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I heard a version of the great blues standard - Night Train the other day played by a student at the U. of U. Jazz Juries, and realized that I'm not totally sure how the melody really goes --- so I did a little research. Turns out, no one else is quite sure either ---- even Jimmy Forrest, the composer, comes at it from 2 very different directions. The notes in question are right at the beginning and happen throughout the tune - whether to use Bb or B, and what to put at the end of the phrase. Check out the surprising tempo of the original recording while you're at it...
Surely, Jimmy Forrest's original 1951 release is something to use as a guide:
But wait, here's a version one and the same Jimmy Forrest playing it with the Count Basie Orchestra - pretty different notes...( notice the 2- B naturals and the E in the 3rd bar ):
But wait...... here's how James Brown's band played it:
But wait...... here's how Oscar Peterson played it ( same notes as Jimmy Forrest's second version but played with a laid-back straight eighth feel )
But wait..... here's how Buddy Morrow played it:
I think I'm going to go with #1 next time I play this tune, the original 1951 recording - I like having the Maj 3rd and the min 3rd in the same line and I like ending on the 9th of the chord - it's a nice bluesy "jazz-chord" quality to lead into the next chord, the IV chord.
O.Winston Link, famous Photographer of Trains at Night shot with 4x5 Graflex Camera using up to
60 Flash Bulbs, requiring up to 2 days setup.
More of O. Winston Link's incredible black and white images HERE.
Google "WINTER SOLSTICE MUSIC" and you will get hundreds and hundreds of current listings for festivals, concerts, recitals and recordings in small and large towns everywhere. For some, I'm sure, it's just an excuse to throw a concert or party, but....
... Winter Solstice actually is a BIG deal all over the world and has been for thousands of years. Concerts and celebrations have been going long before Christmas was placed onto December 25 back in the Fourth Century, assigned to that date expressly to COMPETE with Solstice celebrations. When you consider that 2/3 of the world population is non-Christian AND that a fair number of Christians don't really celebrate Christmas, it makes sense that this event is more pervasive than Christmas, since the physical and spiritual effects of this astronomical phenomenon affect EVERYONE directly, independent of religion and culture.
Back when we were less scientifically knowledgeable and yet more connected to the apparent motion of the sun, back when surviving the upcoming deep winter months was actually a pressing concern, the sun's reversal in the sky from it's 6 month decline was truly a monumental event and a time to reflect and celebrate, especially if you were inexperienced enough to think that it might just disappear forever. Here are some phrases from writings on the topic that paint a picture of what Winter Solstice has meant to people over the ages.
hope and celebration
rebirth and transformation
hope in the heart
peace and renewal
fertility, strength to budding life
license and revelry
inward reflection
last feast
sharing and forgiveness
Path of the Sun for One Year Photographed at the Same Clock Time Once a Week - the Analemma
Celebrating the Solstice has always been intermingled with mythology, superstition, ritual, folk tales and religion. In fact, many of the Solstice Concerts that I scanned included traditional Christmas and religious music - it is open game on how people celebrate the event and is often not intended to be an alternative to "religion", however, for many, it is can be just that - an alternative to Christmas and Consumerism, without religion. There is a perception that the Solstice Celebration is a Pagan or Atheistic ritual, but it really much more at its roots about universal human feelings and the anticipation of arriving at the shortest day of the year and heading into a replenishment of daylight - it is something anyone, regardless of their cultural overlays, mythologies and beliefs, can find reason to celebrate. Solstice Celebration has attracted, in particular, New Age, Celtic, Native American, Jazz and Classical musicians in their attempt to enhance the spiritual experience of Winter Solstice through music. But not just music----Below is a sampling of other ways people of all cultures have celebrated , and still celebrate the Solstice :
Animals freshly slaughtered for upcoming winter months provide feast.
Wine and beer fermentation is complete and ready for drinking.
Feasting and Gambling.
Fornicating ( I'm not making this stuff up!)
Dressing up.
Attending all-night plays.
Gift giving to the needy.
Performing pranks.
Visiting friends.
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Jazz Woodwind player Paul Winter has made a name performing music in celebration of Winter Solstice for some 32 years. Here is a sample from a Paul Winter CD with Uillean Pipes ( Irish bagpipes ) and soprano sax and pipe organ that captures the style of much of the "genre".
"A Winter Solstice" series of 5 New Age CD's is a big Windham Hill favorite. Not MY favorite, mind you, but popular nonetheless.
A refreshing and welcome flavor to any Winter Solstice program is European Renaissance music (1400-1600). Because the character of the music and timbre of early instruments, it fits right in to the introspective mood and is usually way more interesting and sophisticated than even the most adventurous New Age Music.
A SHORT EXPLANATION OF THE ASTRONOMY OF WINTER SOLSTICE:
Other than being the shortest day of the year ( only 9.25 hours here in salt Lake City on Dec 22) , it's most interesting to know exactly what's going on, astronomically speaking. But first, here are some other observations that we might make on the day of Winter Solstice, Dec 22:
1. It's the LONGEST day of the year if you live below the equator.
2. It's a day of 24 DARKNESS if you live anywhere above the Arctic Circle.
3. It's a day of 24 SUNSHINE if you live anywhere below the Antarctic Circle.
4. If you live anywhere along the Tropic of Capricorn, the sun will be directly overhead at noon ( true noon, not clock time, when the sun crosses the N-S Meridian)
5. The sun will rise in the SouthEast at its farthest southerly point of the year and set in the Southwest at its farthest southerly point of the year.
