Reminds you of
stuff the teacher made you write in the junior school, doesn't it ? This blog truly does include many types of
writing! Anyway, I stayed at Brecon in
mid-Wales, on a leisure activities holiday, organised by a firm that I travel
with regularly. The subject was The Joy of Music and the tutor was one,
Chris Howes, jazz pianist, teacher of adults and skilled raconteur. Jazzers I've spoken to seem recall the name
but not many details. I think Chris
would be amused by this. Brecon Jazz
Festival perhaps? Anyway, many types of
music were explored, with excellent powerpoint presentations. This tutor is something of an expert on the
slave song origins of blues and jazz, so I learned lots.
Other information conveyed included an analysis of a typical 32 bar song (Blue Moon); a run-down of what was happening musically between Stan Getz (tenor sax) and Kenny Barron (piano) in East of the Sun; then came Frank Sinatra with How Deep is the Ocean, to illustrate Sammy Cahn’s statement that it’s not possible to sing such a song without becoming involved with the meaning of the words. The song-writing partnership of Rodgers and Hart was interesting. Apparently Rodgers was quite dour but Hart was an emotional type, and he had the ability to come up with instant rhythmic, rhymed lines as if it was part of normal conversation. Hart did the words first and Rodgers produced the music later. Their partnership was far longer than that of Rodgers and Hammerstein. We were told that jazz musicians find the songs written by Hart much more satisfying to play. Now I think of it, you don’t hear many jazz musicians playing songs from such shows asOklahoma
Other information conveyed included an analysis of a typical 32 bar song (Blue Moon); a run-down of what was happening musically between Stan Getz (tenor sax) and Kenny Barron (piano) in East of the Sun; then came Frank Sinatra with How Deep is the Ocean, to illustrate Sammy Cahn’s statement that it’s not possible to sing such a song without becoming involved with the meaning of the words. The song-writing partnership of Rodgers and Hart was interesting. Apparently Rodgers was quite dour but Hart was an emotional type, and he had the ability to come up with instant rhythmic, rhymed lines as if it was part of normal conversation. Hart did the words first and Rodgers produced the music later. Their partnership was far longer than that of Rodgers and Hammerstein. We were told that jazz musicians find the songs written by Hart much more satisfying to play. Now I think of it, you don’t hear many jazz musicians playing songs from such shows as
We learned that
pianist Ellis Larkins produced his unusually mellow tone by having the damper
pedal on the piano actually tied down, to save having to keep it depressed by
foot all the time, as illustrated by his accompaniment for Ella Fitzgerald on You Turned the Tables on Me. And did you know that Irving Berlin couldn't speak a word of English when he arrived in the States, yet his song-writing shows a good grasp of everyday speech?
And he never really learned to play an instrument properly and played
the piano on the black notes only.
Other music we
heard included Gil Evans arrangement for the wonderful trumpet version of the Rodriguez Guitar Concerto by Miles, and Half
the Fun from Duke Ellington’s Shakespearean Suite Such
Sweet Thunder. This is the bit about
Antony
A good time was
had by all – apart from the sad text I received….
Ann Alex.
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