[Dixielandjazz] Bridge - Release - Channel

[Stephen Barbone]

Backing up Bill Gunter's generalization, see below. Note the last
sentence with the synonyms for "bridge".

BRIDGE

A musical link between two different sections of a piece of music. In
the standard 32-bar song, for example, which contains four 8-bar
sections, A-A-B-A, the B section of that song is called the bridge.
A-A-B-A structures are common to certain sonata and symphonic forms as
well and the bridge is often a passage of music from the tonic key into
the dominant or subdominant, relative minor (or major) or distant minor
(or major). The transitory musical passage, the bars of modulation, are
referred to as a bridge in the music. Synonymous terms for the bridge
are "channel" or "release."

http://www.ogschool.org/band/info/terms.html contains the above quote

Many songs, as list mates have pointed out are not standard A-A-B-A
construction. An easy one to hum is "Fly Me To The Moon" which is
A-B-A-B. And either has 2 bridges, (channels / releases) or none
depending upon your pleasure.

And many others either exceed 32 bars, sometimes by a lot as Pat Cooke
pointed out, or are less than 32 bars as other have pointed out. No
wonder musicians are usually good at math and have expanded brain
capacity. All this stuff is hard to keep straight while you are using
your ax.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone