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Book called "What to Listen for in Jazz"

2K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  mcudahy 
#1 ·
Has anyone read a book by Barry Kernfeld called What to Listen for in Jazz? The chapter on "Improvisation" has an interesting analysis of Charlie Parker's recording of Koko. I never thought of his playing from this perspective, exactly, but it makes sense. (Shows how he uses what is really a fairly limited repertoire of phrases, linking them and repeating them with incredible speed, creativity, and facility.) This book is very specific about how jazz works. In addition to Improvisation, there are chapters on Rhythm, Arrangements, Sound, and I forget what else. I wondered what others thought of it, but I've never met anyone who's read it! Includes a CD that contains the recordings he writes about.
 
#2 ·
Charlie Parker plays a "limited repertoire of phrases"? Now they even want to "dumb down" jazz. KoKo was at its time the equivalent of Giant Steps or Kind of Blue. The tempo alone is incredible and the only phrase that is repeated is the idea he plays through the bridge. I guess his solo on Embraceable You is "limited" in its phrases too. There has been NOBODY as creative as Charlie Parker at fast tempos.
 
#3 ·
Sorry, Whaler; I think I'm not representing Kernfeld's section on Koko adequately at all--it is a very admiring analysis--doesn't minimize Parker's achievement at all, just describes it (with a transcription) in terms of the patterns Bird used. That is what he did, and he made astonishly beautiful and complex music out of it. The skill Kernfeld tries to describe is one he characterizes as amazing, as great as anything in music. He calls Koko a masterpiece. If you read it, you still might disagree with his specific analysis, but I just wanted to say he doesn't slight Bird's genius at all. It's really pretty interesting to look at Bird's music this way, but it takes a transcription and some wordy writing to do justice to it. (And I don't have the book in front of me right now.)

I think the book is worth looking at, but I suspect that many of us would argue about some of the details. It's a very loving and knowedgeable treatment of jazz, though, from traditional through avant garde.
 
#4 ·
I don't agree with that analysis.

I used to enjoy playing through the Koko transcription (at a much
slower speed of course). I was always impressed with the melodic
content. Most players at this tempo would be ripping off scale runs.
Not Parker. He created musical ideas.

The repeated phrases I find are very effective and add to the solo.

You take any Parker solo and slow it down. There is so much melody
there.

Take a Coltrane solo (or Brecker) and do the same.
It doesn't sound like much at all. Just scales and chord runs.
Those solos need to be played at tempo to have any melodic
impact.

IMHO.
 
#5 ·
I read the book you are talking about in 1998 when my appreciation for jazz was in its nascent stage and found it to present a nice balance between accessible ideas and technical analysis. It is a good book and the CD that came with it was really fun to listen to in conjunction with the author's discussion of each track. I would definitely recommend it to jazz connisseurs.
 
#6 ·
You're totally right, kavala. I've had the same experience playing solos out of the C. P. Omnibook. There are incredible melodic elements all over the place--not just scales and licks. And you wouldn't necessarily find that by slowing down just any fast solo. What Kernfeld is trying to add to this picture (I think) is that Parker molds, connects, modifies, links up, etc. those melodic elements in amazing ways, while still (obviously) favoring certain intervals, ornaments, and chord tones. So the melodic elements gain significance in the overall solo, rather than just being isolated, ad hoc, one-time-only marvelous moments in string of such marvelous moments. Maybe a simpler and more straightforward way of saying this is what you said: "the repeated phrases are very effective and add to the solo." They (the repeated phrases) really do add to the solo, i.e., they make it greater. I think this is what Kernfeld is trying to show (My initial post probably made it sound like he was saying Parker memorized a set of licks and simply strung them together to make his solos, but that's not his point at all.)
 
#7 ·
I think I'll check out this book and CD sometime. I would not say if I agree or disagree until I read the work.

I do believe that Parker was a genius at playing short phrases that in whole link up to become a coherent melody, rather than a choppy solo with lots of pauses. His heads do this same thing. Consider Confirmation for example. If you look at the first two phrases on a superficial level it is broken up. But the musical continuity gives it a flow.

I'd like to be better at this in my solos, so maybe reading the book will give me some ideas.
 
#8 ·
MM said:
I'd like to be better at this in my solos, so maybe reading the book will give me some ideas.
Not to discourage you, MM, but I don't know if I made it clear before that the part on Koko is only a few pages in a book that is a couple of hundred pages long. But you still might get some ideas from it.
 
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