The Broken Reed Saxophone Quartet’s album The Sound of a Broken Reed is a quintessentially New York creation. With its edgy humor and intelligence, it’s steeped in history but just as irreverent, pretty much what you would expect from a bunch of longtime downtown types jazzing up Debussy, Piazzolla and Led Zep. Yet as entertaining and amusing as the covers here are, it’s bandleader Charley Gerard’scompositions that stand out the most. As you may have guessed, the album title is sarcastic: the charts are lustrous, the ensemble plays seamlessly and the songs swing just as hard as they would if there were bass and drums on them. The only other instrument besides the saxes (Gerard on alto, Jenny Hill primarily on soprano, Chris Bacas mostly on tenor and Alden Banta on baritone) is Carl Banner’s elegant piano on the first two suites. Most of the album, as well as a considerable amount of equally intriguing, more recent material, is streaming at the group’s Soundcloud page.The opening diptych is Gerard’s Quintet for Carl and Saxes, Banner’s third-stream lyricism followed by lush four-part harmonies that grow to a majestic waltz. The second part is a wry series of interwoven miniatures that’s basically a non-linear history of jazz: ragtime, lounge, a little noir amd sumptuous big band swing, capped off by a genial soprano solo by Bacas.The second suite is Dick Hyman’s droll Novelties for Piano and Sax Quartet: jaunty ragtime, a couple of lively staccato strolls and a comedic polka/ragtime hybrid. They follow that with Gerard’s Quartet No. 3, bookending a pensive exchange of voices led by Banta with variations on a theme that very artfully coalesces out of lively, dancing counterpoint.The Led Zep comes after that. Humor-wise, it’s a lot like the Threeds Oboe Trio’s take on the Doors or Michael Jackson, equal parts spoof and opportunity to have fun with taking old themes to new places. Whole Lotta Love and an unexpectedly anxious, rather radical remake of Dazed and Confused are barely recognizable until halfway through, while miniature versions of Heartbreaker and Kashmir are as irresistibly over the top as you could possibly want. Living Loving Maid falls somewhere in between.Tom Olin takes over for Bacas on tenor (with Hill playing soprano, as she does with a judicious elan on most of the tracks) on three Gerard remakes of Summer, from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. The first has a balmy Miles Ahead vibe and adheres closest to the baroque, the second a lively, bluesy exchange of voices, the third a mashup with Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay, done as a clave tuneBacas moves back to his usual tenor, Olin to soprano for his arrangement of Debussy’s Syrinx for Solo Flute, fleshed out with a nod to Gil Evans, weaving the pensive melody through the whole ensemble. Gerard’s medley of popular Cuban melodies (De Cuba Para La Habana, Guantanamera, Bilonto and El Manicero) bops along with a sunny pulse, followed by Hill’s pensively airy, understatedly majestic waltz arrangement of Astor Piazzolla’s Chiquilín de Bachín. It’s a rare blend of edgy fun and razor-sharp chops.For anyone who might take exception to giving this much ink to an album that came out in 2009, that’s old thinking. Exciting as the past year has been, if the only music we listened to was brand-new, nobody would have heard of Coltrane or Mingus.
More ideas for interpretation
Flexible temposQuantz: "the performance should be easy and flexible...without stiffness and constraint." p. 20CPE Bach: [certain sequences] can be effectively performed by accelerating gradually and gently, and retarding immediately afterwards." "Certain deliberate disturbances of the beat are extremely beautiful...certain notes and rests should be prolonged beyond their written length for reasons of expression." p. 21AccentuationCPE Bach: "discords are performed loud and concords soft." p. 32Balance:[when one part has merely] to fill in the harmony, it must be performed more softly than the other which makes the principal melody meanwhile. p. 37Demarcating phrasesRobert Donington: "It is necessary for the audience to experience the patterns; and for this the separations in the line are just as important as the line itself." p. 30As a composer I have likewise demarcated my phrases, changed tempos and written out note extensions. In order to emphasize the principal line I have marked in "lead" and put it in all parts of an ensemble so everybody knows who has the melody and to adjust one's part accordingly.
