WOODSHED

TRANSCRIPTION

Bob Brookmeyer's Valve Trombone Solos on
"Sometime Ago" and "Step Right Up"

by Antonio J. García

 

Bob Brookmeyer displays the highest levels of compositional organization in his improvised solos. These two solos–taken from the first Clark Terry/Bob Brookmeyer Quintet "Tonight" album of the early '60s–clearly establish just how focused his approach was even 30 years ago.

On "Sometime Ago (by Serge Mihanovich)," Brookmeyer shows his lyricism from the opening pickup interval of a half-step growing to a fourth (to bar 3) and minor sixth (to bar 5). He displays the same interest in flexing intervals by later covering the distance of a tritone (bar 13), fifth (14), and sixth (16) and later caps the solo with this "double guide-tone" technique, using a major sixth (bar 30) compressing toward the final note of the solo–meticulously closing the gap of intervals that he had expanded at the outset of the solo. Further demonstrating his willingness to re-use opening themes, Brookmeyer's initial motif of the tritone (F#) above the tonic chord (C) is reiterated at the half-way point (bars 17, 19, and 21, with 19 shaped like the opening) and effectively resolved to the natural fifth of the scale (bar 29)–as he repeats the G to recall his persistent motive of bar 1. Given the F# color-tone usage and his chromatic flair in bars 25-26, he can end his solo on the tonic (C) without sounding at all bland.

His sense of directional balance is also striking: the opening phrasings ascend (bars 1-8); the next descend (bars 9 to beat 2 of bar 16). The 12 bars that follow are thoroughly mixed (more up than down), followed by an ascent in the final 8 bars thatmatches the opening.

"Step Right Up" (by pianist and bandmate Roger Kellaway) captures Brookmeyer's flair on a more upbeat tune. Consider the first 6 notes to be 2 groups of 3 notes, and count how many different ways Brookmeyer projects his 3-note motif with variation in just 12 bars. Although he sequences continually, he delivers 11 versions–never the same way twice, an astonishing menu of selective skill in the span of only 14 seconds' time! (For a 12th version, see bar 21.)

He then balances this playful dance with the opportunity to lay down 7 exact rhythmic sequences (bar 12, beat 4 into bar 16). And the 3-note theme does not disappear: it is masked throughout the beginning of the bridge (bars 17-22) and emerges clearly at the last "A" section (bars 33-34, 35-36, 36-37, 39, 40) to end the solo in the style begun. The teasing nature of so many fragmented phrases in bars 1-22 also leads to a tremendously driving, long passage with chromatic flavor that releases with what surely must be one of the most deliciously funky sounds in bebop: his half-valved "howl" in bar 32.

Both solos peak about 80% of the way through, a characteristic of many respected solos and compositions. Another trademark is the playing of ideas in threes: the balance provided by a theme, a sequence, and an extended sequence, evidenced in "Sometime Ago" as follows:

(pickup) bars 1-2, (pickup) 3-4, (pickup) 5-8;

(pickup) bar 21, (pickup) 22, (pickup) 23-24;

bars 29-30, (pickup) 31-32, (pickup) 33-36;

...and in "Step Right Up" as...

(pickup) bars 9-10, (pickup) 11-12, (pickup) 13-16;

(pickup) bar 17, (pickup) bar 18, bars 19-20;

bar 34 beat 3, bar 35 beat 3+, bar 36 beat 3+ through 40.

This "idea, set-up, and release" construction communicates to the listener in the same way as ancient parables and contemporary jokes: using threes allows for the ideal premise, set-up for tension, and release.

Though all this organization is present, do not expect the aural result to sound contrived or scientific. To understand fully the musicality of these solos, you must listen to the LP recording (Mainstream 56043), available through used jazz record outlets. Without it, you will miss the entire context–and the sheer fun of the performance.

 

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Antonio J. García is an Associate Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he directs the Jazz Orchestra I; instructs Applied Jazz Trombone, Small Jazz Ensemble, Music Industry, and various jazz courses; founded the B.A. Music Business Emphasis (for which he initially served as Coordinator); and directs the Greater Richmond High School Jazz Band. An alumnus of the Eastman School of Music, he has received commissions for jazz, symphonic, chamber, and solo works—instrumental and vocal—including grants from Meet The Composer, The Commission Project, The Thelonious Monk Institute, and regional arts councils. His music has aired internationally and has been performed by such artists as Sheila Jordan, Arturo Sandoval, Bobby Shew, Denis DiBlasio, James Moody, and Nick Brignola. Composition/arrangement honors include IAJE (jazz band), ASCAP (orchestral), and Billboard Magazine (pop songwriting). His works have been published by Kjos Music, Kendor Music, Doug Beach Music, Walrus, UNC Jazz Press, Three-Two Music Publications, and his own garciamusic.com, with five recorded on CDs by Rob PartonÕs JazzTech Big Band (Sea Breeze and ROPA JAZZ).

