a. Figure featured as a central idea
Charlie Parker solo, “Mohawk” (No.1)
b. Figure absorbed within a larger line
Charlie Parker solo, “She Rate” (No.2)
Example 9.2 Different applications of an embellishing mordent
Example 9.3 Different applications of a grupetto-like gesture
Clifford Brown melody rendition and solos, “I Can Dream, Can’t I?”
(all excerpts =ca. 196)
Example 9.4 Booker Little pattern in various solo settings and roles:
a year and a half in the life of a lick
Example 9.5 Recurring vocabulary patterns within a single performance
Example 9.6 Booker Little solo “Minor Sweet” model: long chain of vocabulary patterns ( =126–132)
Example 9.7 Phrases derived from Booker Little solo “Minor Sweet” model
Example 9.8 Radical departures from Booker Little solo “Minor Sweet” model
Example 9.9 Artist’s re-creation of own precomposed solo
Fats Navarro solo, two renditions, “Jahbero”
Example 12.1 Approaches to invention for bass accompaniment
a. Walking bass line formulations
The bass accompaniment samples below illustrate changing performance conventions over a period of nearly twenty years and wide-ranging features of musical personality that distinguish individual players as accompanists. The excerpt of Russell’s performance (a1) represents a comparatively conservative rhythmic accompaniment featuring largely scalar patterns with occasional skips and the frequent use of repeated pitches. Revealing a greater variety of expression is the excerpt of Heath’s accompaniment (a2), which breaks up regular quarter-note performance with rhythmic embellishments and takes liberties with melodic shape, typically forming one- or two-bar figures within the boundaries of discrete chords. Chambers’s sampled performance (a3) is more conservative rhythmically than Heath’s, but adventurous in other ways. Lively melodic contours spanning different measure groupings constantly change directions with wide interval leaps and explore the upper register of the bass. Like Heath, Chambers builds phrases from short balanced components, but as the last four bars of the sample demonstrate, he often develops shapes extensively as motives. Whereas Russell’s bass lines are largely diatonic, Heath and Chambers feature chromaticism in their parts.
Workman’s approach sampled here (a4) is more conservative in range than the other players’ but is the most adventurous rhythmically. Not only does he perform syncopated figures over the barline, but he occasionally stops the flow of his line with rests and wide interval leaps, creating, all together, a richly varied, unpredictable phrase structure. Finally, the accompaniment samples reveal different approaches to interpreting harmonic structure. Heath is relatively conservative in this instance, emphasizing root performance on the downbeats of new chord areas; Russell and Chambers mix root playing with the performance of other chord tones on downbeats. Workman takes the greatest liberties. He walks in the general tonality of the piece and is less concerned with describing each chord change.
b. Diverse approaches incorporated with walking bass line formulations Ron Carter accompaniment. design for complete chorus. “I Thought about You.” 12 Feb. 1964
Carter’s part epitomizes contemporary trends in bass accompaniment, as well as the increased possibilities for expressive performance at a slow ballad tempo. His style displays a dynamic quality throughout, constantly presenting different kinds of ideas: expressive glissandos (bars 3–4), grace note embellishment (bar 5), double-stop ornamentation (bars 3–4, 9–12), and double pedal point effects (bars 11–12,43–46). Equally diverse are the rhythmic and melodic features of his creations. At the original tempo and in the double-time section, he sometimes improvises in the two-beat feeling reminiscent of early jazz players (bars 13–15, 29–30); other times, he switches to a four-beat walking bass style (bars 47–56). Utilizing the full range of the bass, he builds some passages around virtuoso leaps (bars 19,32–36); he develops other figures motivically (bars 6–7, 26–28). At the same time, his harmonic approach is conservative. Typically, he plays roots on the downbeats of chord changes and otherwise emphasizes thirds and fifths. Periodically, he decorates the conventional progression with tritone substitutions (bars 7–8, 15, for example) or creates tension by anticipating the chord changes (bars 30.33, for example).
