I’ve heard and read various contradictory accounts about the events leading up to the performance of “Dimiuendo and Crescendo in Blue” at Newport in 1956.  The recent lack of success of Duke’s band; possible punishment for recent performance problems stemming from Paul’s alcohol and drug addictions; tensions among the ‘high-society’ patrons of Newport with the younger dancehall crowd…all of these factors may or may not have contributed to the folklore that now surrounds this 6 minute and 20 second solo.

As for the solo itself, there are many things which make it great besides its epic length and uncommon key (uncommon at least to many modern horn players).  Paul Gonsalves was one of the most unique voices on the tenor saxophone, but his style is often overlooked for some of the players that were deemed more “mainstream” in jazz.  I’m not looking to start any arguments about who decides what ‘mainstream jazz’ is any more than I’m looking to join the argument about what “jazz” is as a music and a term.  In analyzing the 27 choruses, a few things jump out at me.

1. Range – Paul never plays below an E (talking tenor here, so I’m speaking of an E-flat blues for a tenor player) and only plays up to high Gb, with the exception of one altissimo high G.  The majority of the solo occurs between his Eb at the near the top of the staff and his high Gb!

2. Confidence – Paul does not hesitate a single time in the 27 choruses.  When I started learning this solo in graduate school I don’t think that I could play a single chorus without hesitation at least once while navigating the uncommon key centers of an Eb blues.  In truth, this was probably caused by #3.

3. Ammunition – There is no question in my mind that Paul had worked out a number of ideas and licks for this solo.  Check out the 14th chorus if you don’t believe me!  In fact, I would go on to say that most of this solo is extremely effective lick-based playing, much like the great Sonny Stitt.  Now Paul and Sonny had different material, but the effective use and rhythmic development of riffs and themes to me is very similar.  The big difference in their sounds would be their harmonic language: Paul incoporates the major triads from a tritone away, giving a distinct flat-nine sharp-eleven sound to his dominant chords.  This is also known as the “Petrushka chord” from Stravinsky’s 1911 ballet.  Listeners often point to the first chorus where he opens with an A major triad (along with an E-flat) over the E-flat dominant chord as coming from far away.  However, a listen to Duke’s interlude two choruses before Gonsalves begins shows that his opening statement came right from the composers ears.

Download audio file (Duke-Interlude-Diminuendo.mp3)

Anyways, without any further ado, here are the 27 choruses of Paul Gonsalves’ most famous solo, written out in B-flat for tenor players.

Download audio file (Paul-Gonsalves-Diminuendo-solo.mp3)

- evan

Before we pass any judgements, we must realize that context HUGELY affects our feelings for a work of art.  Imagine a picture of two solid-colored squares – on the wall of an elementary school hall, you might think “pretty easy” – on the wall of the MOMA, you might think “pretty brilliant.”  But that’s an oversimplification – to understand the squares, you need to know the title and some information about the artist’s background.  If you learn that the artist has also drawn highly detailed sketches of the human body, you might think that the squares are simple not by necessity of ease but for a purpose.  You might reconsider your feelings when learning that the name of the artist is recognizable.  While the squares may or may not cause an initial visceral reaction, your feelings for them will be influenced by the context.

Jazz – like modern art – has sounds that are not necessarily enjoyed by everyone.  Like all the great art forms, jazz has purveyors of modernism looking to challenge the listener’s notions of what is and isn’t music.  Context is certainly going to affect your feelings for those sounds.  Listen to this excerpt:

Download audio file (greatness-or-craziness.mp3)

If you heard that at the Village Vanguard, you might dig it.  If you heard it in Central Park, you might think someone disturbed found a saxophone.  Would your taste for the sounds change if I told you that the recording was of John Coltrane?

That sound snippet of Albert Ayler was unfair, because I removed the context of the entire composition and just gave you 15 seconds of intensive improvisation.  However, let’s say that we as observers have enough self-awareness to actually cut away the influence of context and judge “good” and “bad” solely on what our senses experience.  In jazz, where there’s “no such thing as a wrong note,” I think that the governing factor is voice.  What I mean by ‘voice’ is really twofold:

First off, the notion that there are no wrong notes in jazz is contingent on the ability of the player.  Take for instance, a B-natural on a C7 chord (spelled C E G B-flat).  Offhand the note will clash and it could sound like a mistake, but you can earn that dissonance by how you get to the B-natural or where you go from it.  Perhaps you’re implying a subdominant chord (G7) leading into your dominant. Or maybe you’re beginning to shape a tritone substitution (C#m7 to F#7).  This is probably way more technical than you’re interested in – the point is, a player can ‘voice’ that “wrong” note into a “right” one.  In the many saxophone lessons I took with Ralph Lalama, he always loved to hammer that point home (“it’s the voicings you m…..f…..r!”)  Ralph is not one for subtlety.

