Analysis of Jazz Solo Build-Up Techniques

Analysis of Jazz Solo Build-up Techniques - Appendix
This appendix contains the detailed analysis of the great masters included in the study of solo
behaviours.
The sequence of the musicians is mainly chronologically. There can however be conflicts of
this principle, since some musicians cover several styles, while others mainly play in one
style.
Lester Young (Prez), 1909-1959, tenor saxophone
Life History
Lester Young was born in Woodville, Mississippi and grew up in a musical family. In 1933
he joined Count Basies band in Kansas City. He became one of Basies featured solists.
Besides playing with the big band, Young also made small group recordings.
Young was caught for marijuana and alcohol possession while in the army. They also
discovered that he was married to a white woman. Because of this, Young was courtmartialed.
After the war, Young toured with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) project
for 12 years.
During the 50s, Youngs instrumental capacity declined, probably due to both mental and
physical factors, which can be heard in his last recordings at the end of the 50s.
Stylistic Epoch
Before Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins was the natural saxophonist foreground musician,
which everyone tried to imitate. So when Lester Young appeared on the jazz scene, it
foreshadowed a new style, the West Coast cool jazz.
Lester Young is the symbol of the cool jazz era during the 50s. But already when he emerged
with the Count Basie Orchestra, his sound was so different from the other tenor saxophonists
of the Swing era that it sounded as if he were playing a different instrument. Instead of having
a hard thick tone like Coleman Hawkins, Youngs was very light. Instead of digging into the
harmonic complexities of each chord, Young floated over bar lines and seemed to speak
directly to listeners in a quiet thoughtful voice, relaxed even at the fastest tempos, cool rather
than hot in temperament.
Soloing Characteristics
The prerequisites for jazz soloists changed during the late 50s due to the rise of the LP.
Instead of a group recording four tunes at a session, the goal was a full 40-minute album. This
fitted Lester Young very much, since he used long phrases over several bars and several chord
changes, and since he built up his solos over several choruses.
Young had a relaxed way of creating his solos, both as regards the tone quality and the way of
shaping his phrases. He had a cool, soft tone, typical for the cool jazz era.
Lester Young was one of the main contributors to the sound of Count Basies orchestra with
its swing feeling and Youngs typical way of using vibrato on every tone with his typical curl
at the end of each note. Youngs selection of notes is not very progressive, it is typical for the
swing / blues era, but his way of handling each note with vibrato and curl is very significant to
Count Basies orchestra with Young as the main contributor.
Young is not so fixed to scales as the majority of bebop saxophonists, but more melodious in
his improvisations, like if he tries to say something important.
Young also uses phrase repetitions; short phrases not matching the rhythmic measure are
repeated, which creates polyrhythmic effects such as 3 against 4.
One way of doing this is repeating the same tone with different timbre, which makes it sound
as if it was different pitches, i.e. a phrase consisting of a series of notes with the same pitch
but with different timbres. When such a phrase is repeated, a polyrhythmic effect is created
where a specific series of timbres is repeated.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Lester Young

Album: Ad Lib Blues with The Oscar Peterson Trio:
- There Will Never Be Another You
- Almost Like Being In Love
Album: Prez The Giant:
- Frenesi,
- September In The Rain
- Lets Fall In Love
- Two For Tango
- I Cant Get Started With You
Album: 25 Succs:
- One OClock Jump
- No Eyes Blues
- Sheik Of Araby
Album: Masterpieces:
- Mean To Me
Coleman Hawkins (Hawk, Bean), 1904-1969, tenor saxophone
Life History
No anthology of jazz musicians would prove itself justice if Coleman Hawkins was excluded,
since he was the first jazz musician to use the tenor saxophone. He had no predecessor when
it comes to jazz saxophone playing, so he had to invent his own style. He created the tenor
saxophone jazz style and became the mentor of many subsequent tenor saxophonists.
Hawkins was born in 1904. Some out-of-date sources say 1901, but there is no evidence to
prove such an early date. He attended high school, studied harmony and composition for two
years at college. In his youth he played piano and cello, and started playing saxophone at the
age of nine. By the age of fourteen he was playing around eastern Kansas.
Hawkins toured with various bands before he settled in New York, but it was with Fletcher
Hendersons Orchestra that he got a reputation as a leading saxophonist.
During the mid to late 1930s Hawkins toured Europe as a soloist, memorably working with
Django Reinhardt and Benny Carter in Paris, and many other groups until returning to the
USA in 1939.
During the bebop era Hawkins played and recorded with most of the famous musicians. He
also toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic. In the 1960s he appeared regularly at the Village
Vanguard jazz club in Manhattan. During his long career Hawkins was always inventive and
seeking new challenges. He directly influenced many bebop performers, and later in his
career, recorded or performed with such adventurous musicians as Sonny Rollins, who
considered him his main influence, and John Coltrane.
What was up to date in jazz changed radically over the decades. When record collectors
would play his early 1920s recordings during Hawkins' later years he would sometimes deny
his presence on them, since the playing on the old records sounded so dated.
In his later years, Hawkins began to drink heavily and stopped recording (his last recording
was in late 1966). He died of pneumonia in 1969.
Stylistic Epoch
When Coleman Hawkins blew his horn for the first time, the current jazz style was flavoured
in the New Orleans style by masters as Louis Armstrong, Scott Joplin, Bix Beiderbecke, King
Oliver, Sidney Bechet etc. Fletcher Hendersons Orchestra, with which Coleman Hawkins
made his first important jazz experiences and whose main soloist he was, also played in that
old-fashioned style, and Hawkinss playing during his first years was very much coloured by
this premier jazz style. When Hawkins during his later years was confronted with one of his
first recordings, he would deny his participation in those early recordings.
Hawkins was interested in renewing his style, and the emerging swing style seemed to fit him
very well. The Europe tour during the 30s was well accommodated to Hawkins style
change, and when he in 1939 returned to USA, he proved to all doubters his qualified
conversion to the new style. His big warm tone is perfectly suited to that style.
Hawkins never became a true bebop musician, though he played together with bebop starts
like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Miles Davis etc. However, in some
recordings he proves to be influenced by the bebop style, but he never adopted the typical
scale improvising method characteristic to the bebop style. He mainly stuck to the swing
concept even when playing with beboppers.
During the cool jazz period, Hawkins was somewhat overshadowed by Lester Young.
However, Hawkins cultivated his modern vein by playing with progressive new-thinkers as
John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, Eric Dolphy and others.
Since Coleman Hawkins was a leading figure during so many stylistic epochs, his soloing
characteristics of course changed through the years. Some features naturally remain prevalent
during his over 40 years performance period, but others change.
Hawkins had an impressive technique. At first he used slap tonguing, staccato runs and
novelty effects in his playing, which makes his early solos sound quite dated. He also
sometimes used too many notes within a small time period. Furthermore, he played
periodically structured solos with one phrase per bar or per two-bars, and harmonically
uninteresting with triad oriented melodies.
As time went by, by influence from other Henderson musicians such as Louise Armstrong, he
improved his playing and smoothed out some of the rhythmic awkwardness from his style,
and learned to play phrases covering several bars. He also became harmonically more
interesting by using note material other than triad tones.
Hawkinss tone was strong, broad and warm with vibrato on each tone. Sometimes a tone is
concluded with an air-hissing vibrato, especially at the end of a phrase in a slow tempo. Many
later saxophonists have tried to copy Hawkinss sound.
Hawkins developed a strong swing feeling in his eighth tone leaps during the swing era,
which he kept also during later epochs.
Hawkins uses phrase repetitions; short phrases not matching the rhythmic measure are
repeated, which creates polyrhythmic effects such as 3 against 4. Such sequences of short
motives are sometimes repeated sequentially by scale stepwise or chromatic transpositions.
In ballad playing, one way of creating tension used by Hawkins is to play a fragment slowly,
repeat it several times with increasing speed. Another method is to prepare a big interval jump
by playing ornamentation around the source tone before landing on the destination tone.
Hawkins utilizes rests in an interesting way by using rests frequently between short phrases or
motives. A rest will also sometimes appear unpredictably, which makes his solos full of
surprises.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Coleman Hawkins

Album: Ad Lib Blues with The Oscar Peterson Trio
Album: Coleman Hawkins 1944-1945:
- Step On It
- Riding On 52nd Street
- Memories Of You
- Out to Lunch
Album: A Jazz Hour With Coleman Hawkins
- The Sheik of Araby
Album: Beans Spellbound
- Honeysuckle Rose
- Ruby
Red Norvo, 1908-1999, vibraphone
Life History
Red Norvo is the first and practically only xylophone soloist.within jazz, but later turned to
vibraphone. He was born as Kenneth Norville. His career began in Chicago with a marimba
band among others, and continued with Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman,
Dinah Shore and Frank Sinatra.
Norvo recorded and toured throughout his career until a stroke in the mid-1980s forced him
into retirement (although he developed hearing problems long before his stroke). He died at a
convalescent home at the age of 91.
Stylistic Epoch
Norvo was a typical swing musician with a brilliant technique but with a rather limited and
sparse tonality and harmony. The fact that he played together with Benny Goodman verifies
his virtuosity. Goodman had strong quality requirements on his fellow musicians and would
never play together with untalented musicians.
Even when playing with later post-swing orchestras he stuck to the swing idiom
Since the xylophone and the vibraphone are percussion instruments, it is natural with a
percussionistic playing style on these instruments, and this is also the case with Norvo. His
phrasing is full of rhythmically characteristic ingredients, often with repetition of rhythmic
motives, and his playing style is very idiomatic to the vibraphone utilizing the percussion
features of the instrument.
Norvo frequently exhibits his technical brilliance in his solos. Especially when playing 4-part
sections with 4 sticks, his remarkable technique is outstanding. Also when playing 1-part
melodies with a one-hand roll in the right hand combined with scale leaps in the left hand,
Norvos virtuosity is marvellous.
By combining rhythmic repetitions with his brilliant technique, Norvo is capable of achieving
an interesting intensity increase in his solos.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Red Norvo

Album: 1940s V-Disc Collection:
-
Which Switch Wich

Just You Just Me
Abraham
Dinah
Bugle Call Rag
In A Mellow Tone
Album: Delightfully Light:

- What Is This Thing Called Love
Benny Goodman (King of Swing), 1909-1986, clarinet
Life History
Benny Goodman grew up in Chicago as the ninth child of totally twelve. He began to study
music at an early age. Soon he became a professional clarinettist and was hired by local band
leaders to make his big familys living. At the age of 16 he moved to Los Angeles.
Goodman led his first band 1934, with which he played mostly arranged music and not so
much improvisational music. This gave it an accessibility that appealed to American
audiences on a wide scale.
Goodman toured all around the world, became very famous as the King of Swing and a kind
of national jazz symbol. He was honoured by the Kennedy Center for his lifetime
achievements in swing music. He also received an honorary doctorate degree in music from
Columbia University and the Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement. He continued to
give occasional concerts in his original swing style until his death 1986.
Stylistic Epoch
Benny Goodman is a typical swing musician. In a way, he is the creator of swing, maybe
together with some other people. But he has a dominance over swing in the same way as
Charlie Parker dominated bebop.
Goodman had a formidable swing feeling, very much thanks to the excellent arrangements
perfectly suited to the big band setting. The swing feeling is also amplified by the visual
effects, for instance when a whole section such as the trombones stands up and make the same
movements with their instruments and their sordinos. Goodman himself doesnt participate
very much in the visual effects. Maybe it is the contradiction between his static body
movements and the coordinated movements of the orchestra members, together with
Goodmans mighty swinging feeling, that makes him the King of Swing. Video clips from
Goodman concerts reveal the surprised look of the audience faces when Goodman presses the
swing level to heights not yet heard so far. People turn their faces against each other as if they
were saying: Is this really true, is it really possible to play such music?
Criticism has been raised against Goodman that he was white, played white-oriented music,
and played only for white audiences, all with the single aim of making much money. He did
not have the dirty ingredients prevailing in the black bebop music. But this criticism is unfair
according to my opinion, since his playing is at an extremely high quality level as well as his
orchestra, and astonishingly swinging. In fact, Goodman was also one of the first band leaders
to mix black and white musicians in his orchestra. OK, it is true that Goodman during his
entire life stuck to the swing style, he never tried bebop or other modern styles. But the way
he plays swing is good enough to not being forced to try unknown areas.
Goodman is technically brilliant with an exact timing, which could be heard especially in the
small bass-less settings in fast tempo. Creating a swinging feeling is not very easy without a
contrabass that holds the steady, driving beat. It requires a very good timing and a virtuosity
capable of keeping the exact tempo without support from the bass. OK, the drummer always
does a good job in Goodmans recordings, but without a contrabass it is hard to acquire a
heavy swing. But Goodman can.
Goodmans harmony and tonality are rather uninteresting, but that is compensated by his
brilliant technique and perfect timing. His way of creating intensity is very much made in
cooperation with the orchestra and their riff-like repetitive motives. His virtuosic phrases are
not as efficient when played in small group settings.
A typical way of creating variation is Goodmans glissando technique, sometimes by playing
a series of rapid ascending chromatic tones before the destination tone with an accent on the
destination tone. Another method is to play a rapid phrase and ending it upwards by landing
on a high tone with a glissando accommodated by using mouth pressure. The high tone is
prolonged to the background of big band riffs including for instance a trombone section
playing simultaneous glissandi.
Goodman does not use the typical laid back hang, for instance used by Count Basie musicians
and Erroll Garner. He mostly plays very strictly aligned to the beat with exact timing. This
type of playing is suitable for chamber jazz and does not fit into dirty jazz clubs with music
played mostly for the musicians themselves and not so much audience related music.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Benny Goodman

Album: A Jazz Hour with Benny Goodman: Stompin at the Savoy:
- Sing, sing, sing
- Bugle Call Rag
- Stompin at the Savoy
Album: All My Life:
- Oh, Lady Be Good
- Life Goes to a Party
- Runnin Wild
- Whispering
Album: The Best of Benny Goodman:
- One OClock Jump
- I Want to Be Happy
Charlie Parker (Bird), 1920-1955, alto saxophone
Life History
Charlie Parker is probably one of the most genial and influential jazz musicians in jazz
history. He is, together with some others, the creator of bebop. Jazz music would probably
have developed in a completely different direction without him. He grew up in Kansas City.
He started out playing baritone horn, switching to alto when he was ten, and dropping out of
school at 14 because he wanted to be a professional musician. However, at that early point,
Parkers enthusiasm far outstripped his abilities, and he was humiliated at a few jam sessions
when he got lost trying to play double-time runs. For instance, during a Parker solo, the
drummer took his cymbal and threw it across the stage in front of the audience. Maybe such
humiliating events inspired Parker to formidable practicing. This resulted in acceptance by
local musicians and an engagement with Jay McShanns band.
He moved to New York, where he met Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Max Roach, Charles
Mingus and other prominent jazz musicians. Sadly, he ruined his life by excessive drinking
and eating, and he also became a heroin addict, which now and then made him so sick that he
had to cancel performances. He also appeared drunken or drug affected on stage. However,
despite his abuse, he could at times create wonderful music between hospital stays until his
death 1955.
Parker also became an icon for the black races liberation efforts, personifying the conception
of the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than just a popular
entertainer.
Stylistic Epoch
Parker played a leading role in the development of bebop with its fast tempos and virtuoso
technique. Parker's innovative approaches to melody, rhythm and harmony implied enormous
influence on his contemporaries.
Parker composed tunes based on existing chord progressions from famous standard tunes,
where the melody is like a bebop improvisation. He introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas
including a tonal vocabulary employing 9ths, 11ths and 13ths of chords, rapidly implied
passing chords, and new variants of altered chords and chord substitutions.
Parkers tone was clean and penetrating, but sweet and plaintive on ballads. Although many
Parker recordings demonstrate dazzling virtuoso technique and complex melodic lines, he was
also one of the great blues players.
Maybe the most significant feature of Parkers improvisations is the way of playing a series of
rapid tones, often doubling the tempo, where he uses accents on each second, each third or
each fourth tone. This has the effect of creating interesting rhythmic figures. And by
accenting 9ths, 11ths or 13ths of the chord he creates dramatic harmonic structures. This kind
of playing requires a miraculous technique, especially when Parker uses it in ridiculously fast
tempos. In tunes in moderate tempos, Parker doubles the tempo. In ballads, he mixes doubled
and four-doubled tempo passages with lyrical rubato motives.
Another way of creating interest is to utilize motives from other tunes and incorporate them
into the current improvisation line, accommodated to the chord and scale in question.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Charlie Parker

Album: 52nd Street (feat. Miles Davis):
- Koko
- Groovin High
- Ornithology
- Salt Peanuts
- How High the Moon
Album: April in Paris:
- I Love Paris
- Summertime
- Autumn in New York
Album: Be Bop:
- Bebop
- Yardbird Suite
Album: Bird Gets the Worm:
- Dont Blame Me
Ella Fitzgerald, 1917-1996, singer
Life History
Of all vocalists in jazz history, Ella Fitzgerald is probably the most talented and popular. In
her lifetime, she won 13 Grammy awards and sold over 40 million albums.
Her voice was flexible, wide-ranging and accurate in pitch. She had perfect control over her
voice, she had a perfect timing, and she could imitate every instrument in an orchestra. She
did not only sing a song with melody and words like most jazz vocalists, but she also sang
improvised solos like instrumentalists play solos.
She worked with all the jazz giants like Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Dizzy Gillespie and
Benny Goodman. But she is most famous for her cooperation with Louis Armstrong and Duke
Ellington.
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born in Newport News 1917. Her parents parted ways shortly after
her birth. Her mother and Ella moved in with her mother's boyfriend, who Ella referred to as
her stepfather.
Ellas family had a tough time trying to make their living with different jobs. Occasionally,
Ella took on small jobs to contribute money as well. However, her mother and stepfather died
early, so Ella lived with her sister for some time. Unable to adjust to the new circumstances,
Ella became increasingly unhappy and entered into a difficult period of her life. Her grades
dropped dramatically, and she frequently skipped school. After getting into trouble with the
police, she was taken into custody and sent to a reform school. Living there was even more
unbearable, as she suffered beatings at the hands of her caretakers.
Ella began to participate in song and talent contests, and was very fortunate. Soon she was
detected by various band leaders who engaged her. She also began experimenting with scat
singing, and her improvisation and vocalization thrilled fans. Throughout her career, Ella
would master scat singing, turning it into a form of art. She also worked for producer and
manager Norman Granz on the "Jazz at the Philharmonic" tour.
In 1987, United States President Ronald Reagan awarded Ella the National Medal of Arts. It
was one of her most prized moments. Several universities bestowed Ella with honorary
doctorates.
During the last part of her life Ella struggled with deceases and was rarely able to perform. In
1991 she held her last concert and died five years later, mourned by a whole world of jazz
lovers.
Stylistic Epoch
Ella Fitzgerald is a typical swing vocalist, which is obvious when considering her partners.
However, she started singing during the first decades of the jazz history, so many of her first
performances was in the typical entertainment style of singing the lyrics of a tune, letting the
band take care of the solos, and then returning with a chorus similar to one of the first sung.
However, during the swing era, Ella Fitzgerald brought the vocalist roll to heights not yet
previously known by using the voice as an instrument performing an improvised solo using
scat singing. Ella brought the vocalist roll to the level of art.
Although there may be others who tried scat song before Ella Fitzgerald, she is still the one
who explored scat song to a level not previously known, and she does it with a perfection and
playfulness that is astonishing. Her improvised wording is excellent, especially in dialogues
with Louis Armstrong, where she selects words resembling the trumpet phrases played by
Armstrong.
One thing that differs a good scat singer from a not so good is the ability to catch the exact
pitch of every tone, especially when singing phrases with many short tones and difficult pitch
intervals. Ella is a master of catching exact pitches in her scat singing.
Ella uses curls at the end of each tone, just like improvising instrumentalists, and this keeps
her singing full of life and interesting.
Ellas voice has a sound that says something of life inspiration and youth, even during the
later part of her life she manages to keep her warm sound.
Repetition of a motif is often used by Ella, especially when the length of the motif does not
match the periodicity of the tune. This is a common feature of many musicians and causes
polyrhythmic effects raising the tension. Especially in a musical dialogue with, say
Armstrong, she resembles another instruments phrasing in this polyrhythmic way.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Ella Fitzgerald

