My Clifford Brown presentation Monday

Clifford Brown was an iconic powerhouse trumpeter of what is now considered the hard bop style. He was greatly respected by his fellow musicians, critics, and listeners, for his fat sound, precision, and range. Also, he was perhaps one of the most honest clean living jazz musicians in an era (‘50s) that was stricken with heroin abusers. Clifford was a strong role model for other young jazz musicians as a player that did not need drugs to fuel his prowess on the band stand. He was a part of a jazz trumpet lineage that could for all intents and purposes be traced to Louis Armstrong (and perhaps even Louis’s influences; Buddy Bolden, King Oliver, Freddie Keppard), but for the purpose of my presentation I want to emphasize the lineage of Fats Navarro to Clifford Brown to Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard (who then subsequently influenced countless others).

Fats Navarro (b. 1923) was one of the true pioneers of bebop, directly involved with shaping the art form itself. He was on many of the most important recordings with Bud Powell, Tad Dameron, and Billy Eckstine, and performed with a who’s who of the era. Fats moved to NYC by the mid to late ‘40s and was one of the integral players in the originals Minton’s scene. Fats was on par with Dizzy Gillespie, having just as much range, technique, and stamina for incredible virtuosic trumpet playing. One of the things that has been mentioned about Fats was that he developed his solos systematically in that he would build up portions of melodic material to fit over the given chord sequence of a tune and would little by little edit out bits and parts that he did not like. There is clear evidence of this in his recordings of “out takes”, in which (for example) he plays portions of his solo over the A section or the bridge the same with a different second A or last A (etc.) While Clifford did not use this sort of mix and match approach he was famous for working out approaches to tunes in his practice session exhaustively.

When Clifford was around the age of 18, he did take some lessons with Fats. While I don’t have any information on how often they met or what they discussed it is clear to me by the way Clifford sounds that Fats had a profound effect on him. One thing that you can hear in Fats improvisation is that he does not shy away from turnarounds, he weaves his solos directly through these more difficult changes. This discipline was embraced by Clifford who was famous for his thorough practice of II V I sequences and therefore his seemingly infinite wellspring of melodic material. While many contemporary trumpeters of Fats might have played more of a gesture over the top of a series of changes, Fats would literally outline the harmonic sequence. In addition to this focus on the harmonic aspects of improvisation, the breadth of tone and vibrato in both Fats and Clifford's trumpeting is very similar. Clifford played with a strong upper register as did Fats (who was actually successful as a lead trumpeter in various big bands before becoming a well known small group artist). Also important is the emphasis on articulation in both Fats and Clifford’s solos, utilizing precise single or “doodle” tonguing techniques to heighten the rhythmic intensity of a phrase.

What I plan to do in class on Monday is play tracks of Fats, Clifford, Lee Morgan, and Freddie Hubbard and make an effort to point out the similarities in style.

Update on Juilliard jazz

Correction: Benny Goodman gave a master class at Juilliard (in the 40's) and pianist John Mehegan, who authored many books on jazz piano theory also taught a course there. His approach was from an analytical classical viewpoint using roman numerals, and his books had transcriptions. There may have been others, but I never heard of a jazz big band with Juilliard's name on it until the one led by Paul Jeffrey.

Alan Simon

Alan Simon Post #2

In our discussion on "History and Issues in Jazz Education" it surprised me that programs for jazz in colleges and universities had such a slow growth. As Dr. Porter explained:

1) North Texas (1947),

2) Berklee (1954) with first degrees in 1966

3) Indiana University

4) Rutgers (1971).

