Listening Test 3

Question 1

The Egyptian

Answer 1

Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers (1964)
Rolling triplets in drums
A-A-B-B-A
Blues melody in As
Egyptian melody in Bs
open harmony
Wayne Shorter's solo (t.sax);
open use of blues language
"wailing notes"
rhythmic displacement in "shout chorus"

Question 2

Two Bass Hit

Answer 2

Miles Davis Quintet featuring Coltrane (1958)
Dramatic arrangement of Davis quintet
Exemplar of hard bop drumming;
highly interactive
crisp stick work
"pop and crackle" commentary
Coltrane 1st solo:
soaring sound over the rhythm
intricate lines
Adderly 2nd solo:
higher sound more in the rhythm
plaintive blues

Question 3

Blue in Green

Answer 3

Miles Davis and Bill Evans (Kind of Blue)
BE chord voicing
MD playing through the harmon mute
JC playing is declarative and meditative
Brushes on drums
MD style:
toying with pitch and timbre at the beginning and ending of phrases
dramatic construction of phrases
rhythmic freedom
sensitivity in paraphrasing
gentle handling of range and tone

Question 4

Giant Steps

Answer 4

John Coltrane (1959)
Chord changes moving in 3rds
Reiteration of certain ideas
1950's JC:
seeking
"Coltrane changes"
modal playing
sheets of sound
dramatic effects a la Davis

Question 5

Pent-up House

Answer 5

Sunny Rollins + 4ft Clifford Brown and Max Roach (1956)
A-A-B-A
CB: fluid virtuosity on trumpet
MR: tasteful, forceful punctuation on drums
development of ideas from Brown to Rollins on t.sax

Question 6

Mr Walker

Answer 6

Wes Montgomery (1960)
Funky latin groove
Short direct phrases of WM on guitar
“Chord solo” section

Question 7

Lonely Woman

Answer 7

Ornette Coleman (1959)
Tense, open rhythm section
Melody driven form in head
Blues Language

Question 8

Jitney No. 2

Answer 8

Cecile Taylor (1974)
Recurrence and development of original idea

Question 9

Solar

Answer 9

Bill Evans Trio (1961)
Improvised bass counter melody
non-obvious pulse and phrasing across the bar line
fragmentation in drums

Question 10

Freedom Jazz Dance

Answer 10

Miles Davis (1967)
Angular melody
Funky free rhythm section
Blues based harmonies
Rhythmic modulation (2 rhythms separate but =)

Question 11

A Love Supreme Part 1 Acknowledgment

Answer 11

John Coltrane (1964)
"A love supreme" motif:
heard in multiple instruments
central organizing principle for the whole album
Layered texture
Density of subdivisions in the drums
Harmonies superimposed over static tonic