Album: Make Mine a Double (Vol 2):
- Miss Otis Regrets
- Anything Goes
- I Get a Kick Out of You
- Just One of Those Things
- Too Darn Hot
Album: (Its Only a)Paper Moon (Vol 2):
- Im Beginning to See the Light
Red Mitchell, 1927-1992, bass
Life History
Red (Keith Moore) Mitchell was raised in New Jersey by culturally aware parents. Besides
the bass, he also sang and played the piano, saxophone and clarinet. In 1947 he played bass in
the US Army, and then he played in a jazz trio in New York. Mitchell is also known as
composer, lyricist and poet. He occasionally also participated in film productions.
In 1968 Mitchell moved to Sweden and stayed there until 1992, a couple of months before his
death. During this time he contributed to the Swedish jazz scene by working as house bassist
in the Stampen jazz club in Stockholm, where he played with many famous jazz musicians.
During this time I had the wonderful opportunity to play with Mitchell and discover his nice
personality and uncomplicated and friendly way of approaching fellow musicians less famous
than himself.
In 1966, Red began tuning his bass in fifths instead of fourths, which opened up new
possibilities.to sound modification.
Stylistic Epoch
Red Mitchell must be classified as a bebop bassist, although he is more East Coast cool-toned
than traditional bebop bassists. He has also contributed to the more modern styles of the later
20th century decades.
Red Mitchell has a very melodious soloing feature. He has the capacity of freeing himself
from the beat boundaries often limiting many bassists. This is rather natural since bassists
often bare the responsibility of keeping the beat and marking the heavy beats, especially the
first beat of the bars. Mitchell plays longer melodic lines without necessarily arriving at the
first beat of e.g. each fourth bar. He relies on the other musicians to keep track of the strong
beats. This is not a very common behaviour among bassists, but gives the music a light and
free feeling and provides the other musicians with musical freedom.
Mitchell was one of the most fluent bass soloists, but he was wise not to overly dominate the
solo space, and the result is well-balanced and enjoyable music.
In his soloing, and also in his accompaniment playing, Mitchell uses small glissandi and
vibrato, which gives his bass playing a living and non-static feeling.
Mitchells soloing characteristics described here are maybe not revolutionary or contributing
with ideas to the usual soloing instruments (trumpet, saxophone etc.) but bassists will
definitely have a lot to learn from Mitchell. He creates a swinging and inspirational base to his
fellow musicians on which it is easy to build musical experiments.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Red Mitchell

Album: A Declaration of Interdependence:
- Come Rain or Come Shine
- But Beautiful
- My Romance
- Tell It Like It Is
- Nows the Time
Album: Live at Salishan:
- In a Mellow Tone
- What Would I Do Without You
Fats Navarro, 1923-1950, trumpet
Life History
Theodore "Fats" Navarro grew up in Florida and studied piano, tenor saxophone besides the
trumpet. After graduating high school he went on tour and worked with different bands and
most of the famous musicians of the bebop era.
Circumstances caused Navarro to settle down in New York, where he also began to use hard
drugs, which would plague him for the rest of his short life. But there would be a period of
brilliance and increasing musical maturity during the last years of the 40s. . He was a coveted
musician for many recording dates, especially Tadd Dameron. He also appeared as a feature
soloist on many "all-star" or "dream band" engagements, including a JATP concert at
Carnegie Hall. Lesser known artists could gain instant credibility for their recording dates by
including him.
The combination of his drug habit, tuberculosis, and a less than robust constitution led to a
sharp decline in his health and a curtailing of his musical activity over the last one and a half
years of his life. He nevertheless went on the road one last time with the JATP for a couple of
weeks in 1949.
Stylistic Epoch
The small combo format of the bebop era was ideal for Navarro. He was able to give full
expression to his ideas and soon developed a reputation as a major force on modern trumpet,
much in the Dizzy Gillespie style.
Fats Navarro was technically brilliant and had a high note ability which he used sparingly but
with great effect. He played with a rhythmic hang that provides tension between his soloing
and the rhythm section. In ballads he often used tempo doubling
He combined hard attacks on some tones with soft attacks and sweet vibrato. In rapid leaps he
mixed accentuated tones with unaccented, which provides polyrhythmic effects in the typical
bebop style.
Navarro sometimes uses sequences of small motives. He also uses motif repetition and mixes
phrases from other well-known tunes in his solos, which gives an interesting effect. In his
leaps of eighth notes he sometimes includes tones not belonging to the current scale, which
provides interesting harmonic effects.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Fats Navarro

Album: All My Succes:
- Nostalgia
- Fat Girl
- Webb City
- Holerin and Screamin
- Blues in Be-Bop
Album: Bouncing with Bud:
- Bouncing with Bud
- Wail
Album: Double Talk:
- Tadd Walk
- Dameronia
- Our Delight
Miles Davis, 1926-1991, trumpet
Life History
Very much has been written about Miles Davis, so a further description of his life history will
probably not be necessary. The most interesting feature is that he participated in the
development of the bebop style (he was a personal friend to both Charlie Parker and Dizzy
Gillespie), he played at Birdland and other famous jazz clubs and he lived in the middle of the
jazz centre in the 52nd street in New York during the important years at the end of the 40s.
Stylistic Epoch
Besides the bebop era of 1945-50, Davis contributed with musical ideas to all jazz styles until
his death, and in some of the styles Davis was the leading person. This differs Davis from
most of his colleagues, who developed a style and then stuck to that style during their
remaining life time. Davis, on the contrary, did never rest in one style, he all the time searched
for new ways of musical expressions.
Davis most important impact on jazz music is his ability to drive the musical creativeness of
his groups to new conquests both as regards sound, harmony, rhythm and soloing. He must be
regarded as a complete genious.
Even if Miles Davis was a technically brilliant musician, he never over-used this capacity. He
was a master of finding and holding an interesting note in the context of the current harmony.
And this is another feature of Miles Davis characteristics; the ability of finding harmonically
interesting notes, and combining interesting notes in the note sequence of a phrase to enrich
the harmonic spectrum.
Also, when it comes to sound, Davis produces new effects, both acoustically and
electronically.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Miles Davis

Album: Friday Night Blackhawk:
- No Blues
- All of You
- Bye Bye Blackbird
Album: I Thought About You:
- I Thought About You
- Someday My Prince Will Come
Album: Round Midnight II
- Freddie Freeloader
- So What
- Blue In Green
- All Blues
Dexter Gordon, 1923-1990, tenor saxophone
Life History
Dexter Gordon was born and grew up in Los Angeles. His father was a doctor who counted
Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton among his patients. He first played clarinet and then
switched to saxophone. During his school years he was playing in some famous bands. In
1943 he made his first recordings under his own name. In Los Angeles Gordon got famous for
his titanic duels with Wardell Gray.
In 1944, Gordon left Los Angeles and moved to New York, where he was performing and
recording with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie besides working under his own name.
The 50s was a time of waist for Gordon, mainly due to drug problems and jail stays.
By 1960 Gordon had begun recording for Blue Note Records. This was a time of comeback
for Gordon when he made his main contributions to the jazz development
Gordon spent 15 years in Europe, mostly in Paris and Copenhagen, where he played regularly
with fellow expatriate jazzmen, such as Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke and others who also had
moved to Europe. He found Europe a much easier place to live, where he experienced less
racism and greater respect for jazz musicians.
After a couple of temporary returns to US, Gordon finally returned to the United States for
good in 1976. He was celebrated as a hero at his return and performed a welcome home
concert in the Village Vanguard jazz club.
Gordon made several notable film appearances. One of them, Unchained, occurred while he
was in prison for possession of heroin. He portrayed an inmate playing in the prison band. But
the most famous is probably Round Midnight, where he portrayed an expatriate jazz musician
much like himself. Gordon received an academy award for best actor.
Gordon was one of the leading figures to keep the old bebop and hardbop acoustic jazz alive
in the middle of all electrified fusion and rock influenced jazz of that time, and the American
crowd was thrilled to find the Long Tall Dexter in prime form during many years before his
death in 1990.
Stylistic Epoch
Even if Dexter Gordon grew up and lived in Los Angeles for many years, he must still be
characterized as belonging to the East Coast hardbop movement. And even if Gordon was
trained in bebop with Parker and Gillespie during the later half of the 40s, it is in the hardbop
style that he made his most important contributions. This is proved mainly by his sound and
his laidback rhythm handling. Many would characterise Gordon's sound as being 'large' and
spacious (a feature partially owed to his big and tall physical stature). It is clear, strong and
metallic. His rhythm handling is characterized by playing behind the beat, with a slight hang,
and also by evening out the lengths of the notes in a series of eighths so as to almost simulate
a latin rhythm. These are typical ingredients of the hardbop style.
Dexter Gordon uses abrupt ending of phrases and repetition of motives in sequences where
each repetition is moved up or down according to the current scale.
Gordon uses monotonous pumping of small motives in the modal jazz style, of which for
example John Coltrane among others has been inspired.
Gordons playing sometimes gives the feeling of being technically limited, which is amplified
by his harsh sound. But this fits well into the repeated phrases built up to intensity high points.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Dexter Gordon

- Darn That Dream
- Autumn In New York
- Cry Me a River
- I Hear Music
Album: BD Jazz: Dexter Gordon:
- Blow Mr Dexter
- Dexter Cuttin Out
- Dexterity
Album: Dexter Blows:
- Silver Plated
- Cry Me a River
- I Should Care
Sonny Rollins, b. 1930, tenor saxophone
Life History
Theodore Walter Rollins grew up in Harlem close to his idol, Coleman Hawkins. He started
out on alto saxophone, but after a couple of years he switched to tenor. His main influence
was the prevailing musical revolution called bebop, with Charlie Parker as the front figure.
Rollins moved to Chicago for a few years to free himself from old habits and find new
musical paces. One of these ideas was unaccompanied solos. However, the constantly
dissatisfied saxophonist questioned the acclaim his music was attracting, and between 1959
and late `61 withdrew from public performance.
He spent some years in prison for armed robbery and drug possession. But the fact that he by
the time got famous due to collaboration with Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk and other wellknown artists, helped him to quit the drugs.
Rollins all the time searched for new musical expressions, and his dissatisfaction led him to a
second withdrawal when he practised, relaxed, tried eastern religions, worked in Japan, went
to India and spent a lot of time in a monastery.
With the encouragement and support of his wife Lucille, who had become his business
manager, Rollins returned to performing and recording. He won a couple of performance
Grammies. In addition, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National
Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 2004. In 2007 he got the prestigious Polar Music
Prize.
Stylistic Epoch
Even if Sonny Rollins first was fostered in the bebop style, he has always been associated
with new music, thanks to his seeking personality, who always is looking for new musical
expressions. Hardbop, modal influences, blues and atonal avant-garde ingredients are wellknown conceptions to him, and he often used them all in the same solo.
Rollins sound is harsh, raspy, metallic and spacious, often reminding of Dexter Gordon and
John Coltrane, but oddly enough not so much of Coleman Hawkins, who was his idol.
Rollins has a typical way of moving his body while playing, pointing with the saxophone
against the audience and moving it up and down as if he was talking to the audience with the
saxophone and making facial expressions with it. He also has a majestic apparition like a jazz
emperor.
Rollins uses repetition of small motives not fitting the metre of the beat thus causing
polyrhythmic effects. Motives are moved chromatically upwards, which increases the
intensity. He has a seemingly endless flow of new musical ideas.
His rhythm handling is characterized by evening out the lengths of the notes in a series of
eighths so as to almost simulate a latin rhythm.
Rollins introduces exciting harmonic effects by using notes which sound almost atonal in their
context. He mixes this with standard bebop melodies exceptionally tonal and roughly
swinging blues phrases.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Sonny Rollins

Album: 25 Masterpieces:
- The Freedom Suite
- Someday Ill Find You
- Will You Still Be Mine ?
Album: Blue Seven
- Kiss and Run
- St. Thomas
Album: Jazz Bop and Beyond
- Scoops
- Alone Together
Charlie Ventura, 1916-1992, tenor saxophone
Life History
Charlie Ventura played with local Philadelphia jazz groups during the 1930s while working
for his family's company at day time. He was offered a job with Gene Krupas trio in 1942,
where he became a featured soloist. In 1945 he won the Down Beat readers' poll in the tenor
saxophone division.
During the 1950s Ventura was putting together various big bands, working with small
combos, and leading orchestras in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and ran his own jazz club. Due
to poor health he had to retire to Las Vegas in 1970, where he worked as a disc jockey. He
moved to the East Coast in 1972 and continued performing until the 1990s, though his health
began to decline even further. Charlie Ventura died in lung cancer in 1992.
Stylistic Epoch
Charlie Ventura started in the swing style and became one of the first swing musicians to
embrace bebop when forming his own ''Bop for the People'' orchestra in 1946. Ventura played
a kind of glad and commercial form of the new jazz music, hard-swinging, harmonically
relatively simple, not as introvert as other bebop music of that time.
Ventura was technically brilliant with high precision as regards rhythmic perfection and
unison ensemble playing, which is obvious in fast up-tempo tunes.
Harmonically Ventura is rather uncomplicated with a kind of swing approach using hardswinging phrases built on the swing scale and blues scale.
Ventura uses motif repetitions resulting in polyrhythmic effects, sometimes arriving a half
tone higher in the last repetition and prolonging that tone, which is outside the current
harmony. This is a typical way of increasing the intensity.
Another way of using repetitions is when Ventura makes an identical repetition of the first
part of a phrase but ends it differently in each repetition.
Ventura sometimes uses a screaming sound in his hard-swinging blues burst-outs.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Charlie Ventura

Album: Beyond Patina Jazz Masters Charlie Ventura:
- The Man I Love
- Get Off My Dreams
- Deep Purple
Album: Blue Prelude:
- Jersey Bounce
- Big Deal
- Perdido
Album: Jazz Legends Charlie Ventura:
- Whos Sorry Now
- Girl of My Dreams
Oscar Peterson, 1925-2007, piano
Life History
Peterson grew up in Montreal. At the age of five, Peterson he began playing trumpet and
piano, but after a few years he directed all his attention to the piano. Thanks to his daily
practising (4-6 hours per day) of scales and classical etudes he developed his astonishing
virtuosity. Still a young teenager he impressed professional musicians, won competitions,
dropped out of school and became a professional pianist working for a weekly radio show,
and playing at hotels and music halls.
An important step in Petersons career was joining the Norman Granzs JATP project in1949.
Granz remained Peterson's manager for most of his career. He has made numerous recordings
with solo piano, duets, trios, quartets and big bands. He has also played together with most of
the prominent musicians in jazz history. Due to his formidable technical skills it has been
difficult to find musicians at the same level to cooperate with.
Peterson was very thick, and in later years could hardly button his shirt. This of course
hindered his mobility. He also suffered a serious stroke that weakened his left side, which had
serious effects on his playing and his virtuosity was never completely restored.
In later years he received several awards and must be regarded as one of the greatest jazz
musicians ever.
Peterson's health declined rapidly in 2007. He had to cancel scheduled performances, and died
at the end of that year.
Stylistic Epoch
Oscar Peterson is a typical swing pianist with strong swing and blues ingredients. And even
when selecting other kinds of tunes, such as bebop tunes or pop music, he sticks to the typical
swinging Peterson blues. And when playing latin rhythm tunes, he has a tendency to return to
his typical swing rhythm. And also when playing together with more modern musicians,
Peterson sounds a bit old-fashioned with his swing/blues style. He never left his original style,
which has become a famous landmark in jazz history.
Peterson has a remarkable technique and a wonderful swinging capacity.
He preferably uses the blues scale and the swing scale as basis for his improvised melodies.
Every musician probably knows the blues scale, e.g. the blues scale in A:
A C D D# E G A
The swing scale is derived by using the same notes but using C as base tone:
C D D# E G A C
Consequently the blues scale in a specific key contains the same notes as the swing scale in
the corresponding parallel key.
Peterson mixes the blues and swing scales in the same key, for instance with a chord as C
major, he can use both the blues and swing scales in C.
Peterson uses polyphony to some extent when elaborating his melodies. Now and then he
adds an extra note from the relevant scale above the melody.
One typical ingredient in Petersons solos is the unison playing of a phrase at the distance of
two octaves. This appears to be technically very difficult. However, when Peterson plays
exactly the same phrase with both hands in unison a second, and a third, time in the same
solo, he destroys the magic effect of it to some extent. When played the first time you get the
feeling of an instantly invented phrase on the fly, but when played again, you realize that the
phrase is practiced in advance. OK, there is no wrong with practicing phrases in advance, but
with Petersons brilliant technique in mind, he could have selected a different phrase to play
in unison the second time.
Petersons playing style is extremely well accommodated to the physical construction of the
hands and fingers, and it seems to be more difficult to simulate than it actually is. A couple of
transcriptions of Petersons solos have been made by the author, and it appears that, with a
good fingering and after some practice, the solos appear to be not so difficult to play as when
first encountered.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Oscar Peterson

