Scott Joplin’s Solace: A Mexican Serenade is a very beautiful piece. It’s hard to believe that the form of Solace is based on a march. However, piano rags such as those by Joplin were formally based on marches.
Solace has several sections. Listen specifically from 00:00 to 03:12, and address the following questions:
How many sections are within this three-plus-minute portion of the piece? Is there an introduction?
Do any sections repeat? How would you label them if you used letters to designate each section? Hint: the first section is from 00:09 to 00:47.
What is syncopation? Is there syncopation in this piece? How prevalent is syncopation in the melody?
Characteristically, rags have a steady “boom-chick, boom-chick” in the left hand, with the bass notes sounding on the beat and chords sounding on the “and” of each beat. Does the left hand play this sort of characteristic figure through Solace, or is it more elaborate than that?
Do any portions of the piece have a more distinctive 2/4 “feel” in the left hand than other portions? Provide counter numbers. Hint: The tempo of Solace is quite slow.
Tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon was a leading figure in bebop, drawing upon the styles of both of Count Basie’s tenor players, Lester Young and Herschel Evans, to forge his own style in the bebop idiom. His composition Bikini exhibits an interesting and unique hybrid form.
Listen attentively to Bikini performed by Dexter Gordon, tenor saxophone (ts); Jimmy Bunn, piano (p); Red Callender, bass (b); and Chuck Thompson, drums (d); and address the following questions:
The order of solos in this piece is: Gordon, Bunn, Callender, and Thompson (at end). Provide counter numbers for the beginnings and ends of all four solos.
Compare and contrast the solo styles, and describe them. Listen to how they phrase or create musical lines over the chord changes. Try to include some detail.
How many choruses does each of them take? Note: This piece is a 44-bar hybrid AABA song form in which each A section is a 12-bar blues chord progression, while the B section (the bridge) is a standard 8-bar section. The first chorus is 00:11 to 01:00.
What is your impression of this piece? How do these bebop soloists differ from the swing soloists that you have heard? Does the bebop ensemble treat or arrange the melody differently from the swing big band arrangements (of melody) that you have heard? If so, how?
Generally speaking, this band would have performed for what type of audience?
John Coltrane is an undisputed giant of jazz. There was an evolution in his creative style-both as composer and performer-from 1957 to 1964. Yet, there is an aspect of Coltrane’s performance artistry that remains distinctly identifiable throughout his career. Remarkably, his music would evolve further in the last three years of his life (1964-1967) into the realm of free jazz, some of which we will hear in this course.
Listening attentively to My Favorite Things played by John Coltrane, soprano saxophone (ss); McCoy Tyner, piano (p); Steve Davis, bass (b); and Elvin Jones, drums (d); and address the following questions:
Provide counter numbers for the beginnings and ends of the solos by McCoy Tyner and John Coltrane. (The order of solos in this piece is: Coltrane (melody), Tyner, Coltrane.)
Tyner plays the A section and then “vamps” with the pedal point in the bass before he begins to solo. A vamp is when one or two chords are repeated, usually with a pedal point. Coltrane also states the A section in his solo. Describe their solo styles.
Listen to Tyner and Coltrane phrase or create musical lines over the chord changes. Do Tyner and Coltrane solo on the chord changes of the melody? Do you recognize the modal characteristics of these solo sections? Try to include some detail.
Describe the rhythmic feel of drummer Elvin Jones and bassist Steve Davis during Coltrane’s solo. Would you describe the style of these soloists as bop, hard bop, modal, elements of all or something else? Explain in detail using what you’ve learned from the Lessons about these particular styles.
