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Jazz Listening: Cool 4

1. Scales
2. Bebop or not: some key musicians
3. General listening
   1. Lester Young
   2. Bill Evans Trio: ‘Autumn Leaves’
   3. Bill Evans Trio: ‘Waltz for Debby’
4. Focused Listening
   1. Bill Evans Trio: ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’
   2. Art Pepper: ‘You’d be so nice to come home to’

Scales

1. Define the minor pentatonic scale

   1, b3, 4, 5, b7

2. What one note do you add to the minor pentatonic scale to make the (minor) blues scale?

   #4/b5

3. Define the major blues scale

   1, 2, b3, 3, 5, 6

4. Define the natural minor scale

   Aeolian mode: 1, 2, b3, 4, 5, b6, b7

5. Name the scales used in the following extracts

   1. Charles Mingus: ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’. 0:00–0:08

      Minor pentatonic.

   2. Sonny Rollins Quartet & John Coltrane: ‘Tenor Madness’. 0:00–0:11.

      Major blues. There is a major third in the first phrase and a minor third in the second phrase. Also the sixth in both phrases. Major blues is a major pentatonic with the b3 "blue note". = 1, 2, b3, 3, 5, 6.

   3. Wayne Shorter: ‘Footprints’. 0:00–0:32

      Dorian mode.

      ...What are the notes in C dorian??

      C, D, Eb, F, G, A, Bb

      ...In which case, which note (counting from the start) does the sax play the major 6th (i.e. the note that distinguishes the dorian from the aeolian?)

      The 6th note from the start. Notice how he avoids playing this in the second chord, which is the minor submediant, since it would clash.

Bebop or not: some key musicians

Name their instrument. Are they bebop or not?

1. Miles Davis

   Trumpet. Often muted. Not!

2. Chet Baker

   Trumpet. Often sang. Not!

3. Charlie Parker

   Alto saxophone. Bebop!

4. Theo Monk

   Piano. Bebop! Very likely, despite writing some important cool jazz pieces like 'Round Midnight'.

5. Dave Brubeck

   Piano. Not!

6. Dizzy Gillespie

   Trumpet. Bebop!

7. John Coltrane

   Tenor saxophone. Bebop!

8. Bill Evans

   Piano. Not!

9. Max Roach

   Drums. Bebop!

10. Gerry Mulligan

    Baritone saxophone. Not! Mostly associated with cool

General listening

Lester Young

Lester Young was a 1930s/40s pioneer of what would become Cool Jazz. He was well known for his lyrical, vibrato, breathy tenor sax tone played high in the register.

Here he is in the Count Basie band in 1939 with Count Basie’s Kansas City Seven. An example of a piece in a Swing style, but not Big Band.

Read the quick wikipedia page here.

• Listen to the head (0:04–0:34). Identify its structure using letters.

  AABA.

• The head has been written using a very famous chord progression: this is more obvious in the B section. Can you tell which?

  It's taken from George Gershwin's 'I Got Rhythm': the famous 'Rhythm changes'.

Listen to the head of ‘Stardust’ (1954). Here he is accompanied by the Oscar Peterson (pianist) trio:

See more:

• NPR on Lester Young

Bill Evans Trio: ‘Autumn Leaves’

• Describe the instrumentation.

  Piano, bass, drums

• Autumn Leaves has a head of AABC structure. Describe the music played by the bass in the head. Be specific, referring to structure.

  • Pizzicato throughout
  • For most of the A sections it plays a repeating rhythm of dotted crotchet, crotchet crotchet, with a rest on the downbeat of each bar.
  • Scalic/conjunct movement
  • Walking in crotchets in the B section.
  • Syncopated, in time with piano at the end of the C section.
  • Solo break at the end of the head leading into the bass solo

Bill Evans Trio: ‘Waltz for Debby’

This recording is a bit late for Eduqas (early 1960s), but it’s based on a solo piano recording released in 1956. Note the great descending bassline.

Focused Listening

Bill Evans Trio: ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’

This recording is just in time for Eduqas, in 1960.

1. Describe the change in metre at 0:34.

   The piece starts in a very loose 4/4. It's very rubato and almost in free time. At 0:35 it changes to 3/4

2. Describe the change in the music the drums play at 1:08

   The drummer switches from playing the ride with brushes to playing the snare with both brushes, with hi-hat (foot pedal).

3. Describe the music played by the drums in the bass solo at 3:12.

   • Brushes
   • Swing rhythms
   • Ride cymbal
   • Hi-hat (pedal) on beat 2 of each bar

4. Describe how this changes at 4:14, when the bass solo ends.

   Snare drum with brushes. Hi-hat (foot pedal) continues. No ride or crash cymbal until the very end of this chorus.

5. What is the function of this final chorus?

   It is the final playing of the head.

Art Pepper: ‘You’d be so nice to come home to’

1. Listen to the head (0:11–0:55). Identify the structure using letters.

   ABAC

2. Fill in this table to identify the instrumentation

   Front line	Alto saxophone
   Rhythm section	Piano, Bass, Drums

3. Describe how the music the drums play changes in the bass solo.

   The drummer switches from sticks to brushes. They mainly play the snare drum, with no cymbals.

4. Describe the choruses that follow the bass solo.

   Alto saxophone and drums 'trade 4s'.

5. How many choruses does this last for?

   3 choruses

6. Describe how the structure of the final playing of the head is different to the first time.

   The last four bars which are extended into eight bars.