Album: Porgy & Bess:
- I Loves You Porgy
- Summertime
- I Cant Get Started
- Ad Lib Blues
Album: American Songbook Essentials:
- Alexanders Ragtime Band
- Stormy Weather
Album: Classics Oscar Peterson:
- Cheek to Cheek
- Body & Soul
- Seven Become Eleven
- Pennies from Heaven
Bud Freeman, 1906-1991, tenor saxophone
Life History
Lawrence "Bud" Freeman grew up in Chicago where he played with local musicians before
moving to New York in 1927.
Freeman played with, among others, Eddie Condon, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman,
before forming his own group, the Summa Cum Laude Orchestra. During the war he headed a
US Army band. Following the war, Freeman returned to New York and led his own groups.
In 1974 he moved to England, where he made numerous recordings and performances.
Returning to Chicago in 1980, he continued to work into his eighties.
Stylistic Epoch
Bud Freeman originally comprised the New Orleans style, later used in Dixieland bands, but
even if the instrumentation is in New Orleans style (tpt, cl, tb), he plays his tenor saxophone
in a remarkably modern way, pointing forward against swing and bebop. So placing him
somewhere between swing and bebop will probably be the most relevant estimation.
Freeman has a very characteristic way of ending his phrases with a vibrato on the last tone,
which is like a tremble, where the sound between each wave of the vibrato almost disappears.
This combined with his warm and big tone gives an intimate and intensive feeling.
His big and warm tone hints at Lester Young, even if Freeman himself never admitted any
impact from Young.
In early Dixieland settings Freeman sounds rather modern and forward-striving with a
musical language pointing at bebop. However, he can sometimes be rather old-fashioned with
periodic phrases, where each phrase is built on a separate chord.
Freemans modern style includes ingredients like small motives being repeated in a
polyrhythmic fashion, sometimes repeated stepwise in the scale up or down.
Freeman prefers the swing scale, even if other bebop-like scale types also are used.
Freeman often uses ornamentation when going from one note to a higher note, i.e. he plays
some sixteenths around the source note before landing on the destination note.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Bud Freeman

Album: Beyond Patina Jazz Masters: Bud Freeman:
- I Cant Help Lovin Dat Man
- I Got Rhythm
- Tea for Two
Album: Essential Jazz Masters:
- Chicago
- Satin Doll
- By Myself
Album: I Got Rhythm:
- What Is There to Say
- Exactly Like You
Lennie Tristano, 1919-1978, piano
Life History
Lennie Tristano was a pioneering musician. He prepared the ground for masters like Bill
Evans. He is the bridge between bebop pianist Bud Powell and cool jazz post-bebop Bill
Evans.
Tristano was blind already from childhood. He first studied music with his mother. From
1928-38, he attended a school for the blind in Chicago, where he learned music theory and
developed proficiency on several wind instruments. Later, he attended Chicago's American
Conservatory of Music, from which he received a bachelor's degree in 1943. During his early
years as a professional performer and teacher, Tristano worked in and around Chicago,
achieving his first measure of critical attention and attracting his first important students,
Konitz and composer/arranger Bill Russo. [Tristano official website,
www.lennietristano.com].
In the mid 40s, Tristano moved to New York, where he worked with the most influential jazz
musicians of that time, Gillespie and Parker. During the 50s Tristano ran a school of jazz in
New York. Students were the most prominent jazz musicians, who also became members of
his group, such as Lee Konitz. He spent more and more time on teaching, which had a
shrinking effect on his performing and recording. This continued until his death in 1978.
Stylistic Epoch
Tristano could not be classified into a specific style, but had a groundbreaking impact on his
successors, such as Bill Evans. He is the bridge between bebop and more modern styles. He
brought to bebop a new harmonic language picked from classical music, e.g. polytonal effects
and counterpoint. He also introduced freely improvised music without any pre-ordained
tonality or melody, many years before Ornette Colemans first experiences in the free jazz
area.
A typical Tristano approach is built up by long, rhythmically and harmonically elaborate
melodies played over a smooth, almost uninflected swing time maintained by the bassist and
drummer. He also subdivided and multiplied the beat in odd groupings, and his harmonies
did not always behave in a manner consistent with functional tonality. The complexity of his
constructs demanded that his rhythm section provide little more than a solid foundation.
Tristano's bassists and drummers were not expected to interact in the manner of a bop rhythm
section, but to support the music's melodic and harmonic substance.
[www.lennietristano.com].
Tristano sometimes plays the walking bass himself on the piano while improvising with the
right hand with a constant flow of ideas.
Tristano elaborates the harmonies in a way not yet known by contemporary bebop musicians,
coloured with advanced over-layered chord combinations, which came to be a standard way
of using harmonies by later pianists like Bill Evans. He plays the improvised melody together
with block chords with the right hand, which is extremely difficult and requires careful
planning in order to maintain the audiences interest.
Tristano also has a remarkable sense for rhythmic swing, which becomes obvious when
studying how he emphasizes some notes and lets the intermediary notes slip through
unstressed.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Lennie Tristano

Album: Abstraction:
- Progression
- Blue Boy
- Wow
Album: Best of Lennie Tristano:
- Out of Nowhere
- These Foolish Things
- Untitled Blues
Album: Live in New York:
- Crosscurrent
- Intuition
Chet Baker, 1929-1988, trumpet
Life History
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. was raised in Oklahoma. In early years he participated in a
church choir as a singer, then changed to trombone and to trumpet. He was musically
educated and played in the army.
Bakers breakthrough came in the early 50s with a couple of concerts with Stan Getz, Charlie
Parker and Gerry Mulligan. Sadly, Baker was more and more caught in drug addiction, and
prisoning, which of course declined his musical career. He would also constantly pawn his
instruments to get money to maintain his drug habit. In 1966 he was severly injured in his
teeth and lips in a quarrel about drugs after a gig, which ruined his embouchure. However, he
was able to develop a new embouchure with his new dentures. During this period he mostly
played flugelhorn. Now and then he also contributed with singing, which fitted well into the
cool and smooth music, since he had a soft and sweet voice. Baker also contributed to the pop
music area by playing on some recordings made by famous pop artists of that time.
Baker spent some years in Europe with regular returns to USA..From 1978 onwards he
resided and played almost exclusively in Europe, returning to the USA roughly once per year
for a few performance dates. Between 1978 and 1988, Baker recorded more than ever. This
was probably Baker's most mature and most rewarding phase.
He died in 1988 after falling from a hotel window, probably due to drug consumption..
Stylistic Epoch
Chet Baker is a definite cool trumpeter and rose to prominence as a leading name in cool jazz
in the 1950s. He has a relaxed attitude and sometimes a melancholy touch. Baker was goodlooking, which together with his intimate singing voice established him as a promising name
in pop music as well. Between 1966 and 1974, Baker mostly played flugelhorn, which further
brought out his soft and melancholy style.
Baker was never particularly adventurous, but stuck to playing in the middle register, maybe
due to his mouth injury. Neither was he experimental when it comes to harmony or speedy
phrases. What is great with Chet Baker is this. He always had a feeling of finding the right
notes, which made his phrases singable, and never used a great number of meaningless notes
poor of content. His playing was strict, retained and well-balanced with a soft and perfectly
controlled sound, it always had a meaning, it was like he wished to say something with every
phrase.
Baker was a master of rest handling. He could sometimes wait for the next phrase as if he had
left the stage. And when the next phrase eventually was played, with notes perfectly selected,
it relieved all the tension built up by the preceding phrase and subsequent rest.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Chet Baker

Album: All Alone:
- Ive Grown Accustomed to Her Face
- Thank Heaven For Little Girl
- Almost Like Being In Love
- Show Me
Album: Best of Chet Baker:
- Ill Remember April
- My Funny Valentine
Album: Blue Thoughts:
- Lets Get Lost
- This Is Always
- Just Friends
Art Pepper, 1925-1982, alto saxophone
Life History
Art Pepper grew up and was musically fostered by the west coast cool jazz movement in Los
Angeles. By the 1950s Pepper was recognized as one of the leading alto saxophonists in jazz,
and was long regarded as no. two next to Charlie Parker.
However, periodically during the 50s and 60s Pepper was caught in drug addiction and his
career was interrupted by drug related imprisonment. He also spent time in a drug
rehabilitation group. But now and then he made memorable comebacks, curiously enough
without losing recording quality or musicianship. It was not until the 70s that Pepper more
constantly left the drug abuse and could concentrate on recording and concerting. It is
amazing how he had continued to evolve to a more expressive player during these years.
An autobiographic film - Art Pepper: Notes from a Jazz Survivor was made in 1982 as a
documentary.
Stylistic Epoch
Art Pepper belongs to the cool west coast style, though he was influenced by alto
saxophonists Charlie Parker and Lee Konitz. In later years he was also affected by the style of
John Coltrane, which is revealed by his use of modal material and dissonances.
Parkers influence on Art Pepper is obvious. Many licks have been copied from Parker and
the typical doubling of the tempo with accents on odd beats is reminiscent of Parker, as well
as the dynamic fluctuations within the phrase.
Pepper has a warm tone. He often concludes a phrase with a warm vibrato on a persistent
tone.
Pepper has a lovely swing feeling when he pushes out the notes, then immediately retains the
note and concludes with a swelling before releasing the note.
Pepper uses repetition of small fragments, sometimes chromatically moved. He can now and
then burst out into atonal cadences, which can be interrupted by a relievingly simple blues
phrase with a strong rhythmic accent and hard-swinging feeling.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Art Pepper

Album: 100 Masterpieces:
- Move
- Groovin High
- Shawnuff
- Airegin
- Walkin
- Donna Lee
Album: 50 Songs:
- Walkin Shoes
- Anthropology
- Red Pepper Blues
Charlie Byrd, 1925-1999, guitar
Life History
Charlie Byrd was born in Virginia in 1925, where he also grew up. His guitar interest was
grounded by his father. He played in the school orchestra and later in an Army Special
Services band. After the war he returned to New York, where he studied composition and jazz
theory, classical guitar and Spanish classical guitar with Andres Segovia. He also trained
several guitar students at his home.
Byrd travelled to South America where he got influenced by latin rhythms and Jobims songs,
which later resulted in the bossa nova style. He also toured in Europe and collaborated with
other guitarists. He also authored the 1973 publication Charlie Byrd's Melodic Method for
Guitar.
Stylistic Epoch
Charlie Byrd belongs to the swing and cool styles. He was much influenced by gipsy guitarist
Django Reinhardt and latin jazz music as composed by Jobim.
Byrds style very much reminds of Reinhardt in his block chord playing. His rhythm character
is picked from latin styles such as samba and bossa nova.
It is also obvious that Byrd has studied classical guitar, because he has a classical touch to the
guitar strings, which is perfect in combination with his acoustic guitar.
Byrd has a rhythmic and nice attack, a clear and distinct way of playing, sometimes staccatolike. He uses polyrhythmic repetitions of single-voice small motives inserted into a section of
block chord playing.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Charlie Byrd

Album: All My Succes: Charlie Byrd:
- Jive at Five
- Copacabana
- Love Letters
Album:Tri X:
- Satin Doll
- Dont Explain
- Whats New
Lee Konitz, b. 1927, alto saxophone
Life History
Lee Konitz was born and grew up in Chicago. He started at early age with clarinet, moved to
tenor saxophone and finally to alto saxophone.
Konitz began his professional career in 1945 as a replacement for Charlie Ventura. In 1946 he
met pianist Lennie Tristano, with whome he worked in Tristanos jazz education project. He
also worked with Gil Evans, and with Miles Davis in Birth of the Cool. During subsequent
years. Konitz has worked with almost every prominent and forward-thinking musician in jazz
history.
During later years Konitz moved to Germany and has become more experimental. He has
released a number of free and avant-garde jazz albums, playing alongside many far younger
musicians.
Stylistic Epoch
Konitz is generally considered one of the driving forces of cool jazz, though he has his roots
in bebop. Konitz was one of the few altoists to retain a distinctive sound in the 50s, when
Charlie Parker exercised a tremendous influence on other players.
However, he has also been very influential in the avant-garde and free jazz movements.
The loose piano-less trio format aptly featured Konitz's unorthodox phrasing and
chromaticism.
Konitz, like other students of pianist and theoretician Lennie Tristano, was noted for
improvising long, melodic lines with an odd rhythmic feature, and for cooperating with
Tristano in exploiting the harmonic field.
He has a harsh and straight tone. He plays with few notes, well balanced. He often plays odd
and curious phrases not matching the periodicity. He can sometimes sound as if he is out
wandering aimlessly among all existing notes, many times declutched from the underlying
beat.
Konitz sometimes repeats motives chromatically up or down. He can force a motif upwards
by arriving at an end note chromatically raised for each repetition. This can also be mixed
with abruptly inserted rests.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Lee Konitz

Album: 1959 Jazz Sessions:
- Uncharted
- Darn that Dream
- Paio Alto
Album: 50 Songs:
- No Splice
- Shes Funny That Way
- Time On My Hands
Album: Background Music:
- Topsy
- Ronnies Tune
Stan Getz, 1927-1991, tenor saxophone
Life History
Stanley Gayetzky (Stan Getz) was born in Philadelphia 1927. His parents immigrated from
Ukraine in 1903. He played a number of instruments before his father bought him a
saxophone at the age of 13. He instantly fell in love with the saxophone and was soon
accepted into the school orchestra of New York.
At early age Getz began playing with the great orchestra leaders. During the bebop era he also
played with the most prominent profiles like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. He is famous
for being one of the Four Brothers and for his beautiful sound, because of which he was
named The Sound.
Getz became involved with drugs and alcohol while a teenager. In 1954, he was arrested for
attempting to rob a pharmacy.
After some time in Europe Getz returned to America in 1961 and became a central figure in
introducing the bossa nova music together with guitarist Charlie Byrd, singer and guitarist
Joao Gilberto, his wife and singer Astrud Gilberto and composer Antonia Carlos Jobim. The
launching of the bossa nova movement was a great success and made Getz, together with his
collaborators, famous all over the world. Unfortunately, Getz' affair with Astrud Gilberto
brought an end to his musical partnership with her and her husband and he began to move
away back to cool jazz.
In 1972, Getz recorded in the fusion idiom with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke. This group,
without Getz, went on to become the famous Return to Forever. Getz eventually discarded
fusion and electric jazz and returned to acoustic jazz. Towards the end of his life Getz
managed to quit drugs and had another creative peak
Stylistic Epoch
Stan Getz has his roots from the bebop era, though his prime influence comes from the wispy,
mellow tone of Lester Young. He had a warm, lyrical tone, also suitable for the cool jazz
epoch, which also is representative for Getz.
However, Getz can also be experimental as regards the harmony as in his collaboration with
John Coltrane.
Getz has a soft and pleasant sound with a sensible vibrato, even if he now and then can
surprise the listener with a dynamically strong burst out that pushes the rhythmic feeling.
Getz uses repetitional motif treatment in a polyrhythmic fashion.
One of the main Getz contributions to jazz comes from his collaboration with Joao and Astrud
Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim in the bossa nova movement. Even if the bossa nova
mainly contains latin straight rhythms, Getz can sometimes interrupt or conclude the latin
rhythm with a hard-swinging bluesy phrase in swing rhythm.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Stan Getz

Album: Stan Getz and Strings:
- Her
- A Summer Afternoon
- Pan
Album: Round Midnight:
- Stuffy
- I Remember Clifford
- Dear Old Stockholm
- All Gods Chillun Got Rhythm
Paul Quinichette, 1916-1983, tenor saxophone
Life History
Paul Quinichette was one of the typical hard-swinging Basie tenorists in the Kansas City style
like Lester Young, whom he was a phenomenon to emulate. He is not remembered for being
innovative, but he was always entertaining.
Quinichette was born in Denver, Colorado. He attended Tennessee State College as a music
major. He started with alto and clarinet before he switched to tenor, which was a preferred
instrument by the R&B bands with which he worked. His big break came in 1953, when he
was hired by Count Basie to play solos in the Lester Young style, who had earlier left Basies
band. In fact, he even made recordings with Young himself.
When hard-bop became the dominant style, Quinichette found it increasingly difficult to
follow that trade, so he left jazz entirely in the late 50s. In 1977 he attempted a comeback
with a few recordings, but poor health forced him to retire again, and he died in 1983.
Stylistic Epoch
Paul Quinichette is a swing tenorist in the typical Basie saxophonist style with a hardswinging R&B like feeling. He might not be considered one of the greatest jazz soloists, but
he definitely has an interesting way of handling the small musical ingredients.
Quinichette was a typical Basie swing tenorist with a nice backward rhythmic hang and a soft
and cool sound. He is not a friend of too many notes but he has a wonderful feeling of
selecting the notes suitable for the moment. He does not expose a technical capacity but
instead plays melodically relevant phrases.
Quinichette often concludes a phrase on a long note with a soft tremble or vibrato at the end
of the note.
Quinichette has a unique way of implementing unpredictable rests that creates an expectation,
which he masterly utilizes.
Quinichette mixes ordinary swing phrases with melodies that point forward, harmonically,
and combines several harmonies in the same phrase. He also uses polyrhythmic repetitions of
small motives.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Paul Quinichette

Album: Esssential Jazz Moods:
- Shad Roe
- Plush Life
- Sunday
Album: Basie Reunion:
- Love Jumped Out
- The Blues I Like To Hear
- Johns Idea
Album: Paul Quinichette Plays Quincy Jones
- Youre Crying
- Pablos Ronnie
- Dilemma Diablo
Herbie Mann, 1930-2003, flute
Life History
Herbie Mann (Herbert Jay Solomon) was one of the first flutists in jazz history, though he
also played saxophones and clarinets. He was born in 1930 in New York.
Mann was an early pioneer in the fusing of jazz, rock, world music, African music, latin
music and salsa. He spent some time in Africa and Brazil, from where he returned with latin
rhythm influences in the 60s, which was a contribution to the bossa nova movement. He also
spent some effort on commercial disco, soul, pop and smooth jazz during the 70s. Mann did
never stay, musically, he was seeking new paths all the time.
Mann founded his own record label Embryo, which issued some titles by some of the most
famous jazz musicians of that time (Ron Carter, Miroslav Vitous, Phil Woods and others).
Mann performed and recorded regularly until his death in 2003.
Stylistic Epoch
Herbie Mann comprises several styles such as jazz-rock with one-chord songs and blues-scale
improvisation, latin jazz and salsa with a large number of percussion instruments, rapid samba
songs with improvisation in double tempo, and commercial songs in pop/rock style with
guitar playing with wah-wah pedal.
Herbie Manns preferred style of improvisation consists of abrupt rhythmically sharp motives
in funk style and salsa style. Sometimes he tries to emulate guitar playing on his flute by
using bends and distorted sound created by gargling and growling in note attacks, which
exposes the rhythmic way of playing. He also uses the rrr sound as a complement to the pure
flute sound.
Mann frequently uses repetition of notes within a phrase and repetition of rhythmic phrases.
He can sometimes pump rhythmic figures repeatedly on the same note, like a percussion
instrument.
Mann uses rubato phrases over a fixed beat, which produces an interesting contrast to the
otherwise rhythmically focused playing.
He can also use chromaticism by moving a motif chromatically up or down.
When playing swing-based tunes, Mann often sounds pushing, knocking and striking, which
reveals that he is no typical bebop or swing musician, but more a modern latin and fusion jazz
musician.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Herbie Mann