It took until the 80's for many other schools to open up, and JALC to "legitimize” the concept: Juilliard having a program with a degree and a jazz ensemble. It may be a fluke, but here is my 2 cents: around 1977-78 Paul Jeffrey was employed by Teachers College at Columbia to lead a big band. This was open to the public and met once a week at the college. I was a member of Jeffrey’s octet at the time, which included Ricky Ford on tenor sax, and Jack Walrath on trumpet, among many other fine musicians. For a short period, we rehearsed and performed at Lincoln Center as a 20 piece band under the name "The Juilliard Jazz Ensemble". Perhaps it was never official since the majority of the band was made up of ringers, and only a handful of Juilliard students on flute, trombone, and clarinet. This was I believe the first attempt of Juilliard to present jazz, but I'm not sure if any actual 3 credit course was offered-it was probably an elective. The arrangements were from all over, but several were by Paul himself, and he would blow us all away when he went from conductor to tenor sax soloist. Many of us attended a Carnegie Hall concert soon afterwards to hear Paul with Thelonious Monk, with Monk junior-(a little kid at the time) on drums-later known as TS Monk.

As a Berklee student, Gary Burton's composition and big band arrangement "The Sick Rose" from 1963, was for a student piece highly accomplished and made for great music. Did I hear a little Gil Evans influence? I believe Bob Brookmeyer was mentioned.

The discussion on Aebersold and the originator of this concept being "Music Minus One" piqued some personal experiences with this media as a tool of jazz education. Music Minus One LP entitled "For Pianists Only" conceived and Arranged by Mal Waldron. The piano music includes "improvised" Jazz choruses on some great standards from the 30's and 40's. The accompaniment is by Teddy Charles (vib) Al Schackman (G) George Duvivier (b) and Ed Shaughnessy (dr). One other MMO LP that I have enjoyed practicing with is the Orchestral accompaniment for theMozart Piano Concerto #23 in A major, K.488. I could only keep up with the slow middle movement (Adagio). The orchestral reduction is below the solo piano part, and whenever the orchestra is silent, metronomic cue taps are audible in order to keep the whole movement together without a conductor. What a terrific learning tool. The third and last play along that I own in LP rather than Cassette or Cd form is the All "Bird"-Ron Carter, Kenny Barron, Ben Riley and YOU Play! Ten Bebop Jazz Originals by Charlie Parker. Vol 6 of New Approach..jazz..improv. by the great entrepreneur and businessman Jamey Aebersold. It was so much more difficult to play along with records than CD's!

Alan Simon Post #1

Alan Simon Post 1 - The first class on the Blues dispelled many myths concerning the many fascinating early interpreters of the blues, when they recorded and how they influenced one another. Having listened to a lot of blues as a teenager and getting my hands on as many Folkways, Chess, Blues Classics and Columbia LP's as possible, I thought I had a decent background. (Attending concerts by B.B. King and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee). As usual, as the layers of an onion peel off, and we go deeper into any subject, there are new and fresh insights to be discovered. Our discussion of whether a blues needs to be 12 bars, move to the IV chord, have three phrases-three lines of text, and the melodic content, i.e. using the blues scale and bending notes, was fascinating. It makes sense that the last three aspects are much more important than the 12 bars. Alan and John Lomax should be given posthumous awards (I think the son is still alive) for their unprecedented work in the field, recording so much important blues, and folk music.) In addition, the wonderful Library of Congress recordings by Lomax of Jelly Roll Morton are such an invaluable document. Although I own the complete interviews, I have only listened to a few of the CD's, but I look forward to hearing the rest. As important as the Delta was- (the whole bottom of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas), New Orleans was the center of Jazz AND Blues, and perhaps Morton’s historical place in popularizing Jazz AND Blues should be recognized more often.

