We're off to a great start for Summer 2016!!
The EW Jazz Colony is grateful for the support of the Hazel Miller Foundation and Kennelly keys plus the volunteers including Pete Bennett (man on the street), Jake Bergevin (director of bands), Dan Chappelle, Gordon Tibbits and Lynne Behrendt!!
Mr. Bergevin covered introductions and a brief history of the name of the "Jazz Colony" based on a book that inspired him about the first American Art Colony on the Isles of Shoals ... this book is by Caleb Mason and is interesting and beautiful.
This blog is intended as a review for current students plus a catch up for any students or coaches who may have missed the session.
Students are encouraged to repeat important concepts at home during the week between sessions! Students should take notes at each session.
- what songs were worked on?
- what concepts were addressed?
- what recordings were played or recommended?
- what is the homework expectation?
Here's a summary of the Masterclass by Chris Stover (New School)
Here are few terms we talked about:
- rumba clave (3-2 and 2-3)
- guaguancó is the kind of rumba we were working on—there are two main flavors of guaguancó, from Havana and Matanzas; ours was kind of a hybrid of the two
- the layers that make up the traditional rumba ensemble and musical structure: chekere (articulating big downbeats), clave (of course), catá (playing an embellished version of clave — sometimes called cáscara; the one we played was xx.xxx.xx.x.xx.x), three drums, each played by one player (tumbador = lowest drum; segundo = middle drum; quinto = highest drum; we didn’t get to quinto, but the two lowest drums play the guaguancó melody in hocket). Then there’s a lead singer, chorus of back-up singers, and dancers…
- we listened to Pello el Afrikan (at the beginning of class) and then Grupo Yoruba Andabo (the rumba version of “Perdón”, originally by Beny Moré)
- we also touched on son clave (3-2 and 2-3)
(FREDDIE HUBBARD’S) STRAIGHT LIFE A
103 Practice room- Michael Glynn (bass), Nathan James (trumpet), Chris (bari), Kevin (tenor), Stephen (guitar), Connor (trumpet), Brady (drums)
Nathan's summary:
This week we read through; There Is No Greater Love, Autumn Leaves, Sister Sadie. We're thinking we're going to start focusing on Autumn Leaves, as well as brainstorming other tunes to work on. Our "homework" this week was to pick a song we'd like to play/look at, and pick our favorite recording of it to bring in and share with the combo. Taking it further, we asked the combo to try to think of what it is about that particular recording we enjoy; the arrangement, the groove, a particular solo, etc.
(PAUL) MOTIAN SICKNESS
A112 (band room)- Shawn Schloegel (keys), Max Bennett (tenor sax)- Kyle (bari/tenor/clarinet), Graeme (alto/clarinet), Nebee (piano), Rodney (bass), Lauren (drums)
This summary from Max Bennett:
My combo (Motian Sickness) was all there on Tuesday. We mostly discussed possible tunes we want to play this summer and played a few standards, as well as an original by Nebee. We decided we would work on making the blues sound really good this summer. I shared a short anecdote about my experience with Pat Metheny and the blues.
(MELBA LISTON’S) HIGHLIFE -
A111 (choir room)Tim Carey (bass), Jory Tindall (sax), Dan Chappelle (drums) - Natalie (alto sax/voice), Audrey (alto or bari), Kalevi (trumpet), Josh (trombone), Dylan (piano), Josh (bass)
This from Jory Tindall:
On Tuesday, June 28,we played through Blues by Five to kind of gain an understanding of the students level. Then using Blues by Five and blues form as a framework we worked on some call and response techniques and having students repeat back short blues phrases by ear that we provide. Using these concepts we focused on narrowing the focus of our improvising by limited the amount of material that we have to work with (in this specific case, the blues scale), and trying to create melodies and melodic phrases using a limited chord/scale framework.
In the second portion we talked about repertoire and assigned students to think of five ideas for tunes they might want to play during the summer. In addition to this we also listened to and played an arrangement of One By One by Wayne Shorter that I brought in. The second part of the homework for the week was to listen to more recordings by Art Blakey since only the bass (Josh) was familiar.
We were missing a trumpet, alto, and piano player this rehearsal, so hopefully we'll have more of a group next week!
(CHANO POZO’S) CARNIVAL COMBO
- Theater – Alex Dyring (bass), Gordon Tibbits (guitar), Andrew Fox, Taryn Zickefoose (drums), Stuart (tenor) Levi (alto or bari), Fran (trumpet), Rylee (trombone), Riley (guitar), Andrew (piano), Vecinda (bass)
This summary from:
ALEX DYRING
Here’s what we covered last night:
- Introductions:
Name, Grade, Instrument, 1 Goal for the camp, 1 goal outside of the camp.
- Call & Response Exercise
Drums play medium swing, Fox played melodies and everyone copied
Talk with wind students about projection and air, intensity, “playing all the way to the back of the room"
Repeat activity focusing on rhythm section instruments, dynamics
- Play Sonny Moon For Two with everyone
Solos all around
- Learn Royal Garden Blues by ear
Learned melody, worked on two-feel with rhythm section
- Assignment:
Check out Sonny Rollins recording of Sonny Moon for Two
- Pick a favorite solo, discuss why
Find another recording of Sonny Moon by a different artist
Learn Royal Garden Blues
(WES MONTGOMERY’S) FULL HOUSE H105 -
Alternating guests, Mr. Bergevin, Brandon Cowan (bass), Jack (trombone), Brandt (alto), Rimmy (tenor), Edward (piano), Cedar (drums)
Rich discussion with Chris Stover on music and community. Is copyright pirating diminishing creativity?
The group played "There is no greater love" and Autumn Leaves (afro-cuban).
After the session ended we enjoyed a social hangout with BBQ hot dogs ... thanks to Christina Bergevin for serving as Grill Master!!
Next week - July 5 - Anton Schwarz
Swamp Thing - Live at Jazz Alley
On Tuesday we began with some introductions, and asked the students what their goals for jazz colony were. This was followed by a rhythm and time feel exercise, tapping time on our knees to the drums to get in the groove so to speak. With the same time feel we did some rhythmic call and response on one note, trying to listen for not only the rhythm, but the subtleties of volume, articulation style, time feel (ahead, behind) and phrasing.
ReplyDeleteI spoke briefly about jazz articulation, although that's something I'd like to demonstrate more (rips, falls, growls, doits, ghosts, etc)...and playing with a full sound (projecting to the last seats in the hall)
We read through sonnymoon for two, and everybody took a chorus or two before breaking up for the Chris Stover lecture. It was useful to get a sense of the level of improvisation across the group.
In the final half hour we listened to the "Bix and his Gang" version of Royal Garden Blues, and I taught them the simplified melody by ear. The rhythm section began working on the changes, and the old time 2 feel.
Their assignments were to listen to the Sonny Rollins version of Sonnymoon for two as well as one other version, and to pick as much off the Bix record as possible.
I'm photocopying some chord sheets from a theory book for next week, as they all said understanding chord construction was a priority.
- Andrew