Travels - Downbeat

soloWoodshed By jimi dursoCharlie HadenCharlie Haden’s LyricalBass Solo on ‘Silence’Charlie Haden’s composition “Silence” mustbe a favorite of his. As the Invitation Seriesartist at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 1989,the bassist and bandleader performed the song atthree of his concerts, each with different instrumentalconfigurations. The version presented herefeatures a trio with pianist Gonzalo Rubalcabaand drummer Paul Motian; it can be heard on TheMontreal Tapes: With Gonzalo Rubalcaba AndPaul Motian (Polygram, 1998).The song is an eight-measure chord sequence,played at a fairly slow tempo. After starting withblock chords on the piano with minimal bass anddrums accompaniment, Haden starts his basssolo at about one minute into the performance.He commences roughly a measure before thestart of the form, creating a nice jump-off, andthen leaves a half measure of silence at the beginningof the form, creating a musical surprise.Haden then plays through the form five timesbefore giving it over to Rubalcaba. Some interestingbroad strokes: It’s the middle chorus (number3) in which Haden goes up into the upper registerof the bass, and the highest note played in this solo(the high Fb sustained across measures 22 and 23)is in the middle of that chorus, putting this highestnote at the exact midpoint of his solo. And afterthis chorus, Haden comes down into the middlerange for the next eight bars, and then goes downto the lower range for his final eight, setting upa nice transition into the piano solo. It’s also testamentto Haden’s fluency over the range of thebass. His solo spans almost three octaves, fromthe low Gb in measure 37 to the extra high Fb atthe end of measure 22.Also worth noting is how comfortableHaden is with different subdivisions. We hearhim using straight eighths and 16ths alongsideeighth-note triplets and sextuplets andeven quintuplets. As testament to his fluency,check out measures 32 and 33, where he variesbetween duple, triple and quintuple subdivisions.Haden’s soloing is melodic and lyrical.Notice how his lines are typically scalar, withlittle chromaticism and mostly stepwise motion.He does vary the scales to fit the chords. Thoughhe plays a lot of C Aeolian for this solo, his firstlick is C harmonic minor, which goes well withboth the Cm/Eb (the key of the song) and G/Ebchords in that bar. Haden revisits this scale againin measures 12 and 25–26, the latter having thesame G/Eb that makes this scale fit so well, dueto the leading tone (B natural), the third of G.The same is true of the chord progressionthat occurs in the fifth and sixth measures ofthe progression (Dbm–Eb7/Db–Absus4/Cb–Abm/Cb). We have the same minor chord alongsideits V, which has the leading tone. And in everyinstance that it appears (bars 7–8, 15–16, 23–24,31–32 and 39–40), Haden plays Ab harmon-88 DOWNBEAT JUNE 2013