I enjoyed hearing some of the tunes that Robert Johnson recorded as covers when I thought they were his originals. In folk music and the blues, the lyrics and the melody are passed on from one artist to the next with slight alterations being made by the one who is “copying” the song. It was a revelation hearing Kokomo Arnold sing and play “Kokomo Blues” with the lyric “Baby Don’t You Want To Go” from 1934, used in the same manner in Johnson’s “Sweet Home Chicago”. Arnold’s “Milk Cow Blues” revealed a guitar and vocal style that obviously influenced Robert Johnson. The latter’s “Milk Cows Calf Blues” was a direct replica of Arnold’s but at a slower tempo. Johnson, like any other musician didn’t come out of a vacuum. Everyone has their influences before formulating their own style and approach. This is true of blues, jazz, or any type of music including classical, where a composer begins by emulating a style of composition that intrigues him, only to eventually incorporate that style into the vocabulary of his own work. Even J.S. Bach took some of the concertos of Antonio Vivaldi, and reduced the score to a solo keyboard arrangement, most likely played on the harpsichord or clavichord. Of course the visual arts and literature and poetry also evolve in this same fashion, although every now and then a true original comes along—even then, an artists path is determined by an example that drew his attention at an early age.

The same sense of surprise occurred when Dr. Porter in his Coltrane seminar last spring, revealed the source of “Impressions” as Morton Gould’s “Pavanne” from his second American Symphonette of 1938 for the “A” sections. The “B” section is from Maurice Ravel’s “Pavane pour une Infante Defunte.” (Porter, L.; John Coltrane-His Life and Music. Pg.218)

More on Jazz Ed.

Going back to the question; "What's wrong with the way jazz is taught in school?", it probably isn't fair to make a blanket statement. I'm sure there are teachers running programs in schools across the country that focus more on ear training, ensemble performance, and good overall musicianship. I think it comes down to the individual private instructors, however, those students who want to learn how to be strong jazz musicians have to put themselves in performance situations often. The school environment is good from the standpoint that there are a ton of other musicians that want to get together and play, but it's important to also get with people you don't know (i.e. jam sessions, rehearsal bands, etc.) and put yourself out on the line a bit in front of live audiences that aren't affiliated with any school. School can be great for a musician if he uses it as an opportunity to develop while continuing to pursue performance opportunities outside of the school. The biggest pitfall for student jazz musicians is that they get real comfortable with their own clique at school and don't ever branch out much beyond that.

Probably the best way for jazz to be taught is strictly by ear. When I teach lessons I try and get the person to play with a good sound sound and the right style first and foremost. It's absolutely possible for a great jazz musician to not know any theory if he has a great sound, great rhythm, and good enough ears to play in the right tonalities. However, a musician that knows all the theory but doesn't have the sound and style is pretty much an amateur.

THINGS to THINK ABOUT for Wed Morning

I hope you have read ALL the posts on the blog. Please think about these parts especially:
1. WHAT I SENT TO YOU:
REREAD the Frank Griffith improv debate AND the POWERPOINT by Charlie Beale.

2. FROM KEN P:
I just wonder how much different it would be if we threw kids into a classroom and said "play" - let them figure out the tunes, tempos, etc. Give them some guidance now and then, but let them go at it. ...At UNT (when I was there - might be different now, but I don't think so), you had to pass jazz theory before you could take improv class. And you had to take a year of improv before you could do a combo. That means students were in their third year before they played in a combo! No wonder they haven't moved beyond a theoretical style - they never learned anything else (and so as not to single out UNT, this is a very common, accepted method of organizing curricula in jazz education, one that is sanctioned by NASM). This seems to me to be the complete opposite of how one should learn. That's only my opinion, of course, but I think students ought to be playing in combos from day one. Theory should follow practice, not the other way around.

3. FROM ALEX C:
...Both areas place such an emphasis on the material that the actual experience of playing or reffing is overlooked.
When a student enrolls in a jazz studies program, is their goal to learn the jazz vocabulary, or is it to become a jazz player? One might think these two are the same thing, but I would like to contest that they are not. ...A great jazz player is not one who simply knows the jazz vocabulary inside-and-out and can demonstrate it on their horn. Clearly, knowing the language is a significant component of playing jazz, but it's not the ONLY component. Being able to interact musically on a bandstand, to listen to the other members of the band while playing, to play with a sense of purpose/feeling, and to be aware of the audience: these are also essential parts of being the "complete package." However, there aren't many "ensemble interaction" courses being taught.

