PRACTICE PORTAL

I’ve been spending lots of time shedding while listening to the drones that i mentioned in the last post. there are a couple of cool things that i’ve noticed. as a sax player, i try to work on overtone exercises whenever i practice. i take a note on the bottom end of the horn and using just my embochure and air placement, try to reach the notes along the overtone series. i tried that over a drone which was playing the fundamental and found that the range of notes that i could reach increased… i often have my sax students practice playing overtones. whenever they have difficulty reaching a note, i give them a reference by playing the overtone on my horn. more often than not, they are able to reach it after hearing it. likewise, playing over a drone provides me with a bit of a crutch; i can hear the partials in the drone which allows me to reach them more easily on my horn. i’m guessing (hoping) that after my ear and embochure has remembered the sound and “shape” of a particular partial, i won’t need the drone to play it anymore. i don’t know much of anything about the technique of brass instruments, but i imagine that drones could be put to similar uses for trumpets, trombones, french horns, etc…

I mentioned Matt’s blog in an earlier post… i’ve known him since my college days in California and have a great deal of respect for him as a saxophonist/ musician and a person. he has a discipline and focus that is very admirable. he as well is a great player. his blog contains lots of his music, available for download. there’s also a section dedicated to practicing that’s full of cool ideas and material, including demonstration videos. i recently downloaded mp3s of the drones/ pedals that he included in an article he wrote about the subject. i took them with me to practice. it’s really incredible to play along with them. there is a drone in each of the twelve keys that goes on for a little over five minutes. i started on a C drone. the first thing i did was to try some long tones. i started with the root and concentrated on intonation over the range of my horn, from octave to octave. i tried some other notes. it’s really incredible to hear how each note blends with the root in it’s own unique way. i can feel, as well as hear, why consonant intervals are considered so and why less consonant intervals tend to trigger  a desire to make them more consonant. perhaps the experience on a horn is more intense than with some other instruments due to the fact that i can deeply feel the vibrations generated in my head and body…

before long i got to thinking about the development of music theory and how the so many ideas developed over the years about music, germinate from seeds that lie in the deep places where rational thought has no access. they emerge from a need to find answers to the questions that arise whenever two notes are played together. the frustrating, but nevertheless fortunate thing, is that there are any number of answers, none of which can be seen as the answer because of sound’s subjective, internal nature. think about how different cultures, from China, Japan, Iran, Bali, Peru, Spain, Germany, Morocco, Russia, India, the U.S., Zimbabwe, and on and on, have all found their own solutions to the questions of sound (and rhythm, which is another consequence of the interaction of sound waves)…

anyway, after playing long tones, i tried playing some arpeggios. the drone perfectly wrapped itself around all my sounds and absorbed them into the complex. each sound i added affected the overall result but still, the drone was ever-present, “telling” me where to go. it’s really difficult to describe; it’s something that must be experienced! what a great way to experiment with sound. i immediately saw what keys i was very comfortable with and the ones i didn’t hear very well. i felt like playing over these drones all day, seriously. i don’t know why i hadn’t thought of practicing things like this before but i’m glad that Matt included them in his blog. some things i’m planning to try: playing the melodies of and improvising through standards over drones. playing through some of Coltrane’s progressions over a drone.  i’d like to try improvising freely, starting off close to the drone’s tonality, moving further away from it, then finding my way back. hours of fun… many thanks to Mr. Otto for this great information and all the other cool things in his blog…

MATT OTTO’S BLOG

Here are a couple of solos from two of jazz’s trumpet giants. they come from the album CLIFFORD BROWN MEMORIAL that features material recorded by the Tadd Dameron Orchestra which features Brown along with luminaries from bebop’s 2nd wave like Benny Golson, Percy Heath, Gigi Gryce and Philly Joe Jones. the rest of the album is made up of music by a group called the Swedish All Stars, with Brown and Farmer as featured soloists, supported by several European sidemen. Farmer and Brown were contemporaries, born within two years of each other, and only a few years after bebop’s initial icons- Bird, Dizzy and Monk. but their styles diverge considerably. Brown’s playing is generally seen as an extension of the Fats Navarro style of trumpeting, characterized by crisply articulated linear explorations conveyed with a full bodied sound, an ability to utilize the entire range of the horn with authority, and a firm grasp of the bebop vocabulary. Farmer’s style wasn’t as technically brilliant or facile as Brown’s but still, he had a rich and expressive sound as well as a lyrical style full of interesting ideas. listening to “Stockholm Sweetnin’”, i’m reminded of other players like Miles Davis or Chet Baker who weren’t superhuman technicians but still managed to move audiences with their effective manipulation of sound and space, and their great ideas.

