bill evans alice in wonderland transcription pdf

I explain Davis’s renewal of the jazz tradition through his introduction of musical elements previously considered anomalous to jazz. From there I proceed to the micro level, analyzing selected pieces in greater detail. On the macro level, I describe the study materials: Davis’s recordings. Using the All-Stars as an example of modern jazz in the fifties, the frequently confusing jazz history narrative found in most textbooks can be reshaped, providing a more useful picture of the music during that decade.Ībstract This study examines various aspects of Miles Davis’s music, the main subject being his jazz–rock phase between years 1967–72. They viewed their music as modern, just as their New York-based contemporaries did. Recent interviews with members of the All-Stars and articles appearing in both jazz and general interest periodicals during the fifties also indicate that the All-Stars were not playing in a different style. The recordings do not support the view that the All-Stars were playing an identifiable West Coast or Cool style that was different from an East Coast or Hard Bop style favored by players based in New York. The recordings contain a variety of modern or post-swing approaches to jazz improvisation, composition, and arranging similar to those found on recordings produced in New York. The band produced both live and studio recordings over a period of seven years. The Lighthouse provided a stable working environment for jazz musicians with few, if any, commercial restraints. This study examines the music produced by Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars at The Lighthouse nightclub in Hermosa Beach, California between 19 and its relationship to music recorded by New York-based groups during the same period. However, by the mid-sixties when jazz was dominated of the Avant-garde or New Thing, this variation on modern jazz was discredited and frequently forgotten. It also appealed to many casual listeners, some as attracted to the provocative album cover art as they were to the music.

The insights gained through this reflective self-examination suggests that not only is it a practice of great worth from a personal perspective, but also offers a model for others who wish to remain alert to the quality of their own musical output, and the measure, as far as it is possible, of their creativity.ĭuring the Fifties, a musical style frequently called West Coast jazz became popular with both critics and serious jazz fans. While formal study with influential figures (players and teachers) is important, underpinning the whole learning process is the aural comprehension of sounds the end musical product being recorded performances submitted here as the primary source. Notwithstanding the limitations of traditional musical notation, transcriptions examined in this study show clearly influences both from past learning and from musicians who continue to have a powerful influence - consciously and sub-consciously - on the author's playing and thought processes in music. It is argued that deep investigation into one's own playing, complemented by critical contemplation, offers insights into improvised performance that can add a significant dimension to the analysis and observations made by other people. It is a practice-based research project with two objectives, the first to uncover degrees to which pre-learnt skills and idiosyncratic creations occur and interact in music-making, and the second to contribute to the body of knowledge in spontaneous improvised music research: an area of the art which at this time is beginning to invite intense enquiry. This exegesis examines influences, processes and idiosyncrasies in musical improvisation in a jazz context, identified through analysis and observation of selected, recorded performances by the author.

Bill evans alice in wonderland transcription pdf