Email exchange on Historically Informed Performance
To violinist Elizabeth Field: I have become fascinated with historically informed practice in the last few months, and I have been taking a more creative approach to notation as a result. I recently purchased Performing the Score. In this excellent video you make a comment about passages with a reiterated note - I think it was a Vivaldi piece. You gave it a French name that sounded like bar elage, but I think I misheard it. What is the correct name? Also I'd love to hear your response to an observation: in the Mozart sonata you often play uneven 16th notes in a purposeful manner - i.e., obviously for expressive reasons. I understand that the French practice was something akin to swing 8ths, but this is something different. Any literature on the subject?Elizabeth Field's response: The word you are looking for is "bariolage". This was a common baroque technique where one continually returns to the same note alternatively while forming a melody with the other notes. The classic example is from the first movement of Bach's 3rd Partita for solo violin where Bach has passages of reiterated "e's" under a melody. On a string instrument, this is an organic process that can happen with a string crossing, but it can surely be employed with other instruments.As for the uneven 16th notes, this is simply a call to realize that true musical expression simply cannot be notated, in the same way inflections and nuances for written text are not notated. In other words, although actors share the commonality of text, they should be, and are uniquely expressive. This can be directly attributed to their fluency and complete comprehension of the meaning of what they are saying. This organic comprehension allows them to all sound different and personal in their execution. It is painfully obvious with text that merely perfect pronunciation and enunciation with a nice voice (analogize, perfect intonation strict notated rhythm and a great sound) is not enough to make a great or expressive performance of a soliloquy.The 18th century was obsessed with language, and music was an extension of that expression. Playing 16th notes strictly on the page with a metronome, would be like reading text letter by letter evenly with little nuance. It becomes clear how dull that reading would be. In my opinion, this is what the performance traditions of the 20th century has done to 18th century music. Approaching that earlier notation like text makes you realize that very often, especially 16th note are grouped together and act as syllables or words, and should be performed that way. When we speak, we naturally compress our words, defining them from the first letter, and don't run them into the next word.Large metered rhythm also has a much greater importance. Most of the time movements written in 4/4 time for example, have an underlying allabreve harmonic rhythm or structure, and that is crucial for establishing a rhythmic foundation; long lines are not formed through individual notes as they are in the 19th/20th century.This all starts to make more sense when you also realize that the 19th-20th century paradigm is that all music leans forward over downbeats. 18th century music actually comes from the downbeat, with rock solid rhythm which allows a lot more freedom on little internal notes (hence uneven 16th notes) because the rhythm is not dependent on those individual notes for support.Its confusing to describe with words, but I have always supposed it was more similar to what I hear jazz musicians do. Its essentially creating larger rhythmic structures to allow more expressive freedom in the details, the opposite of what classical musicians are taught in conservatories. Malcolm explains that "compression" for example, which we are taught is never allowed, is one of the elemental building blocks of playing 18th century music expressively and is mandatory.
Spotify and comparing performances
Go to Spotify or a similar music-streaming service, choose a standard work of the classical repertoire and then compare the performances. Try a violin concerto, for example, and just listen to the first 10 seconds. Make up your own mind which one is best. What I've found is that many of these recordings - especially the ones made in the last 50 years - sound pretty much alike. Why keep on recording a work if you have nothing new to say? Why perform a work without trying to bringing a creative dramatic tension to it? And I mean to the music itself - not by means of an accompanying display of installation art or through wearing risque clothing and makeup. Legato, legato, legato and loud - that's how string playing has developed. The Budapest String Quartet played so much more quietly than the Emerson Quartet and added to the notes in an intelligent way. And I mean added. There's rarely anything compelling about just playing the notes and following the composer's directions.
