What are seventh chords? What are they used for? How can they be studied? In this lesson, we will try to answer these questions. In particular, we will look at what the harmonization of the major scale is, in order to discover the origin of chords. Help me to spread the love for music 763…Continue readingSeventh chords and harmonization of the major scale
Mark Levine’s Jazz Piano Book is a great jazz piano classic. It is probably the best known jazz piano book of all time, a masterpiece for the study of jazz harmony and improvisation. The Jazz piano book covers many topics, but does not always do so in an orderly fashion. Especially for those who have…Continue readingJazz Piano Book by Mark Levine, review and study guide
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Lester Young Trio, The Man I Love
[Monday Notes No.35] The Man I Love is a great classic of jazz and American music, one of the most beautiful love songs composed by George Gershwin. The lyrics of the song tell the story of waiting for love, the protagonist daydreams of the arrival of the man who will make her happy, her predestined…Continue readingLester Young Trio, The Man I Love
[Monday Notes No.34] In this trio recording of I’ve Found a New Baby Lester Young plays with Buddy Rich on drums and Nat King Cole on piano, who hid behind the witty pseudonym Aye Guy because he was under contract with another label and could not appear under his real name. The line-up is unusual…Continue readingLester Young Trio, I’ve Found a New Baby
[Monday Notes No 33] In jazz, the voice often performs like a musical instrument, e.g. Billie Holiday has been known to imitate Louis Armstrong’s trumpet. Sometimes the reverse happens and it is the instruments that try to imitate the human voice. This is what happens in Little Girl Blue, performed by Chet Baker.Continue readingChet Baker, Little Girl Blue. The instrument as a voice
[Monday Notes No.32] Chet Baker was a great trumpeter and singer who lived a tormented life. Addicted to drugs for over 30 years almost continuously, he went from the heights of beauty and success to the depths of desolation and degradation. Let’s listen to his interpretation of a song written by Rodgers-Hart, Do It the…Continue readingChet Baker, Do It the Hard Way. The voice as an instrument
[Monday Notes No. 31] The Modern Jazz Quartet was one of the longest-running jazz ensembles on the jazz scene. John Lewis was a promoter of the third current and was pursuing a contact between European classical music and jazz.Continue readingModern Jazz Quartet, Milano. Between classical music and Jazz
[Monday Notes n.30] The album Jazz Samba released in 1962 by Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz introduced Brazilian music to the jazz repertoire. Dizzy Gillespie and others had already been mixing Jazz and Cuban music since the 40’s, while Brazilian music had remained on the sidelines. Let’s listen to and analyze Desafinado.Continue readingCharlie Byrd and Stan Getz, Desafinado. Bossa nova becomes jazz
[Monday Notes n.28] Like the saxophone, electric guitar and drums, the vibraphone reached the broader public through jazz music. An instrument invented in the ’20s, it was in fact popularized by Lionel Hampton, a vibraphonist hired by Benny Goodman in his quartet in the mid-’30s. Let’s listen to the two musicians playing Whispering.Continue readingWhispering, Lionel Hampton was the first great jazz vibraphonist
[Monday Notes n.27] Django Reinhardt is one of the first great jazz musicians of European origin. Born in Belgium, French by adoption but of Sinti origin, Django Reinhardt mixed his own Gypsy musical culture with French melody and jazz. We analyse one of his compositions entitled Nuages.Continue readingNuages by Django Reinhardt, the first great European jazz musician