Cool
The Dave Brubeck Quartet was one of the most commercially successful groups in jazz. The innovators in the group included Brubeck, Paul Desmond, and Joe Morello.

Hint 12

Brubeck was classically trained as both a pianist and composer. His innovations were in the use of various time signatures and rhythmic/metric complexity.

Desmond’s alto saxophone style offered a true contrast to those who followed Bird. His cool sound and approach was a trademark sound of the Brubeck Quartet. Like all of the other “Cool” saxophonists such as Gerry Mulligan and Stan Getz, Desmond’s sound is influenced by Lester Young.

Drummer, Joe Morello, was the perfect compliment to Brubeck’s advanced meters and time feels. He was as comfortable in 5/4 and 7/8 as he was in 4/4. His extended solo on Take Five is legendary.
Blue Rondo ala Turk is in 9/8 time with mixed meter within each measure (2, 2, 2, 3 - one-two one-two one=two one-two-three). Try to count this pattern when you listen to it. It’s like the conventional four beats to the measure, except that the fourth beat is 1/3 longer than the other three beats. This asymmetrical meter is borrowed directly from Middle Eastern Music.

The complex tune breaks into a blues with interspersed asymmetrical 9/8 measures.

Brubeck’s most famous recording is Take Five, a composition by Paul Desmond in 5/4 times.

Front 13

Senor Blues

Back 13

Hard Bop
Pianist and composer, Horace Silver is one of the top three leaders of Hard Bop groups in the 1950s and 1960s. The others are Miles Davis and drummer, Art Blakey. Miles led the most-recorded and popular Hard Bop group, the Miles Davis Quintet. Art Blakey led the Jazz Messengers well into the 1990s.

Hint 13

In Hard Bop recordings like this one, we always hear the earthy influence of the blues. There is also always a distinctive groove to each tune. In the African American communities, these recordings were popular among young people as dance music. The reason was the distinctive “funky” groove that each recording had.
This is why most “Acid Jazz” is based on Hard Bop Recordings from this era. In the 1980s and 1990s, disk jockeys in England began creating dance music, with the grooves of Hard Bop records at their core.