6. The maximum height or "altitude" of the sun at noon ( true noon) is the lowest that it will be all year.
7. The shadow from an eave onto a building is the highest from the ground that it will be all year. The shadow cast by a tree will be the longest shadow of the year ( at noon ).
The Earth, on the day of Winter Solstice, is tilted in such a way that the sun shines directly over the latitude line of -23.5º, which is about 1621 miles South of the Equator. And since the Earth is turning on its axis, the sun STAYS right over this line, or great circle around the Earth. This is such an important demarcation that we've labeled it the Tropic of Capricorn after an astrological event that used to take place that no longer does because of the Earth's changing position in the galaxy which is one of many many reasons that Astrology is a bunch of nonsense, but I digress.
The "Declination of the Sun" on Winter Solstice is -23.5º ( the angle at which the rays of the sun hit the Earth relative to it's imaginary AXIS) and can be found for any day of the year by consulting a "Declination Table" and from this, if you know your latitude ( find this on your iphone or gps, map or internet), you can calculate the "height" or "altitude of the sun at Noon
90º - Latitude + Declination = Altitude of the Sun Very handy if you are building a skylight or building overhang and want some control over where the shadows fall at specific times of year.
Here it all is graphically - notice that Mr. Red who lives on the Tropic of Capricorn, has to look straight up to see the sun at noon. Mr. Green on the Arctic Circle is in 24 hours of darkness as the Earth turns on its axis. Mr. Mauve is in 24 hours of daylight on the Antarctic Circle.
Winter Solstice Dec 22, 2011
BELOW, From a Local perspective, at noon, it is clear that the sun is low in the sky for Mr. Blue, looking South to his horizon. Mr. Blue is observing from 40.73º Latitude in salt Lake City ( 40.73º north of the Equator). Here, at noon, the sun will appear 25.8º above the horizon, on Dec 22, the bottom of its downward path, then heading back up for 6 months with a gradual lengthening the days, to replenish our souls and give us a reason to celebrate. Mr. Green will be in total darkness, in theory, but in reality, right at the Arctic Circle it is still possible to see the sun on the horizon because of the refraction of the sun's rays. Early polar explorers were somewhat surprised by this when their calculations didn't seem to be working. Happy Solstice and congratulations if you made it this far in the blog post and this far into the Winter to witness the turnaround of the Sun. (And some trivia - the original circle for these graphics were drawn with a pencil tracing along the bottom of a tuna fish can. )
Local Altitude at Winter Solstice in Salt Lake City, not exactly to scale
George Shearing - Master of Gorgeous Voice-Leading
My previous post discussed Open Voicings and the staggering number of chord voicings that are possible when you starting really looking at the various combinations and permutations of the 4 notes of a chord. Now we get serious - How many different open voicings can we practically squeeze out of a four-part chord if we look at EVERY possibility? As you gathered from the header, 28, and here they are posted below.
28 voicings of 10 different 4-part chords ( see previous post ) in 12 keys will create 3360 different open voicings. Notice that every line of 4 successive voicings represent inversions of the voicing that is shown in the 1st bar of that line.
Practicing these voicings will transform your playing if you are stuck in a rut, and most of us have plenty of ruts, and will empower you to get away from the playing ordinary "root-on-the-bottom" voicings. Harmonic progressions that are much more interesting come from this familiarity.
The example shown below uses an Em7(b5), one of 120 different basic 4-part chords (sus chords excluded for now).
I know what's on everyone's mind - "I always fall into playing the same old Boring Chord Voicings out of sheer habit - How can I possibly break out of this rut?". While it may not matter in the slightest to the general public, it matters a lot to those of us who are energized by the subtleties of harmony (a small group of us, no doubt).
Typically, on piano, we grab onto a Root and Fifth OR Root and Seventh in the left hand and put the other notes in the right hand in our standard position, maybe throw in an extension or two, and we do this on every chord we come across, for our whole lives, even longer if we pass that concept on to our students. By getting away from the root on the bottom, and spreading out the notes methodically, we see a much more interesting world of sound and voice-leading open up, filled lots of refreshing possibilities.
This study below is a way to shake your voicing world up a little and add some real musical interest to your playing or arranging. We split out the notes of a basic 4-part chord into its 16 open-voicing possibilities - a universe where any of the 4 chord tones is equally likely to fall on the bottom or top of the voicing.
I use an Em7(b5) chord for the example here, but this should be practiced with all of the basic 4 part chords in all keys - that would be: Maj7, Min7, Dim7, Min7(b5), Dominant 7, Min(maj7).
Granted, it is a daunting project, but the rewards are immensely useful for players, arrangers and composers.
Just the 6 basic chords alone, doing the 4 exercises, each with 4 voicings, in 12 keys would be
1152 new voicings ( 6x4x4x12).
Add in 4 additional chords with altered 5ths: (Dom7(b5), Dom7(#5), maj7(b5), maj7(#5)) and you're now looking at
1920 new voicings (10x4x4x12)
Don't let these numbers put you off, though - the brain can handle this, as there's a lot of transferred learning that happens between the different chord types. Listen, sing along, experiment and practice to incorporate these into your aural vocabulary and always voice-lead into and out of these voicings if you want them to really work....
(contact me if you want a full-sized file of this)
Broken Open-Voicing Inversions of Em7(b5)
New York Voices - Four Part Voicing for the Harmonically Obsessed
