Jazz Band II 18 October 2013 Mike Vax: BigBandJazz.net Mike Vax is an outstanding trumpeter who specializes in Jazz studies. On his album “BigBandJazz.net” he plays in a Ferguson-esque manor, not in terms of range, but style—playing over the band as the featured soloist. The first track on this album is “Royal Rendezous”, a Mike Vax original, which is a nice and mellow swing chart featuring tenor Scott Peterson and trumpeter Mike Olmos on the solos. I really enjoy this song because it contrasts in balance and dynamics. For example, the song at times changes from a quiet saxophone soli, to a loud shout chorus, to a uniquely created improvised solo.
Collective improvisations are when different front-line group instruments all play their improvisations at the same time! They also used polyphonic texture, which is when ‘the cornet or trumpet plays the main melody with variations, and against which the clarinet plays a higher countermelody and the trombone a lower countermelody with much sliding between the notes’(http://www.last.fm/music/Original+Dixieland+Jazz+Band). The last characteristic is that they were often played in use of the 12- Bar blues progressions. One of the well-known piece is ‘When The Saints Go
There are also blues inflections in the vocal and guitar duet where the flat 3rd is emphasised by bending the notes at the beginning of phrases. The use of blues notes are very common in the style due to the heavy blues influence in New Orleans Jazz. Chromaticism is also featured in Duke Ellington’s Koko, again blues notes are used, for example in bar 8 of Nantons trombone solo he uses a fragment of the blues scale making use of the flattened 5th, 3rd and 7th. Another example of Chromaticism in Koko is in the double bass solos where Blanton plays descending chromatic phrases. The use of chromatic notes adds to the mood created by the minor blues chord progression.
What impressed me primarily was its combination of instruments. Tenor saxophone was in the front line of the band, which controlled the leitmotifs; bass and keyboard accompanied the main melody, and they were in charge of theme sometimes; drum and congas belonged to rhythm section, which were responsible for meters. In addition, a bamboo musical instrument called clave enriched the performance that played a strong beat. These are all typical instruments of jazz music. It seems that there was no need to use two kinds of drums in one band; however, since players showed us different timbres of these instruments and performed alone, each drum sounded thin, flat and unmeaning; in contrast, when these two tones mixed, it resulted a “magic reaction” in music, which was full of energy and great passion.
“Coltrane Changes/Cycles” is the second technique used by John Coltrane. It is basically a harmonic movement in major thirds, using the note root of a chord over the usual jazz chord progressions. One of his songs called “Giant Steps” is a perfect example for the technique. John Coltrane also learned a technique called “multiphonics” from an American jazz pianist, Thelonious Monk. The technique involves a player producing several tones simultaneously by using a calm embouchure, diverse pressure, and distinct fingerings.
The piece is bitonal in places. The A section is in D major and the B section modulates to C major. This song is for a male solo singer and an extended theatrical orchestra. The theatrical orchestra consists of 5 woodwind, 2 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, 7 violins, 4 cellos, In addition, he used a drum-kit, two other percussionists, piano, electric and acoustic guitars, saxophones, a mandolin and celeste. Also uses of Latin-American instruments – castanets and maracas to reflect the Puerto Rican gang.
Although guitar is a soft-sounding instrument, with help of amplification, the balance between the orchestra and the soloist was fantastic. The second movement is a slow movement. It starts with the slow strumming chords of the guitar. After a short moment, the English horn joined the guitar with evocative charming melodic line. Later, the strings came in as an accompanying section along with the guitar playing chords.
The soloing instruments seem to be the tenor saxophone, piano, trumpet (sometimes muted), and more saxophones. Some of the instruments used in this recording include trumpets, trombones, tenor/alto saxophones, clarinet, piano, and drums. A popular technique created that is still used today is to use a toilet plunger as a mute at the end of your brass horn which creates a unique and muffled jazzy tone. The band plays a bunch of different riffs that function as themes or as accompaniment material for soloists. This leads to an extremely popular technique; the call and response.
Jazz Alley You have not witnessed jazz until you have witnessed Jazz Alley. Jazz alley is my favorite jazz performance I have ever attended. My grandfather is in a jazz band and I really go for him, not for the music. In the case of Jazz Alley I truly enjoyed, and the atmosphere at Jazz, a Louisiana Kitchen. The musician that caught my eye was the saxophonist.
Jacob Chavez 09/08/2013 Diversity In Jazz Jazz is a music genre that is as diverse as the musicians and intruments that construct it. Slow tempoed jazz can create a feeling of saddness or lonesome, while an upbeat jazz song can make you feel an incredible amount of joy. Jazz is only the name of a network of smaller sub-genres. The sub-genres include but are not limited to Dixieland, Bebop, Blues, Swing, and Ragtime. Jazz can be found in day to day life if you know what your looking for, such nas when an operator puts you on hold or in the elevator.