The "Modern-Era" of Jazz

Bop was just the first style of "modern" jazz that signaled a strong break away from the Swing-Era. Following the 1950's, jazz was already moving in many different directions. In fact, when I tried to target down at least one or two styles to focus on for this last "segment" of exploration, it wasn't quite possible. Due to an increase in the popularity of Jazz at college campuses, the economic boom after WWII, and the introduction of the long-play album (which allowed for recordings of longer than 4 minutes), the 1950's alone generated many new styles of jazz.

The first of these new styles was "Cool Jazz", pioneered by Miles Davis. As a response to Bebop, Davis strove to create music that kept the harmonic elements of bop, but was much more mellow and soft. In 1959, Davis released his hugely influential album, Kind of Blue.

So this is what I've been hearing every evening on WRTI...

Kind of Blue crafted the beginnings of modal jazz, where literally the music would stay on a single chord for multiple bars on end, and have a very static composition. Another type of Cool Jazz that I discovered was "Third Stream Music". I found Third Stream Music to be really cool, as it combined the control, range, and patterns of European Classical Music (which was the 1st stream) with elements of jazz (2nd stream) to make  a new style that was a combination of both styles. Get it... "Third" Stream?

Listening to a few pieces of Third Stream was both very enlightening and extremely exciting. For someone who clearly distinguished between the two genres of "jazz" and "classical", Third Stream Music was a great discovery of an actually viable and happy medium. The Modern Jazz Quartet, above, consists of both a string quartet and the standard jazz quintet. I seriously think I might want to look a lot more into Third Stream Music in the future.
Also on a side note: the significance of Third Stream Music doesn't just apply to me.... if you're reading this G$, THERE IS ACTUALLY AN ENSEMBLE WHERE SAXOPHONE AND CELLO BELONG TOGETHER YESSSSSSS.

Within the 1950's, Hard Bop, led by the John Coltrane Quartet, also evolved from Bebop. Hard Bop infused elements of blues and gospel-influenced music with the technicality and pace of bebop. From hard bop branched "Funky Bop", which I think today has developed a pretty cliched public image as that "Soul" jazz music.

I went past the 1950's and found "Bossa Nova", or "Latin Jazz". My brother knew a lot about Latin jazz; apparently he had a lot of experience with it in the past. It turned out that Bossa Nova was actually rooted in Brazillian Samba, something that I actually had experience with as well. My brother showed me "Blue Bossa" from the 1970's, which today is a piece from standard jazz repertoire that combines Hard Bop and Bossa Nova. I give it a shot here; some of you might recognize it:

Mmmmmmm... smooooth

With these last couple styles of jazz, I haven't taken as much time as I did with Swing and Bebop, but I think that some of them may have fascinated me more. What learning about the Modern-Era of jazz has taught me the most is just how diverse the entire genre of jazz is. Trying to even touch on multiple styles in about a week was not quite easy; it was a lot of information and a lot new sounds to become exposed to for so little time. When I have time (sigh) I definitely have to spend at least a little bit more time getting acclaimed with these styles.

From about the 1980's and onward, jazz was simply continuing, adjusting, and evolving from the lines of all the past styles. Guitar and electronic instruments are much more popular today. In fact, jazz today is still very innovative and changing. There are always those who continue the line of the past, but lots of dynamic and new artists arrive with every generation. Who know, maybe I might end up being one of those in the future.. ;).


Readings and Resources!
1. Great information from Jim Scully of California State University once again: http://www.csub.edu/~jscully/teaching/documents/105lectures/10substyles.pdf
2. Listening everywhere.
3. For anybody who wants it, this is a concise and nice summary of jazz history: - http://www.moodjazz.com/history.html
4. Once again, that person called a private teacher.

Bippity BE booo dop Dop BEBOP

When I first started playing saxophone, I always had this image of Charlie Parker in my mind. I really didn't know anything about "Bird", as he was nicknamed, but for some reason, I viewed him as some kind of figure as the ultimate saxophonist to aspire to. Maybe it was just because my brother was named "Charlie".

They called him the "Bird".

