Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology)

768 Pages·1994·18.93 MB·English

by  Paul F. Berliner

THINKING IN JAZZ
The Infinite Art of Improvisation

PAUL F. BERLINER

The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 1994 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved.
Published 1994
Printed in the United States of America 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 5 6 7 8 9
ISBN (paper): 0-226-04381-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Berliner, Paul.
Thinking in jazz: the infinite art of improvisation / Paul F. Berliner.
p. cm. — (Chicago studies in ethnomusicology) Includes bibliographical references (p. ),
discography (p. ), filmography (p. ), and index.
ISBN 0-226-04380-0. — ISBN 0-226-04381-9 (pbk.) 1. Jazz—
History and criticism. 2. Improvisation (Music) 3. Jazz musicians—Interviews. I. Title. II. Series.
ML3506.B475 1994
781.65′136—dc20 93-34660
CIP
MN
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard
for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Pictured on cover, clockwise from left: Billy Bauer (guitar), Eddie Safranski (bass), Charlie Parker, and
Lennie Tristano (piano).
eISBN: 978-0-226-04452-1
To the Artists of the Jazz Tradition
CONTENTS
List of Figures
list of Music Texts
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Picking Notes out of Thin Air?
Improvisation and Its Study
PART I
Initial Preparations for Jazz
Chapter One
Love at First Sound: Early Musical Environment
Chapter Two
Hangin’ Out and Jammin’: The Jazz Community as an Educational System
PART II
Cultivating the Soloist’s Skills
Chapter Three
A Very Structured Thing: Jazz Compositions as Vehicles for Improvisation
Chapter Four
Getting Your Vocabulary Straight: Learning Models for Solo Formulation
Chapter Five
Seeing Out a Bit: Expanding upon Early Influences
Chapter Six
The More Ways You Have of Thinking: Conventional Rhythmic and Theoretical
Improvisation Approaches
Chapter Seven
Conversing with the Piece: Initial Routines Applying Improvisation Approaches
to Form
Chapter Eight
Composing in the Moment: The Inner Dialogue and the Tale
Chapter Nine
Improvisation and Precomposition: The Eternal Cycle
Chapter Ten
The Never-ending State of Getting There: Soloing Ability, Ideals, and
Evaluations
PART III
Collective Aspects of Improvisation
Chapter Eleven
Arranging Pieces: Decisions in Rehearsal
Chapter Twelve
Adding to Arrangements: Conventions Guiding the Rhythm Section
Chapter Thirteen
Give and Take: The Collective Conversation and Musical Journey
Chapter Fourteen
When the Music’s Happening and When It’s Not: Evaluating Group
Performances
Chapter Fifteen
The Lives of Bands: Conflict Resolution and Artistic Development
PART IV
Additional Factors Affecting Improvisation, and Epilogue
Chapter Sixteen
Vibes and Venues: Interacting with Different Audiences in Different Settings
Epilogue: Jazz as a Way of Life
PART V
Music Texts
Appendix A: House Congressional Resolution 57
Appendix B: List of Artists Interviewed
Sources
Notes
Discography
Videography
Bibliography
Index
F I G U R E S
3.1 Simple blues progression

3.2 Popular song form AABA: “I Got Rhythm”

3.3 Popular song form ABAB’: “She Rote”

3.4 Popular song form ABAC: “On Green Dolphin Street”

3.5 ii–V–I progression within different compositions

3.6 Harmonic turnbacks

3.7 Lead sheet samples of alternative harmony, “I Thought about You”

3.8 Elaborate blues progression

4.1 Barry Harris’s dictation of common bebop figure

5.1 John McNeil’s genealogy of representative trumpet players, with focus on
the years 1945–93

6.1 The beat as an elliptical figure

6.2 Barry Harris’s rhythmic chanting exercises

13.1 Synchronization between walking bass and cymbal time-keeping patterns
MUSIC TEXTS
1.1 Trumpet and saxophone notation key

1.2 Drum set notation key

3.1 Alternative representations of melody

3.2 Features of jazz vehicles

3.3 Various strategies in rendering melody

3.4 Alternative representations of harmonic form

3.5 Comparing harmonic movement within blues and AABA compositions

3.6 A sample of chord voicings

3.7 Embellishing chords

3.8 Substitutions: harmonic alteration chords

3.9 Substitutions: chords having different roots

3.10 Substitutions: harmonic insertion chords

3.11 Blues effects of substitute chords

3.12 Elastic interpretation of harmonic form

4.1 Joe Oliver’s “Dippermouth Blues” solo and its re-creations, 1923-37

4.2 Diversity of jazz ideas or vocabulary patterns

4.3 Sources of vocabulary
5.1 Dizzy Gillespie’s complex approach to rhythm

5.2 Different approaches to melodic invention

5.3 Features of different vocabulary stores

5.4 Approaches to invention for solo piano

5.5 Approaches to invention for solo drums

5.6 Personalization of a vocabulary pattern

6.1 One-noting improvisations

6.2 Rhythmic phrasing in relation to harmonic form

6.3 Animating the features of phrases

6.4 Unpredictable, playful use of rests

6.5 Elastic manipulation of rhythm

6.6 Melodic application of chord substitutions within blues structure

6.7 Barry Harris’s dictation of scale transformation by chromatic and
mordent ornamentation

6.8 Charlie Parker’s practice of pivoting

6.9 Barry Harris’s derivation of rules from Charlie Parker solo

7.1 Blues structure of improvised phrases

7.2 Sample of melody rendition and its subsequent quotation

7.3 Patterns combined with diverse harmonic backgrounds

7.4 Displacement and transposition of vocabulary within different
compositions