Why I like HIP (Historically Informed Performance)
To regain the style of a past era means that you have to improvise, ornament, add notes - skills that are hardly recognized in mainstream conservatory training - and phrase and articulate quite differently than you learn to do in such a conservatory. As a result, you can creatively rethink how to play. Even better, especially if you play music about which there's little or no evidence regarding performance style, you can construct your own style more or less from scratch.http://www.bsherman.net/IEMintro.htmAn Atmosphere of Controversythe introduction from the book Inside Early Music: Conversations with Performers by Bernard D. Sherman
Performing the work of dead composers
I like this quote from Piers Adam, the recorder player and leader of the Red Priest baroque music ensemble:It is important to remember that the idea of a performer separated from the creative process is unique to our age and culture, and would not have been recognised in Vivaldi's day; thus there is a paradox at the heart of the whole "authentic movement–the very act of re-creating some hypothetical past performance is in itself "inauthentic." ....Surely if music is to remain a living art then the concept of performer as arranger/co-composer must be revived.http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/music/0306/classical/debate.htmWhen I perform other composer's works, I want to put my own personal stamp on it. I am singularly not interested in acting as if my relationship to a composer is that of a ventriloquist's dummy. I base my interpretation on several factors:1) an examination of the musical phrases, especially in seeking what passages to bring out and what notes to emphasize. In chamber music, composers do not typically mark which is the main line and which, the subsidiary. It is the performer's task to figure this out. While orchestra conductors spend a lot of time working these distinctions out, unfortunately this doesn't seem to be the practice of chamber musicians. The audience is presented with a bland running together of lines. This lack of clarity results in bland performances. Again, this is in marked contrast to orchestral performances. A melody line must be played a little - or even a lot- louder than the other lines.3) Taking a closer look at notation. As Malcolm Bilson pointed out in his DVD on performance, a quarter note in Mozart is not always twice as long as an 8th note. Jazz musicians know this to be true. When you're playing a jazz arrangement - any arrangement - you have to decide which notes should be played short and which, full value. In Mozart, when there are running 8th in the right hand and a single quarter-note in the left, that quarter note should probably be sounded for just a half-beat so it matches the right-hand notes.Notation of triplets: Until World War II, triplets were not notated with much exactitude, and a dot following a note did not always indicate an exact addition of half the value of that note. Sometimes, a a pair of dotted 8ths followed by 16th note indicated what jazz musicians call swing 8ths: the first note is played with a rhythmic value of 2/3rds of the beat and the second note, 1/3 of the beat. In piano music another notational bugaboo occured with some frequency: one hand plays triplets while the other hand plays 8th notes. According to some interpretations, the 8th notes are "assimilated" to the triplet as swing 8ths, with the second 8th note lining up with the 3rd triplet. In the jazz world, music from the first part of the 20th century is likewise replete with similar conundrums about swing 8ths, but despite the notation - whether it is "even 8ths" or dotted notes, the correct rhythmic interpretation is nearly always swing 8ths.4) Experimenting with added dynamics. Composers don't mark in all the dynamics and rely on a performer to bring the music to life. Sometimes the composer's own dynamics aren't the best guide - especially when all the instruments in an ensemble have the same dynamics, but one line has to be brought out a little louder.5) Trying out different tempos. Tempo decisions are based partly on a historically informed opinion, but also on my comfort level. In playing dance suites, for example, I think it's important to stick to the tempo indicated by the dance. Some musicians like to play things as fast as possible, but fast tempos just don't do anything for me if they stifle my ability to bring out the articulation (always a little slow on a saxophone) or play with a wide dynamic range. I have found that in solo performance that making breaks between sections brings out phrasing. In group settings, I tend to prefer strict tempos - especially in a jazz context.6) Adding my own embellishments on the fly. Why not add ornaments - turns and mordents and glides - to notated music? It makes for a less rigid interpretation. This was the practice from Bach's time to Mozart, and it makes sense to alter repeated sections the second time around.Now that I've spent a couple of months reading about historically-informed performance practices, I have developed a strong notion of what I want to hear in chamber music. Too much chamber music is performed legato even when the composer has indicated staccato. Extra-fast tempos tend to mask the nuances, and extra-slow tempos quickly destroy momentum. I want to hear deeply nuanced pieces based on a thorough musical analysis. I want to hear contrasting dynamics to emphasize the counterpoint in a single line. I want to hear linch-pin notes given more emphasis. I want to hear variety on repeated sections. These are just a few of the items I look for. I'd like to say that I don't care what the results are as long as the performer is trying to make a unique performance. But this isn't how I feel in 2013 (I could change my mind!) I don't like music based on bad judgement, and I believe that there is sometimes a right and a wrong way to perform a particular piece of music. But I have a confession to make: I value my own musical judgement and aesthetic desires enough that I don't really care what people think about my recreating or recomposing the works of long-dead composers such as Mozart.