But I think that not just for me, but for even non-saxophonists as well, Charlie "Bird" Parker is pretty common. He's really an iconic figure in general, and his famous solos and improvisations are incredibly impressionable. When I was listening the Charlie Parker, one of the first things that I noticed was how fast he could play. Although I've had my fair share of virtuoso pieces in the past, I can tell you that they didn't call him the "Bird" for nothing. My teacher let me borrow his edition of the "Omnibook", which is basically a transcription of all of Parker's improvised solos. And just by looking at some of these solos, you can tell that they really weren't meant to be written out. 

Like... this:

Please note that Parker IMPROVISED this while playing at 208 bpm.
just a little fast

However, after a little background study, I realized that the radical irregularity of the music that I was looking at was actually intentional. Parker played a style of jazz known as Bebop. Bebop was developed from about 1940-1945, and was actually a reaction to the Swing-Era, as a rejection of the musical characteristics of big band swing. While the jazz of the Swing-Era was played in large dance halls as tightly arranged performances, Bebop musicians thrived in bars and clubs. Bop music strayed away from the "mainstream" Swing-Era jazz, and was pursued mostly by young and new musicians.

What I found to be the most stark difference between Bebop and Swing was simply the degree of informality that was captured in bop music. In a nearly opposite fashion to Swing, bop was full of irregular phrasing, more spontaneous melodies (larger, stronger intervals), and new, unconventional harmonies.

Bebop music is performed in small ensembles consisting of usually percussion, string bass, and melodic instruments, such as saxophone and trumpet. The smaller format allowed for a lot more freedom and a stronger focus on solos - which was quite enjoyable for me. Perhaps the two most famous Bebop performers known today are Charlie Parker and John Birks (Dizzy) Gillepse. 

So of course I tried some of Bird's solos - I've recorded myself playing the beginnings of perhaps his most well-known standard:

Confirmation:

Some major things I had to consider while playing Bebop:

 - Syncopation and Irregular Accents - in non-musical terms, emphasizing notes in places where it sounds unexpected. This was really interesting to hear withe involvement of the drummer as well, in Bebop, the drummer would often "drop bombs". While in swing, the rhythm section was simply there to keep time, in Bebop the drummer would also contribute his own accents and add to the rhythmic variety of the composition.

 - Extended Chord Tones - while the 3rd, 5th, and 7th notes of the scale were already commonly used by Swing musicians in order to create chords and melodies, Bebop musicians integrated the use of the 9th, 11th, and 13th notes to create more unusual, "modern" harmonies. The chords used were more complex and added a lot more dissonance, or conflict, in the sound.

 - Crispness. Most bop tunes were played at a fast tempo that brought a lot of energy and vitality of the music. Also, in addition to the exposure of the solo instrument, a lot of bebop musicians, including Charlie Parker, utilized a sharper, edgier tone. 

Overall, I think that I may have enjoyed listening to Swing music a bit more than Bebop. With the much more "danceable" melodies and rhythms of Swing, it find Swing-Era jazz to be simpler, more easy-going, and less demanding to listen to than Bebop. However, I'm definitely not repelled from Bebop - it's certainly intriguing, fun, and the epitome of a "jam session".

Readings and Resources!
1. More from Jim Scully of California State University - http://www.csub.edu/~jscully/teaching/documents/105lectures/8bebop1.pdf
2. More recordings everywhere - Spotify, Youtube
3. Paul Williamson - great explanations of common scales and modulations for bebop saxophone: http://digitalpill.tv/Content/2011/06/sax-lesson-bebop-scales-paul-williamson/
4. Thanks to my sax teacher for providing the "Omnibook".

First off.... the Swing-Era

In these next few blogs, I'll be showing what I've learned about some of the few major types of jazz. By the 1950's, jazz was already beginning to move in multiple directions and paths. When a person mentioned that they played "jazz", they had to specify what style of jazz they were referring to.