A Bach/Selmer trombone clinician, Mr. García has freelanced as trombonist, bass trombonist, or pianist with over 70 nationally renowned artists, including Ella Fitzgerald, George Shearing, Mel Tormé, Doc Severinsen, Louie Bellson, Dave Brubeck, and Phil Collins—and has performed at the Montreux, Nice, North Sea, Pori (Finland), New Orleans, and Chicago Jazz Festivals. He has produced recordings or broadcasts of such artists as Wynton Marsalis, Jim Pugh, Dave Taylor, Susannah McCorkle, Sir Roland Hanna, and the JazzTech Big Band. An avid scat-singer, he has performed vocally with jazz bands, jazz choirs, and computer-generated sounds. He is also a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS). A New Orleans native, he also performed there with such local artists as Pete Fountain, Ronnie Kole, Irma Thomas, and Al Hirt.

Mr. García is Associate Jazz Editor of the International Trombone Association Journal. He serves as a Network Expert (for Improvisation Materials) and an Editorial Advisory Board member of the Jazz Education Network. His new book, Cutting the Changes: Jazz Improvisation via Key Centers (Kjos Music) offers musicians of all ages the opportunity to improvise over standard tunes using just their major scales. He is Co-Editor and Contributing Author of Teaching Jazz: A Course of Study (published by MENC). Within the International Association for Jazz Education he served as Editor of the Jazz Education Journal, President of IAJE-IL, International Co-Chair for Curriculum and for Vocal/Instrumental Integration, and Chicago Host Coordinator for the 1997 Conference. He served on the Illinois Coalition for Music Education coordinating committee, worked with the Illinois and Chicago Public Schools to develop standards for multi-cultural music education, and received a curricular grant from the Council for Basic Education. He has also served as Director of IMEA's All-State Jazz Choir and Combo and of similar ensembles outside of Illinois. He is the recipient of the Illinois Music Educators Association's 2001 Distinguished Service Award.

Of his jazz curricular work, Standard of Excellence states: "Antonio García has developed a series of Scope and Sequence of Instruction charts to provide a structure that will ensure academic integrity in jazz education." Wynton Marsalis emphasizes: "Eight key categories meet the challenge of teaching what is historically an oral and aural tradition. All are important ingredients in the recipe." The Chicago Tribune has highlighted García's "splendid solos...virtuosity and musicianship...ingenious scoring...shrewd arrangements...exotic orchestral colors, witty riffs, and gloriously uninhibited splashes of dissonance...translucent textures and elegant voicing" and cited him as "a nationally noted jazz artist/educator...one of the most prominent young music educators in the country." Down Beat has recognized his "knowing solo work on trombone" and "first-class writing of special interest." The Jazz Report has written about the "talented trombonist," and Cadence noted his "hauntingly lovely" composing as well as CD production "recommended without any qualifications whatsoever." Phil Collins has said simply, "He can be in my band whenever he wants."

A member of the board of The Midwest Clinic, Mr. García has adjudicated festivals and presented clinics in Canada, Europe, Australia, The Middle East, and South Africa, including creativity workshops for Motorola, Inc.'s international management executives. He has served as adjudicator for the International Trombone Association's Frank Rosolino, Carl Fontana, and Rath Jazz Trombone Scholarship competitions and the Kai Winding Jazz Trombone Ensemble competition and has been asked to serve on Arts Midwest's "Midwest Jazz Masters" panel and the Virginia Commission for the Arts "Artist Fellowship in Music Composition" panel. He has been repeatedly published in Down Beat; JAZZed; Jazz Improv; Music, Inc.; The International Musician; The Instrumentalist; and the journals of MENC, IAJE, ITA, American Orff-Schulwerk Association, Percussive Arts Society, Arts Midwest, Illinois Music Educators Association, and Illinois Association of School Boards. Previous to VCU, he served as Associate Professor and Coordinator of Combos at Northwestern University, where he taught jazz and integrated arts, was Jazz Coordinator for the National High School Music Institute, and for four years directed the Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Formerly the Coordinator of Jazz Studies at Northern Illinois University, he was selected by students and faculty there as the recipient of a 1992 "Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching" award and nominated as its candidate for 1992 CASE "U.S. Professor of the Year" (one of 434 nationwide). Visit his web site at <www.garciamusic.com>.

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