Album: Mann Alone:
- Happy, happy
- Love
- All Day Monday
Album: African Suite:
- Autumn Leaves
- St. Thomas
Album: Bossa Nova Ecstacy:
- One Note Samba
- Blues Walk
- Spanish Grits
- Blues In The Closet
Charlie Mariano, b. 1923, alto saxophone
Life History
Charlie Mariano was born 1923 in Boston. To begin with, he played with Stan Kentons big
band and numerous notable artists in addition to college teaching. Later he moved to Kln in
Germany, where he experimented with German musicians in different exceptional
constellations.
In addition to the alto saxophone, Mariano also performed with the nadaswaram, a traditional
oboe from South India.
Mariano spent long periods in Japan and the Far East, which explains his deep interest in
oriental instruments and music.
Stylistic Epoch
Mariano is difficult to classify - even if he has a bebop background - since he spans over so
many different styles, including experiments with Indish raga music and odd constellations
(pianoless groups, accordeon + piano, bass clarinet, cello instead of bass). In general he
always plays with a lyrical, melodious, sensible feeling.
Mariano often uses great dynamical divergences, and a screaming almost distorted sound
when he pushes his saxophone to extreme heights in the overtone register.
He also experiments with advanced scales and harmonies, often in gipsy style, Spanish style
or Eastern style. He also explores the classical music area, such as a Bach prelude.
To conclude, Mariano is definitely an interesting musician worth studying.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Charlie Mariano

Album: After Youve Gone:
- After Youve Gone
- Deep River
- Ja Da
Album: Crescent:
- Bye Bye Blackbird
- Miles Mode
Album: Crystal Bells:
- Afreeka
- Turquiose
Clifford Brown, 1930-1956, trumpet
Life History
Clifford Brown died far too young at the age of 25, leaving behind only four years' worth of
recordings. Nevertheless, he had a considerable influence on later jazz trumpet players.
Brown was born in Delaware. After a short time spent on university studies he started his
professional music career and quickly became one of the most highly regarded trumpeters in
jazz.
Clifford Brown and Max Roach formed a legendary quintet that was a high water mark of the
hardbop style. The group's pianist was Richie Powell (younger brother of Bud Powell, creator
of bebop piano style).
Brown was an extraordinary musician of that time in that he did not use drugs and did not like
alcohol. He has been referred to as the one who broke the influence of heroin in the jazz
world.
In June 1956, Brown very tragically died in a car crash while being driven between two gigs.
Benny Golson wrote the tune "I Remember Clifford" to honour his memory, which became an
instant standard.
Stylistic Epoch
Clifford Browns music is mainly bebop based, even if he shows influences from both cool
jazz and hardbop.
Brown has a virtuosic technique and brilliance of invention. His sound was warm and round,
and he could articulate every note, even at the high tempos. It is said that he played each set as
though it would be his last.
Clifford Brown exposes his technical brilliance in his solos by, even in sections of high
tempo, being able to hit high notes with high precision, which is especially difficult on
trumpet and requires perfect control of the lip musculature.
Brown sometimes pushes his instrument high up in the register, however still with a soft and
warm sound and without sounding strenuous, only intensive. He also utilizes the low register.
He has a melodious and sensible way of playing.
Brown sometimes uses note repetition within a phrase. He also uses sequences of motives
moved up and down. By using out-of-chord notes in these sequences he invokes doubleharmony and multi-tonality.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Clifford Brown

Album: Best of Clifford Brown:
- Cherokee
- Joy Spring
- Sandu
Album: Blue Notes:
- Easy Living
- Cherokee
- Sandu
- Minor Mood
- Sweet Clifford
Album: Brownie Speaks:
- Get Happy
- Jordu
Hank Mobley, 1930-1986, tenor saxophone
Life History
Henry (Hank) Mobleys music can be positioned somewhere between the mellow Stan Getz
and the aggressive John Coltrane. He was born in Georgia and raised in New Jersey. Early in
his career, he worked with many of the most prominent musicians of the bebop and hardbop
era. He joined the Jazz Messengers, with for instance Horace Silver and Art Blakey, which
was a hotbed for many musicians during many years.
Mobley also spent a brief time in 1961 with Miles Davis, during the trumpeter's search for a
replacement for John Coltrane. Though considered by some as not having the improvisational
fire of Coltrane, Mobley was still a major voice on tenor saxophone, known for his melodic
playing.
Mobley was forced to retire in the mid-1970s due to lung problems. He died from pneumonia
in 1986.
Stylistic Epoch
Hank Mobley belongs to the post-bop period when cool jazz and hardbop emerged in the
50s. Later, in the 60s, he played some modal jazz with one-chord tunes, or blues-oriented
tunes with few chords, in the jazz-rock style with improvisation mainly based on the blues
scale and pentatonic scales, which he developed during his collaboration with Miles Davis.
Hank Mobley has a harsh tone, almost free from vibrato, like most hardbop saxophonists, but
still with a soft and warm sound.
Mobley is melodically inventive, he never runs out of ideas. The listener is all the time kept in
expectation of what to come, thanks to that each phrase has something in common with the
previous phrase (rhythmically, melodically, harmonically) in a continuous way.
He sometimes repeats motives moved sequentially, where the subsequent repetitions can
contain out-of-chord notes, thus creating multi-tonality.
He also reminds of bebop when playing in double tempo.

In latin rhythm tunes he often pumps rhythmic motives over and over again.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Hank Mobley

Album: Dig Dis:
- Remember
- This I Dig Of You
- Dig Dis
- Split Feelins
- Soul Station
Album: Freeway:
- My Groove Your Move
- Take Your Pick
- A Baptist Beat
Gigi Gryce, 1925-1983, alto saxophone
Life History
Gigi (George General) Gryce was born in Florida 1925. He played many instruments
(saxophone, flute, clarinet) and worked as a composer, arranger, educator, and big band
leader. Many of Gryces compositions have been widely known and included in the standard
repertoire used by many jazz groups. However, his performing career was relatively short.
Gryce also studied classical composition and obtained a Bachelor of Music degree in 1952.
In the 50s Gryce converted to Islam and adopted the name Basheer Qusim. In the 60s he
withdrew from performing and devoted himself to education.
Stylistic Epoch
Gigi Gryce musical activity mainly belongs to the hardbop period, even if he also has many
bebop characteristics..
Gigi Gryce was technically advanced. He used the same type of rapid bebop-phrasing as
Charlie Parker with tempo doubling and irregular accents causing polyrhythmic effects.
He also uses motif repetitions moved up or down in the scale.
In medium tempo swing tunes he uses a nice hang effect. In up-tempo tunes, however, he
often uses short interrupted phrases. Harmonically he is a little more progressive than Parker,
otherwise they have many characteristics in common.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Gigi Gryce

Album: Saying Something:
- Back Breaker
- Leilas Blues
- Blues In The Jungle
- Down Home
- Let Me Know
Album: Studio Live Takes:

- Blue Light
- Byde In Hand
- Capri
Album: The Sessions:
- Early Bird
- Elgy
- Exhibit A
Wayne Shorter, b. 1933, tenor saxophone
Life History
Wayne Shorter is probably one of the most important modern jazz musicians and composers.
He has been a member of the legendary Jazz Messengers, Miles Davis second great quintet,
and the jazz-rock fusion band Weather Report.
Shorter was born in New Jersey. At early age he began playing clarinet and then tenor
saxophone. After graduating from the university in 1956 he spent two years in the army.
Shorter wrote unpredictable tunes free of clichs but with their own logic.
When John Coltrane left Miles Davis' band in 1960, Coltrane proposed Wayne Shorter as a
replacement but Shorter was unavailable at that time. In 1964, Miles Davis persuaded Shorter
to leave Blakey and join his quintet alongside Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony
Williams, which by many people was considered Davis's strongest group. Many of Shorters
compositions were performed by that group.
Shorters main contribution to the development of jazz is probably the formation of the fusion
group Weather Report with Joe Zawinul, Miroslav Vitous, Airto Moreira, and Alphonse
Mouzon. The group functioned as the basis for many remarkable musicians, such as bassist
Jaco Pastorius. The group experimented with funk, bebop, Latin jazz and ethnic music.
In the late 1970s and the early 1980s Shorter toured in the V.S.O.P. quintet, a group regarded
as a revival of the 1960s Miles Davis quintet, except that Freddie Hubbard replaced Davis on
trumpet. The group also included Tony Williams, Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock, by some
people (including myself) regarded as the best, most renewing and communicative jazz group
ever.
Shorter has continued his creative and exploratory music together with Hancock and others
and is still (2009) an active performer.
Stylistic Epoch
Wayne Shorter has his roots in hardbop and modal jazz from the Miles Davis period. He has a
forward-thinking approach and has contributed with many musical progressive ideas and
compositions. He has become the model for many a modern tenor saxophonist. He
experiments with exceptional settings like symphony orchestra, French horns and violin
sections. He also uses soprano saxophone in some progressive compositions.
Wayne Shorter is technically brilliant. He has a harsh typically hardbop sound. He often
pushes his instrument high up into the overtone register. He also changes between high and
low register, he utilizes the entire range of the saxophone, and maybe even more.
Shorter often uses short cut off phrases, he can burst out into cascades of notes and he uses
long sequences of motives repetitively played on the same notes.
He is harmonically advanced and groundbreaking, he uses chromatic sequences of notes, the
flow of notes is more important than selection of individual notes.
He sometimes uses extremely long rests, thus provoking the co-musicians to contribute to the
collective improvisation. He acquires a high quality musical collaboration and collective
improvisation, driven to a high level of climax.
Shorter uses this modern way of playing also in more traditional jam sessions using standard
tunes.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Wayne Shorter

Album: Directions:
- The Albatross
- Pay As You Go
- Mr. Chairman
Album: Joe Meet Wayne:
- Blues a La Carte
- Mack the Knife
- Night In Tunisia
Album: The Classic Blue Note Recordings (Remastered):
- Black Nile
- Yes Or No
- Speak No Evil
Album: V.S.O.P. Quintet:
- One of a Kind
- Dolores Live
Freddie Hubbard, b. 1938, trumpet
Life History
Freddy Hubbard was born in Indiana, played brass instruments in his school band, studied
classical music at the conservatory for a symphony trumpeter. As a teenager, he also played
professional jazz with local musicians before he moved to New York, where he started
playing with the most prominent jazz musicians of the day, including John Coltrane.
But it was in the collaboration with Art Blakeys Jazz Messengers and Wayne Shorter that
Hubbard founded his reputation as one of the most legendary and groundbreaking trumpeters
of modern jazz.
In the 70s and the early 80s Hubbard replaced Miles Davis when the V.S.O.P. quintet was
formed. The group also included Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Ron Carter and Herbie
Hancock, one of the most legendary groups in jazz history.
After the V.S.O.P. period Hubbard continued to play with the most prominent and modern
musicians until he was forced to take a long break due to health problems and a serious lip
injury in 1992. However, he has been able to do a partial comeback in the jazz area.
Stylistic Epoch
Freddie Hubbard has clear bebop influences, even if he is fostered mainly in the hardbop and
modal jazz styles. He has also made important contributions in the fusion and jazz-rock styles.
Freddie Hubbard has, especially when playing flugelhorn, a soft and warm tone with a
beautiful vibrato. He is technically brilliant and has an excellent control over his lip
musculature.
He has a melodic, sensible way of playing, he utilizes the entire register, including various
sound effects achieved by his lips, tongue and squeezing the air stream in various ways.
He sometimes uses sequences of motives repeatedly played and moved up or down in
exceptional scales, which causes a multi-tonality effect. He can explode in cascades of notes,
and he often doubles the tempo.
He can insert an uncomplicated hard-swinging blues phrase into an otherwise atonal section.
Sometimes he uses rhythmically suggestive repeated phrases, which creates a raise against an
emotional climax.
He can dissolve a phrase by arriving at an out-of-tonality note, which creates a feeling of
expectation.
Like Wayne Shorter, he uses extremely long rests, which forces his fellow musicians to
contribute to the musical flow and to the collective improvisation.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Freddie Hubbard

Album: V.S.O.P. Quintet:
- One of a Kind
- Dolores Live
- Jessica Live
- Laura Live
Album: The Chant:
- Arietis (two takes)
- Marie Antoinette (two takes)
- Birdlike
Album: Groovy!:
- Number Five
- Time After Time
- Lex (two takes)
Phil Woods, b. 1931, alto saxophone
Life History
Philip Woods was born in Massachusetts and studied music with Lennie Tristano. He soon
acquired a reputation as one of the most eminent bebop saxophonists; although he did not
copy Charlie Parker.
Woods moved to France in 1968, where he led a group which experimented with avantgarde. He returned to US in 1972 and tried to establish an electronic group, which was not
particularly successful. As a consequence he returned to a more traditional postbop style.
He also made detours into pop music and symphony orchestra collaborations.
Stylistic Epoch
Phil Woods definitely has bebop roots, however with cool jazz and hardbop influences, even
when working in non-jazz areas.
Phil Woods has an intensive tone, however soft and beautiful with a nice vibrato.
He has a characteristic way of moving and swaggering his body while performing and he
always bears a skin cap.
He uses small sequences repeated in a polyrhythmic way. He also creates polytonality by
repeating a motif on out-of-chord notes. He utilizes the entire register, both low and high
pitches. Now and then he can insert hard-swinging blues phrases.
He can divide a phrase in modules of 2-3 notes, where one module of 2-3 notes is played in
low register, the next module in high register, thus alternating between high and low register.
The high parts are forced higher and higher, which increases the intensity.
He has the capacity of listening to and be impacted by his fellow musicians.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Phil Woods

Album: Dialogues with Christopher:
- You Stepped Out of a Dream
- Yesterdays
- Sweet and Lovely
Album: Live at the Corrodonia Jazz Festival:

- Chet
- Hindsight
- Phils Mood
Album: Our Monk:
- Ask Me Now
- Straight No Chaser
- round Midnight
David Sanborn, b. 1945, alto saxophone
Life History
David Sanborn was born in Florida and grew up in Missouri.
He began playing the
saxophone partly to take actions to his polio. During the years he has played with many of the
famous artists in the pop, blues and rhythm & blues styles and is mostly identified with radiofriendly smooth jazz.. However, he has also experimented with avant-garde jazz.
During some time in 1988 Sanborn ran a concert / workshop series (Sunday Night Band) with
invited artists like Phil Woods, Dizzy Gillespie and others.
Sanborn has won many awards for his recordings, and he is a well-known radio and TV artist
and contributor to film music.
Stylistic Epoch
David Sanborn is very much R&B influenced, especially by Ray Charles saxophonist Hank
Crawford. He is mostly associated with smooth jazz or West Coast jazz, i.e. electric
instruments playing simple melodies and harmonies with funk / rock rhythms easy to listen to
for the non-experienced jazz listener, suitable as background music and discotheque dancing
music. This style was a commercial success.
However, Sanborn has other great bebop/hardbop/postbop qualities and a richer harmonic
playing exposed in his collaborations with the more genuine jazz musicians.
David Sanborn has a hard, metallic sound, but still warm, anxious and nervous with a rapid
vibrato, started immediately after the note attack, especially in the jazz-rock style. This gives
an intense and narrow feeling.
He utilizes the entire register, often screaming on high overtones with much distortion and
various sound effects, sometimes using ridiculously high notes almost impossible to play.
In that style Sanborn mostly sticks to pentatonic scales with short and abrupt phrases with
powerful rhythmic beat accents. The end of a phrase can be dropped on a weak beat on a
staccato note in a very typical Sanborn way.
He can sometimes use an attack reminiscent of a kwek kwek sound with a glissando, just
as if a frog is talking through the saxophone.
He can select a technically complex phrase to be repeated in a polyrhythmic way. He can also
repeat a phrase according to the beat and then accelerate the phrase while repeating it, so it
does not fit into the beat any more, but appears to be a rubato motif.
He can repeat a suggestive motif first slowly, and then faster and faster over and over again,
which gives an urgent, insisting feeling.
At the end of a phrase he can hold an extremely high note ridiculously long.. The long note
can sometimes be a drill between two high notes.
After an attack in fortissimo, he can immediately return to pianissimo on the same note, which
creates excitement.
He can also repeat a motif in double tempo in a samba fashion.
He often leaves space after a phrase so that the wet sound of electronic choir and string
sections with chorus, echo and reverb effects can step forward and lay out the red carpet for
his next phrase.
The new way of playing of Sanborns group became a prototype of many a European band in
the 80s. For instance, the bassists way of hitting the strings with his slapping thumb instead
of plucking with his fingertips, became a very popular way of playing among funk bands.
To be honest, Sanborn also has another side and shows a musical language that gives
evidence to a thorough mainstream jazz background.
Even if Sanborn is not very revolutionary, harmonically speaking, in his funk-jazz settings, he
also masters the way of playing in mainstream up-tempo tunes with complicated harmonies,
shown by his recordings with invited guest artists.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of David Sanborn

Album: Only Everything:
- The Peeper
- Let The Good Times Roll
- Hard Times
- Baby Wont You Please Come Home
Album: Here & Gone:
- St. Louis Blues
- Brother Ray
- Im Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town
- Basin Street Blues
- Ive Got News for You
Gene Ammons, 1925-1974, tenor saxophone
Life History
Eugene "Jug" Ammons was the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons and began to
play with famous artists at an early age. As a consequence of growing up during the bebop era
it was not strange that he was influenced by Lester Young and Charlie Parker, among others.
However, his career was interrupted a few times due to being arrested for drug possession.
When finally back from prison, he continued to play in clubs and record with the most
prominent musicians of that time. However, his freedom would not last for long,
Unfortunately he died from cancer less than 5 years later. Ironically, the last tune recorded
was Good-bye.
Stylistic Epoch
Gene Ammons mixed bebop with commercial blues and R&B and beautiful melodies with
background choir and strings. He also often used the combination of tenor saxophone and
Hammond B3 organ. He showed little interest in the more modern styles, such as modal jazz
of John Coltrane or Wayne Shorter.
Gene Ammons has a hugh sound, somewhat raw and screamy, and very intensive. Sometimes
he uses a thinner, drier tone with a vocalizing effect.
Even if he is mainly bebop based, he sometimes has a bluesy style with powerful lyrical
expressiveness, where he for instance concludes a note with a vibrato at the end. Now and
then he inserts swinging riff-like phrases.
In ballad playing he has a sensible melodic style by for instance repeating the same note
repeatedly with a glissando up to the note.
In the pop and funk styles he can treat the saxophone as a percussion instrument by pushing
out notes in rhythmic figures, or suggestively repeating the same phrase over and over again.
He can also repeat small motives sequentially according to the scale, often in combination
with harmonic substitutions.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Gene Ammons

