St. Mary's Ryken Jazz Ensemble
Hello everybody! Have no fear! The recording of Bird and company playing Yardbird Suite will be coming soon. I forgot to bring in the CD to upload today. Will have it tomorrow. In the meantime check out all the new play-alongs below.
Jamey Aebersold Play Along Tracks:
TScale Syllabus:
Bb Major
Bb+4 (Lydian)
Bb flat6 (Harmonic Major)
Bb+5+4(Lydian Augmented)
Bb+ (Augmented)
Bb blues Ascending/Bb Maj. Descending
Bb Maj. Pentatonic
Bb Turnaround (16 bars Maj., 16 Blues, 16 Pentatonic)
Majors (8 bars each ascending chromatically)
Dominant 7th's (8 bars each descending chromatically)
Selected Listening for Each Student:
Piano, Bass, and Drums:
Monk's Dream-Thelonius Monk, piano. From the record, "Monk's Dream".
Let's Cool One-Thelonius Monk, piano. From the record, "Misterioso". Recorded at the Five Spot Cafe, New York City; August 1958.
'Round Midnight-Thelonius Monk, piano. from "Misterioso".
Memories of You- Marcus Roberts ("J Master"), piano. From the record, "Marsalis Standard Time Vol. 1".
Blue in Green-Bill Evans, piano. From the record, "Kind of Blue".
Afro Blue-McCoy Tyner, piano. From the record, "Coltrane: Live at Birdland."
It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)- From the record, "McCoy Tyner Plays Ellington".
Have You Met Miss Jones- Ellis Marsalis, Piano. From the record, "Heart of Gold".
Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most- Ellis Marsalis, piano. "Heart of Gold".
If I Should Lose You- Oscar Peterson, piano. "If You Could See Me Now".
Bop-Be- Keith Jarrett, piano. Gary Peacock, bass. Jack DeJohnette, drums.- From the record, "Keith Jarrett at the Blue Note. Recorded live June 4th, 1994 at the Blue Note, New York.
Scrapple From The Apple- Same personnel as above. From the record, "Up For It". Recorded live July 16, 2002 at La Pinede Gould- Juan-les-Pins, France.
Piano, Bass, Guitar, Drums:
Limehouse Blues- Oscar Peterson, piano. Joe Pass, guitar. From the record, "If You Could See me Now".
On Danish Shore- Joe Pass, guitar Niels Pederson, Oscar Peterson. Same as above.
Night and Day-Joe Pass,
guitar. From the record, "Virtuoso".
How High the Moon- Joe Pass, guitar. Same as above.
The South of Everywhere-Jonathan Kreisberg, guitar. From the record, "The South of Everywhere".
Peru- Jonathan Kreisberg, guitar. From the record, "Unearth".
Drums:
King Porter Stomp- Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa, drums. Buddy Rich- tight snare, Gene Krupa- more open, "ringy" snare.
Duet- Same as above.
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy- Buddy Rich, drums. From the record, "Mercy, Mercy."
Cheryl- Art Blakey, drums. From the record, "The Beat of A Different Drummer".
Dear John C.- Elvin Jones, drums. Same as above.
Mama- Max Roach, drums. Same as above.
Everybody's Party- Bill Stewart, drums. From the record, "I Can See Your House From Here".
No Way Jose- Bill Stewart, drums. Same as above.
Alto Saxophone and Clarinet:
Salt Peanuts- Charlie Parker, alto. From the record, "the Quintet- Live at Massey Hall"
Hot House- Bird, alto. Same as above.
Perdido- Bird, alto. Same as above.
Walkin'- Sonny Stitt, alto. From the record, Verve Jazz Masters.
Overtime- Bird, alto Buddy DeFranco, clarinet Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, trumpet. From the complete RCA recordings.
Victory Ball- Same as above.
Voice (and Saxophone on all Holiday recordings other except "I Got a Right..."):
How High The Moon- Ella Fitzgerald, vocal. From the record, "The First Lady of Jazz". Listen for her to quote, "Ornithology" (among others tunes) by Charlie Parker.
Oh, Lady Be Good- Ella Fitzgerald, vocal. Same as above.
Flying Home- Ella- Same as above.
No Sense- Ella- Same as above.
I Get A Kick Out Of You- Billie Holiday, vocal Benny Carter, alto. From the record, "Verve Compact Jazz".
A Fine Romance-Lady Day- Same as above.
Sophisticated Lady- Lady Day, Harry "Sweets" Edison, tenor sax- Same as above.
I Got A Right to Sing the Blues- Barney Kessel, guitar-Same as above.
Jazz Band Listening Assignments
Miles Davis always kept the musicians in his groups on their toes sometimes having them play things they were uncomfortable with or did not "think" they could play in order to get them to play as natural and as free from self-doubt as possible. He disliked hearing the same "licks" over and over and demanded they think of something new oftentimes right on stage during a performance. This of course could get very dangerous if they hadn't done their homework (knowing the changes, chords, scales of each tune and being aware and involved in the music). As far as the written music was concerned Miles said, "Don't play what's there, learn what's there. Then, play what's not there. Play what could/should have been written."
For each recording below answer the following questions:
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Describe in detail the form (12 bar blues, aba, aaba, etc) including any introductions or codas. What time signature/meter is the piece in? |
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Who takes solos? How many choruses does each soloist take? Compare and contrast their styles. Does one soloist stick to the traditional blues scales more than the other? Does it sound like one is stretching out a bit; playing slightly outside the changes? If so where and why? Does one play more densely or sparsely than the other? What elements can you hear that make each solo interesting? |
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How does the sound of the rhythm section differ in each tune? Describe the style of the drums and the bass. Describe the accompaniment style of the piano. How do they compliment the soloist(s)? Describe the comping style of the drums in detail. Is the drummer's comping the same for all or does the style change? Do they play a lot of fills? If so does it work with the music? :) Why or why not? |
Enjoy!
Strange Resolution- Jonathan Kreisberg- You know this guy well enough by now (or at least you should) Well, now's your chance to really listen. These are the same guys that we saw with the addition of an alto saxophone and bass. Enjoy!
Compare and Contrast
Coltrane's Tone
Two Bass Hit- This is one of the first recordings John Coltrane ever made. Listen and describe his sound and style of playing. Does he play densely? What about tone? Does he sound dark or bright; cutting or smooth? This recording has Miles on trumpet, Trane, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums.
Bessie's Blues- This is a recording from the later years of the Coltrane group which included Jimmy Garrison on bass, McCoy Tyner on piano and Elvin Jones on drums. Describe Trane's sound here and compare it with the previous recording. Some things to think about are: Is his sound bright and cutting or is it more dark and mellow. Use good describing words. How has his style changed from the previous recording? Also, listen to how Trane plays the blues.