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Volume 9 Issue 2 - October 2003

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  • Toronto
  • October
  • Jazz
  • Theatre
  • November
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Jazz notes by Jim

Jazz notes by Jim Galloway A Recipe for Jazz Jam Last month I wrote about some of the basics of listening to and playing jazz. This time around I want to lift the veil that, for some listeneight bars, for example, are commonly used intros. Some compositions have signature intros - the famous and almost universally used four bats leading into "Take The 'A' Train", for example, or the Basie eight bar intro to "Jumpin' At The Woodside". And let us not forget anotheE surefire way ·of getting into an up tempo number - eight bars drums! Whatever the decision, it do'es get the band into the first chorus, which, by the way, is called the 'head'. ers, obscures how musicians get in THE OUTRO and out of pieces - intros and end- The next thing to learn is how tunes ings. end. Outro is a play on words THE INTRO meaning the opposite of intro. Next time you hear a band in a jazz Most of the time, in an informal club or concert, check out how the get together, someone calls a tune band starts a number. Sometimes and everyone starts playing withthe group launches straight into the out a pre-conceived idea of how to song, but more often than not, there end it! Now, I really believe tha,t is a musical device called an· "in- listeners tend to remember begintro", a set of chords to lead into nings and endings of tunes, somethe first chorus. Jazz players use times to the exclusion of what hapseveral stock intros; there can be pens in between! Getting out of a a melody line to the intro, or it number is a really important part might just be a set of chords, usu- . of a performance and a catchy endally ending with.a 5 chord. ing where everybody finishes to- In the key of C the 5 chord is G, gether is, to say the least, someso a G7 takes you into the first cho- thing to be desired and certainly rus. (If this is too simple for you, beats one where the group falters be patient - you might still find to a disorganised halt - sometimes something of interest. If it is over known as a train wreck! Start your head, put op a bebop beret, strong and finish strong is very stand up and be counted in!) good advice. - A common _intro is called the "vamp", not necessarily from Sa- Jazz .players have some standard tricks of the trade designed to vannah. A vamp is a short chord make for a happy ending. The simprogression that repeats until a cue plest is to cut the tune off after the is given, hence the time-honoured last note. The leader will warn the phrase, vamp till ready - and the other players by saying "short endmost popular vamp is the 1-6-2-5 ing" and everybody knows what to chord progression. The intro might do. Alternatively, the last note can consist of part of the melody about be held until it is cut off on a signal to be played - J}le last four bars, or from the leader - or the last note e :ah7r7esents Wll~tlit@I Featuring some of Toronto's best jazz musicians · with a brief reflection by Jazz Vespers Clergy Sunday, Oct. 5 - 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19 - 4:30 p.m. MICHAEL STUART/ RUSS LITTLE QUINTET MARILYN LERNER solo piano · Christ Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge Street (north of SL Clair at Heath St.) 416-920-5211 Admission is free. An offering is received to supp.art the work of the Church, including Jazz Vespers, can be short, but repeated and then held. Players pick up on the unspoken message, usually from the lead horn, which tells them how the ending is going to be. Pointing the bell of, the horn towards the drummer at the end of the final cho- MAHOTELLA QUEENS play the up-and-coming Lula Lounge October 2. Complete .Jazz Listings are on page 47. rus, for example, means a drum break which is usually followed by four or eight bars from the ensemble. ,- A good way of ending a ballad is to slow down over the final few bars. The technical term for this is ritardando. The last note of the me!-: ody is then held until cut off. A variation on this is when the band cuts I As with intros, some numbers have standard endi11gs - "St. Thomas" always has a 'cut' ending - "Take The 'A' Train" always seems to end with the same twobar phrase using C, E, F, F#, G, A, B, C. Once you are familiar with the basic .intros and endings I hope it will increase understanding and enjoyment of the music. on the second to last chord and one . of the soloists plays a cadenza HELLO, I MUST BE GOING which can stretch as long as the Speaking of intros and outros, player feels like, until cueing the some musicians destined to make band in on the last chord. This calls their mark on jazz and who made for a certain amount of discretion ·their intros to life in October inon the part of the soloist; I ha~e elude Dave Holland on the 1st., heard some cadenzas that were Thelonious Monk on the 10th. Feralmost as long as the number - · dinand "Jelly Roll" Morton, 20th. extraordinary displays ofpyrotech- and "Dizzy" Gillespie, 21st. It was nics, but not much to do with mak- also outro month for some memoing music. rable players including . Art Farm- On medium or up tempo tunes, er, Harry Carney, Milton "Bags" a popular ending is to play the last , Jackson and Gene Krupa -. w?ile several bars three times before the one of the great drummers m Jazz last note. This can be combined made his intro in October and outwith the ritardando or the cadenza ro in the same month, albeit 71 approaches, or the last note can years later - Art Blakey. simply be played short. You may continue tl!is chord progression as long as you like, soloing or collectively improvising on top of it. The song is finally ended with a 1 or root chord, sometimes preceded by Now that I have perhaps introduced you ~o some of th.e ins and outs of jazz playing, please get out there · and hear some live music. Happy, (and educated), listening! frantic hand waving to make sure Jim Galloway can be reached via that everyone ends together. jaz.znotes@thewholenote.com iGary An I Toronto's Center ' for Clarinets and Oboes SALES * REPAIR * RENTAL ng, Woodwinds Ltd. 1612 Queen Street West (east of Roncesvalles)

