MUJS 5780 Project 4 Group Interaction Project The term Jazz is often applied to many different nuances in music. In a very general review the idea of improvisation and interaction seem paramount to a constant need to define the music that we study and love. While Improvisation can take a great many shapes and many different pedagogical forms, Interaction can often times be a very subjective term. What is interaction? Is it the comping of a drummer hitting the snare drum in response to a Saxophonists phrase ending? Are they interacting or are they just playing what might be considered 'stereotypical jazz playing'. It is difficult to say sometimes, however there are examples in Jazz music where the interaction is very obvious and even blatant. In my pursuit of the music of guitarist John Abercrombie I came across a series of Quartet albums that Mr. Abercombie released in 2002 and 2004 featuring the talents of Mark Feldmen (violin), Marc Johnson (bass) and Joey Baron (drums). The group plays together on a very high level of interaction. In my first listens to these albums I was hit with the amazing level of communication they share musically and decided that upon my opportunity to showcase this groups near telepathic performances that I would transcribe an episode from their composition Convolution off the 2002 release, Cat n' Mouse. Abercrombie often is credited as being an composer, and within this group the idea of 'free improvisation' seems to seep to the forefront. Much of the album is free, and Convolution is certain in that vein. However, to understand the transcription and analysis I must explain my understanding of the piece and detail how I have scored this project. Convolution has 3 separate sections that comprise the piece. Section one are cued ensemble sections played first in the guitar part and then answered by the rest of the group as well as the Guitar to complete a line. From there, the quartet improvises freely, out of
tempo and while not completely obeying this in every instance, they play around an E tonality, this makes up section 2. The group alternates between these cued sections and free improvisation several times until a final cue is made before the third section, which is a free E tonality solo for Mr. Abercombie with a hard, steady straight 'rockish' pulse. After Abercrombie says his piece the band is cued one last time and ends the piece with high intensity. In this analysis I have chosen to transcribe the parts of the last free section before the 'A Tempo' guitar solo. Since there is no tempo, I have tried to accurately display in standard notation how this section was performed by using whatever skills I have with Finale to make it appear as though it is out of tempo. The rhythms in some instances are completely independent from each other, with no meter, tempo or tonality a typical score format was not usable. What I tried to show was the interaction as it appeared in nearly a time line sort of score. In Finale I made an attempt to do the following. Elimination of Barlines in the free section to show that there is no discernible meter Elimination of Rests in the parts to further show a lack of meter or tempo Lining up the instruments how they appear relative to each other with entrances and exits in their individual parts A simplified Drum score which accents upper, middle and lower sections of the drum kit Because there is no tempo, rhythms used in this score are rather simplified as rhythm is notated in relation to tempo in meter. Flurries of notes are notated in 16 th notes or faster, slower, held long tones are noted accordingly. I feel that the rhythms I used in this transcription give an accurate representation of what was played since this music in my opinion was not performed with the intention or the thought that someone might
wish to notate it in a full score format. Since there is nothing to go by for the musicians in terms of meter, tempo or key (with the loose idea of an E tonality) all that they have to rely on is each other in terms of making meaningful music. Some of the key areas and ideas will be mentioned below and please refer to the score for the complete analysis Violin and Bass Marc Johnson does not shy away to far from his role of some sort of foundational instrument however the choice to play his part that I analyzed as arco cannot be simply a choice of texture on his own but also a form of interacting with Violinist Mark Feldman who plays arco with the exception of one instance of a pizzicato pluck accenting one of his rapidly ascending phrases. Johnson also uses the instruments range to it's fullest extent through playing lower tones as well as utilizing the harmonics to give more color in his phrase. Several times in this improvisation Abercrombie lays out and lets the two bowed instruments play off each other with Joey Baron coloring the ideas only slightly. In many instances between the Bass and Violin the interaction is not just a mirroring of ideas but feeding off of each other, or taking the idea and either simplifying it or expounding upon it. Pointalistic Phrasing Throughout the ideas played by all the musicians are short, accented and pointalistic in nature. At times you certainly could think that this piece is not improvised but instead a classical 20 th century composition with now some of the phrases are executed with extended
instrumental techniques. Most ideas are short to facilitate response and easy listening in the group. Feldman might play only a few notes and then Abercrombie will respond in kind and then build upon the idea. During the free section Joey Baron's cymbals are rather restrained, choking them, cutting them off, or just not using them at all. Dynamics It is interesting to me that throughout this section the dominant instrument is the Violin in terms of volume. Feldman's lines seem to contrast a quieter, more subtle Abercrombie in this track. Perhaps, this is also in contrast to the later Guitar solo (available on this track for your listening pleasure) where the Guitar solo is rather bombastic. Lack of Tempo/Rhythm Creates Interaction The concept of free playing without a tempo or meter means that rhythm now becomes an interesting source of interaction. While it might be possible to dig in to the inner depths of each line to find a specific meter for each phrase, each player may be playing in whatever meter or tempo that he or she desires. This creates for the players a new way to interact with each other not as easily attainable in standard meters. For this performance, we find the musicians using simple forms of rhythms mostly based on what I could see as trying to play with shorter note placement medium or long. There is a lot of use of space, for long periods of time a player might lay out entirely of playing anything. The Drum Part
Scoring a drum part with no tempo was the most difficult aspect of this project. There are times when Baron plays in his own meter of just hit hat clicks. I decided it was best to notate his more significant choices of when to play and when not to play. Not being a drummer, my ability to transcribe drums was far below the level of playing displayed here, however I attempted to show interaction as best I could. Marked Ideas On the score, ideas are marked by a line drawn between the parts. Each indication of a marked part shows how another musician plays off of that idea until the next idea is introduced. Some of the most common things that are repeated are wide interval leaps as seen in our first marker. Other ideas come from similar phrasings of notes such as we see at marker 2 how the musicians play off the same idea shape in all for parts followed by harmonic notes in a call and response format between Abercrombie and Feldman. In Marker 2 they do not abandon the idea of Marker 1, using large intervallic leaps, especially in the Guitar which is in the very high range of the instrument matching the large range of the Violin. Mark 3 shows Feldman and Baron coming together to accent a note after a long chromatic line in the Violin. Then Abercrombie and Johnson play off each other's rhythmic ideas as Feldman glissandos to the high register of his instrument and then after a pause and a lot of empty space by the whole band glissando's back down hitting a pizzicato note to accent the end of his phrase. Marker 4 has the idea starting in the bass moving up to the Violin part then a mimicking of notes in the Guitar. A large leap by the guitar part is echoed in the bass before Feldman uses his instruments capabilities in an idea he already used which is then answered by the drums, switching now to brushes as a contrast to the louder Feldman line..