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Showing posts from October, 2014

Sonny Rollins on "St. Thomas" (Live)

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For Halloween this year, I don't have anything particularly spooky to share with you all, unless the following counts: one of Sonny Rollins's last recorded solos prior to his 3-year recording sabbatical (the "Bridge period"). As the Guardian wrote about these 1959 live recordings from Stockholm , we hear Sonny at a crossroads in his career. He is heavyweight champion of the tenor saxophone, but Trane, Ornette, and several other saxophonists have emerged to contest his singular position in the international jazz spotlight. With Henry Grimes on bass and Pete LaRoca on drums, this is some of the most rhythmically driving, loose-sounding Sonny—even considering all of the incredible pre-Bridge material.  I'd heard some of this material before: there are some videos of Sonny from around this time (including a blazing "It Don't Mean a Thing" with Grimes and Joe Harris on drums), and Donny McCaslin had showed me the "There Will Never Be a Never You

Bird, Bud, and Stitt: "What Is This Thing Called Love" and "Sonny Side"

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In jazz school the transcribing never ends, so here are a few iconic bebop solos from Bird, Bud, and Sonny Stitt. I'd never heard Stitt's "Sonny Side" rhythm changes head before, but it's pleasant enough (albeit less memorable and more apparently derivative than other heads like "Eternal Triangle"). I won't subject you to any jazz school analysis, but if you're curious about my cursory analysis on "Hot House," take a look here . I should say that the first time I heard this solo, I almost fell out of my chair—the middle 16 bars of the solo are a tour-de-force, and the altissimo-multiphonic (that outlines the #11 color on the dominant!) that caps off the end of that whole section is just perfect. "Hot House," with Dizzy, Al Haig on piano, Curly Russell on bass, and Sid Catlett sitting in on drums for Max Roach: C Bb Eb "Sonny Side," from Sonny Stitt/Bud Powell/J.J. Johnson , recorded in December 1949 with B

Masterclass Notes: Henry Threadgill, Jason Moran, Vijay Iyer

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A lot of "brilliant" in one place This past weekend, an exciting two-part series took place in New York that I unfortunately missed out on (mostly): Very Very Threadgill , a celebration of the work of Henry Threadgill curated by Jason Moran. Fortunately, I was able to hear the master himself talk about some of his work in conversation with Moran and Brent Edwards, a scholar at Columbia University currently working with Threadgill on a forthcoming memoir. Some hastily jotted notes: The Introduction of the Tuba When asked about his use of the tuba in Sextett, Threadgill averred that he'd already been thinking about and working with the tuba for some time. He mentioned the significance of X75, one of Threadgill's working band that existed in Chicago in between the more famous Air and Sextett bands, which featured six bassists, four reeds, and occasionally a vocalist or percussionist. During that time, he thought a great deal about the difference between bass an