Week 10

Hard Bop

Review

50’s-60’s

Evolved directly from bebop during the 1950s, mainly among East Coast and Midwest musicians.

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Mainstream, post-bop – a refined bebop style

-Smoother/relaxed, hard driving linear lines.

-Differs relatively little from bebop

Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet, Sonny Rollins

Subcategory

Funky jazz, and Soul jazz = earthy, blues-drenched, gospelish

pieces associated with:

Horace silver groups, Cannonball Adderley groups, Lee Morgan groups

Characteristics (G, 123-125):

-Improvised lines sometimes were simpler than bebop lines.

-Drummers play with more activity.

(i.e. Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Max Roach)

-Newer forms of music appear, braking away from 32-bar pop tune forms

-There is a hard-driving feeling that pushes relentlessly, with an emphasis on

consistent swinging.

-Piano comping has more variety of rhythms and chord voicings

-Complex harmonies are seen more frequently.

(i.e. Wayne Shorter)

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Clifford Brown (trumpet, composer)(G,134-135)

-Epitomizes mainstream, hard bop jazz trumpet

-Hard driving linear lines

-Fat warm sound (refined)

-Occasional upper register utilizations

-Graceful change playing

Jazz Classics CD “Gertrude’s Bounce” (G, 136-137)

Art Blakey (drummer, bandleader)

-“School of Jazz” president

-Hard-driving, unrelenting force, always swinging with supercharged energy, ever

present presence

-Always featured the youngest, newest, most promising “young jazz lions”.

-Inspired and provoked his musicians to the highest artistic levels

(improvisation/composition)

Horace Silver (pianist, composer, band leader)(G, 125-126)

Hard bop’s most prolific composer

-Twenty-five years’ worth of compositions for Blue Note record

company

-Put together arrangements that were generally more elaborate than

those of other hard bop groups.

-His arranging skills for his two horns and three rhythm (Quintet)

made a group sound larger than it really was.

-Classic composer of Funky/Soul Jazz genre

Julian (Cannonball) Adderley (alto saxophonist, composer)(G, 138)

-Charlie Parkers successor

-As Clifford is to Dizzy so Cannonball is to Bird

.tone warm and glowing (refined)

.colored his huge tone with blue notes and wails

.loved to double-time (play quickly)

.Played with fire and at times quite reflectively

(“Kind of Blue”)

-Co-led a series of bands with brother Nat Adderley during 50’s-70’s

Popular funky jazz pieces:

“Jive Samba,” “Work Song,” “Sack o’ Woe,” “Country Preacher,” “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”

Jazz Classics CD “Two Bass Hit” (G, 128-130)

Sonny Rollins (tenor saxophonist, composer)(G, 139-141)

-Was among the first group of musicians to use Charlie Parker’s alto sax

style on tenor saxophone. (John Coltrane & Sonny Rollins)

-Master of Melodic development technique (i.e. he treated a piece as

though its tempo, chord progressions, and melody were mere toys to be

played with).

-He has a powerful musical mind that avoids musical clichés, even at high

speeds.

Track 73 Jazz Classics CD “Gertrude’s Bounce” (G, 136-137)

(Miles Davis and John Coltrane lecture on November 13)

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Review for Test #2

“The Swing Era”

*Early 1930’s through the mid 1940’s. Also called the “big band era”

Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Glen Miller were household names 1930’s-40’s.

*Sweet verses Hot bands?

*Swing was the most popular style in jazz history

*Swing verses early jazz (G,55,56):

*Big Band Instrumentation (G,56-57)

*Basic big band arrangement (G, 58):

Prominent Swing Soloists:

*Coleman Hawkins (tenor saxophone) (G, 61)

*His approach to improvisation:

*“Body and Soul”

Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra (1939) featuring:

Coleman Hawkins – Tenor Saxophone

(Example of vertical improvisation)

Jazz Classics CD

*Lester Young (tenor saxophone) (G,66-67)

*His approach to improvisation:
*Roy Eldridge (trumpet) (G, 60)

*Art Tatum (pianist) (G, 74)

Transitional figure to BeBop

“Tiger Rag” - *Jazz Classics CD*

*Benny Goodman (clarinet) (D, 69) (G, 76)

*Billie Holiday (vocalist) (G, 69)

-Most influential singer associated with jazz since the early 1930s, nicknamed “Lady Day”

-Characteristics:

*“Back in Your Own Back Yard” – (Jazz Classics CD)

*Count Basie (Pianist/band leader) (G, 62-66) (B,91-95)

Piano characteristics:

His rhythm section?

Walter Page, Freddie Green, Jo Jones

Count Basie- pianist?

