Bebop Essay

Breathing and Living Jazz

For my Extended Project, I will be composing a Jazz and Blues inspired piece. Jazz is a style of music that originated in the United States of America and was used as a way to express one's emotions. The syncopated rhythms and simple understructure have led to some of the most influential songs and musicians of the 20th century. The room to improvise is endless. It is often said, “in jazz there is no wrong note”.

Since I am producing a jazz piece as my artefact, I thought it would be best to first decide which sub genre of jazz I would focus on. Through discussions with peers and teachers, I ruled out Bebop. Bebop is a derivative of jazz that has a fast pace that requires fluency and a vast knowledge of scales, Dorian and Pentatonic being just a couple. Styles such as Ragtime and Dixieland did not
seem plausible to me as they were heavily reliant on the use of the piano and trumpet of which I have no background. That left me with a choice of Swing, Blues and Big Band. After some consideration, I decided to focus on a Swing and Blues style. In my opinion these are simple categories but have a lot of room to explore and create a stunning piece.

Blues itself is a more subtle derivative of jazz.
It is used more to express depression or sadness compared to the usual upbeat nature of other jazz forms such as Bebop or Ragtime. Swing, although more of a style of playing, has led to the popularity of big bands that use this style. It stirs up the mood and promotes dancing, the essence of
jazz.

To record my piece, I will have to use multiple instruments and equipment. My main instrument will be the alto saxophone. The alto saxophone is a woodwind instrument in the key of Eb. It provides the lively tone that was used in big bands in the past while offering some classical hints that will make my piece more interesting. Furthermore the wide range of the saxophone enables me to have a variety of pitches. I will also be featuring the baritone saxophone in my composition. The “bari sax” is also in the key of Eb but an octave lower. By incorporating both of these saxophones into my composition, I hope to capture the range of tones as well as the feel and groove of jazz.

I made a conscious decision not to include the trumpet in this piece, although a classic jazz instrument. As a brass instrument, the trumpet requires a buzzing motion that works different muscles of your ombroshure. This would not only require large amounts of time to practice but it would also hinder my ability to play the saxophone. There are few, if any, players who can play both the saxophone and the trumpet well. Hence, I will not be including the trumpet or any horn instrument in my composition.

The drums have played a big part in the formation of jazz. As mentioned before, jazz has an understructure or groove which is led by the percussion and drums. They set the groove for all the other instruments to solo or improvise upon. To learn the drums, I will be taking inspiration from Max Roach. He uses a variety of techniques in his piece “The Third Eye” such as the change of tempo, playing the bass drum on and off the beat as well as excellent use of the crash symbols and high hat. He even shows how much one could do with just the high hat and two drum sticks. He repeated familiar rhythms while adding subtle changes and these nuances made the piece fun and enthralling.

It is almost compulsory to have some sort of percussion in a jazz piece. It maintains a constant beat and keeps the song in tune and can even add flair in certain instances. Therefore, I will be playing some simple chords on the bass guitar since I do not have the ability to play the double bass, a more common choice at the time. I will be using the maracas as a backing shaker while the clave will provide a clear and crisp rhythm. Using the equipment in the music department, such as the microphones with their stands and the instruments, I will be recording the compositions and inputting the information onto a laptop. By learning to use softwares such as sibelius and garageband, I hope to compile all the sounds produced by these instruments for my piece.

Here are some songs and artists that I am taking inspiration from.
James- Featured in the grammy award winning album Offramp, James is one of Pat Metheny’s most famous and influential pieces. Pat has been said to have the ability to fill an entire stadium with his ‘aural pyrotechnics’ due to his understanding of minimal note placement and its effect. Furthermore, Pat Metheny is known for his use of intervals, particularly chromatic or diatonic thirds. His legato smooth playing is achieved by adding as many slurs as possible and I will definitely include this in my artefact. Finally, I will be incorporating his hammering and plucking style that he has used on the bass and electric guitars. Although more of a challenge, I believe with practice it will be possible and will add depth to my
composition.

Strasbourg Saint Denis is a piece composed by the Roy Hargrove Quintet. Although not a very famous band, they have produced some famous work over the years and Roy Hargrove is known for his intricate horn playing abilities which won him his two grammy awards. Roy is an experienced jazz trumpeter who has worked with legends such as Herbie Hancock. In this piece, Justin Robinson shows great control over his alto saxophone especially in his higher register. He also clearly plays his short accented notes well while sticking to his roots and playing some interesting scales and arpeggios. One technique that I will definitely be using is his climactic repetition. This really got the audience going and excited his fellow band members. I will be beginning with the lower register and slowly moving up the saxophone to easily reach this climax. This tip was given to me by one of the teachers at school, “If you start off high you’ve wasted your solo already”