Jazz History Aural Analysis 1

1.
The first two choruses of Chimes Blues (recording and liner notes on moodle)
are an excellent example of the New Orleans polyphonic style. How is the polyphony
created? What role does each instrument play? Do you suspect the parts to be
improvised or pre-composed? Why? How does the texture change in the third
chorus? (35 points)
2. West End Blues (Norton, liner notes on moodle) consists of several 12-bar blues
choruses, preceded by a famous unaccompanied trumpet cadenza. Describe the
music in detail chorus by chorus. Consider instrumentation, texture, melody, timbre,
and harmony. (40 points)
One cannot discuss New Orleans music without touching on King Oliver and Louis
Armstrong. The two are some of the most influential musicians in the jazz lineage,
and so it follows that the fruits of their labor deserve some analysis in this case we
will look at King Olivers Chimes Blues and Louis West End Blues.
At the beginning of Chimes Blues, the cornets have a pre-composed melodic
figure, assumed so because of the construction of Louis and King Olivers
harmonized line. It sounds like the cornets continue a composed, repetitive melody
after the short intro, however the way the recording is made, the clarinet and
trombone are at the forefront, and because of that it is hard to say what is the
melody and what is not. Perhaps they overcompensated in the studio in an attempt
to keep the cornets from overpowering the other instruments, but whatever the
reason, it actually ends up heightening the feeling of collective improvisation. The
ear is not drawn to any particular melody, and instead is essentially forced to take
all of the parts in at once. Contributing to this effect even further is the way the
trombone handles the bass role: constructing his lines as if they were countermelodies in terms of inflection, phrasing, and rhythm it is a role certainly far
removed from the walking bass lines that would soon become popular in jazz.
The 3rd chorus is an important shift in color to keep things interesting to the
audience the piano, buried in the background until now, takes a lead role,
scattering block chords up and down the piano like ringing church bells (perhaps the
Chimes of Chimes Blues). Working in tandem with the block chords is a
seemingly pre-composed melody and harmony between the clarinets, trombone,
and one cornet. Another cornet plays quarter notes at the beginning of every
measure, foreshadowing the stop time to come at 1:16. When the stop time does
come, it effectively serves the purpose of adding even more interest and keeps the
audience engaged.
Recorded only 5 years after Chimes Blues, West End Blues is an amazing
documentation of how quickly the ensemble sound of New Orleans jazz developed.
One can still hear the style of the King Oliver recording in Louis playing, but Louis
made it all into an incredible sound that was all his own. It is genius from the
beginning: Louis unaccompanied trumpet cadenza implies time at the beginning of
it, only to devolve as soon as listeners wrap their head around the tempo into a
rubato, out of time line leading to a note much higher and brighter than any in the
previous King Oliver recordings. Louis continues to wobble in between time and lack
thereof, until the actual full-band tune starts at a tempo much slower than he
implied.
Once time comes in, Louis presents the melody with sparse clarinet and trombone
accompaniment. Next comes a relatively safe trombone solo, sticking to an older
tradition, fitting into more of the King Oliver mold a good way to ease the ear into
what will come later. The next chorus is an innovative setting, in which Louis scats
based off of simple ideas presented by his clarinet player, sometimes implying
double time lines, the likes of which we hadnt seen in King Olivers band. The two
meet at the end of the solo in a descending harmonized line, clearly marking that
the chorus is finished. Next comes a piano solo involving many new concepts
language-wise it is highly advanced, definitely further progressed than the sound of
King Olivers piano player. It is a bonafide solo, with tension, release, and lots and
lots of melody. It also incorporates many double time lines, and many flashes of
high levels of technique. It also incorporates a lot of contrast between chord
voicings and single voice lines. We can hear the beginning of the Art Tatum sound in
fast gestures flowing up and down the piano exciting stuff. Then Louis comes in
and tears everything to shreds with higher notes than weve ever heard from King
Olivers band he also plays with time a lot, incorporating a lot of polyrhythms and
slipping in and out of time on bluesier passages. The piece then ends with a short
cadenza, an effective end that recalls the cadenza at the beginning in a very subtle
way.

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