The first style of popular, arranged, jazz that existed was known simply as "Swing". From around 1935-1945, known as the "Swing-Era", swing was incredibly popular in the United States. Swing, especially within high-schools, may still be the most commonly known today. With that in mind, this is probably why I'm tackling this first - I at least have a little experience in big band jazz (middle school Black Dog Band!), and I've certainly already heard a lot of Swing music on the radio and just in general.
Nearly all swing music was performed with a "big band", or an ensemble that consisted of multiple people on multiple types of instrumentation, "sections", consisting of rhythm, woodwinds, and brass, and oftentimes a band leader.

During the Swing Era, there were many nationally recognized bands, each with their own distinctive style, such as those led by Duke Ellington,Count Basie, and Benny Goodman. Now that I think about it, Swing jazz is probably what first introduced me to the actual existence of jazz - as in, middle school jazz band.
This project has made me quite nostalgic in a lot of ways, especially in bringing back memories of my middle school jazz band days, when I'd just have a bunch of fun with a lot of friends in a large jazz ensemble.

I still remember that we actually played an arrangement of one of Duke Ellington's tunes, Cotton Tail. Although it was fun, there was certainly still a lot of room for improvement back then:

Ahhhh..... 7th Grade.

So while middle school jazz may have been fun and overall not too shabby, I already knew that with this project I was aiming for something much more. In terms of big band swing, there's a term to describe the precision and overall musicality of a performance: "tight."
And I think that THIS is the "tight" that I want to get closer to right now and in the future:

Oh yes.

So, with that in mind, I should probably get to the good stuff - my attempts at Swing! Unfortunately, I didn't quite have a big band of 20 people at my fingertips, so in my practicing, I decided to just settle with trying to play along to the professional recordings.

Some of the major things from Swing jazz that I had to pay attention to included:
 - a strong rhythm section, usually consisting of drums and string double bass, that established a steady beat and constant modulations (changes in the scales and chords).
 - intonation, with the other saxes in the recording, and the entire band itself
 - balance: how a section blends to make its own sound, and how it fits into the entirety of the band. However, when I'm playing below, I'm not exactly in "balance" with the recording, since (1) I want to just hear myself more clearly, and (2) it isn't exactly easy to blend flawlessly into an old 1940's recording.
 - And finally, just feeling the groove. Swing-Era music was meant to be danced to, whether in a slower-waltz or a more upbeat tempo. To be more definite, a lot of songs, including those that I tried to play along to, put emphasis on the upbeats, or more off-sounding beats, in order to create that sort of dancy feel.

But nonetheless, here it is:

1: Duke Ellington - "Take the 'A' Train":

2: Count Basie - "Corner Pocket":

**Excuse the off intonation :\

Readings and Resources!
1. A great history lesson, provided by Jim Scully: Composer, Performer, and Educator at California State University - http://www.csub.edu/~jscully/teaching/documents/105lectures/7swing.pdf
2. Free music EVERYWHERE!
3. Jazz in America: http://www.jazzinamerica.org/JazzResources/StyleSheets/9
4. And once again, my handy-dandy sax teacher

Video Blog!

Here, I discuss my inspiration, findings, and approach to this project. I do ramble a bit, but I suppose that it's all in good intention.

Blog.. 4? IMPROV! How I "practice" jazz.

So....
Technically, I gained the knowledge base for this blog about two weeks ago, but ironically, I've spent too much of my time on this project practicing the saxophone (and A LOT of clarinet), and not enough time getting these blog posts up.

Anyway, with Region Band aside, I moved on to learning what exactly were "jazz" chords. And my teacher's response was really quite unexpected, but also very validating to myself as a musician. The first thing to understand about so-called "jazz" chords is that there is no such thing as an absolute "jazz" chord. Now, don't get me wrong. Certainly, there are chords of all types, intervals, and progressions, and within the genre of jazz, some chords and progressions have become  and so common and so iconic in how we hear a "jazz" sound that they are considered by many to be "jazz chords".


However, in all truth, since the development of jazz in past few decades in straying away from the more defined forms of bop, the definition of what is accepted as "jazz" has expanded drastically. In today's dynamic modern jazz, there's really no such thing as a "jazz chord". Really, there are just chords and scales, nd what makes something "jazzy" isn't nearly as much what you play, but "how" you play it.