Album: 100 Jazz Classics:
- Walkin
- My Foolish Heart
- Blue Roller
Album: All My Succes Gene Ammons:
- Blues Up and Down
- Angel Eyes
- Confirmation
- Blue Ammons
Album: Blue Ammons:
- Savoy
- Canadian Sunset
Johnny Griffin, 1928-2008, tenor saxophone
Life History
John Arnold Griffin started on clarinet before moving on to oboe and then alto sax. Adviced
by Lionel Hampton he eventually switched to tenor saxophone. At age about 20 he formed a
sextet with Hampton. He occasionally played on various early Rhythm and Blues recordings,
where he also was playing baritone sax.
Griffin joined the Army for two years and then returned to Chicago, where he became one of
the premiere saxophonists. For example, he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1957 for
some time.
Griffin teamed with Eddie Lockjaw Davis during the first years of the 60s. before he
moved to Europe in 1963, where he worked with many famous musicians in France (Kenny
Clarke team), Holland and Denmark (Niels Pedersen). In 2008 he died of a heart attack at the
age of 80 in France.
Stylistic Epoch
Johnny Griffin was a bebop and hardbop saxophonist with a totally unique way of playing and
building up his solos.
Johnny Griffin is known as a technically advanced saxophonist with a fast way of thinking.
He is full of ideas flowing out of his saxophone in a never-ending stream. He builds up the
intensity by repeating motives transposed in pitch. One motif reminds of the previous, which
makes it easier for the listener to follow the intensity build-up. He is a master of building up a
climax in this way. He plays with a force and energy as if each solo was the last in his life. He
has so many ideas that he almost has no time to play everything running over in his mind,
especially in speedy tempos, where it can sound as if he is stumbling through the phrases,
though his technique is formidable.
He sometimes uses a screaming tone when building up a the intensity towards a climax and
landing on a long, high, screaming tone.
He can repeat a motif in a polyrhythmic way quite a few times, which makes his fellow
musicians hanging on and communicating.
He can sometimes be harmonically innovative by utilizing out-of-chord notes in his

sequences. He can also use dynamic fluctuations within a phrase causing a hard-swinging
feeling.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Johnny Griffin

Album: Ball Bearing:
- The Way You Look Tonight
- All The Things You Are
Album: Funky Fluke:
- Funky Fluke
- Twins
- Soft Winds
Album: Latin Quarter:
- Its You Or No One
- Im Glad There Is You
- Latin Quarter
Bud Powell, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett, piano
Refer to the sections about the milestone musicians in the authors master thesis [3].
Sonny Stitt,??? -1982, alto and tenor saxophone
Life History
Sonny Stitt grew up in Michigan in a musical family; his father was a college music professor,
his brother was a classically trained pianist, and his mother was a piano teacher. In 1943 Stitt
met Charlie Parker, whom he is claimed to have emulated. However, Stitt himself argued that
he invented his own style without the impact from Parker.
Stitt experimented now and then with swing bands and more modern bands, including latin
music, but he mainly remained a pure bebop musician.
Stitt spent time in prison between 194849 for selling narcotics. He also suffered from
excessive drinking.
Stitt was one of the most frequent recorders, but in the 1970s he slowed his recording.
Stitt experimented with an electric saxophone, the Varitone, as heard on an album recorded in
1971.
His last recordings were made in 1982. That year he died from a heart attack.
Stylistic Epoch
Sonny Stitt mainly represents the bebop style, even if he occasionally experiments with both
older and newer styles. However, regardless of the style in question, he always played in the
bebop style.
Much that is said about Charlie Parker can also be said about Sonny Stitt. However, he is not
that technically brilliant, and he avoids the most rapid note cascades.
Stitt uses complicated phrases repeated in a polyrhythmic fashion.
He can arrive at a long note sustained extraordinarily long, which creates tension.
In ballad playing, he can combine rapid sequences of notes with slowly played sensitive
passages.
Harmonically, Stitt is venturesome in superimposing chords, i.e. building a phrase on another
related chord than the one in effect for the moment.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Sonny Stitt

Album: New York Jazz:
- Norman's Blues
- If I Had You
- Alone Together
- Sonny's Tune
Album: Tune-Up/Constellation:
- Tune-Up
- I Can't Get Started
- Just Friends
Kenny Drew, 1928-1993, piano
Life History
Kenny Drew was born in New York, where he from the age of 21 played and recorded with
the most prominent musicians of that time.
Like many other American jazz musicians who went to Europe, he moved to Denmark in
1961, where he recorded many sessions with the Danish bassist Niels-Henning rsted
Pedersen.
Stylistic Epoch
Kenny Drew belongs to the post-bop period when blues became a significant ingredient of
jazz. He also experimented with modal jazz and other modern styles.
Kenny Drew has a bluesy way of improvising, using the blues scale, the swing scale and
polyphony much like Oscar Peterson, however without emulating him.
Drew is not very harmonically advanced, he has a traditional way of playing chords.
However, sometimes he can play surprising chromatic sequences.
Drews strength is his rhythmically hard-swinging style with a light backward hang which
creates rhythmic tension.
His way of communicating with his fellow musicians is remarkable, where the group
members deliver musical ideas to each other and respond accordingly, especially together
with Niels-Henning rstedt-Pedersen and Alvin Queen.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Kenny Drew

Album: Jazz Essentials:
- The Lady Is A Tramp
- Caravan
Album: Solo/Duo:
- Everything I Love
- Swingin' Till The Girls Come Home
- Blues For Nils
- Ack Vrmland Du Skna
Album: Complete Live Recordings (with Zoot Sims):
- Come Rain Or Come Shine
- Fred
- In A Mellow Tone
Album: In Copenhagen - Kenny Drew (with NHP):
- Willow Weep For Me
- Swingin' Till the Girls Come Home
- Bluesology
Wynton Kelly, 1931-1971, piano
Life History
Wynton Kelly was born in Jamaica. He started his career by playing in R&B groups. He is
probably most famous for his collaboration with Miles Davis 1959-1963.
On leaving Davis, Kelly took the rest of the rhythm section (bassist Paul Chambers and
drummer Jimmy Cobb) with him to form his own trio.
Stylistic Epoch
Wynton Kelly has a soft way of playing, much reminiscing of cool jazz, to which he
harmonically belongs, even if he collaborated with Miles Davis and others in the modal jazz
and other modern jazz styles.
Wynton Kelly, when playing the theme or accompanying other group members, utilizes
multi-voice playing, much in the same way as Bill Evans, which creates harmonic tension. He
also has an exquisite way of superimposing alternate chords over the basic chord. A master
example is his voicing in the tune Autumn Leaves, which he recorded with Miles Davis, Stan
Getz and John Coltrane, among others.
Kelly has a soft touch, providing a warm tone. He extensively utilizes dynamics within a
phrase, where the volume surges up and down.
In his solos, Kelly has an odd way of repeating single notes.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Wynton Kelly

Album: Kelly Blue - Wynton Kelly (Sextet and Trio):
- Softly As In a Morning Sunrise
- Kelly Blue
- Green Dolphin Street
- Old Clothes
Album: Kelly Great:
- June Night
- What Know
- Sidney
Album: Piano Blues Essentials:
- Gone With The Wind
- Someday My Prince Will Come
John Coltrane, 1926-1967, tenor saxophone
Life History
John Coltrane is definitely one of the most influential and brilliant musicians in jazz history.
Musicians after him which have not been influenced by him are not worth mentioning. The
jazz litterature is full of information about Coltranes life, so we will only say a few words
important for the purpose of this document.
Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina. He enlisted in the Navy in 1945, and played in
the Navy jazz band. When Coltrane returned to civilian life, he studied jazz theory. His roots
are in bebop, but he soon turned to hardbop and free jazz forms.
Coltrane has worked with all of the most prominent jazz musicians of that time, including
Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk etc.
Stylistic Epoch
Coltrane mainly belongs to the avant-garde movement in the 1960s, even if his roots are
from the bebop era.
John Coltrane has a harsh sound, both on tenor and soprano saxophones, and experiments
with distorted sounds, which very well fits into the modern jazz style.
He utilizes the entire register and sometimes plays notes outside the ordinary note range,
almost not playable. And he mixes extremely low notes with extremely high notes, within the
same phrase, as if he cant get enough out of the instrument.
He is technically very brilliant and mixes cascades of rapid note cascades with stubborn
twisting around a single note, which sounds very intensive and increases the tension. Coltrane
is a full-scale master of building up the climax in this way.
Coltrane uses the modal harmony style when building atonal phrases around the base note. He
mixes pentatonic scales with Spanish, Arabian and oriental scales of different kinds, which
fits well into the way of building up the intensity by means of rapid note cascades and frenetic
howling on a single note in high pitch.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of John Coltrane:

Album: Essential John Coltrane:
- Summertime
- My Favorite Thing
Album: 100% Legends:

- Blues for Tomorrow
- I Love You
- So What
- Blue In Green
- All Blues
- Freddie the Freeloader
Album: 30 Masterpieces (Original Jazz Sound):
- Bass Blues
- Blue Train
- Giant Steps
- Countdown
Album: Blue Trane:
- Giant Steps
- Mr P.C. (Paul Chanbers)
- Naima
- Lush Life
- Moments Notice
Ornette Coleman, b. 1930, alto and tenor saxophone
Life History
Ornette Coleman is, maybe more than anyone else, connected to the experimental jazz
movement in the 50s and 60s.
Coleman was born Texas, where he began playing in R&B and bebop settings. But he soon
left the traditional music and started to experiment with new forms, new harmony, extremely
lengthy solos and curious instrumentations. He also experimented with electrified
instruments, rock and funk rhythms. He also played trumpet and violin, the latter of which he
treated more as a percussion instrument.
In 1961 Coleman retired from performing, discontent with the amount of money paid by clubs
and concert halls. However, in 1965 he returned to active playing, showing that he was as
controversial as ever. He was ahead of most of the younger free jazz and avant-garde players.
Coleman is regarded as the forerunner of modern jazz by many a saxophonist, he has won
several music awards and is still (2008) an active performer.
Stylistic Epoch
Ornette Coleman is one of the creators of the free jazz movement in the 1950s, even if his
roots are from the bebop era.
Colemanss approach to harmony and chord progression was far less rigid than that of bebop
performers; he was increasingly interested in playing what he heard rather than fitting it into
predetermined chorus-structures and harmonies.
He has a harsh sound, sometimes caused by his plastic saxophone, and experiments with
distorted sounds.
He is technically very brilliant and mixes cascades of rapid notes with frenetic repetitions of a
single little theme.
He mixes the theme with cascades of notes in an atonal fashion, which by the listener can be
experienced as if he is playing a totally different tune than the rest of the group. His
continuous and extensive repetitions of a single atonal phrase contributes to the build-up of
the climax.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Ornette Coleman:

Album: Change of the Century - Tomorrow is the Question!:
- Ramblin
- Free
- Bird Food
- Lonely Woman
- Enfant
- Check Up
Album: Free Jazz:
- Rise and Shine
- Revolving Doors
Don Cherry, 1936-1995, trumpet
Life History
Don Cherry was raised in Los Angeles. After learning various brass instruments in high
school, by the early 1950s he was playing with jazz musicians in Los Angeles.
He worked together with, among others, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, which proves
his devotion to avant-garde jazz.
Cherry was closely associated with the Pocket trumpet, a smaller version of the regular
trumpet, which produced a more distinct sound
Cherry made a musical/cultural journey through Africa and brought various African
instruments back home. He was also interested in East Asian music and made several
recordings with South Eastern musicians and music. In later years he settled down in Sweden.
Stylistic Epoch
Don Cherry is definitely one of the most forward-looking musicians, experimenting with
various styles (funk, avant-garde, free form etc.). He very much contributed to the creation of
the free jazz movement in the 1950s.
The most interesting features of Don Cherrys playing are his use of odd instruments, multitonality, strange scales and curious sounds. Despite his experimenting with harmony and
melody, he mostly bases his music on a steady rhythm in beat or swing style.
Cherry often uses odd phrases that he repeats over and over again. He can mix slow melodies
with sudden burst-outs of rapid atonal cascades of notes.
He often has an Indian or an African touch in his soloing. His curious sound and glissandi
between notes can sometimes sound as a baby or an animal crying or howling.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Don Cherry:

Album: Home Boy:
- Call Me
- Butterfly Friend
- I Walk
- Art Deco
Album: Hear & Now:
- Mahakali
Universal Mother
Karmapa Chenno
California
Buddhas Blues
Album: Don Cherry (feat. Ornette Coleman, Steve Lacey):

- Tears Inside
- Mind and Time
Art Farmer, 1928-1999, trumpet
Life History
Art Farmer began working as a musician in the 1940s in Los Angeles with the most famous
bands of that time. In the 50s he moved to New York and in 1968 to Europe and Vienna,
where he cooperated with the many American musicians who emigrated to Europe (Kenny
Clarke etc.).
Stylistic Epoch
Art Farmer is a typical bebop musician with many influences from Dizzy Gillespie, though
not as technically brilliant as Gillespie. However, he is also a wonderful cool jazz musician,
especially when playing flugelhorn. His tone is very characteristically warm and round when
playing lyrical ballads on the flugelhorn with a rich overtone register. Farmer also
experiments with latin rhythms in his later recordings.
Art Farmer uses the typical bebop phrasing with scale leaps. He also repeats bebop scale
motives over and over again, while accommodating each instance of a repetition to the
harmonic progression.
Farmer sometimes uses big intervals in his motives, which requires advanced lip muscle
control. He can burst out in sudden curves in high pitch, and then return to the lower register.
This makes his playing dynamic and appealing.
In ballads Farmer plays espressivo which is well suited to his warm and rich sound.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Art Farmer:

Album: Classics Art Farmer & Bill Evans:
- Flying Home
- I Love You
Album: New York Jazz Sessions:

- How Insensitive
- What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life
- I Should Care
- The Star Crossed Lovers
- When I Fall In Love
Album: Brass Shout/Aztec Suite:
- Nicas Dream
- Autumn Leaves
Album: Brass Shout:
- Moanin
- April In Paris
Cecil Taylor, b. 1929, piano
Life History
Cecil Taylor began playing piano a very young age, and continued to study music at college
level in New York. His first steps of professional playing was with R&B and swing groups in
the early 1950s.
Very early Taylor showed a break-up tendency against traditional playing and found is path in
the more free form styles. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Taylor's music grew increasingly
complex, and moved away from existing jazz styles.
Taylor worked with European musicians and recorded in Berlin during the 80s. By the time of
writing this article Taylor is still performing and recording despite his considerable age.
Lately, Taylor has cooperated with dancers, maybe due to the fact that his mother, who died
while he was still young, was a dancer. He has also spent some effort in writing poetry; some
recordings contains recitings of his poems, accompanied by his own percussion playing.
Stylistic Epoch
Cecil Taylor belongs to the group of forward-thinking musicians who in the 50s broke with
the traditions of harmony, melody and rhythm and tried to find new ways of creating music.
Cecil Taylor many times, to the musical novelist, sounds as he is pressing piano keys at
random, but if you listen carefully, you realize that he has a formidable technique and masters
all kinds of dynamics from pianissimo to fortissimo.
No musician is more radical than Taylor. He plays the piano like a drum set, with an
emphasis on thunderous sounds, leavened only occasionally by quieter lyrical sections that are
also filled with a great deal of tension. (Yanow).
Taylor often bursts out in cascades of notes in unpredictive ways, both as regards volume and
pitch.
Taylors way of handling harmony is completely new, he does not stick to traditions of tonic,
dominant and sub-dominant, or to the major/minor concept. He invents new harmonies not
previously heard.
Taylor also breaks the tradition of using a theme of, say 12 or 16 bars, and then a number of
solo choruses and finally return to the theme. You cannot hear any fragments of that way of
structuring the music. Merely, he picks up a motif and modifies it and evolves it in various
ways for a while, and suddenly he has landed in another motif which then is treated as the
previous motif. That is the way Taylor structures his music.
Especially in the combats with the more traditional pianist Mary-Lou Williams it becomes
obvious how inventive and un-predictive Taylor is.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Cecil Taylor:

- Port of Call
- African Violets
Album: Leaf Palm Hand:
- Chimes
- The Old Canal
Album: Hard Driving Jazz:
- Shifting Down
- Just Friends
Clark Terry, b. 1920, trumpet
Life History
Clark Terry was born in St. Louis, where he also began his professional career in the early
1940s by playing in local clubs. During the World War II he played in a Navy band, and after
that, he played with Count Basies and Duke Ellingtons big bands.
His years with Basie and Ellington in the late 1940s and 1950s established him as a worldclass jazz artist influencing many jazz musicians after him. For instance, he has been an
informal teacher of Miles Davis. Besides, he is also known for his scat singing, his huge
number of compositions, and as an entertainer using the audience in dialogues and choir
singing.
From the 70s through the 90s, Clark performed at concert halls and toured with the Newport
Jazz All Stars and Jazz at the Philharmonic. He has since that continued concerting with
different small groups and inspired many a music student.
Stylistic Epoch
Clark Terrys style is a mix between swing and bebop, even if he also has picked up some
ingredients from later styles in his selection of notes. However, he did never really experiment
with free jazz or avant-garde; he has all the time stuck to swinging jazz styles. Even if he
collaborated with such a free form musician as Cecil Taylor on some recordings, it is easy to
hear that Terry and Taylor belong to two different worlds as regard jazz style. Taylor is quite
eccentric and tries to influence Terry, but never succeeds.
Terry has a marvellous technique in playing rapid leaps in high register without missing a
single attack.
Along with the years, he began to concentrate increasingly on the flugelhorn and elaborated a
soft, clear, warm tone, which fitted well in his ballad playing.
Clark Terry plays with a hard-swinging Basie-Chicago-style with an irresistible power using
the swing and blues scales, mixed with occasional rapid bebop phrases in double tempo.
Within a bebop phrase he sometimes uses repetition of a small motif, which makes it easy for
the listener to maintain a feeling of recognition and a feeling of the solo being well planned
and contributes to the intensity build-up.
When playing flugelhorn in ballads, Terry demonstrates his wonderful singing, clear, warm
and melodious tone in expressive phrases.
Terrys scat singing is really worth listening to, where he mixes real words with nonsense
words and uses his voice to express emotions in his dialogues with himself, much like
trombonist Richard Boone.
In addition, Terrys trumpet lessons would probably be worth attention for any beginner in
trumpet jazz soloing. His humorous description of the function of the various components of
the trumpet is quite amusing.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Clark Terry:

