[Monday Notes No. 55] Gerry Mulligan was the inventor of the piano-less jazz group. Giving up the harmonic instrument, his quartet consisting of two woodwinds, double bass and drums favored polyphony and the freedom of the soloists, thus creating a new and different sound. Let’s analyze his performance of Bernie’s Tune.Continue readingBernie’s Tune, Gerry Mulligan and cool jazz
Tag: saxophone
[Monday Notes No. 51] Tenor Madness is the most classic of blues, the piece that beginners play in jam sessions. In this performance we hear an amazing duet between Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane.Continue readingSonny Rollins and John Coltrane, Tenor Madness. Dialogue of giants
[Monday Notes no. 47] Eighteen months after taking part in the recording of the famous album Kind Of Blue, John Coltrane recorded My Favorite Things and continued in the direction of that first journey led by Miles Davis: modal jazz. Unlike Davis, John Coltrane does not compose original pieces but interprets and transforms the beloved…Continue readingMy Favorite Things, John Coltrane and the good old jazz standards
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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
[Monay Notes n.24] Dexter Gordon was one of the most original tenor saxophone voices, although he was part of the bebop movement his style is very personal. Dexter Gordon was also an original composer, but his pieces never made it into the repertoire of standards performed by other jazz musicians. Let us analyse his piece…Continue readingClubhouse, Dexter Gordon is an all-too-neglected composer
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Lester Young Teddy Wilson All of Me
[Monday Notes n.15] All of me is one of the first songs that aspiring jazz singers learn. The melody is simple and graceful, the phrases symmetrical and easy to remember, the tempo bright but not too fast. The song is so typical that its simple melody immediately evokes the 1920s and the swing era.Continue readingLester Young Teddy Wilson All of Me
[Monday Notes n.11] Let’s listen to one of young Charlie Parker’s first recordings with the orchestra of pianist and blues singer Jay McShann, dated 1940, a piece entitled The Jumping Blues.Continue readingCharlie Parker with Jay McShann, The Jumping Blues
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Coleman Hawkins, Body and Soul
[Monday Notes n.6] Although a European invention, the saxophone was widely used in jazz music and it was jazz musicians who developed its sound and technique. Coleman Hawkins, the father of the tenor saxophone, experimented with many techniques during his career: slap tongues, glissando, staccato, vibrato on long notes, wide register excursions. To better understand…Continue readingColeman Hawkins, Body and Soul