The second part of ‘voice’ that is important is the delivery of the player.  If a player phrases with confidence and generates a recognizable style of playing, their musical world will open up into endless possibilities.  Every note sounds with purpose and a player is free to play without constraints, following not the technical aspects of music but their inner voice.  This is SO much easier said than done, however, and the aural difference between those who have accomplished this Olympian feat and those who merely claim to is often extremely subtle.

There’s an oft-overlooked saxophonist whom I heard for the first time in 2006: Gary Bartz.  Gary was playing with the McCoy Tyner Trio in NYC and I was immediately blown away.  His phrasing, vocabulary, and delivery were all so incredible – I couldn’t believe that I had NEVER heard his name mentioned in a classroom at graduate school.  The most memorable tune of the set for me was McCoy’s ‘Blues at the Corner.’ I’ve posted a version from around the same time below along with a transcription of Gary’s first two choruses which start at 1:02 into the video.

Some very interesting shapes used by Gary Bartz on what for him is a G blues!

Interestingly enough, in an interview with Bret “The Jazz Video Guy” Mr. Bartz recently spoke about voice and how students in music school are going about finding theirs in a ‘backwards’ manner compared to how cats in his generation found theirs.

A great example of a recent music school graduate who does not in any way lack for voice is Nashville saxophonist Rahsaan Barber.  Rahsaan is a great technician and instrumentalist, but most impressive is that he has a fully developed voice.  In his carefully chosen words, Rahsaan always manages to convey that his playing is first and foremost guided by a strong inner voice.  I know this to be true because Rahsaan’s playing and sound are instantly recognizable (and if they’re not to you, buy his recent album!).

I’m very excited to announce that Rahsaan will be sharing his talents and insights at this month’s Nashville Jazz Workshop Jam Session, to be held on Sunday April 17th at FIVE pm (later start time than usual!).  I look forward to seeing you there!

-evan

When I first watched the video, I immediately recognized the saxophone riff, but couldn’t remember from where.  That got me thinking about composition – some of the most effective and long-lasting music features riffs or tunes that get stuck in our head, no matter the context of the music.  For instance, I guarantee you recognize the opening melody of Mozart’s 40th Symphony.  Have you ever seen the 40th performed?  A chance, but not all that likely.  And yet you recognize the melody…how can that be?

This past Sunday afternoon at the Frist Center here in Nashville, saxophonist Jeff Coffin gave a free concert and lecture as part of the Jazz on the Move series entitled “The Art of Composition.”  Mr. Coffin spoke about all of the musical elements which can be utilized to make an effective composition. What really struck me about the presentation was that all of his tunes sounded familiar, even the ones that I hadn’t heard before.  I believe the reason for this is that Mr. Coffin’s compositions would often marry one or two slightly complicated elements – (i.e. a twisty melody or tricky metric meter) with simplicity in other elements (i.e. dynamics and articulations that clarify the phrase lengths).  The combination of a few complex elements with the simplicity of other elements made the composition sound clear and deceptively simple.

This was the final composition played by Mr. Coffin this Sunday.  Take a look and have a listen.

Download audio file (Mad-Hatter-melody.mp3)

As you already know, Jeff Coffin is world renowned for his saxophone playing.  When taking a closer look at his soloing however, we can see that his improvisations reflect the same ideals as his compositions: a combination of informed simplicity and just enough complexity to keep every listener guessing.  It makes sense when you consider the nature of improvisation as spontaneous composition.  Consider this quote from jazz icon Jimmy Heath, from an interview in the New York Daily News just yesterday.

“Improvisation is spontaneous composing, with a given structure,” he says. “The good improvisers will always have a pattern that they’ll repeat in different strata of the harmony. If you listen to people who are also writers, the way they play a solo is like they’re composing as they go along.”

Now have a listen and take a look at Jeff’s solo on The Mad Hatter Rides Again from his 2005 album Bloom.

Download audio file (The-Mad-Hatter-Rides-Again-solo-edit.mp3)

Which brings me to this coming weekend’s Nashville Jazz Workshop Jam Session.  The featured guest this month is also a saxophonist who is especially talented at crafting elaborate solos that seem composed, but start with “simple” riffs.  Like the Sexy Sax Man, he also has a history with horn section pelvic thrusting, as you can see at 1:40 into this video of the famous Gloria Estefan HBO concert from 1996.  Jokes aside, this saxophonist won a Grammy Award for his work with Arturo Sandoval and his toured the world in numerous professional settings many times over.  I hope you’re as excited as I am to hear the very talented Kenny Anderson!

Dexter showing good posture and proper embrouchure

While Dexter became known to a mainstream audience late in his career due to his leading role in the movie ‘Round Midnight for which he was nominated as best actor for the 1986 Oscars, he has always been known to jazz fans for his use of riffs and quotes in his solos.  Wanting to find a better understanding of where that vocabulary came from, I’ve started listening to some of his older tracks, mainly from the disc ‘Dexter Rides Again‘, his first album as bandleader.

