[Dixielandjazz] Horizontal - Vertical - etc. The Gunter Queries

[Larry Walton Entertainment]

This proves that you're not just another pretty face Steve.  Your 
comments are well thought out and excellent.
Larry
St. Louis

 


Steve barbone wrote:
> Bill Gunter asked the below questions and here is my simplistic 2 Cents
>
>   
>> 1. What is "horizontal" jazz?
>>     
>
> That which Titan Hot 7 plays while rolling around on the floor. :-) VBG.
> Just kidding. Horizontal jazz lines are those which follow an orderly
> procession of notes and silences (keeping time) through the song pattern.
> Someone mentioned Paul Desmond who IMO is a perfect example. Davern too.
>
>
>   
>> 2. What is "vertical" jazz for that matter (if there is "horizontal" jazz
>> there ought to be vertical, and perhaps even "slanted" and/or "diagonal"
>> jazz)?
>>     
>
> That which explores the chords. e.g. Harmony is vertical. Vertical jazz is
> when the orderly procession of notes (time) is interrupted to explore up and
> down structure of the chord. Bebop went in this direction, changing the
> rhythm to explore the chord structures, as did John Coltrane early on. Then
> Coltrane went even more complex vertically by exploring the up and down
> structure of the various scales to produce his "sheets of sound".
>
>   
>> 3. When someone says to me the music is "melodic" what am I to make of this?
>>     
>
> Depends upon how musically educated the speaker is. Basically it probably
> means that person can hear a melody in the music. Melodic improvisation is
> the creation of a "new" tune during the improv. In effect the player becomes
> an on the spot composer. Kind of like when Bill Bailey chords are used to
> play Wash & Lee Swing, Bourbon St Parade, Tiger Rag etc. After whichever was
> first, the rest become melodic compositions/improvs on the original chords.
> Very possibly ALL music is melodic depending upon the listener and how
> he/she "hears" melody.
>
> One device to tie melody together for the listener is to play a chordal note
> on the first and third beat of each measure. Even Charlie Parker did this
> almost all the time and so for some listeners, especially other musicians,
> it is easy to hear melody within his music, while for others, whose ears are
> not tuned in that manner, not at all possible.
>
>   
>> 4. Is being "challenged" the preferable state for musical enjoyment?  What
>> does this mean?
>>     
>
> Only if the listener enjoys being challenged. It depends upon how the person
> listens to music. e.g. If you do not understand the vertical "sheets of
> sound" music of John Coltrane, but wish to learn about it and possibly
> develop a taste for it, then "being challenged" is your thing. If you don't
> give a rap about it, and do not wish to be challenged, that that is your
> thing too. Who can fault you for either? Some, who enjoy challenged
> listening, listen for improv ideas, and will analyze how the player gets
> from A to B, etc. Others just listen for a pleasing melody they recognize,
> or good tone, etc.
>
>   
>> 5. If I don't appreciate certain forms of music am I stupid?
>>     
>
> Of course not. What type of music you do, or do not appreciate has nothing
> to do with stupidity. Each to his/her own.  BUT, IMO, the caveat is that;
> putting down a form of music, or a musician who plays it, or deriding those
> who enjoy it . . . as being stupid, is often a beacon pointing squarely at
> the ignorance of the person(s) casting the aspersions.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve
>
>
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