Historically informed performance
I have been deeply inspired by reading articles by Robert Levin and Malcolm Bilson, who are both excellent pianists as well as scholars. Their subject is Mozart's music, and their topics are how to read the music properly and how to perform it. They back their claims by referring to historical sources. Reading the music means following the indications of the composer - something that surprisingly few musicians do. This is especially true of short notes which are often lengthened. A staccato marking - dot or wedge - means the notes are to be played short and crisply. A slur indicates an accent on the first note and cutting off the final note under the slur. Meter is a clue to accentuation. 4/4 indicates more of an on-every-beat accentuation more than cut time in which the emphasis is on beats one and three. A series of quarter notes are to be played in a detached manner, with each note being played for half of its full value. The Alberti bass figures are customarily played softly, allowing the right hand to be played cantabile. Not so, says Bilson. The music was written for the keyboards in existent during Mozart's time, and these instruments are incapable of this effect. With quiet left-hand figures the music loses much of its energy.Mozart's music is full of repeated sections, but the music was not intended to be performed the same way twice, according to Bilson and Levin, who wrote an article for Early Music (1992) called "Improvised embellishments in Mozart's keyboard music." The repeat provides the performer a great opportunity to make the music his/her own. More opportunities for self-expression come when there's a fermata at a half-cadence. At this point the 18th century performer knew he or she needed to add a lead-in to the next section. Mozart even made up a term for this fermata embellishment - eingang. Mozart's music is replete with notated eingänge. Levin suggests that the 18th century performer knew that he or she could choose to play their own instead of Mozart's own, which was simply a fill-in to give the performer the general idea. The music of Mozart did not have to be played metronomically. Bilson tends to make short ritardandi and change tempos during his performances of solo keyboard works.All these are great ideas for a composer and jazz player. At the least, adding embellishments keeps the performer much more involved in the music. It can turn an ordinary melody into something deeply affecting.
Composer of the Month 2013
From Washington Square Winds website:CHARLEY GERARDThis month we will be featuring Charles Gerard as our November Composer of the Month. Charles is also a saxophonist and director of the Broken Reed Saxophone Quartet (www.brokenreedsax.com), author of several books on jazz and Latin music and co-partner of Gerard & Sarzin Publishing Co., publishers of jazz instructional material. We asked Charles some questions and this is how he responded:WSWs: When did you start composing?CG: I began composing as a teenager before I had any idea what I was doing. I understand that this is typical of many composers. In other words, it came before compositional studies that, perhaps, would have discouraged me by making clear my lack of ability.WSWs: Who do you think your composing style resembles the most?CG: My composing style seems to be influenced by Thelonious Monk for harmonic sensibility and melodic lines, Jimmy Giuffre (my saxophone and composition teacher from the age of 17 to about age 25) for the idea of mixing jazz and 20th century compositional techniques, Frank Zappa and Cuban popular music for orchestration and rhythm, and Mozart for sonata form. My woodwind quintet, Hangin' Out, makes clear that I was listening to a lot of Martinu's music when I composed it. Currently I have been listening to George Handy's music, a student of Aaron Copland who also played piano with Charlie Parker whose music was recorded in the 1940s and 50s.WSWs: What is your biggest challenge when composing?http://www.washingtonsquarewinds.org/composer-of-the-month.html