Example 12.2 Common bass vocabulary patterns
Example 12.3 The personalization of bass vocabulary patterns
a. Paul Chambers variant patterns Paul Chambers accompaniment, “Blues by Five” (all excerpts = 176)
b. Reggie Workman variant patterns Reggie Workman accompaniment, “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” (all excerpts =104–108)
c. Paul Chambers variant patterns Paul Chambers accompaniment, “Blues by Five” (all excerpts =176)
d. Percy Heath variant patterns Percy Heath accompaniment, “Bags’ Groove” (take 1; all excerpts =144–152)
Example 12.4 Recurring vocabulary chains in bass lines
a. Paul Chambers vocabulary chains Paul Chambers accompaniment, “Blues by Five” (all excerpts =176)
b. Percy Heath vocabulary chains Percy Heath accompaniment, “Bags’ Groove” (takes 1 and 2; all excerpts =144–152)
Example 12.5 Ride cymbal and hi-hat time-keeping patterns: model and variants
Drummers can individualize the conventional bebop time-keeping pattern (a) through basic practices of component substitution, for example, replacing two eighth notes with a quarter note or vice versa (b1, b2), or replacing particular elements with rests (e2, e3). Such procedures alter the initial pattern’s accentuation scheme. So, too, does tying elements together to elide one-bar figures (b2) or to create syncopation (c2, d1–d3). Changing a figure’s orchestration and color also creates diversity. Drummers may alternate stick-driven hi-hat and ride cymbal performance (e3) or feature the ride cymbal exclusively (el, e2). They may emphasize the ride cymbal’s interplay with the foot-pedal-operated hi-hat (c3, e5), or the hi-hat struck with a stick (e4). Whether, after striking the hi-hat in open position with a drumstick, the player closes it with the foot pedal, or a hand, or both, also creates distinctive colors. Finally, whereas some drummers consistently phrase their eighth notes with a swing triplet feeling (b–d; see discussion in drum set notation key, ex. 1.2), Williams’s accompaniment varies such phrasing (e2, e3, e5) with the performance of even or straight eighth notes (e1) and tension-generating hemiola-like patterns (e4).
a. Model bebop pattern
b. Max Roach variants , Max Roach accompaniment, “Jordu” (all excerpts =138–144)
c. “Philly” Joe Jones variants “Philly” Joe Jones accompaniment, “Bye Bye, Blackbird” (all excerpts =116–120)
d. Elvin Jones variants Elvin Jones accompaniment, “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” (all excerpts =104–108)
e. Tony Williams variants Tony Williams accompaniment, “I Thought about You” (all excerpts = 108–112 double-time section)
Example 12.6 Drum punctuations around time-keeping patterns “Philly” Joe Jones accompaniment, “Blues by Five” (all excerpts =176)
Players can use their drums to accent different beats or portions of beats within each measure, creating varied schemes of on-beat or off-beat emphasis in relation to the time-keeping cymbal pattern (a1–a3). Multiple punches on the same drum cause figures of differing rhythmic density to emerge from the cymbal pattern (a4–a6); distributing punches between the voices of different drums produces patterns with melodic implications (a7–a8). Players can create longer drum phrases by repeating and varying simple ideas, such as accenting the second half of the fourth beat with the snare drum (b1) or accenting the fourth beat with repeated eighth-note snare punches or quarter-note bass drum punches (b2). Combining these procedures with such varied schemes as low-high-low or high-low tonal emphasis, for example, drummers can develop ideas of greater melodic-rhythmic complexity over an entire chorus (c).
a. One-ba
r figures
b. Figures developing simple ideas
c. Figures developing complex melodic-rhythmic ideas
Example 12.7 The personalization of drum vocabulary patterns
Revealing drummers’ distinctive ways of orchestrating rhythmic patterns, Roach plays a single-pitch bass drum version of a figure (a1) whose elements “Philly” Joe Jones distributes between the snare and bass drums to create a descending melodic shape (a2). Comparable versions of another figure suggest that players can alter a model pattern further by adding subtle rhythmic embellishments, distinctive accents, and syncopations to its basic frame, or by deleting selective elements from it (bl–b3). The varied use of cymbals also plays a significant role in individualizing drum figures by encasing them in unique textures of cymbal sound and reinforcing some of their elements over others. In relation to Roach’s figure (c1), for example, “Philly” Joe Jones’s figure (c2) withholds the hi–hat on beats two and four, and the ride cymbal on the last triplet drum punch. It also deletes the initial punch of Roach’s second triplet, transforming the five-stroke pattern into a repeated double-stroke pattern. Elvin Jones’s figure (c3) begins by combining Roach’s use of cymbals with “Philly” Joe Jones’s manner of breaking up the triplet figure. It goes on to substitute a punch on the middle triplet element of the third beat for the original quarter-note punch and to syncopate the ride cymbal crash on the second half of the fourth beat.