Youtube and Spotify have been invaluable in demonstrating this to me. I saw a video of famous clarinetist Eddie Daniels speaking about how to "loosen up" for jazz. He took a simple tune that was known quite universally - "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". To be honest, I didn't know what to expect. The theme to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" just seemed so common, and while it did have potentially to be played as beautiful melody, I was a little wary. But then Eddie Daniels played the tune, only he added his own spin, his own ideas, and his own improvisation. And as if by magic, I was hearing jazz. The personifcation and character of the music changed completely - it was awesome, and I couldn't wait to try it myself.



Really love this guy... AMAZING classical and jazz musician!

So naturally, I couldn't wait to try it out myself. I started just with another commonly known simple tune - the theme to "Happy Birthday".

* I apologize for the poor video quality... wrong settings :(

** And awkward ending is awkward

Then, I took it, and for lack of a better way of putting  it, "got loose". Now, I was playing jazz. Just listen! :D

So okay, I know that the second time I played it, it wasn't quite as fluid or natural as I would have liked. I might have lost a sense of definite rhythm a couple times in here, and DARN flubbed that high note near the end. But I suppose that's the pressure of recording, and besides - I'm still learning anyway. There's lots of room for improvement, and I don't see myself stopping with playing jazz improv at the end of this project. I mean, I'm already just doing it for fun. In terms of the chords and scales I was using, I didn't know much more than the fact that "Happy Birthday" revolves around the three easiest scales to play on almost any instrument: G, D, and C. Not to say that I haven't looked more deeply into common jazz chords and their progressions, but for this, that's about all I really needed to know about the "jazz chords" I was using. The rest was all based on the variety of rhythms and colors I was trying to use.

My point is, this is why I've really just been enjoying jazz. When I take out my saxophone to "practice" jazz, it really isn't practicing. It's more just having a lot of fun. For jazz improvisation to be good, it has to come naturally, and on a expressive musical instrument, that's probably one of the easiest and greatest things that you can do.

Region Band, with a Jazz Solo!

Wow... thinking back, I've just realized the magnitude of all that has occurred this past week and a half. I haven't really been able to just spend as much time playing around and experimenting with jazz as I would like, since the epic combination of school, missing school, and well... more school has simply been eating up so much time. Last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I attended the 2013 PMEA Region 6 Band Festival, and to say that I enjoyed it is quite an understatement. Those few days were probably, if not, the most enjoyable days of my school year thus far. Aside from having a wonderful guest conductor, playing in the region band was really a wake-up call and reminder of why I even love music in the first place - it's as true as human emotion and human connection can become.

Ok, I get it, that last comment was some pretty serious corn. But I love music.

At the festival, I met so many people who had similar interests and passions as I did, and for me to be able to share such interests was really phenomenal, considering that I rarely have the opportunity or chance to connect with people in such a way at Wissahickon. We performed a fantastic repertoire, and there were a few pieces, such as "Lux Aurumque" by Eric Whitacre, that were absolutely beautiful and heart-wrenching. The band even played an arrangement of excerpts from the Finale of Mahler's 3rd Symphony (I HIGHLY recommend you listen to the original orchestral score - although you might want to have a tissue box nearby), and I witnessed an emotional power of the symphonic band that I had never heard before. 

But most of all, what I realized about the entire process of rehearsing, practicing, and trying out the music was that it was simply just a lot of FUN. One of the pieces that we performed was "Metroplex - Three Postcards from Manhattan" by Robert Sheldon, and in particular, there's a really bluesy, jazzy section in the piece that features an alto saxophone solo. Though I currently don't have the recording of myself playing the solo during the concert, I've posted below the youtube link (sorry to those in school) of last year's District Band playing the same piece. The jazzy section starts at 1:20, and although you won't hear me playing, you WILL hear my brother playing the same exact solo I played recently, as Charlie was first chair alto sax last year. 

