The Kyle Burnham Jazz Quintet

Jason Dumars, soprano sax

EC, tenor sax

Matt Berry, guitar

Todd Parks, bass

Kyle Burnham, drums

Pursuance (head + tenor solo)

Download audio file (pursuance-headsolo.mp3)
  

Impressions (tenor solo)

Download audio file (impressions-solo-only.mp3)
    

Resolution (head + tenor solo)

Download audio file (resolution-solo-edit.mp3)
  

- 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

That being said, there is a band that I have never forgotten about because they are terrific players and wonderful people.  Based in central Illinois, the guys of The Station are old friends who I just discovered are playing Nashville for the first time this Saturday night.  So this note is to encourage you to come out and support them.  I’ve posted the show details below along with links to the band so you can hear how good they are.  There might even be a surprise guest at the show…

The Station – the official AFTER PARTY for Umphrey’s McGee

Saturday, November 15^th

11 pm @ 12^th and Porter

www.thestationmusic.com

www.myspace.com/thestationmusic

www.12thandporterlive.com

- evan

Ruby My Dear

Download audio file (ruby-my-dear.mp3)

Please let me know if you enjoy the recording.  If you do I’ll consider posting more recent recordings.

-evan

www.dynagrooveallstars.com
www.frenchquartercafe.com
www.nashvillejazz.org

http://www.jazz.com/music/2008/9/30/todd-coolman-crescent-city-ditty

The music scene itself has been quite interesting to me so far.  Despite what I’ve been led to think about the massive country music industry down here, I’ve actually seen very little of that around, save for the tourist area of downtown.  In fact, most of the musicians I have met tend to laugh off the notion of this being a “country music town,” although that is surely related to the fact that most of the musicians I am meeting are jazz and classical players.  Regardless, I have seen great music performed by the Nashville Jazz Workshop, the Nashville Symphony, and even got to the famed Ryman Auditorium to see Orchestra Nashville with Trey Anastasio as featured guest.  I’m sure that my path will cross into the country scene, as well as the commercial bar scene (tons of cover bands), but for now I’m happy to listen to what’s around me. 

As for my own playing, I’ve been jumping around town as much as possible to find jam sessions and meet new folks.  I have been fortunate to hang with many of Nashville’s finer musicians, and have some excellent leads on both the saxophone and the oboe.  If I have discerned correctly, many of the cats in Nashville’s jazz scene also comprise the studio players and touring bands for some major acts.  Keep your eyes peeled as some dates on my calendar page should start popping up. 

Who should I start listening to in country and popular music? 

Time to get back into the woodshed.

- evan

Additionally, some of the members of the ensemble were kind enough to listen to my recent demo (mostly posted on my Music page) and provide me with some nice words of encouragement. I’ve posted those comments on my Press page.

I’ll have an update on my relocation to Nashville soon!

- evan

Feel free to send me a note with any suggestions on how to improve this webpage as I get everything up and running.  Until then - evan