a. variant two-bar patterns
b. Variant one-bar patterns with triple subdivision of beat three
c. Variant one-bar patterns with triple subdivision of beats one and two
Example 12.8 Drum fills as structural markers
Players commonly use drum patterns or fills of relatively high density to indicate structural cadences within a composition’s form, for example, at the end of four- or eight-bar harmonic phrases and the end of the chorus. Fills without triplet figures feature sixteenth-note patterns, or short accentuated patterns, or press rolls (al–a4), whereas other fills feature repeated triplet figures (bl–b2). Artists may also develop ideas of greater complexity as structural markers by repeating or transforming their initial pattern’s components or by generating a succession of contrasting rhythmic elements. In cl, for example, Jones establishes an off-beat punch idea, which he develops in the second measure by reinforcing the initial punch with the bass drum, adding a punch on the second half of beat two, and substituting off-beat triplet-eighth punches for their eighth-note counterparts on beats three and four. In c2, Jones establishes a largely triplet-eighth idea, which he varies in the second measure by omitting punches on beat one, then performing a displaced, altered version of the last component of the initial gesture. In c3, Williams develops a triplet idea, creating diverse polyrhythmic groupings by accenting different parts of the triplet with cymbal and drum punches. In the first bar, his syncopated ride cymbal initiates a hemiola-like pattern, while he performs a slightly displaced version of the conventional hi-hat pattern. He animates his figures further with constantly changing cymbal colors and an effective rim shot effect.
a. patterns without triple figures
b. Figures stressing triples
c. Complex figures developing ideas through repetition and variation
Example 12.9 Chorus designs for drum accompaniment
a. Designs delineating form through time-keeping patterns and structural markers
Providing a classic accompaniment model (a1) during the first chorus of Clifford Brown’s solo, Max Roach gradually increases the intensity of his performance, while methodically marking the form of the composition and developing different ideas. At the outset, he confines his part to simple variations on a cymbal time-keeping pattern and first introduces drums to playa structural marker figure during the harmonic cadence in bar 8. Subsequently, he plays comparatively dense drum fills in the fourth and eighth bars of harmonic phrases. Within areas delineated by his structural markers, Roach’s distinctive drum figures provide each section with a different character. In bars 9–16, he features a figure accenting beats two or four with the bass drum and the second half of beats two or four with the snare drum. In bars 17–24, he divides the phrase into two parts, the first featuring an isolated bass drum figure, and the second a repeated eighth-note snare drum figure. The last eight-bar section is also unique but varies some elements introduced earlier, such as the on-beat bass drum accent. Finally, Roach delineates the larger form with a powerful press roll in bars 31–32.
Elvin Jones’s second chorus accompaniment of John Coltrane’s solo (a2) also delineates four- and eight-bar phrases, and, from section to section, introduces distinctive figures. In bars 33–40, he features dense combined bass and snare drum figures that lead into contrasting structural markers, whereas in bars 41–48, he emphasizes spare off-beat snare punctuations and cymbal patterns before the extended cadential fill. In bars 49–56, Jones features highly active snare drum figures, in part continuing the previous structural marker’s triplet idea. From his cadential figure in bar 56 forward, Jones rapidly builds intensity, initially renewing his bass drum emphasis, then creating linear combinations with bass and snare drums (bars 57–58), and, finally, playing both instruments simultaneously for maximum accentuation before leading into the chorus’s climactic sixteenth-note fill in bar 64. Jones’s chorus displays a higher level of drum activity overall than Roach’s. Additionally, Jones constantly varies his cymbal patterns. Instead of the conventional beat-two-and-four hi-hat performance, he sometimes accents beat three (bar 64) or accents the second half of beats (bars 41, 61–63). He frequently plays syncopated ride cymbal patterns, sometimes eliding them with other patterns over the barline or combining them with complex drum figures. He also takes liberties by extending the intense drum activity of structural markers over the boundaries of harmonic phrases (bars 48–49, 56–57, for example).