Finally touching base with jazz in an ensemble again after two years (I did trod a little bit in jazz band in the middle school) was a refreshing and almost novel experience. It was actually really funny, because the first time I played the solo in rehearsal, I was so conserved and way too "proper" in my interpretation. There simply wasn't enough "jazz", and in the words of the guest conductor, I was playing "very nice, but" needed "MORE." So when the second time to play to solo came up, I thought about what I needed to change. I opened up my throat, air, and sound, and improvised around what was written on the music in front of me. And the difference was awesome; I could just imagine myself as a hired sax playing in some sort of old, grungy, and smoky bar. 

And so while, yes, I did miss a few days of school and opportunity to practice for this project because of region band, I'm really quite okay with it. My solo in "Metroplex" was in all truthfulness a really cool and helpful experience to have. With an entire ensemble playing behind me, the jazz mode of playing really just "clicked" for the first time. Now that I'm back home, practicing in solitude once more, I find myself missing the interactive and social aspects of an ensemble, and I find myself hungry simply for more jazz. 

That jazz-related part of me that I've kept untouched for almost three years now is really being reignited with this project. 

And I'll be honest: in spite of all the conflicts that I have with our school's band program, a part of me really wants to play in a jazz band again. Man, jazz is just so cool. 

Post 2: Adjusting and Settin'-up for JAZZ

This week was my first week really trying to explore jazz, and up until now, it's really been an experimental process. I had my saxophone lesson last Monday, and I spent a whole hour with my teacher, Professor Dragan, discussing the mindset, sound differences, and just overall elements that make jazz JAZZ. After that, I was probably fiddling around on my sax for at least another hour everyday, simply trying to get used to playing in a jazz mode. While it is without a doubt loads of fun and really cool to just flat out be "jammin'", I've found myself to still love the refinement of classical music more. Still, it's been really interesting to start poking around jazz these past few days.

With the help of my saxophone teacher, online jazz saxophonist Greg Lutz (check out one of his videos HERE), and Eric Ruyle of the University of South Carolina (a really informational and helpful article! HERE), I've been able to gain a base knowledge of what I want for jazz:
1. SWING. Swing, or the rhythmic integrity of jazz, is at the foundation of playing any jazz. There are lots of types of swing, but mostly, it's an emphasis on hearing and creating, well, "cool sounding" off beats to a steady pulse.
2. IMPROVISATION. Jazz is all just about feeling the music and having fun with it, not playing a piece to "perfection". It's based on the premise that you should never play any song the same way twice and instead use variation, pattern, and just your own interpretation in making things sound good.
3. BRIGHT, PROJECTING SOUND. For phrasing and making a statement in jazz, saxophonists are going to want to have the right set-up that will make their sound really "happy" and penetrating. As a classical saxophone player that has constantly striven to achieve a dark, warm sound, this was really quite a setback. Learning to play the saxophone with a completely new tonal signature definitely took a bit of getting used to, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. Also, below, I've described everything that I changed in my instrument set up in order to help me reach this new kind of sound.


4. A JAZZ SET UP
As a classical saxophone player, I've been trained to use and play with a saxophone set up that is very well suited towards classical literature. However, I think it's pretty clear that the parameters for proper performance of jazz and classical music are quite different. And so just as like how you have to gather ingredients in order to cook a recipe, I had to adjust aspects of my current alto saxophone set up in order to really get closer to that jazz sound that I'm looking for. I have everything about it described below:


WARNING - From here on out I do talk about some pretty cool things (at least in my opinion), but it is a bit of a ramble. So I apologize ahead of time, and feel free to not read and to just admire the pictures... hah

THE SAX: So, to start things off, the saxophone I play on is the Cannonball Big Bell Alto, Stone Series, Black Nickel Finish. The picture below is a pretty accurate representation of what it looks like.

While, yes, it does look absolutely saxy (HA GOOD PUN), what's more important than the exterior finish is the sound and connection of the horn. Thus far in my music education, my Cannonball Stone Series has been excellent in providing a very smooth, fluent, and controlled tone. I know that the Big Bell isn't any Selmer Mark VI (which is considered to be the professional standard in saxophones), but for myself, I've found it to be more than adequate.  In these past few years that I've had this saxophone, it's been more than AWESOME and I don't really see a need to change the current saxophone body that I'm playing on. And anyway, I doubt that I'd be able to afford buying a new saxophone...

