Jazz Colony Lives! - Back in Action - Summer 2022
After a long hiatus due to the global pandemic, Jazz Colony at EWHS returns with a bunch of enthusiastic students and staff! Director Jake Bergevin is thrilled to have students learning to love the music and also making new friends back on campus.
This year we've added Chamber Music too. Students and staff appreciate Pete Bennett (man on the street) and Lynne Behrendt back as key volunteers/coordinators making things run smoothly.
New Chamber Music - Woodwind Quintet
Thanks to Christina Medawar and SustainMusic.org we are running two chamber music groups this summer in addition to our traditional Jazz Colony experience. This new Woodwind Quintet is already making great sounds.
Summer Combos are rolling with the Theme of "Jazztrology". Clinicians include Milo Petersen, Paul Gabrielson, Michael Glynn, Alex Dyring, Conner Eisenmenger, & Christine Hannan. Thanks to all the EW Alumni Coaches too: Brandt Fisher, Jack Hillman, Max Bennett, Cedar Lange, Rimmy Le & Lilia Sanders.
Come Jam!
Each Wednesday and Friday all summer students will be performing and jamming at the Port of Edmonds Sea Jazz Stage behind Anthony's Homeport. Bring your instrument, bring a folding chair and your dark glasses and enjoy the scene. This Friday will be especially cool with guest artists from NYC as the host group. Check these guys out - Friendship Trio -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua-vXIvT3q8
"Jazztrology"
Colony Combos are reaching for the stars! We will be working on tunes like Star Eyes, Groovin' High, Stars Fell On Alabama, Blue Moon and other great standards in addition to diggin' into the BLUES. Colony folks are encouraged to study this recording and choose one 12 measure section which is your favorite.
Miles Davis - Straight No Chaser
Solar Combo - Theater
Stars Fell on Alabama Combo - A202
Groovin' High Combo - H classroom/mail room :)
Combo Rehearsal Summaries - good to review each week especially (but not only) if you happened to be absent ...
Hi Fly - Cedar Lange/Milo Petersen
Today we started by listening to Miles Davis’s 1958 Straight No Chaser recording. We then listened to Shirley Horn and Randy Weston’s recordings of High Fly. We also spent some time discussing the origins of both rhythm and harmony in jazz, tracing them back to other parts of the world, all converging in New Orleans around the turn of the 20th century. Milo has requested that we each take a listen to every tune in our books to become familiar with them for next week. - ~Cedar
Solar Combo - Christine Hannan/Michael Glynn
Today we started off by learning the melody of the tune Solar. We worked on subdividing in the rests to have a more accurate entrance on syncopated rhythms. Then we went over the changes of Solar. We learned the difference between minor 7 and half diminished. After that, we worked on guide tone lines for Solar. We played through the changes finding the 3 on each chord, then again finding the 7 on each chord. Then they started constructing a guide tone line with good voice leading. We started on the 7 and tried to find the path of least resistance through the changes. After that, we worked on the blues. We learned the head to Sonnymoon for Two. We worked on improvising over the blues with the blues pentatonic scale. The focus for the horn players was intentionality and tone. Even just focusing on tone made a huge difference! For next week, we are memorizing the head to Solar and practicing a guide tone line for the Solar changes starting on the 7 of the concert C minor chord.
Thanks!
Christine
Rehearsal Notes - Groovin' High Combo
Tuesday, July 5 2022
Intro
Students and leader participated in a SEL group activity to begin rehearsal.
“What is your name, the grade you’re going into, and a boring fact about yourself?”
Tunes
“Solar”:
We played through the tune once to acclimate ourselves with the melody, changes, and feel. The focus then shifted to the practice of ending solos predictably and communicatively with the goal of creating compositional continuity through musical, verbal, and non verbal communication on the bandstand. Examples included making eye contact, playing bluesy licks to end solos, decrescendos, and descending lines and earmarks that a solo might be winding down.
“The Mail Room Never Stops”
Students composed their own original tune based off of modified blues changes taken from Steve Davis’ “Blues for Ant-Man.” Link to rehearsal recording https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c2AtsXyepX9O2NDSGrL8pxSVFIiWz0mp/view?usp=sharing
Next Actions:
Conner Eisenmenger
Denis Wick Artist
(502) 439-5824
Stars Fell Combo
We kept with the F blues theme and learned Charlie Parker’s “Now’s The Time” by ear. We worked on tune etiquette: establishing a beginning and ending for the tune, playing confidently on the melody and solos, keeping solos a tasteful length and sending other good vibes when they are playing.
We talked about the mixolydian scale and briefly touched on the arpeggios and blues scales to use on the tune. We talked about “imagining” a drummer to keep the beat in your head. I emphasized listening to the tune and finding what notes work best by ear. Knowing the theory is good, but ultimately just play whatever sounds good and have a good time feel.
Homework is to find a version of Now’s the Time to listen to and to embrace practice with an F blues backing track. Also, think of tunes that fit the theme and bring in your ideas next week!
Thanks, Brandt
| Wed, Jul 6, 9:19 PM (9 hours ago)
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This week in the Stars Fell On Alabama combo, we first began by discussing the importance of rhythm in jazz. We discussed a bit of the historical roots of jazz as a music that was born from Africans who were brought to America in the slave trade, and how that history impacted not only the rhythmic content of the music but also its soul as an art form. Then, we pivoted to call and response, one of the building blocks of jazz, and went around the room clapping rhythms that the rest of the group would repeat back. The important lesson we learned from this was that of intentionality, which is important to having a strong sense of rhythm, as if you don't believe what you play, nobody else will. We then did the same exercise using just one note on the horn. Finally, we pivoted to the blues form. We learned that blues is largely based on pentatonics, and learned both the Bb minor pentatonic scale and Bb blues scale, which respectively in concert key are: Bb Db Eb F Ab Bb and Bb Db Eb E F Ab Bb. We also learned the basic form of the blues, which follows the chord changes I IV I I IV IV I I V IV I I (or V). The group finished by doing four bar call and response over the blues. For next week, students are encouraged to listen to Sonnymoon for Two and Straight No Chaser, and for extra work to try and learn one tune from the packet.
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