Always wanted to find a way to connect jazz to Irish music. The spirit is the same I think. This track is one of my favorites. Why?
This band -the Bothy Band- is to Irish music what the Coltrane quartet was to jazz. The cohesion & singleness of purpose of their playing, and the good feeling the groove creates. Plus a cool melody.
Darrell,
You’re getting pretty close to traditional country music.
The Irish fiddle tunes were brought to Appalachia where they evolved for a couple of hundred years, back in the “hollers.” In the 1920’s, country music went mainstream with the advent of the phonograph and radio.
Country music blended with swing jazz in the 30’s and 40’s, and some of the hottest musicians of the period were in Western Swing big bands. Even Les Paul started his career as a country musician, “Rhubarb Red.”
But I can tell you, us old country boys would have a tough time today with your jazz charts and time signatures.
Maybe we can meet halfway over a good ole fiddle tune like Sally Goodin. In this clip, note the Texas-style jazzy backup on guitar and bass, using walking chord inversions to liven up basically a two-chord tune.
Thanks Hank, Very cool. There are lots of examples of jazz players dealing with country & fiddle influences. A bassist on our session- Sam Howard has lots of it in his own music. Two of my favorite examples are late saxophonist Micheal Brecker’s “Itsbynn Reel.”
and bassist Marc Johnsons tune called “Samarai HeeHaw,” which I’ll see if some people want to play at the session.
Along the lines of the folk music conversation, I thought I’d point out one of my favorite groups – Bill Evans’ Soulgrass. Definitely not straight-ahead folk, but a logical fusion of folk/Americana and jazz.
One of the first musicians I ever listened to, according to my parents – Leo Kottke. I’ve always wanted to find a way to create this sort of sound within a jazz framework and using the instruments I play (woodwinds) but have never really been able to pull it off.
To me Jazz absorbs all types of music, which it generally swallows whole and transforms. Almost any music can be turned into a jazz piece, ala Pops or Sonny Rollins. Personally, I have been heavily influenced by Asian ideas such as Zen, and also the sounds of Asian instruments such as wood flutes, and their metaphorical extension to woodwinds such as the saxophone as practiced by Coltrane, leading to the concept of practicing the meditation of music and finding my way in the world with that. This has led me to embrace forms such as Japanese Enka music, which, for example, might weave a shakuhachi flute and acoustic guitar in with a studio orchestra to back the singer, who is telling a story. I want to tell that story with my horn. The Enka story lines and songs bear some relevant parallels to vintage Country/Western music in the USA, which I am also versed in through Hank Williams, Willy Nelson, Bob Wills,etc. Which brings us back to the old Swing/Jazz-Country/Western crossover- an earlier blurring of lines between genres in early-mid 20th century Louisiana, Texas, Missouri, Illinois,Tennessee and Indiana. 12 & 16 bar Blues , 32 -bar AABA songs, and other forms were common to all of these genres.
“Machine Gun” by Jimi Hendrix… specifically the versions of it from his Fillmore East concerts. Improvisation is certainly important to Hendrix, but otherwise, I don’t think anyone would call this “jazz”…
Shoehorn-I’m really interested in the enka music. If you are there Saturday night, please play an example of it. Maybe we can figure out some basis for jamming on a piece.
Sam- I’ll work on getting the chord changes off the Bach Bouree and bring them on Saturday.
John- What a beautiful piece that Leo Kottke song is. Reminds me a lot of the Irish music-lots of ornamentation, simple harmony, same rhythmic feel. I bet we could come up with a vehicle for Friday or Saturday to try around this
Darren- The Hendrix thing is straight up blues. Maybe you wouldn’t call it jazz but it is derived from the same source.
Is this jazz? I’m bringing this to the sessions to see what we might make of it.
I’ve always been really into the way Wes Anderson uses music in his movies, and the Kinks are a great band whose music has been featured in his films often. This song is from the great album “Lola vs. the Powerman,” and it was in the movie “The Darjeeling Limited.” I grew up on rock music and I still listen to it regularly – lately I’ve been into the Dirty Projectors, Sufjan Stevens (the album “Come On and Feel the Illinoise” is really good), Spoon, and the Beatles (later stuff, mostly the white album).
Darrell, the Bothy Band is one of my all time favorites!
Of course more recently I’ve been strongly influenced by West African music, it sort of all started when I heard Ali Farka Toure (guitar) and Toumani Diabate (kora)’s album “In The Heart of the Moon”
That song, Kaira, is not the oldest of traditional kora tunes, but is one of the most influential and, as one of the great Gambian masters said “Kaira is like a well from which everyone can drink.” Its title means “Peace”, incidentally.
Anyway I’m not sure if there’s a way to use this as a vehicle for the jam, but it’s pretty simple, there are a few key melodies and a few ways to play the groove. I can bring a sketch tonight and we can maybe try it out, or not, either way I’m looking forward to it!
Always wanted to find a way to connect jazz to Irish music. The spirit is the same I think. This track is one of my favorites. Why?
This band -the Bothy Band- is to Irish music what the Coltrane quartet was to jazz. The cohesion & singleness of purpose of their playing, and the good feeling the groove creates. Plus a cool melody.