~ Band Stand by Merlin Williams WILLIAM BRAMWELL SMITH JR "Time is next to Godliness!" -Bram Smith A strong statement, to be sure. But of course conductor and trumpeter William Bramwell Smith Jr. was known for being strong in his convictions. Bram had clear expectations of the musicians he worked with. Every repetition of a piece was another opportunity to strive for a better performance. All pieces were to be performed with excellence in tone and dynamics. Stylistic consistency from section. to section was emphasized. And the tempos ... well let's just say they were legendary. Bram's influence on young musicians was far ranging. He conducted groups at Humber College, the University of Toronto and York University, as well as presenting clinics and doing adjudications for music festivals. He was a co-founder of the U.S. Army Herald Trumpets, and served as cornet soloist with the U.S. Marine Band. Those accomplishments alone would be impressive, but Bram also directed the band of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Royal Moroccan Air Force Band. I still run into many musicians who had contacr with Bram over the years, and all of them remember his knack for getting ensembles to play far beyond their own expectations in a very short amount of time. I've always felt that it was his high expectations, coupled with a· wonderful sense of humour and excellent communication skills that made this possible. I've always tried to model my · own teaching and conducting on Bram's example. Every time I play, the concepts he taught me help me to succeed in effective music making. . It's riot often that the articles I . prepare for the WholeNote seem to write themselves, but the idea to do this one just seemed to spring into my mind. My memory for dates is sometimes lacking, so I checked my calendars from years past. 2003 is the tenth anniversary of Bram's passing. HANNAFORD 1 S TWENTIETH The Hannaford Street Silver Band Is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year with a jam-packed week~nd of concerts and special events. Al Kay Friday Oct. 17th has the "Blast of Brass" concert with the Canadian Staff Band, the Hannaford Street Youth Band and guest soloist, trombonist Al Kay. On Saturday Oct. 18th, the HSSB is presenting a Community Showcase with the Metropolitan Silver Band, the Weston Silver Band, the Whitby Brass Band and the Maple Leaf Brass Band performing one-hour concerts throughout the day. On the same evening the Canadian Brass are performing as part of a Fundraising Dinner and Concert. HSSB trumpeter Stuart Laughton was a founding member of the Canadian Brass back in 1970, and has recently rejoined the group. Sunday Oct. 19 brings us to the main event: the Celebration concert featuring the Hannaford Street Silver Band with guest soloist, hornist Joan Watson. Joan will premier a new work for Horn and Band by J. Scott Irvine. The band will also premier a new overture by Douglas ~ourt. The Hannaford Youth Band will also join the HSSB for a performance of Tchaikovsky's" 1812" Overture. Congratulations to the HSSB on achieving this milestone. I look forward to many more years of excellent music from the band. Please make sure to check the Listings section of this month's WholeNote. You'll find complete details and contact info for the Hannaford 20th anniversary celebrations, as well as many other worthy concerts and events. Saxophonist Merlin Williams is an Artist/Clinician for Jupiter Music Canada. He can be reached by e­ mail at merlinw@attcanada.ca CORRECTION: Last month's roundup of community bands had some errors in the listing for the Northdale Concert Bancl. Here is the correct info: Northdale Concert Band, Conductor: Stephen Chenette CoNTAcr: Laura Rosenfield 905-886-085~ or rosenfield100@hotmail.com Website address: www.northdalemusic.com Rehearsals: Sundays 7 :30-10:00 pm Location TBA Instruments wanted: trumpet Violins, violas, cellos, and bows Complete line of strings and accessories Expert repairs and rehairs Canada's largest stock of string music Fast mail order service HARKNETT f_j~~~ Musical Services Ltd. MUSIC BOOKS BEST SELECTION OF POPULAR & EDUCATIONAL MUSIC Piano - Guitar - Instrumental Mid-Town Store Brass - Woodwind - String Instruments - Guitar Buy direct from the Distributor 416-423-9494 AUTHORIZED DEALER FOR: 943 Eglinton Ave. E. (W. of Leslie) Armstrong, Artley, Besson, Benge (Next door to Robert Lowrey's Piano Experts) Boosey & Hawkes, Buf!et, Conn Getzen, Jupiter, Keilworth, King Main Store Ibanez Guitars, Scher! & Ruth String Inst. www.harknettmusic.com 905-477-1141 2650 John Street Gust North of Steeles) PHILIP L. DA VIS Luthi er formerly withj.f Schroder: Frankfurt, West Germany A Fine Selection 'of Small and Full Sized Instruments and Bows • Expert Repairs (416) 466-9619 67 Wolverleigh Blvd., Toronto, Ontqrio, M4J IR6 Canada's foremost Violin Specialists 201 Church Street Toronto, ON MSB 1Y7 e-mail GHCL@idirect.com www.georgeheinl.com

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