Once Dexter got a recording contract from Blue Note Records, he recorded very few original tunes.  On ‘Dexter Rides Again’ however, ten of the eleven tracks were penned by Gordon himself.  Listening to the heads of a few of these tunes gives the listener an idea of how his compositions reflected his riff-based playing.

Settin’ the Pace, Pts. 1 & 2 -  similar to a rhythm changes (Leo Parker on bari)

Download audio file (2-settin-the-pace-pts.mp3)

Blow Mr. Dexter - an unfortunately titled blues

Download audio file (9-blow-mr.mp3)

Dexter Rides Again – an original tune and the title track

Download audio file (5-dexter-rides-again.mp3)

It’s also worth noting how much you can hear Lester Young’s direct influence on Dexter’s playing in 1945.  In fact, if you check out the Verve album ‘Lester Young Trio‘ released in 1994, you’ll find four Dexter Gordon tracks recorded in 1943 at the end of the disc.

At the Cobb’s Mob! gig last weekend here in Nashville, we played a Dexter Gordon tune penned in similar fashion.  Here’s our version and my solo:

The Chase – recorded 6.7.09 at Cafe CoCo

Download audio file (the-chase-6709-solo-edit.mp3)

How has Dexter Gordon influenced you?

- evan

In Your Own Sweet Way
Download audio file (in-your-own-sweet-way.mp3)

As I furthered my musical studies, I found that I preferred the playing of a number of John Coltrane’s contemporaries to that of Trane. Perhaps this was partly due to the fact that I had already transcribed a lot of Trane’s material from the late 50s, but in college and my time with Buddha’s Belly, I found the material of saxophonists like Stan Getz, Sonny Stitt, and most especially Sonny Rollins to be more magnetizing and more helpful to me as a student. Many detractors of Trane’s playing lament that his style in the mid-1950s, while beautiful and amazing in many ways, was very patterned. Listening to these other players, I discovered things like how to more effectively use standard vocabulary (Stitt), how to weave and connect ideas from chorus to chorus (Getz), and how to make simple ideas swing extremely hard (Rollins).

John Coltrane certainly has one of the most recognized sounds of all tenor saxophonists and jazz musicians. Unlike many of his peers however, John Coltrane was not immediately recognized as a genius. In fact, some early musical embarrassments are what led to him to become obsessed with practicing. Coltrane’s early obsession with practicing is evident in some of the easily spotted patterns that appeared in his solos. Examining Coltrane’s solos on tunes like ‘Lazy Bird’ from Blue Train or ‘Love For Sale’ from the Miles album ’58 Sessions, you can see that there are only a few places where he states a rhythmic idea or theme. Trane primarily relies on scales and diatonic ideas, often repeating himself or only slightly varying something he played earlier.

Lazy Bird
Download audio file (lazy-bird-alternate-take.mp3)

John Coltrane’s effective and virtuosic use of simple diatonic patterns is what led him in the direction of his more unique and complicated patterns. Seeing how effectively he could play with linear patterns, Trane began incorporating the same simple linear ideas into different harmonic patterns, particularly in ascending and descending major thirds. This same sort of patterned soloing is what led him to write the famous (and famously difficult) tunes such as ‘Giant Steps’, ‘Countdown’, ‘26-2’, and others.

Countdown
Download audio file (countdown.mp3)

However, after time Trane himself rejected his patterned approach to practicing and soloing. Abandoning the constraints that he had worked so hard to incorporate into his playing, Trane instead focused on playing freely and modally on tunes with little to no scripted chord changes, such as ‘A Love Supreme,’ ‘Ascension,’ and ‘Kulu Sé Mama.’ This coincided with the time in his life where Trane became deeply spiritual, which he incorporated into his songs and solos, leading to some marathon tunes of over 30 minutes and what some might term “speaking in tongues.” Here is a quote from John during that era in the early 1960s:

“Over all, I think the main thing a musician would like to do is give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things that he knows of and senses in the universe…”

I’ve been thinking so much about Coltrane because this Sunday I am playing in Kyle Burnham’s band in “A Quasi Coltrane Tribute.” The ensemble is focusing on the later, modal tunes of Coltrane like Resolution, Impressions, and India. These tunes are often mistakenly thought of as easy because they are modal – based in one key with little to no chord changes – meaning young players can solo on them with just cursory knowledge of one or two scales. Having been dedicated to playing ‘within the changes’ for the last few years as well as turned off by amateur renditions, I’ve neglected to listen to this material properly in a long time. But delving back into this material has completely inspired me. John Coltrane was functioning at such an amazing musical and spiritual level that it’s very invigorating and uplifting just to hear, let alone attempt.

Resolution
Download audio file (resolution-part-2.mp3)

So I hope you will enjoy me in sharing this great man’s works this coming Sunday, November 30^th at 8:00 inside Café Coco. For those of you who live out of town, I’ll post some highlights on here once I get them.

www.myspace.com/kyleburnham

- evan