Darrell,
You’re getting pretty close to traditional country music.
The Irish fiddle tunes were brought to Appalachia where they evolved for a couple of hundred years, back in the “hollers.” In the 1920’s, country music went mainstream with the advent of the phonograph and radio.
Country music blended with swing jazz in the 30’s and 40’s, and some of the hottest musicians of the period were in Western Swing big bands. Even Les Paul started his career as a country musician, “Rhubarb Red.”
But I can tell you, us old country boys would have a tough time today with your jazz charts and time signatures.
Maybe we can meet halfway over a good ole fiddle tune like Sally Goodin. In this clip, note the Texas-style jazzy backup on guitar and bass, using walking chord inversions to liven up basically a two-chord tune.
Thanks Hank, Very cool. There are lots of examples of jazz players dealing with country & fiddle influences. A bassist on our session- Sam Howard has lots of it in his own music. Two of my favorite examples are late saxophonist Micheal Brecker’s “Itsbynn Reel.”
and bassist Marc Johnsons tune called “Samarai HeeHaw,” which I’ll see if some people want to play at the session.
Along the lines of the folk music conversation, I thought I’d point out one of my favorite groups – Bill Evans’ Soulgrass. Definitely not straight-ahead folk, but a logical fusion of folk/Americana and jazz.
One of the first musicians I ever listened to, according to my parents – Leo Kottke. I’ve always wanted to find a way to create this sort of sound within a jazz framework and using the instruments I play (woodwinds) but have never really been able to pull it off.
To me Jazz absorbs all types of music, which it generally swallows whole and transforms. Almost any music can be turned into a jazz piece, ala Pops or Sonny Rollins. Personally, I have been heavily influenced by Asian ideas such as Zen, and also the sounds of Asian instruments such as wood flutes, and their metaphorical extension to woodwinds such as the saxophone as practiced by Coltrane, leading to the concept of practicing the meditation of music and finding my way in the world with that. This has led me to embrace forms such as Japanese Enka music, which, for example, might weave a shakuhachi flute and acoustic guitar in with a studio orchestra to back the singer, who is telling a story. I want to tell that story with my horn. The Enka story lines and songs bear some relevant parallels to vintage Country/Western music in the USA, which I am also versed in through Hank Williams, Willy Nelson, Bob Wills,etc. Which brings us back to the old Swing/Jazz-Country/Western crossover- an earlier blurring of lines between genres in early-mid 20th century Louisiana, Texas, Missouri, Illinois,Tennessee and Indiana. 12 & 16 bar Blues , 32 -bar AABA songs, and other forms were common to all of these genres.
Bach Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major. Talk about voice leading…
Also, the Bourree from No 3 in C Major. So compact and economic, clear chord movement, singable melody, minor bridge, almost a pop tune!
“Machine Gun” by Jimi Hendrix… specifically the versions of it from his Fillmore East concerts. Improvisation is certainly important to Hendrix, but otherwise, I don’t think anyone would call this “jazz”…
Great calls everybody.
Shoehorn-I’m really interested in the enka music. If you are there Saturday night, please play an example of it. Maybe we can figure out some basis for jamming on a piece.
Sam- I’ll work on getting the chord changes off the Bach Bouree and bring them on Saturday.
John- What a beautiful piece that Leo Kottke song is. Reminds me a lot of the Irish music-lots of ornamentation, simple harmony, same rhythmic feel. I bet we could come up with a vehicle for Friday or Saturday to try around this
Darren- The Hendrix thing is straight up blues. Maybe you wouldn’t call it jazz but it is derived from the same source.
Is this jazz? I’m bringing this to the sessions to see what we might make of it.
I’ve always been really into the way Wes Anderson uses music in his movies, and the Kinks are a great band whose music has been featured in his films often. This song is from the great album “Lola vs. the Powerman,” and it was in the movie “The Darjeeling Limited.” I grew up on rock music and I still listen to it regularly – lately I’ve been into the Dirty Projectors, Sufjan Stevens (the album “Come On and Feel the Illinoise” is really good), Spoon, and the Beatles (later stuff, mostly the white album).
I love the song “Red River Valley”. It’s very simple, but something about it is just absolutely heartbreaking.
Darren, When it comes to melody, simple is not a negative.
Darrell
Darrell, the Bothy Band is one of my all time favorites!
Of course more recently I’ve been strongly influenced by West African music, it sort of all started when I heard Ali Farka Toure (guitar) and Toumani Diabate (kora)’s album “In The Heart of the Moon”
That song, Kaira, is not the oldest of traditional kora tunes, but is one of the most influential and, as one of the great Gambian masters said “Kaira is like a well from which everyone can drink.” Its title means “Peace”, incidentally.
Anyway I’m not sure if there’s a way to use this as a vehicle for the jam, but it’s pretty simple, there are a few key melodies and a few ways to play the groove. I can bring a sketch tonight and we can maybe try it out, or not, either way I’m looking forward to it!
Andrew
I can bring a couple of charts. A lot of the songs used Rhumba beats, but can be Samba or swing, etc.