solo Woodshed | By miles osland Ted Nash’s Expertly Crafted Alto Sax Solo on ‘Organized Crime’ Ted Nash’s latest CD, The Creep (Plastic Sax Records), is the freshest sounding recording by an alto saxophonist that I have heard in a long time. Track one, titled “Organized Crime,” is a composition that came about from a film that Nash acted in and wrote the score to. The film is still in production and features a free-jazz alto player loosely based on Ornette Coleman, so Nash wrote a few pieces to suggest Coleman’s music, and “Organized Crime” is one of them. Nash says, “It has a strong form, but allows for a lot of freedom. I also wanted it to be bluesy and melodic. I think a lot of people overlook the blues and melody when dealing with free-jazz.” Instead of the traditional 12-bar blues song form, Nash doubles it up and the improvisation section is over a 24-bar form. “Organized Crime” follows the conventional blues form, but with unconventional changes. In the alto sax key, the changes are eight bars of C#7, four bars of E7, four bars of C#7, two bars of D7, two bars of E7, then four bars of C#7. During the statement of the melody, the first C#7 is actually only six bars long, creating a harmonic and melodic elision into the E7. But during Nash’s four choruses of blowing, the first C#7 becomes an eightbar phrase. The lineup on The Creep is a quartet of alto sax, trumpet, bass and drums—no piano. An ensemble without a comping member tends to allow the soloist to open up harmonically and play with a more “free” approach. Nash starts his solo with a melodic motif that he repeats and slightly alters four times before going on (note his use of the “palm D” fingering). By the third occurrence of the motif, Nash is already stretching the harmonic boundaries by implying a tritone substitution (bar 5). He solidifies his harmonic intentions by arpeggiatting a G major triad in the beginning of bar 7. In measure 19, Nash uses an articulation pattern that I refer to as “the Coltrane.” This pattern is a shape-oriented phrase where the player, within a four-note cell of eighth notes, slurs the first two notes, tongues the third, and tongues the fourth, slurring into the next two notes of the next four-note cell. Think “Giant Steps” with the 1–2–3–5 pattern that John Coltrane liked to play. In measures 21–22, Nash utilizes an articulation pattern that I call “the Cannonball.” Within the four-note cell, the player tongues the first two notes, and then creates a slur into the last three notes. After decades of transcribing Cannonball Adderley’s solos, I have found that he loved this shape. In measures 27–28, 39 and 59–60, Nash uses an articulation technique that I call “subtongue” (sometimes referred to as “muffletongue,” “dun-tongue” and “tongue on reed technique”). This occurs when the tip of the tongue touches the tip of the reed, but the note still sounds. It’s a nice, almost “ghosting” effect. Also reminiscent of Adderley is Nash’s usage of vibrato on long notes at the ends of phrases. It’s a “terminal vibrato” effect where vibrato is added at the end of the note, which gives the phrase forward motion (see bars 20, 29, 45, 55, 72, 85, 93). In measures 66 and 68, Nash introduces a harmonic fingering technique (also known as fake or false fingerings) where an A is sounding, but a D is actually being fingered. The harmonic A has a different timbre than a regular A, so it’s a nice repetitive sonic effect. Nash’s improvisation on “Organized Crime” is an expertly crafted solo, loaded with harmonic and melodic twists and turns and advanced techniques. His highly individual voice on alto saxophone is something to be dealt with and revered for a long time to come. DB Miles Osland is Director of Jazz Studies and Professor of Saxophone at the University of Kentucky. His students and ensembles have won multiple DownBeat Student Music Awards. 104 DOWNBEAT DECEMBER 2012
DECEMBER 2012 DOWNBEAT 105