SEE YOU TOMORROW/WED at 11am.
Lewis

New take on Jazz Ed following Instructor Certification...

Greetings,

The issues that were raised by the readings and last Wednesday's class were bouncing around my head for the remainder of last week into this past weekend. On Saturday, I spent 12 hours attending a soccer referee Associate Instructor course in which I was given a course on how to teach entry level soccer referees. I started playing soccer at around age 3 and became a referee at age 12 (around the time I started the saxophone). I've been a very active soccer official since age 17, attending national tournaments and climbing through the ranks. Therefore, I am as familiar with the soccer refereeing world as I am with the jazz world. And I believe that good referees and good jazz players share a lot in common: both jobs require an ability to improvise (be it musically, or within an unpredictable soccer game situation). Jazz musicians and referees both need to be able to react to the changes going on around them instantly. When playing jazz, there's a certain "form" to the tune, but how that band is playing it is unique in every situation. In soccer, the game flows similarly in every match, but the fouls that occur, the level of intensity, and the different personalities of the players change from game to game. If I show up to a soccer match and have poor assistant referees, I have to compensate for their weaknesses. Similarly (as I learned in Montana), if I'm playing with a drummer or bassist that's struggling, I need to be sure to make the time and form very obvious with my solo materials. You can see how there are certain elements about jazz playing and soccer refereeing which don't transfer well into the classroom setting: the real jazz playing happens on the bandstand, and the real officiating happens out on the field. However, both areas are taught in very rigid "courses."

As I sat in the referee instructor course where one is trained on how to teach entry-level referee clinics (akin to Improv or Theory I), I began to grow very irritated with the material, and I wasn't quite sure why. It wasn't until Sunday that I realized my gripe with the way in which soccer officiating and jazz playing are taught both have the same—in my opinion—fatal flaw: both areas place such an emphasis on the material that the actual experience of playing or reffing is overlooked.

When a student enrolls in a jazz studies program, is their goal to learn the jazz vocabulary, or is it to become a jazz player? One might think these two are the same thing, but I would like to contest that they are not. A great referee is not someone who knows the laws of the game inside-and-out. I can say confidently that there are people who know the law book incredibly well but are terrible referees. Conversely, there are other officials who "make their own rules," but they still have great success. This is because being a great referee isn't only about knowing the laws of the game.

In my estimation, the same is true of a great jazz player. A great jazz player is not one who simply knows the jazz vocabulary inside-and-out and can demonstrate it on their horn. Clearly, knowing the language is a significant component of playing jazz, but it's not the ONLY component. Being able to interact musically on a bandstand, to listen to the other members of the band while playing, to play with a sense of purpose/feeling, and to be aware of the audience: these are also essential parts of being the "complete package." However, there aren't many "ensemble interaction" courses being taught. Think of every ensemble you ever played in during college. Even if there were times that interacting with/listening to other band members was addressed, how muted was that by the overall obsession that everyone has with their own solos? One frequent knock that I hear given about young/university jazz musicians is the fact that they play too much and don't listen enough. However, is this sentiment ever addressed at the institutional level?

The material in a soccer referee course is nationally mandated. Therefore, the powerpoint presentation given in Kalamazoo is the same one given in Newark. Jazz education is not as clearly uniform, but I would argue that the dissemination of teaching methods and materials around the country (with the assistance of bodies such as the IAJE) is quite similar from one program to the next. I would argue that even though there are vastly different faculty members at MSM, NEC, Eastman, etc., the students at the various institutions share a lot of similar sentiments about their musical priorities in a way that would have NOT been as universal prior to the institutionalization of jazz. So even though, as Ken described in his response to John, there have always been examples of imitation in jazz playing, the idea of a more unified philosophy on how to approach the music (and lack of variety in perspectives) seems to be unique to jazz as it has been presented following its indoctrination into the world of academia.

Just my two cents.