Farmer and Brown blow together over four songs on CLIFFORD BROWN MEMORIAL. i’ve included  the Farmer and Brown solos on Quincy Jones’  tune, “Stockholm Sweetnin’”, the standard, “Falling In Love With Love”, as well as a two chorus Brown solo on Tadd Dameron’s “Philly JJ”.

Each trumpeter takes a chorus long solo on “Stockholm”; Farmer opens the blowing and Brown takes the last solo which starts and ends on the song’s bridge. they also take a chorus each on “Falling In Love With Love”. i enjoy both trumpeters’ sounds; full, rich and dark.  though their vocabularies are similar in their way, there are some things that stand them apart from each other. Farmer’s eighth note is straighter and sounds more labored than Brown’s. he attacks each note and sounds a bit like he’s “thinking”- much more deliberate than Brown, who has an easy, flexible articulation. Farmer’s solo is made up almost exclusively of eighth notes with triplet figures added sparingly. Brown, on the other hand, generally plays a much more elaborate line: using smears, glissandi and other effects, circling chord tones with neighboring notes, extensively using triplet figures and sixteenth note runs to add variety to his blowing. Brown’s sense of rhythm is more highly developed. his pocket is very wide, allowing him to place his notes on different parts of the beat. this enables him to convey a broader range of energy, from urgent to nonchalant. both play effective solos but for different reasons, in my opinion. Farmer’s spare, unadorned lines allow a listener to zero in on his interesting melodic ideas and beautiful sound. Brown, who’s solo from “Philly J.J.” i’ve also transcribed below, is one of those once-in-a-generation musicians who had all the tools of a great improviser in hand: a deep understanding of harmony, a strong grasp of melody, taste, a big, pure sound and jaw-dropping command of his axe. Brown wasn’t given time to exploit the full potential of his awesome gifts. who knows what direction jazz trumpeting would have taken had he been able to fully blossom as a bandleader and stylistic pioneer. Farmer, who passed away a little over a decade ago, enjoyed a long and fruitful career as a bandleader. i’m listening to live recording from Sweet Basil from the late 90s, featuring him and Clifford Jordan up front. i hear some of the same qualities on it that i hear on MEMORIAL, his rich, dark sound (he plays a flumpet on this recording) and his measured, spare concept…

ART FARMER AND CLIFFORD BROWN

STOCKHOLM SWEETNIN’ SOLOS (mp3)

ART FARMER AND CLIFFORD BROWN

FALLING IN LOVE WITH LOVE SOLOS (mp3)

CLIFFORD BROWN

PHILLY J.J. SOLO (mp3)

I was playing a gig last night with a friend of mine, Ray along with drummer, Sonosuke- two saxes and drums, a challenging situation but fun nonetheless. we had a great time playing through some of Ray’s original material and standards. at one point in the evening, Ray suggested that we play “Cherokee” in 7/4. i wasn’t going to say no, but the thought playing in an odd meter without any harmonic anchor made me a little queasy. i immediately began counting in my head, “1-2-3-4, 1-2-3…” Ray, who’s quite an incredible young sax player, ripped through his improvisation and sounded very relaxed and loose, and Sonosuke, very adept at incorporating odd meters and rhythmic modulation into his concept, skillfully accompanied Ray’s blowing. i, on the other hand, kind of limped through my solo. i made it to the finish line by falling back on a technique i learned from a college teacher (”when in doubt, play soulful long tones!”) but i pretty much got my butt handed to me on a platter…

Tokyo has always been behind the curve as far as the trends in jazz concepts. only recently have i been hearing players here starting to address improvisation over odd meters, something that the straight ahead guys in NYC were heavily into by the time i left, some 8 years ago. being a  California guy who went to music school in L.A., i was hip to that concept many years ago, but i generally heard it in the context of badly played jazz fusion, so as someone who was more into straight ahead styles, i didn’t pay much attention to it. my argument for disregarding it was that i thought it generally  sounded mechanical and cold, as if guys were, like i did last night, counting in their heads, “1-2-3-4, 1-2-3…” it seemed like a certain portion of musicians’ brains were dedicated to the task of metronome, which inevitably left less space for actual music… in my opinion, the more things a musician can internalize (instrumental technique, sight-reading, knowledge of harmony, grasp of past styles, etc.), the freer he will be to actually create. it follows that playing in odd meters also must be internalized if it’s to sound human and natural. over the last couple of years, i’ve heard more and more musicians who sound very comfortable improvising in odd meters. i plan to be one of those guys too!