Basie big band arrangements:

Kansas City Style – History (Kansas City style jazz)

(Riffs, Head arrangements)

Count Basie’s “Taxi War Dance” – (Jazz Classics CD)

*Duke Ellington (pianist/composer/big band leader) (G, 77-83) (B, 96-102)

Ellington at a glance:

One of the most outstanding figures in jazz history! The single most creative and prolific composer and arranger in jazz history
As a bandleader, Ellington maintained a large ensemble continuously from the early 1920s to his death in 1974, with many musicians remaining for ten to thirty years at a stretch. (most stable and longest-lived ensemble in jazz history)
As a composer he wrote over 2000 compositions, as well as many arrangements and re-arrangements of them. Many pieces were eventually turned into popular songs such as “Satin Doll”, “Mood Indigo,” “Do Nothin’ till you hear from Me,” and “Don’t get Around Much Anymore.”
As an arranger, Ellington was known for

Including a diversity of themes within a single piece
Drawing instruments from different sections of the band to play a part together, a technique called voicing across sections
Assigning a part to female voice as though it were an instrument, also known as wordless vocal. “Creole Love Call”

“Harlem Airshaft” – (Jazz Classics CD)

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Bebop

*Bebop compare/contrast to Swing (G, 88-89)(B, 70, 73)

*Bebop’s incubation period (early 1940’s) – Minton’s Playhouse Monday night jam

sessions (B, 71)

*Why did white America and some prominent swing musician reject Bebop?

*Primary early bebop figures:

Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonius Monk

*Charlie Parker, alto saxophone(G, 91-93):

-astonished the music world with his melodic imagination

-unprecedented mastery of the saxophone

-the speed at which he was able to improvise with ingenious creativity

Many musicologists consider Parker to be one of the most brilliant figures in twentieth-century music

He built an entire system of improvisation and composition by selecting unique, non-tradition notes that fit around the notes in the accompaniment chords

* “Ko-Ko” Jazz Classics CD

*Dizzy Gillespie, trumpet (G, 94):

Louis Armstrong to Roy Eldridge to Dizzy Gillespie

-Innovative melodic concepts, high-register playing (simultaneously)

-Harmonic skills - “Bird’s” equal on trumpet

-Weaved in and out of different keys within a single phrase resolving his lines logically

to fit a chord change

-made lasting contributions as a composer

*Thelonious Monk, piano (G, 98):

*Bud Powell, piano (G, 99,100)

Cool Jazz

West Coast Jazz (50’s)

(B, 74-76)

*Characteristics:

Tone quality?

Melodic lines (melodies/improvisations)?

Rhythm sections?

*Overall ensemble affect?

Softer, subdued, introspective, overall group affect = “Cool”

*Historical figures who directly/indirectly influenced the cool jazz styles?

*Birth of Cool?

Miles Davis nonet “Birth of the Cool” (1949-1950) Landmark recording (G, 114)

Major “Cool” figures:

*Lennie Tristano (pianist, composer, band leader) (G, 112)

-Created a modern alternative to bebop during the 1940s

-Was just as complex as bebop (not easily singable), but differed

.Avoided stock Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie phrases

.Preferred long smooth phrases less jumpy

-Created his own style

.Art Tatum, Lester Young

.Johann Sebastian Bach

*Lee Konitz (alto saxophone) (G, 114)

-Konitz’s style was inspired by Tristano, while most other young alto

saxophonists at that time were imitating Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker verses? Lee Konitz’s

Jazz Classics CD – “Subconscious-Lee” (1949)

Featuring Lee Konitz and Lennie Tristano

Gerry Mulligan (Baritone saxophonist, composer) (G, 115)

-His style (compositions, improvisational approach and tone quality) epitomizes

the “Cool” genre

-1952-1954, California, piano-less quartets

.two horns, bass and drums

.journalist dubbed this group as “West Coast Jazz”

Dave Brubeck (pianist, composer) (G, 117)

-Led the best known of all cool jazz groups

-He achieved widespread international fame leading a quartet from 1951 to 1967

with California-born alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, a bassist, and a drummer.

-Brubeck is a modern jazz musician who does not use the bebop language, and

who like to incorporate classical styles.

-Popularity?

-Innovator with rhythm “Take Five” – Dave Brubeck

.His quartet’s music provided an introduction to jazz for millions of new

listeners, including a whole generation of college students

Stan Kenton (band leader) (G, 118-120)

-Led the best-known succession of big bands in modern jazz

-The band usually emphasized composition more than improvisation

-Loudest band. High register brass arrangements

-Nonswinging concert music consisting of rich, modern harmony

-Commercially successful which lead to musical experimentation

-One of the founders of the college stage band movement