b. Design featuring the episodic development of ideas and dramatic changes in time-feeling Tony Williams accompaniment, “I Thought about You”
Tony Williams’s accompaniment of Miles Davis illustrates the expressive range of contemporary drummers within the framework of a ballad. Although situated in the piece’s formal structure, the accompaniment does not routinely provide regular structural markers. Williams’s virtuoso polyrhythmic fills, for instance, occur not only at predictable harmonic cadence points in the composition’s form, such as bars 29–30 and 46 in the double-time numbering system (that is, bars 24 and 32 at the original tempo), but at less predictable points, such as bars 21–22 and 53–54 in the double-time numbering system. For the most part, he develops his ideas organically, manipulating elements of repetition and change within successive musical episodes as a function of his own internal conversation and his interaction with fellow band members discussed later in this work. Similarly, Williams commonly varies his accompaniment through effective changes in drum set emphasis and playing technique that are independent of major structural cadences. For example, he initiates subtle textures of brush work on the snare drum in the middle of bar 3, then creates suspense by introducing an extended rest in bar 11. Subsequently, Williams changes instrumentation and technique to highlight the group’s dramatic shift to double time in bar 19, rather than at the beginning of the bridge in bar 17.
Williams’s diverse expression distinguishes the accompaniment throughout. His vocabulary ranges from the elaborate figures mentioned above to various linear constructions alternating drum and cymbal sounds (bars 33–40) to march-like figures without cymbal accompaniment (bars 42–45). Over the course of the performance, he exploits accentuation, dynamics, timbral variation (bars 30, 37, 47), and the use of silence (bars 11–18, 40–42). Compared to Roach and Jones, Williams emphasizes the colors of the ride cymbal and stick-driven hi-hat over that of the foot-pedal-operated hi-hat, playing the latter only sparingly (bars 25–29, 48–49). He frequently alternates the voices of different cymbals (bars 19–23) and integrates them within the larger complex of drum figures (
bars 29–31, 50–54), rather than restricting their role to ostinato time-keeping patterns. Also distinctive is Williams’s creation of constantly shifting time-feelings from straight eighths and sixteenths (bars 33–45) to swing eighths (bars 46–56).
Example 12.10 Chorus designs for piano accompaniment
a. Block chord designs delineating form through structural markers and distinctive cadences
Red Garland’s block chord accompaniment (a1) features a relatively low registral placement of chords. He primarily creates seventh and ninth chords with the root in the bass whose open sounds emphasize sevenths and thirds in the left hand, and thirds and seconds in the right hand. To delineate the composition’s form, Garland plays a recurring rhythmic structural marker (first introduced in bar 8) and other markers of increased rhythmic density (bars 4, 12) at the end of four-bar harmonic phrases. Within the phrases, he improvises relatively spare off-beat patterns in which accenting the second half of beat four is a common element. Sometimes, Garland creates a flow of non-repeating rhythmic elements, but other times, he develops elements through repetition and variation. In bars 1–4, for instance, he emphasizes off-beat punches on the second half of beats two and four; in bars 5–8, he works with a repeated eighth-note figure. A distinctive approach to the final cadence of the chorus highlights its larger form. In bar 30, Garland performs a displaced version of the recurring structural marker elided with a unique figure containing the chorus’s longest rhythmic values. Emphasizing sustained on-beat punches, his right hand creates a descending upper voice line accompanied by increased harmonic motion, while his left hand plays a C pedal emphasizing sustained off-beat punches. As illustrated by the large score segment (ex. 13.23), Garland sometimes remains close to the simple conventional progression (bars 9–12); other times, he ornaments the progression with chord substitutions (bars 21–24).
Thinking in Jazz Page 79