THE NECK: The "neck" of the saxophone is the curved part that comes out at an angle from the top of a saxophone. Most times, the neck makes a pretty significant difference, mainly because it's the first canal that controls the flow of the air into the rest of the instrument. When I play classical literature, I like to use what Cannonball (the brand of my sax) calls their "Traditional Classic Neck". It's slightly longer, has the air travel a longer distance to the rest of the instrument, and provides a nice degree of resistance to focus any sound. But for jazz, where things have to be as natural and easy as possible. I'll be switching over to a special neck developed by Cannonball as well, known as the "Fat Neck", which is shown below. I normally never use this neck, but for jazz, it's perfect. Cannonball itself describes the fat neck as "one of the most free-blowing experiences that can be imagined..." and "unmatched in its ability to generate a 'Fat' tone" and "vibrant resonance." 

THE MOUTHPIECE: The mouthpiece of a saxophone is exactly what it sounds like... it's the piece that I put in my mouth. In a similar respect, the mouthpiece has an even greater influence than there neck, because it literally is the first medium and hole through which the air is directed through. For this project, I won't be changing my mouthpiece, even though I'd very much like to. I currently play on what's known as a Selmer C Star, which is pretty much the professional standard, but for a really bright and penetrating projection, I would have liked to use a mouthpiece made of metal, as opposed to the plastic that the C Star is constructed from. However, a quality metal mouthpiece would be upwards of probably at least $100. So for my purposes (and for my lack of any money), while the C Star isn't intended or designed for jazz, it's is still an easy-blowing, well-connected mouthpiece to use at the end of the day.

THE REED: The reed is just a small, wide, and flat stick of bamboo cane. It's attached to the mouthpiece, and it's the source of the sound on the saxophone. By vibrating when it comes in contact with a stream of air, the reed makes sound. I think that by changing up my reed, I can make the most difference in my sound. I use just Traditional Vandoren 3.5's for my classical studies, but in order to really open up my air flow, widen up the size of the reed vibrations, I think that switching to Vandoren v16 reeds would work really well. A box of ten of these reeds costs about twenty dollars, which definitely isn't cheap, but certainly affordable.

and FINALLY THE LIGATURE: The last adjustment that I'll be making is on the ligature, or the metal brace that holds the reed to the mouthpiece. On my ligature, the Vandoren Optimum, I have the ability to change the pressure plates that actually touch the mouthpiece, meaning I can change the way that the points of pressure come in contact with the reed, and consequently, effectively manipulate how the reed vibrates. Below, you'll see a picture of the three pressure plates I have. I normally like to use the middle plate, which, by placing two rows of restraint across the reed, really centers and smooths out the sound. For jazz, however, I'll be doing more honking and trying to get a lot of loudness, so I'll be using the plate on the left. You'll notice it only has four small dots that actually come in contact with the reed, and this allows the reed to vibrate in total freedom and magnitude. 

This past week I've really spent a lot of time experimenting with different set-ups and combinations of all of the above parts of a saxophone, and what I finally came up with, as you can see above, is an end result that I'm already pretty proud of. But ultimately, it's the person on the sax itself that really matters, and as I've said, I've already begun just to play around with this new jazz sound just by testing it out on just a few simple tunes. 

Next week, I'll talk about what "jazz chords" and "jazz scales" really are, and how I'll use them. I might even throw in a video demonstration, so stay tuned.

 Until then, JAX SAX OUT

Check out these other blogs!

Here's a list of notable blogs that I find interesting or worth checking out:
I'll be updating this post with three new blogs every week!


CLONING CARNIVOROUS PLANTS: sundrew.blogspot.com
COMBATING CYBERBULLYING: http://wissahickoncompliments.blogspot.com/
LEARNING WOODWORKING: http://learning-woodworking.blogspot.com/

WAR GAMING THRU REAL-TIME STRATEGY - http://theartofwarsc2.blogspot.com/
DJ YUSH - http://djaayush.blogspot.com/
QUAAAAADCOPTER - http://quadroflcopter.blogspot.com/