In this article, I want to talk about jazz singers and their improvisations. While it is common for a jazz instrumentalist to perform improvised solos, not all singers do so. This naturally raises the question: does a jazz singer have to improvise?Continue readingDoes a jazz singer have to improvise?
Tag: trumpet
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
[Monday Notes No. 184] Didn’t We is a song composed in 1968 by Jimmy Webb, a highly refined songwriter who composes both the lyrics and music for his songs. Many singers and musicians have performed this song, so I chose my three favourite versions and tried to compare them. To begin with, let’s listen to…Continue readingDidn’t We by Jimmy Webb, listen to Dionne Warwick, Sinatra and Art Farmer
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’s Notes no. 148] Flamenco Sketches is a track from Miles Davis’ album Kind of Blue, a masterpiece entirely dedicated to modal music. Among the various modal scales, the Phrygian mode and the flamenco scale are of particular importance, hence the title of this composition, of clear Hispanic inspiration. I transcribed and analysed the solos…Continue readingFlamenco Sketches, modal jazz and open form
[Monday Notes no. 113] Blue Bossa is one of the simplest pieces in the jazz repertoire and one of the most popular among beginners. Yet the author Kenny Dorham himself did not take it too seriously, to the point that he only recorded it once. Joe Henderson, on the other hand, liked the piece and…Continue readingKenny Dorham, Blue Bossa. Bossa nova from a Jazzman’s perspective
[Monday’s Note 98] I Remember Clifford was composed by Benny Golson as a tribute to Clifford Brown who died tragically in a car accident. However, the piece does not express despair, it is music inspired more by the memory of the friend than by the sorrow for his death.Continue readingI Remember Clifford, a theme by Benny Golson for his friend Clifford Brown
[Monday Notes no. 96] Booker Little in an interview declared: ‘the most important aspect of music is the emotional aspect’. You only need to listen to Man Of Words to realise that this was not a generic statement, but that Booker Little lived music in a truly intense and profound way.Continue readingBooker Little, Man Of Words. Improvisation in Aeolian mode
[Monday Note no. 8] Guitarist J.W.Smith remembers that Dizzy Gillespie, his room-mate during a European tour, used to wake him up every morning listening to Roy Eldridge’s After You’ve Gone.Continue readingRoy Eldridge, After You’ve Gone. Jazz trumpet between Armstrong and Gillespie