Transposing instruments can be difficult to understand, as they may seem like an unnecessary and inexplicable complication. In fact, such an instrument assigns a name to notes that does not correspond to the note they actually produce. This paradox can be explained by historical as well as practical reasons; there are good reasons why transposing…Continue readingTransposing instruments: I play one note, and another comes out
Tag: saxophone
Il jazz secondo Gianni Basso. Cronache di un caposcuola (Gianni Basso’s take on jazz. Chronicles of a leading figure) is a book by Sandra Scagliotti and Fulvio Albano, published by Azzurra Publishing in 2014, five years after the death of the great Piedmontese saxophonist. Gianni Basso was one of the greatest Italian jazz musicians, and…Continue readingGianni Basso’s take on jazz. Chronicles of a leading figure
I have selected one hundred unforgettable jazz pieces that have made the history of this music. The aim of this list is to suggest a few listens to those who do not know jazz music at all, or have only listened to some of it and are curious about new periods or genres. I have…Continue readingAn Introduction to Jazz: One Hundred Tunes to Discover Jazz
[Monday Notes no. 39] Many songs in the jazz repertoire derive from musicals and films, and cartoons are no exception. In the 1937 cartoon, Snow White sings Someday My Prince Will Come to an audience of dwarves and forest animals.Continue readingSomeday My Prince Will Come, from Snow White to Jazz
[Monday Notes no. 105] There is a genre of compositions that in jazz are called contrafacts. Nothing illegal about it: these are pieces created using the harmonic progressions of already existing pieces. Wendy by Paul Desmond belongs to this category, in fact the chords are taken from For All We Know, a song from 1934.Continue readingPaul Desmond, Wendy. The Art of jazz contrafact
[Monday Notes no. 99] Sweet Georgia Brown is a song that dates back to 1925, when jazz was taking its first steps. The piece became a very popular jazz standard and Miles Davis used its harmonic progression in his song Dig. We hear a version by Sidney Bechet, a true master of 1920s jazz.Continue readingSidney Bechet, Sweet Georgia Brown. A jazz piece with very few chords
[Monday Notes no.95] An experienced musician once advised me: “if while improvising you come up with a phrase you have already used, don’t play it. Rather take a rest, and think of something different.” This is a very radical position for a jazz musician, yet there is one saxophonist who sometimes seems to think in…Continue readingArt Pepper, Lost Life. A jazz piece with a Hispanic tinge
[Monday Note No. 90] Acknowledgement is the first track on the album A Love Supreme, a suite in four movements in which John Coltrane describes his religious conversion. A spiritual path that is also an original and innovative musical journey.Continue readingJohn Coltrane, Acknowledgement. A Love Supreme, Jazz and spirituality
[Monday Notes no. 18] A former member of Duke Ellington‘s orchestra, Ben Webster began like many by imitating Coleman Hawkins, later developing a more personal style. The saxophonist was capable of powerful and passionate playing but his most original characteristics are his warm timbre and masterful use of dynamics, as occurs in Chelsea Bridge.Continue readingBen Webster, Chelsea Bridge. The warm voice of the tenor sax
[Monday Notes no. 17] Every art has its own magic places, where at a particular moment something special and decisive happened. For jazz music, one of these places is certainly Minton’s, where some musicians used to meet late at night for endless jam sessions, sometimes after playing elsewhere. Drummer Kenny Clarke was one of them.Continue readingKenny Clarke & Charlie Parker, Si Si. Bebop nights at Minton