That Jazz - Monkey Max Music and File Download

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Part I: All That Jazz: A Tour of the Basics
On one level, the sound dates back to the call-and-response of African chants
and of early African-American music and church services, where one person
delivers a line and another (or a group) responds. You can even hear this
dynamic in Rev. Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream . . .” speech,
where he pauses to let the audience participate with manners of affirmations.
Whether in sermons, gospel music, or jazz, this back and forth, or call and
response, adds a conversational element. In good jazz, improvisation is a
dialog among several players, and the dialogue can go on for minutes or
hours.
Given jazz’s improvisational nature, songs expand or contract within a particular
structure to fit the situation. For example, with the limited time of a
radio, recording, or television performance, a jazz group may perform a tight
(shortened) version of a composition without room for the call and response.
In a live setting, though, especially if the crowd is enthusiastic and the band
is up for it, the chorus can be repeated any number of times to support
rounds of improvisation.
In the ’60s, John Coltrane began to use modal
jazz to give him more latitude for improvisation.
The term modal jazz is hard to define but easier
to hear. Modal jazz often relies upon scales, or
series of notes, that sound exotic. You may detect
flavors from African, Arabic, Asian, Balinese, flamenco,
and other music in modal jazz.
In addition to the use of scales with names like
aeolian, dorian, lydian, and phrygian, modal jazz
is distinguished by slower and fewer chord
changes. If you listen to Coltrane’s recordings
from the ’60s, you can hear how many of his
solos build on one or two root notes, instead of
the rapidly changing chords of a Charlie Parker
tune. Often these repeated root notes, also
referred to as drones, are played by bass and
piano. Coltrane chose to improvise with over
chords and drone notes.
For a primer on the sound of modal jazz, these
recordings are a good starting point. Check out
The rise of modal jazz
Chapter 8 for more about John Coltrane and his
take on modal jazz.
� Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue (Sony), with
pianists Bill Evans or Wynton Kelly and
bassist Paul Chambers providing the meditative
drones on songs such as “All Blues.”
� John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things
(Atlantic/WEA), including the title tune with
Coltrane’s soprano sax soaring above root
tones played by bassist Steve Davis. Also
hear Coltrane’s albums Giant Steps (Atlantic/
WEA) and A Love Supreme (Impulse).
� Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage (Blue
Note), including the title track which captures
the dreamy vibe of modal jazz as
Hancock improvises spare, sparkling lines
on piano.