Jazz Counterpoint In The Late Twentieth Analysis

Jazz Counterpoint in the Late Twentieth, and Twentieth-First Century
Since the 1950s the jazz world has not seen another effort of creating fully polyphonic jazz like with the Modern Jazz Quartet, Dave Brubeck’s early period, and the Gerry Mulligan Quartet. The homophonic texture still remains as the principal form of writing in jazz, either for small or large ensembles. But that does not mean that it is impossible to find contrapuntal writing in contemporary jazz—especially in large ensembles—although most of the time is done in a homophonic context and not as a purely polyphonic style. Among the composers and arrangers that have used a considerable amount contrapuntal writing during the late twentieth century are: Bob Brookmeyer, Jim McNeely and Bob Mintzer, and in the twentieth first century: Maria Schneider and Darcy James Argue.
Contrapuntal writing for small ensemble is less common than for jazz orchestra; the ideals of Mulligan have not being followed. Nevertheless, Dave Holland
The multi-movement piece is presented as a multimedia work Argue co-created with graphic novelist and illustrator Danijel Zezelj. Live music, live painting, and projected animation combined, tells the tale of the construction of the tallest tower in the world in a future Brooklyn. Figure 2.19 shows an excerpt pertaining to the first movement of this piece titled “Prologue,” measures 135-140. The passage shows a two-voice counterpoint that creates a mixed texture with the homophonic accompaniment provided by the rhythm section (except the piano) added to the trombones and the flugelhorns. From a contrapuntal perspective the lower melody is very simple, but represents the main theme of the movement and has a lot of character and strength. The upper melody is completely independent and creates an intervallic vertical alignment with many consonances and a few