i went out to my favorite practice spot today, and before i got started, i told myself that i would stop using the term “odd” meter.  the word “odd”  is loaded; perhaps it’s a small thing  but the word carries negative connotations, (foreign, strange, difficult, etc.) that can become mental roadblocks. how about a different name that’s already in common use, like “compound time”, or something like “complex meter”? they still sound a little daunting, but better than “odd”. the only reason that playing in 5/4 or 7/4 is more difficult than playing in 4/4 and 3/4 is that we’re not as familiar with them. we have to get to know them. the best way to get to do that is to first relate them to ones we already know well. for example, why not divide 5/4 into two groups: one of 3/4 and one of 2/4? use the same procedure for 7/4, divide it into two groups: 4/4 and 3/4. or reverse the group order: 3/4 then 4/4. the first thing i worked on was taking a tune very familiar to me and working out the melody over a compound meter (7/4). i laid it over the time signature in as many ways as i could think of, playing it slowly. then i improvised over it using the two meter groupings that i mentioned above. i tried to think simply, using half notes and quarter notes at first, then moving on to lines using eighth notes. after a time counting out aloud, my brain became more accustomed to functioning over 7/4 but i still heard that little voice in my head, “1-2-3-4, 1-2-3″. i’m convinced, however, that my inner metronome will subside as my brain becomes accustomed to alternating between the two (or more) simpler meters that comprise the compound meter. from playing familiar melodies in compound meter, i went on to play through some exercises that i usually play in 4/4 or 3/4.

one kind of obvious conclusion that i came to in the short time i’ve been working on compound meters is that the reason melodies and improvisations tend to sound mechanical in compound time is because  we’re oriented to playing, writing and hearing one simple meter at a time. it’s funny though- i can play and hear quite easily in 5/4 time, mainly because of playing and hearing the song “Take Five” over the years. i hate that song with a passion (not that it’s a bad song per se, but it’s been beaten to death) but it did serve a purpose because  i’ve more or less internalized playing in 5/4.

one of my goals is to create songs that are actually oriented to compound meters, melodies that naturally flow through the divide between the simple time signatures groupings. in that way, i will have a body of work to draw from rather than mutated standards. i wrote out some exercises i came up with during my practice session…

During the late 1980s and early 90s, French film maker Claire Denis released her first two movies, CHOCOLAT and S’EN FOUT LA MORT (No Fear No Die)”, that featured music by Abdullah Ibrahim. i haven’t had a chance to see the second movie but i was really impressed by her debut, which addressed the legacy of French colonialism in Cameroon and the consequences one faced upon stepping outside of the rigidly drawn lines of social place. i saw it many, many years ago, and besides being moved by the powerfully understated performance of one of my favorite actors, Isaach De Bankolé, i remember being thoroughly hypnotized by the beautiful camerawork and the evocative music of Ibrahim. after seeing the movie i tried for a long time to find the soundtrack which unknown to me, had a different title than the film. MINDIF, released by Enja records 1988 featured Ibrahim on piano, voice and flute, Ricky Ford on tenor and soprano sax, Craig Handy on tenor sax and flute, Benny Powell on trombone, David Williams on the bass and drum master Billy Higgins, also playing an instrument called the gambray. the song “African Market” sounds just like the name suggests. Higgins and Williams start the song with a sick little vamp to set up the rest of the band. the three horns come in with the melody which is simple and singable, while Ibrahim riffs around it on the piano. i love the way the melody is harmonized. it’s as if Ibrahim wrote this for a choir; the harmonies sound like those you’d hear in a Baptist church. the song form is quite long (AABA AABA CCC¹ AABA).  it could be called a compound AABA form. it’s an expanded version of the traditional thirty-two bar AABA structure. each section is eight bars long. the harmony essentially moves between the I the V chord. during the C sections, the V chord is altered to give it a bit more of an ominous quality. it’s such a joyous song; it  never fails to make me want to move. “African Market” is the liveliest track on the record which is generally quiet and meditative. it has some really awesome moments, especially the sweet, sweet horn arrangement in the song “Pule”…

ABDULLAH IBRAHIM

MELODY FOR AFRICAN MARKET (mp3)