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

Gallery One of Nashville is to present a chamber music recital on the 11th of March, 2009, at 7pm. The recital will feature violinist Sean Neukom, cellist Alicia Storin, and Oboist Evan Cobb. The design of the program is to highlight employment of color and texture in music. First on the program is Sonata for Violin and Cello by Maurice Ravel. While this work utilizes the typical subtlety and contour of Ravel, it also hinges on the use of dissonance, vivacious rhythmic patterns, and Gypsy bravura found throughout the composer’s later works. Second, Mr. Neukom will parry with the virtuosic gauntlet of Eugène Ysaÿe’s Solo Sonata No. 1, Op. 27. Finally, Mr. Cobb will join the duo for a world premiere of Trio for Violin, Cello, and Oboe commissioned from Nashville composer Alyssa Weinberg, sure to be a stunning conclusion to a colorful recital. During the recital, artist Lori-Gene will lend her talent to the evening by capturing the performers on canvas. The recital is free and open to the public and is suitable for children, adults, amateur, and professional musicians alike.

After the recital, I’ll be headed to Windows Off the Cumberland where I’m playing in a jazz quartet led by the fine saxophonist and head of MTSU’s jazz department, Don Aliquo.

- 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

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

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