[Dixielandjazz] Improvisation

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

snip - harmonically restless phrases,
________________________________

I will have to remember that little phrase and apply it to any solo that I 
think was crap. It sounds like it might not have been all that "coherent".

Sounds cool, now anyone can wander through all twelve keys in any tune and 
be just "Harmonically Restless."  :-}lol
Larry
StL
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stephen G Barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 7:31 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Improvisation


While not strictly OKOM, here's an interesting snip about
improvisation. Note the last paragraph about improvising on Cherokee
in all 12 keys. Takes a master jazz musician to do that coherently.
Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband

NY Times - April 3, 2008 - By Nate Chinen
Composing on the Spot, With Help From a Master

Jazz improvisation is often misconstrued as merely a blank-slate
scrawl, its basic substance involving something clever made up on the
fly. The reality has more to do with shorthand strategies, half-tested
hypotheses, a resourcefulness in the realm of what-if. Only in rare
instances does a group manage coherence without prescriptions,
speaking freely and spontaneously but in whole paragraphs, with proper
syntax and a persuasive argument.

You’d have a good chance of catching one such instance this week at
the Jazz Standard, courtesy of the alto saxophonist Lee Konitz and
several inventive but exacting sidemen: the pianist Danilo Pérez, the
bassist Rufus Reid and the drummer Matt Wilson. Their second set on
Tuesday night was an astonishment of collective attention and
unmannered epiphany. . . . (snip to)

Then came “Cherokee,” a tune once held as the ultimate test of mettle
for jazz improvisers. Mr. Konitz sought to make it so again, imbuing
his solo with harmonically restless phrases, and finishing with a step
up into a new key. Without missing a beat, Mr. Pérez and Mr. Reid
shifted with him, resetting the tonality of the song.

Mr. Pérez took this premise further in his solo, nudging each new
chorus up a smidge, until the song had made its way through all 12
keys. At that point Mr. Konitz rejoined the action, as if stepping
onto a moving Ferris wheel.







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