Friday, February 17, 2012
Here are three stories about the relationship of funk to the avant-garde. Meshell Ndegeocello at Tonic In my twenties, I forced myself to experience a lot of very highbrow avant-garde music: free jazz, experimental electronica, and various combinations thereof. One such experience was a show at Tonic. I forget who was on the bill exactly, [...]
Filed in Composition, Improvisation, Music
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Also tagged atonality, bb king, blues, free jazz, funk, fusion, ira newborn, jazz, meshell ndegeocello, soul
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Thelonious Monk’s beautiful ballad “Round Midnight” is said to be the most widely recorded and performed jazz tune — that is, a tune that was written specifically for jazz, not an adaptation of a showtune or pop song. It’s a testament to its popularity that it’s one of exactly two songs that Dave Chappelle knows [...]
Filed in Composition, Improvisation, Music
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Also tagged ballads, bebop, bud powell, carmen mcrae, Composition, cootie williams, dave chappelle, dizzy gillespie, ella fitzgerald, hip-hop, jazz, john coltrane, krs-one, linkedin, oscar peterson, Sampling, singing, thelonious monk
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Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Rather than attempting the impossible task of explaining how everything in jazz works, I’m going to pick a specific, fairly mainstream tune and talk you through it: “Someday My Prince Will Come” by Miles Davis, off the 1961 album by the same name. First of all, here’s the original version from Snow White. Once you’ve [...]
Filed in Improvisation, Key Musicians, Music
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Also tagged disney, hank mobley, Improvisation, jazz, jimmy cobb, john coltrane, linkedin, movies, Music, paul chambers, quora, wynton kelly
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Saturday, December 3, 2011
Improvisation Charlie Christian – “Waiting For Benny”
Filed in Composition, Improvisation, Music
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Also tagged art blakey, blues, charlie christian, clifford brown, Composition, count basie, duke ellington, herbie hancock, Improvisation, jazz, john coltrane, max roach, quora, soul
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Friday, November 18, 2011
Ella Fitzgerald lost some of her range as she got older, but her soul and phrasing got deeper and deeper. The series of duet albums she did with Joe Pass late in her life are exquisite.
Filed in Key Musicians, Music
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Also tagged age, drumming, ella fitzgerald, funk, Improvisation, jazz, joe pass, max roach, quora, soul
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
There’s a certain jazz lick that’s so heavily used that it’s just known as The Lick. It’s the only jazz lick I know of that has its own Facebook page. Here’s a greatest hits compilation:
Filed in Copyright and Authorship, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged akon, bobby hutcherson, classical, cliches, digging the crates, Evolution, facebook, freddie hubbard, grant green, Improvisation, jazz, john coltrane, memes, Music, player, pop, reggae, rock, santana, stravinsky
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Thursday, October 20, 2011
The bassline is neglected by most non-musicians. But if you want to write or produce music, you quickly find out how important it is. The bassline is the foundation of the whole musical structure, both rhythmically and harmonically. The best basslines interlock with the drums and other rhythm instruments to propel the groove, without you [...]
Filed in Composition, Dance, Improvisation, Key Musicians, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged 808, art blakey, bass, beatles, black sheep, bootsy collins, charles mingus, daft punk, dance, digable planets, duke ellington, electronica, funk, groove, herbie hancock, hip-hop, james brown, janet jackson, jazz, john coltrane, kanye west, ladysmith black mambazo, looping, michael jackson, morphine, paul simon, pop, rock, sequencing, talking heads, teddy riley
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My friend Leo has a new jazz quartet. At their debut performance a couple of weeks ago, they ended the show with a mashup of “Solar” by Miles Davis and “Freedom Jazz Dance” by Eddie Harris. “Freedom Jazz Dance” is a favorite of mine, and a lot of my fellow jazz nerds agree. People love [...]
Filed in Key Musicians, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged digging the crates, ed og, eddie harris, fu-schnickens, funk, hip-hop, jazz, mashups, nas, Sampling
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Typical jazz compositions are written expressly as vehicles for improvisation. Mainstream jazz tunes since the 1940s take the form head-solos-head. The head is a written melody, and the solos are improvised around the chord changes of the head. Scores for these kinds of tunes take the form of lead sheets, like the ones found in [...]
Filed in Composition, Improvisation, Music
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Also tagged benny goodman, Composition, dizzy gillespie, duke ellington, Improvisation, jazz, john coltrane, quora, thelonious monk
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My friend and sometime musical collaborater Leo Ferguson is releasing an album of his adventurous jazz compositions and arrangements. Leo Ferguson Ensemble (2011) by Leo Ferguson As part of the album’s extended liner notes, I interviewed Leo on May 5, 2011. Here’s an edited transcript; you can also hear the audio on Leo’s site.
Filed in Composition, Improvisation, Music, Race and Identity
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Also tagged barack obama, classical, composing, jazz, john coltrane, leo ferguson, steve reich, wayne shorter
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