Album: A Cat That Fishes:
- Brother Terry
- A Cat That Fishes
- Blue Waltz
- No Problem
Album: Daylight Express:
- Caravan
- Candy
- Trumpet Mouthpiece Blues
Album: Flying Home:
- All of Me
- Mood Indigo
- Take the "A" Train
- Rockin' in Rhythm
Ben Webster, 1909-1973, tenor saxophone
Life History
Ben Webster was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He learned to play both piano and violin at
an early age before starting with the saxophone. He has occasionally made recordings and
performances with the piano, even if the tenor saxophone remained his main instrument. He is
considered one of the most influential swing saxophonists besides Coleman Hawkins and
Lester Young.
In 1935 Webster started to play with Duke Ellington and, after some years, became
Ellingtons major tenor soloist.
After leaving Ellington in 1943, Webster worked in New York with various small groups;
both as a leader and a sideman. He toured with Norman Granz' Jazz at the Philharmonic
organisation during some years. In 1964 he moved to Copenhagen to join other American jazz
musicians, where he stayed until his death in 1973.
Stylistic Epoch
Ben Webster remained a swing saxophonist, even if he was impressed by bebop musician
Charlie Parker and played together with other more modern musicians.
Ben Webster has a metallic sound and almost sounds like he is playing the alto sax. However,
his tone is warm and passionate.
Webster has a very personal way of attacking notes by, not as most saxophonists using the
tongue, but starting to blow through the mouthpiece. After a while (a portion of a second) the
note is heard. This has the effect that a note is starting with a kind of blowing sound, similar
to Louis Armstrongs way of attacking his trumpet notes. The way of ending a note is also
very personal by using a vibrato not caused by air stream, but merely by chewing on the
mouthpiece which creates a note-less fofofo sound. Often, especially in ballads he
concludes a phrase by using this kind of vibrato.
Webster plays melodically and relaxed, almost dull, but with well-balanced phrases. He does
not use too many notes, he is never in a hurry, he leaves vast rests between his phrases
allowing his fellow musicians to play fill-ins. He seems to be more concentrated on playing
beautiful melodies than on demonstrating his technical ability.
His smooth, cosy and beautiful playing is well accommodated to a restaurant of the 40s with
elegant dancing well-dressed couples in smoking and long dress in the middle of the night.
The ballad is Websters domestic market where his relaxed style is well fitted, even if he now
and then plays up-tempo tunes, however all the time staying in his fastidious style.
Harmonically and rhythmically, Webster is not very challenging; he mostly sticks to chord
notes and a few intermediary notes in the typical swing style, and very seldom utilizes
polyrhythmic effects, which makes his playing sound very tonal and easy to follow.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Ben Webster:

Album: Ben Webster - Duke Ellington:
- In a Jam
- Cotton Tail
- Solitude
Album: Ben Webster - Oscar Peterson:
- Danny Boy (typical Webster tone)
- Cotton Tail
- Makin' Whoopee
- Lover Come Back to Me
Cannonball Adderley, 1928-1975, alto saxophone
Life History
Julian "Cannonball" Adderley grew up in Florida, where he educated instrumental music and
became a local legend.
He moved to New York 1955, where he joined the Miles Davis sextet in 1957, with which he
recorded the legendary albums Milestones and Kind of Blue.
Cannonball worked together with his brother Nat Adderley on cornet. Adderley's first quintet
was not very successful but the second one enjoyed more success. He was also got famous to
a bigger audience in the late 60s due to his usage of simple pop, blues, funk and electric
ingredients together with keyboardist George Duke. He also doubled on the soprano
saxophone during this time.
Stylistic Epoch
From the beginning, Cannonball Adderley was mainly rooted in bebop with a clear Parker
influence. Later he turned to the pop-blues-rock style with pianist and composer Joe Zawinul
as a great profile,
Cannonball Adderley uses the traditional bebop features of tempo doubling, which reveals his
remarkable technique. He has a playful and obvious attitude with a powerful and authoritarian
way of playing. He has a swinging phrasing with a vibrato at the end of each note end, he
swallows some tones, which creates a dynamic variation at micro level.
Now and then he interrupts his long melodic lines with simple hard-swinging blues licks. He
uses motif repetitions moved up and down in pitch. He can repeat a single tone in rhythmic
patterns like a percussion instrument. He always fulfils a musical idea.
Cannonballs melodies are well thought out and beautiful. He experiments with the harmony
by using out-of-chord notes, thus creating multi-tonality.
During the Zawinul time, he returns to simple chords, straight beat, a bluesy way of playing
and pentatonic scales.
He had the capacity of listening to and be impacted by his fellow musicians.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Cannonball Adderley

Album: Smokin' Jazz Vol. 02
- You're Crying - Original Mix
- The Midnight Sun Never Sets
- My Ship
- Blues Oriental
- What Is There To Say
- Brownie Eyes
- Embraceable You
Album: Goodbye:
- Who Cares
- Waltz for Debbie
- Elsa
Harry Sweets Edison, 1915-1999, trumpet
Life History
Harry "Sweets" Edison was born in Columbus, Ohio. At young age he began playing with
local bands. In 1937 he moved to New York and joined the Count Basie Orchestra, with
which he stayed for 13 years. Then he mostly played with his own groups, travelled with Jazz
at the Philharmonic and freelanced with other orchestras. In the early 1950s, he settled on the
West Coast.
In the 1960s and 1970s Edison worked with TV orchestras and played as guest artist with
many of the old jazz giants, such as Frank Sinatra and Billy Holiday, and was in demand for
studio dates and sessions with big bands in the Los Angeles area. He now and then returned to
collaboration with Count Basie and another of Basies veterans, Eddie Lockjaw Davies. He
also toured in Europe and Japan.
Stylistic Epoch
Harry "Sweets" Edison is mainly connected with the swing and bebop style, even if he also
played in a more modern style during the later decades of his life, but his rhythm and melodic
feeling reminisces of the bebop style in which he was fostered.
Harry "Sweets" Edison has a distinctive and clear tone, and is able to say the most with the
fewest notes. He has a brilliant technique and is capable of playing with exactness in the
highest registers, much the same as Dizzy Gillespie and Clark Terry. However, he seldom
gets lost in endless cascades of rapid notes, but plays in a controlled manner in a way that
gives the listener the feeling that he could very well fire a fast series of Gillespie-phrases in
high register if he only wanted to.
Edison uses dynamic shifts within phrases, so that intermediary notes almost disappears,
which gives a feeling of a very controlled and sparing way of playing. Even when he hits
exact notes in very high register he has this controlled way of playing. By using a soft tone
and weak nuances, however still with a clear tone, he allocates space for using louder nuances
in a very swinging and tasteful way, when required. Edison is worthy of imitation in handling
dynamics.
Edison sometimes uses repetition effects on small motives, where each occurrence is moved
scale-wise in pitch.
He also leaves space between the phrases to allow the drummer and other accompanists to
fill-in with responses, which provides a feeling of communication within the group.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Harry "Sweets" Edison:

Album: Sweetenings:
- Centrepiece
- Candy
- Jive At Five
- If I Had You
- It Happened In Monterey
Album: Jam Sessions Vol. 2 (1953):
- Apple Jam
- Oh, Lady Be Good
- Blues For The Count
Sonny Criss, 1927-1977, alto saxophone
Life History
William "Sonny" Criss was one of many players influenced by Charlie Parker. He was born in
Memphis, Tennessee but moved to Los Angeles at the age of 15, where he played with
various bands, including Charlie Parker. For some time he also played at Jazz at the
Philharmonic concerts.
Criss lived in Europe during 1962-65. On his return he made a large number of recordings
with the most prominent jazz musicians of that time.
In 1977, Criss contracted stomach cancer and did not play again. As a consequence of this
painful condition, Criss committed suicide in 1977.
Stylistic Epoch
Sonny Criss developed his own, concise, bluesy tone, somewhat more harsh and metallic than
Charlie Parkers. Like Parker, he had a formidable technique, however more of the hardbop
style than Parker. Even if Criss was surrounded by much more modern musicians, he stayed
with his bebop/hardbop style all his life.
Sonny Criss played fiery solos with a distinct sound and a great intensity.
Criss used short motives of three or four notes, which he repeated over and over again as a
sequence of notes moved scale-wise up or down, much the same as Johnny Griffin. He could
also play a rhythmically accentuated motif in a repetitive way without moving it scale-wise,
but in a polyrhythmic way. This is one of the keys to Crisss intensity build-up.
Another key to intensity build-up is the way he combines phrases, almost without insertion of
rests. The listener gets a feeling that Criss has so much to say that he has not time to rest.
Criss combines this way of playing with a hard-swinging feeling and rhythmic repetition of
bluesy phrases in a swinging fashion.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Sonny Criss:

- Four
- Sunny
- Don't Get Around Anymore
Album: Body & Soul:
- The Clinch
- Perdido
- Body And Soul
- How High The Moon
- High Jump
- Four
- Intermission Riff
Charles Lloyd, b. 1938, tenor saxophone
Life History
Charles Lloyd is one of these guru saxophonists during the Love, peace and freedom
movement during the years around 1970, whom every modern and progressive jazz
saxophonist tried to resemble, both as regards his clothing and playing style.
Lloyd was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He began playing the saxophone and take lessons as
a very young boy. At that time he began to play with different blues bands. In 1956 he moved
to Los Angeles, where he continued his music studies at university level and played with big
bands and small combos, such as Chico Hamilton, Cannonball Adderley,.Herbie Hancocks
group (Ron Carter and Tony Williams) and Keith Jarrett.
Despite recording and sitting in with different groups a great deal during the 1970s, he
practically disappeared from the jazz scene because of the cooperation in studio and on tours
with the pop group The Beach Boys. He also turned to education in transcendental meditation.
In the 1980s he resumed jazz playing with the most modern jazz musicians of that time. By
the time of writing (2009) he still has an active concerting calendar.
Stylistic Epoch
Charles Lloyd mainly belongs to the straight-ahead post-bop, free jazz and soul jazz styles,
even if he also is capable of playing intense cool jazz ballads. He is also admired by rock fans.
Though he primarily plays tenor saxophone and flute, he has also occasionally recorded on
alto saxophone and more exotic reed instruments.
Lloyd is characterized as a John Coltrane follower, however with a lighter tone and with
ingredients of lyrical ballad playing.
Charles Lloyd has a very intimate, sensible way of creating his phrases, which becomes
apparent both in his way of moving his body and his sound. He seems to be anxious to form
his phrases in exactly the way to be correctly understood by the listener.
Lloyd can also burst out into cascades of more or less atonal note material, full of rapid
sequences of notes, where both extremely low and high registers are combined in the same
phrase, similar to the way of playing used by John Coltrane.
One typical way of building up the intensity in the solo is to scan through a series of notes
from bottom up to a screaming long high note, and then making some deep adventurous tours
down and up again, landing on the same screaming high note. This is repeated a couple of
times.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Charles Lloyd:

Album: Dreamweaver The Charles Lloyd Anthology: The Atlantic Years (1966-1969):
- Autumn Sequence
- Dream Weaver, Meditation, Dervish Dance
- Love Ship
Album: Forest Flower: Charles Lloyd at Monterey:
- Forest Flower Sunrise
- Forest Flower Sunset
- Sorcery
Album: Soundtrack (1969):
- Pre-Dawn
Eric Dolphy, 1928-1964, alto saxophone
Life History
Eric Dolphy is one of the progressive, groundbreaking saxophonists during the politically
liberal era in the 1960s. He was also the first important bass clarinet soloist in jazz, and
among the earliest significant flute soloists. He was born in Los Angeles and was educated at
the Los Angeles College.
After working with Chico Hamilton's quintet he moved to New York, where he met and
played with John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and other free jazz and avant-garde jazz
musicians.
In 1964 Dolphy left to tour Europe with Charles Mingus' sextet in. From there he intended to
settle in Europe. After a few recordings with Mingus and other bands he collapsed in his hotel
room, since he was a diabetic, like so many other jazz musicians overdosing on drugs, and
died in a diabetic coma.
Stylistic Epoch
Eric Dolphy was very much ahead of his time and experimented with harmonic and tonal
material in a groundbreaking way like some of the most modern jazz musicians of the 1960s,
while the rhythmic ingredients are very traditional swing- and bebop-inspired.
Eric Dolphy was too unique to be emulated closely by his contemporaries. It took years for
other musicians to figure out what he actually was doing. For instance, he could take motives
from well-known tunes and transform them into completely new scales (just like in our EJI
Evolutionary Jazz Improvisation system).
He can also play a solo, or a piece of a solo, unaccompanied, and he introduced the bass
clarinet to jazz as a solo instrument.
Dolphys improvisational style is characterized by the use of wide intervals, where he
combines a series of high-pitch notes with sudden abrupt insertions of low-pitch motives.
He can sometimes confine himself to hypnotic and bizarre repetitions of melodic material.
After a series of repetitions of an odd motif, each time transformed into atonal scales, he can
land on a high note, almost impossible to play on the instrument, repeat the entire process and
each time land on a still higher note, thus challenging his instrument to new heights over and
over again.
Dolphy reproduced human- and animal-like effects which almost literally made his
instruments (alto sax, flute and bass clarinet) play in a speech-like style.
Harmonically, Dolphy is very free from tonal restrictions and plays in a kind of twelve-tone
or multi-modal style. Melodically, he frequently uses repetition of motives. By combining
these features with a rather traditional rhythmic approach in a typical hardbop hard-swinging
style, he induces fresh air into his solos and acquires an intensity probably not possible to
produce in traditional swing and bebop music.
However, even if fostered in the bebop rhythm style, Dolphy sometimes experiments with
several different rhythmic schemes at the same time.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Eric Dolphy:

Album: God Bless The Child:
- God Bless The Child
- April Fool
- Status Seeking
Album: Live in Copenhagen:
- Miss Ann
- Dont Blame Me
Album: Latin Jazz Greats:
- A Night In Tunisia
- First Bass Line
- I Got Rhythm
- April Rain
Jackie McLean, 1931-2006, alto saxophone
Life History
Jackie McLean got music education from his father and other neighbors such as Thelonious
Monk, Bud Powell, and Charlie Parker. He is most famous for his participation in Miles
Davis group and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.
McLean was a heroin addict throughout his early career. In early 1964, he served six months
in prison on drug charges.
In 1968, he began teaching at university level. He later set up the university's African
American Music Department (now the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz) and its Bachelor of
Music degree in Jazz Studies program. He received a large number of national and
international awards.
After a long illness, McLean died in Hartford, Connecticut.
Stylistic Epoch
Jackie McLean early adopted the hard bop style, even if he throughout his entire career
always discloses his relation to Charlie Parkers bebop style. Later, he became an exponent of
modal jazz, however without abandoning his foundation in hard bop. He also cooperated with
avant-garde and free jazz musicians.
Jackie McLean had a very distinctive tone, which made his phrases easy to listen to and
understand what he actually was trying to say. He did not use more notes than necessary. Now
and then he could explode in a series of rapid note cascades, but they were always musically
motivated. In that respect he fitted well into the philosophy of Miles Davis group.
When playing phrases on eighths, McLean plays with a wonderful rhythmic hang in a relaxed
way, which creates a tension. When he then bursts out in a sixteenths phrase in double tempo
with the typical Parker phrasing, the expectation built up during the eighths part is released in
a very tasty way.
Harmonically, McLean is searching for tension by using double-harmony effects, e.g. by
playing the tones from an F chord or Eb chord together with an underlying A7. When using
this effect in combination with his tasteful rhythmic hang, it contributes remarkably to
building up an intensity in his solo.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Jackie McLean:

Album: 47th Street:
- Sundu
- Subdued
- Lost
Album: Intermission:
- Cool Green
- Blues Function
- Goin Way Blues
Album: The New Tradition:
- Its You Or No One
- Blue Doll
- Lover Man
Gene Ammons, 1925-1974, tenor saxophone
Life History
Eugene Ammons, the son of the boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, began to gain
recognition already at the age of 18 when joining some of the more well-known Chicago
bands. He was also one of the founders of the Chicago School of tenor saxophone.
Ammons later career was in the 50s and 60s interrupted by prison sentences for narcotics
possession. During this time he also led a series of recorded jam sessions with various famous
artists. When finally leaving jail in 1969 he returned to play in clubs, still with his magnificent
tone. However, his days were counted and after 5 years he died from cancer. Ironically
enough, his last recording was the quite emotional Goodbye.
Stylistic Epoch
Gene Ammons was fostered in bebop, which throughout his career remained an important
ingredient in his playing. He also was involved in the commercialism by picking up
components of blues, pop and R&B material. He is said to be the founder of the Soul Jazz
movement of the 50s using the combination of tenor saxophone and Hammond B3 electric
organ.
The most characteristic ingredients of Gene Ammons playing are his huge, distinctive and
mighty tone with subsidiary and intruding sounds, and his marvellous expressiveness.
In his expressive ballad playing he produces a seldom-heard sensibility by almost talking
through the mouth-piece of the saxophone.
Ammons uses harmonic substitutions, drawling rhythmic effects creating a rubato feeling,
repetitive chewing of notes, a wonderful vibrato on long notes, and he mixes all of these with
rapid cadences in basic bebop style.
When playing in R&B settings Ammons has a bluesy style with percussion-like pushing of
single notes or short fragments in a simplified harmonic way by means of pentatonic and
blues scales.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Gene Ammons:

Album: 100 Jazz Classics:
- Walkin
- Hold That Money
- My Foolish Heart
Album: Blue Ammons:
- Close Your Eyes
- Confirmation
- My Romance
- Canadian Sunset
Arnett Cobb, 1918-1989, tenor saxophone
Life History
Arnett Cobb was born in Houston, Texas. He played with some local bands before joining
Lionel Hampton's band in 1942 until 1947. He then started his own seven-piece band, but bad
health, resulting in an operation on his spine, and a car crash, periodically kept him rather
passive musically. He had to spent considerable time in hospital and rely on crutches for the
rest of his life. Nevertheless, Cobb worked as a soloist through the 1970s and 1980s in the
U.S. and Europe.
Stylistic Epoch
Arnett Cobb is a stomping Texas tenor player playing in between swing and rhythm & blues.
His hard-swinging style with great emphasis on the rhythm was well accommodated to Lionel
Hamptons hard-swinging, riff-centred themes and bluesy style.
Arnett Cobb has a large tone, a robust sound, a hot jumping style full of heated riffs and an
emotional style taking good care of each single note and even each component of each note
(attack, sustain, vibrato, decay and ending).
Cobb is not a virtuoso, he does not play unnecessary notes, but focuses on the rhythmic swing
and plays the right notes in each very moment. He seldom bursts out in a cascade of notes in
double tempo but stays with the basic eighth note rhythmic subdivision in swing style.
Riff playing is an essential ingredient in Cobbs playing, both as regards background riffs
from the orchestra and his soloing. He can repeat a hard-swinging motif over and over again
with riff responses from the orchestra. This has an enormous intensity increasing effect.
Cobb uses rests in a very tasty way to interrupt the phrases and leaves room for the fellow
musicians to contribute with fill-ins, and above all, to let the expectation of the listener work
for itself to make him prepared to receive Cobbs next phrase.
Tonally, Cobb uses the swing scale and the blues scale, but can sometimes arrive at a long and
high out-of-scale flageolet note, especially with a riff section played by the big band in the
background. This is a common trick used by swinging big bands like Benny Goodman and
others.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Arnett Cobb:

Album: Beyond Patina Jazz Masters Arnett Cobb:
- Cobbs Boogie
- Im In The Mood For Love
- Whispering
- Cobbs Corner
Album: Blow, Arnett, Blow:
- When I Grow Too Old to Dream
- Go, Red, Go
- The Eely One
Album: Jazz Legends:
- Top Flight
- Chick, She Aint Nowhere
Zoot Sims, 1925-1985, tenor saxophone
Life History
John Haley "Zoot" Sims grew up in California in a vaudeville family. As a young boy he
learned to play both drums and clarinet, even if his main instrument was the tenor saxophone
and to some extent alto saxophone. In the later part of his career he also added the soprano
saxophone to his instrument toolbox.
Sims played throughout his career with famous big bands like Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw
and others. Sims was also one of Woody Herman's "Four Brothers". Through the years he also
led own groups.
Stylistic Epoch
Zoot Sims was a typical swing saxophonist perfectly accommodated to the big band swing
era. Even if he played with more modern musicians during the 60s-80s, he saw no reason to
change his swinging style, so he sounded approximately the same during his entire career.
Zoot Sims had an extraordinary swing feeling. He is said to be one of the most swinging
musicians in jazz history. He had a good technical capacity and played each note with
carefulness and precision in rhythmic attack, and the notes are always well separated and
never get slurred. Especially in fast tempi, this provides a rhythmically pushing effect.
Sims was fond of the higher register of the tenor sax and drives the pitches to extremes.
Also in latin rhythm Sims plays with a swing feeling which reminisces of a typical big band
swing saxophonist.
Sims is not very experimental when it comes to harmony. He mostly uses the swing and blues
scale, but can sometimes pile up layered terses, which gives the feeling of multi-harmony.
In slow tempo tunes, Sims is capable of playing expressively and sensibly with a soft and
sweet tone using a vibrato with much air, which provides a treble noise with a feeling of
nearness. He can also use an attack produced by the air stream instead of the tongue.
To produce an increased tension, Sims can repeat a polyrhythmic motif several times, and use
a musical idea from the preceding phrase and process it by either changing the rhythm,
moving it in pitch, or modify some of the included pitches.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Zoot Sims:

Album: A Jazz Hour With Zoot Sims:
- Lady Be Good
- Georgia On My Mind
- Fade Out
Album: My Best Songs Zoot Sims:
- The Man I Love
- Pegasus
Album: Plays Alto, Tenor and Baritone:
- 9:20 Special
- Blue Room
- That Old Feeling
Al Cohn, 1925-1988, tenor saxophone
Life History
Al Cohn was born in New York. In the beginning of his career during the 1940s he became
known for playing with Woody Herman's orchestra and for being one of the Four Brothers
along with Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, and Serge Chaloff. He also contributed with arrangements
to the Herman band.
Cohn has frequently been connected to Zoot Sims, both for their similar styles and their longterm partnership. Having left the Herman band, Sims and Cohn continued to play together
sporadically during their remaining lives.
Stylistic Epoch
Al Cohn was a typical swing saxophonist who was a brilliant big band section member. He
also has some influences from the bebop style, but is mainly a lyrical player. Even if he
mainly remained with his original style during his entire career, he did not lose his enthusiasm
or his creativity.
If Zoot Sims was the swinger, Al Cohn was the lyrical of the two. Otherwise they are very
similar in many respects, especially in their tone quality (somewhat harsh and metallic) and in
their phrasing, which of course is necessary when playing themes in unison.
In slow ballads, Cohn plays very beautifully, with a lot of expressiveness and sensitivity. He
often concludes a long note with a vibrato that dissolves into an air stream vibrating sound,
like he was chewing on the mouthpiece, in the same way as Ben Webster. He also now and
then use attacks produced with air stream instead of the tongue.
In up-tempo tunes, Cohn, like Sims, plays the notes distinct and well separated in a kind of
bebop style. However, he very seldom demonstrates his technique by means of rapid note
cascades. He mainly stays in the cool and laid-back fashion.
Cohn often uses sequences of motives repeated down-scale or up-scale in a rubato rhythm
released from the underlying beat.
Cohn is also very fond of inserting fragments from other tunes into the current tune, which is
a common trick used by many bebop musicians.
Even if Cohn has much to say, he leaves plenty of room for his fellow musicians to respond to
his musical message.
Tonally, Cohn is not the experimenting kind. He mainly stays inside the harmony and scale,
which mostly is blues and swing tonality.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Al Cohn:

Album: All My Succes Al Cohn:
- Chasing the Blues
- Back to Back
- In the Mood
Album: 50+ Jazz Masters:
- Love For Sale
- Awful Lonely
- Jive At Five
Album: Just You Just Me:
- Brandy And Beer
- Just You Just Me
- Winter
Eddie Lockjaw Davis, 1922-1986, tenor saxophone
Life History
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis played with many of the great band leaders like Cootie Williams,
Louis Armstrong and Count Basie in the 40s and 50s, as well as with his own group.
Davis teamed with his friend Johnny Griffin for some years around 1960. The two tenor
giants are of the same frenetic soloing types, which makes them fit perfectly together.
During the later decades of his life, Davis recorded frequently in Europe countries.
Stylistic Epoch
Eddie Lockjaw Davis, from the beginning, was a typical Basie-swinging tenorist. Besides
swing music, Davis has his roots in bebop and hardbop, and he is also rather experimental
with both harmony and sound, even if you can trace his bebop and hardbop roots in most of
his solos.
Eddie Lockjaw Davis has a brilliant technique, which can be heard in tunes with
stupendously rapid tempi. He forms his rapid phrases with clarity and distinction.
Davis uses repetition of motives as a means to build up and maintain the energy in his solos,
sometimes in a polyrhythmic fashion, and sometimes by moving the repeated motif scalewise. In this respect he is very much like Johnny Griffin, and in their duels they imitate each
other and drive the intensity to magnificent heights by means of endless sequences of repeated
motif imitation.
A typical motif begins with two identical notes, e.g. G-G-F-G, which is repeated scale-wise
downwards, e.g. G-G-F-G-F-F-Eb-F- etc. When such a motif is used in upwards repetitions,
ending with a long screaming high note, combined with imitations between Davis and Griffin,
an enormous climax is created.
Davis utilizes the entire register of his saxophone and forces to almost unplayable heights. He
can then use a screaming tone as if he is crying in desperation.
Davis is also capable of soft ballad playing, using expressiveness and sensitivity by means of
concluding air stream vibrating sound, like Ben Webster, and attacks produced with air stream
instead of the tongue.
Tonally, Davis is rather bluesy, but can sometimes burst out in note sequences outside the
current chord or scale. But he uses this tool very tasty to extend the intensity when there
seems to be no other way to exclaim his message, often in combination with a distorted,
screaming tone.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Eddie Lockjaw Davis:

Album: Thats All:
- Out Of Nowhere
- Satin Doll
- The Chef
Album: Complete Jazz Series (1946-1947):
- Afternoon In A Doghouse
- Stealin Trash
- Red Pepper
Album: The Black & Blue Sessions: Light And Lovely:
- The Good Life
- Land Of Dreams
- Just Friends
Paul Gonsalves, 1920-1974, tenor saxophone
Life History
Paul Gonsalves was born and grew up in Massachusetts. His first instrument was the guitar on
which he learnt to play Portuguese songs. He soon changed to tenor saxophone and became
famous at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival for his 27-chorus solo with the Duke Ellington's
orchestra, in the performance of "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue.
Gonsalves also played with Count Basies and Dizzy Gillespies big bands. But Gonsalves
was one of Ellingtons most loyal sidemen and stayed with Ellingtons band for the rest of his
life, i.e. for 24 years from 1950 to 1974, and became the bands major attraction.
Gonsalves also was a nice social member and friendly to the audience, especially to young
children.
Unfortunately, Gonsalves was an alcohol and narcotics adict and died of a drug overdose.
Stylistic Epoch
If Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Zoot Sims were typical Basie tenorists, Gonsalves was a
typical Ellington tenorist, which means that they had the same strong hard-swinging bluesy
feeling, but Gonsalves being a bit more experimental when it comes to note selection. He was
also affected by the more modern bebop tendencies, but modern swing style was his domain.
Gonsalves was famous for his ability to play marathon solos.
Paul Gonsalves has an astonishing intensity and frenzy in his solos. He is a brilliant example
of how to create intensity with ones body language. Gonsalves body position is forwardleaning with one leg in front of the other as if he stands in the starting block and is going to
run a sprinter race, and he acts if this was the last thing he ever would do in his life. He had an
enormous power and inventiveness in his solos. He had the capacity of catching the audience
by starting his solos at full speed, and then accelerating all the time up to the end of the solo.
Now and then he could step down from the scene to play his instrument directly to the fans.
Many times the audience would clap their hands in backbeat rhythm during his solos.
Besides the audience-flirting tricks, some musical effects can be identified to build up this
unusual intensity. Gonsalves used repetition of motives for extremely long periods, often
elaborating the same motif during several choruses, many times with polyrhythmic effects and
transposing the motif one half-note in pitch up or down, which provided a harmonically
advanced touch. The motives were often only 3 or 4 notes long, endlessly repeated.
Gonsalves flow of musical ideas is almost uninterrupted. He has so much to say that he needs
a long marathon solo to be able to tell his entire message, such as his 27 blues choruses
recorded with Ellington in the tune "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue.
Gonsalves style was perfectly accommodated to rapid up-tempo tunes. However, he could be
quite warm on ballads.
Tonally, Gonsalves was mainly blues-based, i.e. he used the blues and swing scales
frequently. However, he could experiment with odd and unusual notes when elaborating a
motif over and over again.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Paul Gonsalves:

Album: 56 Sax Explotion:
- Blues
- It Dont Mean A Thing
Album: The 1956-58 Small Group Recordings (feat. Paul Gonsalves & Clark Terry):
- Diminuendo and crescendo in blue
Album: The Duke Ellington Masterpieces:
- Take the A Train
- Perdido
- Solitude
Clifford Jordan, 1931-1993, tenor saxophone
Life History
Clifford Jordan was born and raised in Chicago, where he played with local groups before
moving to New York in 1957, where he immediately became well-known and worked with
several of the famous musicians.
Jordan performed a lot in Europe. During his last years he also led a big band.
Jordan had an increasingly personal sound during his career. He might not be a forerunner
when it comes to avant-garde jazz music, but he definitely contributed to the definition of the
modern mainstream jazz of the 70s. The collaboration with Eric Dolphy and Charles Mingus
is an evident proof.
Stylistic Epoch
Clifford Jordan has his roots in the late 50s and early 60s when the modal jazz style
flourished, the harmonic basis was exposed to break-up, and the musicians searched for new
ways of expressing themselves. However, Jordan has some remainders from the bebop and
cool jazz styles that hindered him from totally being absorbed by the avant-garde and free jazz
movements.
Clifford Jordan has a brilliant technique. This, however, does not stop him from using long,
straight, vibrato-less notes in ballads. He could for instance start a ballad solo on one or two
long notes, which makes the listener wondering if he really is a musician. After some phrases,
however, there is no doubt about Jordans musical capacity.
Because of his wonderful technique, Jordan is capable of playing in the most ridiculously
rapid tempi. However, rhythmically, he is rather conventional while sticking to 4/4
swing/hardbop rhythms.
In other respects, Jordan is definitely not conventional, for instance when trying out different
sounds possible to produce on the tenor saxophone. Neither is he conventional when it comes
to harmony. Even if it must be admitted that the swing and bebop styles form the basis for his
improvisation, he can insert rather unpredictable and unconventional notes and turn a motif
upside down including several out-of-tonality notes.
Jordans tone is maybe the most typical character of his playing, where he uses a mixture of
attacks with a hard tongue push and an air stream attack without using the tongue. The latter
is often used when starting a phrase from a low register with a series of short notes up to the
middle register. On long notes he can also use a harsh tone distorted with saliva gargle.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Clifford Jordan:

Album: Spellbound:
- Toy
- Lush Life
- Au Privave
Album: Blowing In From Chicago (Original Jazz Sound):
- Status Quo
- Billies Bounce
- Evil Eyes
Album: Night Of The Mark VII:
- John Coltrane
- Blue Monk
- Midnight Waltz
Roland Kirk, 1935-1977, saxophones
Life History
Roland Kirk is one of the most amazing musicians in jazz history. He was born in Columbus,
Ohio. He went blind as a child due to poor medical treatment. He is most famous for being a
multi-instrumentalist, collecting and playing exotic instruments, and for his political
engagement. In addition, he was also a showman playing several instruments simultaneously
and joking with the audience.
Like many other musicians in the mid 60s, Kirk added an Indian name, Rahsaan, along with
the tendencies of Eastern religions in combination with protests for racism and civil rights for
black people.
In the 70s, Kirk had a stroke, which made him partially disabled. Despite this, he continued to
perform and record until his second stroke, from which he died.
Stylistic Epoch
Roland Kirk was rooted in soul jazz and hardbop, but he also had experience from other styles
such as ragtime, swing and free jazz, which became apparent in different recordings. He also
explored classical music and pop music.
Roland Kirks main instrument was the tenor saxophone, but he also played other obscure
saxophones, homemade or self-modified, and flute, on which he invented alternate ways of
playing. In addition, he was not a bad trumpeter. He mastered circular breathing and could
play a 20 minute long solo without stopping for inhaling.
He mostly appeared on stage with all his horns hanging around his neck, as well as a variety
of other instruments, including flutes and whistles, and often kept a gong within reach. He
looked like an old-fashioned power plant. People would think that his appearance on stage
was just a gimmick, especially since he was blind. But they would change their minds when
they heard him starting to play.
Despite his avant-garde way of appearing on stage, Kirk was remarkably traditional and tonal
in his way of presenting a theme. However, he could now and then explode in long series of
odd out-of-scale notes. His ability to return to tonality after such cascades of notes is a
remarkable feature of Kirks mastery.
Rhythmically, Kirk played a theme floating back and forth as a kind of rubato playing, but all
the time aware of the beat.
He could also insert erroneous notes - whether or note this was due to pure mistakes or played
consciously is not clear and utilize these errors as musically meaningful ingredients in his
playing.
Kirk could hold an extremely long note on one instrument while elaborating that note on
another instrument. Simultaneously, he blew the flute through his nose and sang with his
voice through the flute.
Kirk experiments with different sound qualities and extreme registers not previously heard on
saxophone, including flageolets, growling, screaming and other odd sounds. He can conclude
an entire tune by a long cadence of these sound effects.
Kirk uses sequences of motives chromatically moved up or down.
To give an example of Kirks technical brilliance, he could play a bebop section in an
extremely rapid tempo, first inside the harmonies like Charlie Parker, and then slowly
augmenting the tonal and harmonic material to arrive in atonality, and then slowly return to
inside-harmony playing. He does this in a very tasteful way, which many beginners in jazz
misuse to abruptly jump into an atonal section. Kirk is capable of avoiding this childrens
disease.
Kirk could play professionally in any style from New Orleans jazz, bebop, cool jazz, hardbop
and modal jazz to free form and avant-garde styles. In short, he was a musical miracle.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Roland Kirk:

Album: Brotherman In The Fatherland:
- My Girl
- Lush Life
- Afro Blue
- Blue Trane
Album: A Meeting Of The Times:
- Do Nothin Till You Hear From Me
- I Didnt Know About You
- Dream
Album: Blacknuss:
- Aint No Sunshine
- Old Rugged Cross
Pepper Adams, 1930-1986, baritone saxophone
Life History
Pepper Adams was born in Detroit, grew up in New York, but moved back to Detroit as an
adult, where he met several musicians important to his career musical development.
He later moved to New York City where he played with several of the modern musicians and
big bands, like John Coltrane, Benny Goodman, Charles Mingus, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big
Band and Elvin Jones.
Adams died of lung cancer in New York City, but is still influencing baritone saxophonists
today.
Stylistic Epoch
Pepper Adams was rooted in the hardbop style of the 50s and 60s.
Pepper Adams's sound on the baritone was very big and intense, almost completely
contrasting Gerry Mulligan's, who was the baritone giant at that time. Adams uses unusual
sounds without vibrato and some distortion effects, which can sound rough and gruff, but
mostly he has a soft and warm tone.
Adamss technique is brilliant, which is remarkable on such a big instrument that requires so
much air. He has an excellent fluidity in his rapid sequences of notes in up-tempo tunes.
Many times he uses short and abrupt phrases with many repetitions of small motives,
sometimes moved scale-wise in pitch.
In slow ballads, he can play very sensitively and lyrically, but can also interrupt the slow
phrases by doubling or 4-doubling the beat. Despite such rapid sequences of notes he is
astonishingly definite and exact.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Pepper Adams:

Album: Encounter:
- Inanout
- Serenity
- Elusive
- Ive Just Seen Her
Album: Pepper Adams Quintet:
- Unforgettable
- My One And Only Love
Album: Plays Charlie Mingus
- Black Light
- Carolyn
Gerry Mulligan, 1927-1996, baritone saxophone
Life History
Gerry Mulligan is the obvious champion and most famous of all baritonists, not only because
of his playing, but also for his compositions and arrangements. He was born in Queens
Village, New York, of Irish origin.
During childhood, his family moved a lot. At young age he started to play the piano, and later
also played the clarinet before starting with the saxophone.
Of all famous musicians Mulligan has worked with and arranged for, Miles Davis is probably
the most famous, with whom he worked on the Birth of the Cool album.
Mulligans style fit very well in combination with Chet Baker and their Pianoless Quartet.
Mulligan became a heroin addict and was arrested for narcotics charges in 1953. However, he
was able to kick his habit and could continue his musical career.
During the years, Mulligan wrote an incredible number of compositions and arrangements for
various orchestras in many genres. Until his death he also continued to be an active performer.
Stylistic Epoch
Gerry Mulligan is a true representative of the cool jazz or west coast jazz style that emerged
in the 50s and is said to be one of its creators. However, his first jazz experiences are from
the bebop era, which also shines through in many recordings.
Gerry Mulligan is more well-known for his compositions and arrangements than for his
soloing. He represents a very characteristic sound created by using both a soft trumpet,
clarinet and baritone saxophone in addition to other reed instruments in his arrangements. A
typical ingredient in his arrangements is counterpoint effects and empty quarter and fifth
intervals.
Even if Mulligan was an excellent composer and arranger, he was not a bad instrumentalist.
He could play fluently in bebop style, which is not easy, especially not on a big instrument
like the baritone, which requires much air.
Mulligan uses soft attacks, a mixture of tongue attack and air stream attack. He had a soft tone
and played the instrument with a light and airy tone, typical of cool jazz.
In arrangements with a string background, Mulligans lyrical playing and big tone in the
lower register with his airy tone is a wonderful experience.
In up-tempo tunes, and in ballads with doubled beat, Mulligan often played his solo lines in
the typical bebop phrasing style accentuating each second or third note in a series of eighths.
Harmonically, Mulligans soloing is rather traditionally beboppy using traditional scale notes,
while his arrangements being more harmonically advanced.
Mulligan never explodes into note cascades or out-of-tonality playing. His strength was his
laid-back attitude of cool jazz with beautiful phrases and a nice and sensitive tone.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Gerry Mulligan:

Album: Frenesi Gerry Mulligan Quartet Classics:
- Frenesi
- Freeway
- Soft Shoe
Album: Bare Baritone:
- Moonlight in Vermont
- Love Me Or Leave Me
- Limelight
- Darn That Dream
Album: In Concert:
- Utter Chaos
- Open Country
- Four For Three
Album: Chets Blow:
- Cherry
- I Fall In Love Too Easily
- The Thrill Is Gone
Erroll Garner, 1921-1977, piano
Life History
Erroll Garner is one of the most outstanding, and well-known, pianists ever in jazz history, for
his very original style of handling the rhythm, and for his grunting behind his playing. Very
few jazz musicians have gained as widespread recognition by people in common as Garner,
and very few have been played so much in omnivore radio programs.
Garner was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and began playing the piano as a very young
boy. Garner was self-taught and remained an "ear player" all his life, he never learned to read
music.
He moved to New York in 1944. He briefly worked with various bebop musicians, even if he
himself never fully embraced that style, but mainly remained a solo pianist with bass and
drums sidemen.
Because of his short stature, Garner performed sitting on telephone directories. He preferred
performing in New York and London since their phone books were thick enough.
Stylistic Epoch
Erroll Garner is no typical bebop pianist, even if he has definite bebop ingredients in his
playing. Garners style is also filled with swing and blues characteristics. Garner has a unique
style that is not possible to assign a heading. Typical characteristics are his groaning during
his playing and his ability to keep a steady beat with the left hand and a completely different
rhythm with the right hand, or rather a delayed rhythm like hanging behind the beat.
The most characteristic ingredient of Erroll Garners playing, is his rhythmic attitude caused
by the independence of his hands, where the left hand pumps the beat, like an accompaniment
guitar of the swing big bands of Count Basie and others, while the right hand often plays
before the beat or after the beat.
He often starts a tune with a strange mixture of notes bearing no resemblance to any musical
composition. This gives his audience a sense of excitement not knowing which tune to be
performed.
Garner sometimes plays the melody, or an improvisation segment, in octaves, often filled with
chord tones in between the octave tones. These intermediary tones are often harmonically
excited.
Another sound effect is his grunting during rests in the right hand melody, which amplifies his
hard-swinging feeling. Sometimes he can also laugh contently after a phrase, as if he was
amazed about how nice that phrase sounded.
He also would play introductions to pieces containing very advanced harmonic combinations
amounting to clusters in syncopated rhythms, that have nothing to do with the tune to come,
but which creates an expectation in the audience not knowing what the result would be. But
when the introduction is released into the tune with a steady left hand beat, this conveys a
humorous and titillating attitude to the audience. He often combines this with facing the
audience with a big entertaining smile.
Sometimes Garner plays a single one-voice melody, and sometimes block chords with the
melody on top, hanging behind the left hand beat. The right hand block chords mostly extend
to an octave, which makes the melody be played in two adjacent octaves with chord notes in
between. The block chords are often played in arpeggio hanging behind the left hand beat,
like if there are two different rhythms played simultaneously.
Garners single tone improvised melodies often contains repetition of the same note, often
preceded by a half tone glissando played off-beat on top of the steady left-hand beat.
To emphasize the hard swing, Garner can often conclude a phrase with a trilling octave in his
right hand.
When playing one-voice melody phrases, Garner mostly uses the blues and swing scales, or
fragments of the original tune melody with additional leading notes one half-note below the
main melody note. In slow ballads he often doubles the beat in his right hand soloing, while
the left hand continues to pump the original beat.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Erroll Garner:

Album: Caf De Jazz:
- Ive Got You Under My Skin
- Stardust
- Somebody Loves Me
- Laura
Album: Beyond Patina Jazz Masters: Erroll Garner:
- Night and Day
- Ive Got You Under My Skin
- When Youre Smiling
Ulf Wakenius, b. 1958, guitar
Life History
Ulf Wakenius is the youngest of all musicians in this analysis publication. He was born in the
Swedish city Halmstad, but later moved to Gothenburg, and is probably the most well-known
now living Swedish jazz musician, internationally.
Wakenius became known to the public in the guitar duo Guitars Unlimited. He has cooperated
with a large number of famous jazz musicians, such as Oscar Peterson and others. He has also
experimented with influences from other styles (latin american, heavy metal, and various
other native cultures).
Stylistic Epoch
Ulf Wakenius is very much rooted in the styles of his youth, i.e. rock, funk and electrified
styles. But he has also adopted older jazz styles such as swing, bebop, hardbop and modal
jazz.
Ulf Wakenius has a formidable technique. He plays each note with accuracy and precision,
even in ridiculously rapid tempi. However, in slow ballads, he can play sensitively and
lyrically laid-back and relaxed with a soft sound and without exploding into note cascades.
Wakenius uses chromatics by playing a phrase, then raising the entire phrase or part of it one
half-note up, and then returning to the originally played pitch. This gives a harmonically
interesting touch.
He can also use almost endlessly repeated motives in a fast tempo, often creating a
polyrhythmic effect by using a motif not matching the beat (5 or 6 eighths in sequence), or
modifying the motif slightly between each occurrence of the motif, which gives the music a
very pushing and aggressive character. When the other musicians (drums, piano
accompaniment) respond to such a sequence of repetitions by playing similar rhythmic
patterns, it gives the music a strong intensity.
Harmonically, Wakenius is very modern by using atonality or out-of-scale notes in his
phrases. However, he can now and then return to a typical guitar-blues motif, which gives the
music an interesting mixture of modern and traditional ingredients.
In funk jazz or jazz rock settings, he uses much pentatonic and blues scales.
Wakenius uses various sound effects. One typical effect is the firing off of a single note,
played simultaneously on two strings, with a slight pitch bend on one of the strings.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Ulf Wakenius:

Album: First Step:
- First Step
- Blame It On My Youth
- Dont Be Shy
Album: Summertime Ray Brown Trio:
- Summertime
- West Coast Blues
- Topsy
Album: Memories of Tomorrow:
- Memories of Tomorrow
- Dancing
- Innocence
Milt Jackson, 1923-1999, vibraphone
Life History
Milt Jackson was raised in Detroit. He tried several different instruments before settling on
the vibraphone. He was a creative vibraphonist in that he set the vibraphone's oscillator to a
lower speed to get a warmer and more distinctive tone than otherwise.
Jackson played with several of the bebop giants in the 40s. He was one of the formers of the
Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) around 1950, which had a long career of some several decades.
Stylistic Epoch
Milt Jackson is one of the most important figures in the hard bop style, although he performed
in several subgenres of jazz.
Milt Jackson has a brilliant technique handling the sticks, which becomes apparent when
playing with such a rhythmic distinction of which he was capable. His technique also shines
through when doubling the beat and playing fast sequences of notes, where each note still has
a meaning in the musical context.
In ballads, Jackson is capable of playing with sensitivity, where he utilizes the sustain effect
on the vibraphone to let important notes sound for a long time with a slow vibrato. To
increase the sensitivity, Jackson uses pre-notes, which is a short note a minor second below
the original note, like a glissando.
Jackson uses blues ingredients very much, both the 12-bar chord sequence and melodic blues
motives from the blues scale. However, he could also use other types of scales on which he
often built phrases of the repetitive kind, i.e. he repeated a motif several times, where he
moved each occurrence in pitch scale-wise upwards.
Dynamically, he could start at low volume, increase it through the phrase and round off in low
volume again. This is probably difficult with an instrument like the vibraphone, since it does
not have the same volume register as e.g. saxophone and trumpet. He could beat with the
sticks so hard that a slight clicking attack was heard. He often used this effect to create
dynamic intensity in his phrases.
Harmonically, Jackson uses multi-harmony effects by playing phrases on another chord than
the one being played by the accompanying instruments. He could also use chromatic passages
to enrich the chords.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Milt Jackson:

Album: Milt Jackson Greatest Vibes:
- The Lady Is a Tramp
- Lover
- The Nearness of You
Album: Ray Charles featuring Milt Jackson:
- The Genious After Hours
- Charlesville
Album: Heart and Soul:
- Heart and Soul
- Soul Meeting
- Opus de Funk
Johnny Hodges, 1906-1970, alto saxophone
Life History
Johnny Hodges was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and started playing with some of the
more famous bands of the 20s. In 1928 he joined Duke Ellingtons big band. He became one
of the main profiles of that band, and stayed so during Ellingtons entire lifetime. Now and
then he also recorded and performed with smaller combos, even if these groups mostly
sounded as a subset of Ellingtons big band.
Hodges' last performance took place in Toronto, less than a week before his death from a
heart attack.
Stylistic Epoch
Johnny Hodges is tightly connected to the big band swing era of the 30s and 40s. He was a
cornerstone in Duke Ellingtons big band building and one of Ellingtons favourites.
Johnny Hodges had a warm and soft tone and played singable and melodious solos with a
wonderful vibrato. This kind of playing fit perfectly well in ballads.
Hodges used glissando very frequently. Sometimes he could play a glissando covering an
entire octave. He utilized the legato effect as a transition from one tone to the next. He also
utilized an air stream attack instead of the tongue for attacks, which emphasized the soft
character.
He had a wonderful swing feeling and a bluesy way of playing his solos. He often used rifflike phrases, i.e. he took a phrase and repeated it in each second bar. In between, he left room
for the big band sections or the accompaning instruments to respond. This periodic phrasing is
a signification of an extremely hard swinging playing.
Hodges now and then repeats a single note with glissando from below. The repetition is made
in an accelerating tempo, especially in ballads, free from the underlying beat. It gives a
complaining, anxious feeling.
Hodges is very tonal. He uses the swing scale and the blues scale, he does not experiment
with multi-harmony or out-of-scale notes. Hodges strength is beautifulness, sensitivity and
passionate tonal playing.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Johnny Hodges:

Album: Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges Back to Back:
- Wabash Blues
- St. Louis Blues
Album: All My Success Johnny Hodges:
- Passion Flower
- Mood Indigo
- Come Sunday
- Things Aint What It Used to Be
Album: Castle Rock:
- A Gentle Breeze
- My Reward
- Wham
Gato Barbieri, b. 1934, tenor saxophone
Life History
Gato Barbieri was born in Argentina in a musical family. He began after hearing Charlie
Parker. He played the clarinet, alto saxophone and tenor saxophone.
Barbieri was in the beginning of his career influenced by free jazz musicians as Don Cherry,
John Coltrane and others. In the 1970s and onwards he moved his music towards west coast
jazz-pop and latin music.
The death of his wife led him to withdraw from active performing in the late 80s. After some
years, however, he returned to recording and performing in the late 90s, with mostly smooth
film music.
Stylistic Epoch
Gato Barbieri rose to fame during the free jazz movement in the 1960s, but then turned to
latin jazz and west coast pop-jazz-rock music saxophonist in David Sanborns spirit in the
1970s, where he uses accompaniment consisting of electrically amplified instruments and a
lot of percussion instruments of odd types. He also uses choir and string backgrounds with a
very wet sound with echo, chorus, reverb and other sound modifications.
He mostly performs dressed in a hat and sun glasses.
Gato Barbieri has a nervous, trembling, sensitive tone, yet with a big and mighty sound,
however metallic and hard and sometimes screamy. He frequently uses long notes with this
sound, which gives an intensive feeling. He often uses this type of long notes with stretching
and bending.
Sometimes he lands on a high flageolet tone with distorsion.
Barbieris sound is more interesting than his selection of notes and phrase building. With the
sound he creates an expectation and builds up the intensity. When the accompaniment
musicians intensify the density by for example doubling the beat, Barbieri responds with a
high screamy note in the upper register.
Barbieri often starts a phrase with a short pushing note in the low register and then plays the
following note as a screamy high-pitched note.
He uses repetition of small motives, moved up or down in the scale.
In the jazz-rock-pop style, Barbieri mostly plays harmonically inside, he does not break up the
harmonic structure. He uses pentatonic and modal scales. Now and then, however, he can
experiment somewhat with chromatic effects.
He repeats or chews a single note in a pushy and anxious way, often in a rhythmic fashion that
conflicts with the beat. He can also repeat a drill over a couple of notes in the same way.
He sometimes interrupts his solo by leaving a long rest and starts talking some phrases to the
audience in Spanish.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Gato Barbieri:

Album: Gato Barbieri Ruby Ruby:
- Nostalgia
- Adios
- Sunride
Album: Leandro Gato Barbieri:
- Los Blues de Cuarto #4
- Take the A Trains
Album: Jazz Mania All Stars:
- Los Blues Cuarto, No. 4
- Take the A Train
Paul Bley, b. 1932, piano
Life History
Paul Bley was born in Montreal, Canada, but moved to US for a lifetime stay.
Besides being an innovative music profile himself, he has worked with many of the great
masters, such as Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Ben Webster, and also with many of the free
jazz creators, such as Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman..
Bley got interested in expanding the sound of his music with alternate and exotic ways of
playing the instruments, and also with electronic instruments. However, by the time, he
returned to the pure piano.
Bley has at the time of writing this publication continued with international tours and
recordings.
Stylistic Epoch
Paul Bley started in the bebop area, but soon developed into the free jazz movement in the
60s. He also got interested in new electronic possibilities, such as the Moog synthesizer and
the electric piano in the years around 1970.
Paul Bley utilizes space and dynamics to a greater degree than other free jazz pianists like
Cecil Taylor. He is a relatively quiet player, not afraid of including melody or a steady
rhythm.
He uses blues phrases mixed with atonal expeditions, however not in the bebop style where
neighbouring chords and scales are used, but to completely foreign harmonies. After an
expedition he returns to rather tonal surroundings.
He emulates the glissando by playing one or two chromatic rapid notes from below the
melody note to emphasize the melody note. This is sometimes used in combination of two
notes at the distance of a third, where the lower of the two notes is treated in this way of using
glissando.
Bley can play an atonal note, a minor second above or below the actual melody note, over and
over again in an anxious way, often in conflict with the beat, before he lands on the actual
melody note.
He can take a motif and turn it inside out, over and over again, not aligned to the beat.
Harmonically, he can mix pure major or minor chords with completely odd chords, which can
be felt as chord notes selected by chance.
He can burst out in a sudden cascade of atonal notes among the other phrases.
He sometimes uses chromatically moved motives, which further contributes to the atonal
feeling.
He now and then plays counterpoint voices, one with the left hand and another with the right.
The two voices seem to live their lives on their own.
Rhythmically, Bley builds a rhythmic figure into the accompaniment which runs as an
ostinato figure through the entire tune.
He sometimes experiments with alternate sound effects by using his hands inside the grand
piano to damp or plucking the strings.
In his trio recordings, Bley often leaves space for the other musicians (bass and drums) to
contribute with musical responses and new impulses.
To summarize, Paul Bley has influenced later pianists both on the individual side and in piano
trio settings.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Paul Bley:

Album: Paul Bley - Closer:
- Ida Lupino
- Start
- Closer
Album: Paul Bley - Notes:
- Batteri
- Notes
- Ballade
Album: Introducing Paul Bley:
- Opus One
- Split Kick
Dewey Redman, 1931-2006, tenor saxophone
Life History
Dewey Redman was born in Texas. He studied both electrical engineering, industrial arts and
education at university level and served two years in the US Army. He also taught music and
worked as a freelance saxophonist.
Redman has worked with several of the modern jazz masters, such as Ornette Coleman, Keith
Jarrett and Pat Metheny.
Redman died of liver failure in Brooklyn, New York in 2006.
Stylistic Epoch
Dewey Redman is mostly connected to the free jazz movement, even if he is reminiscent of
post-bop mainstream, hardbop and blues.
Like Sonny Rollins, the sound is very important to Dewey Redman, according to himself:
Everybody has to have a good sound.
Some tunes are very much blues inspired, where he plays with a very heavy swing feeling.
In tunes with modal harmony, Redman uses much pentatonic and blues scales. He can repeat
a motif, sometimes moving the motif chromatically up or down.
He can use cascades of rapid notes in the pentatonic scale while using extremely low and high
registers in the same phrase, and land on a high screaming note.
He can use extraordinary sounds, like humming into his saxophone while playing. He can also
use unexpected and abrupt melody lines and inserts from other instruments. He also
sometimes walks around in the audience. In this way he creates musical humour.
He now and then leaves space for his fellow musicians to contribute with musical ideas.
Occasionally he plays without accompaniment chord instruments, which allows Redman to be
more atonal, where the movement of the melodic material and the sound become more
important than the selection of scales and notes.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Dewey Redman:

Album: Choices:
- Le Clit
- Imagination
- For Me
Album: Living On The Edge:
- Boo Boodoop
- Mirror Windows
- As One
- Lazy Bird
Album: Mostly Live:
- Cosmic
- Deweys Tune
- Mute
Archie Shepp, b. 1937, tenor saxophone
Life History
Archie Shepp was born in Florida but raised in Philadelphia, where he studied piano, clarinet
and alto saxophone before focusing on tenor saxophone. He also studied drama.
Shepp cooperated with some of the main masters of the free jazz movement, such as Cecil
Taylor, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Don Cherry. He also worked with the New York
Contemporary Five (Shepp, Don Cherry, John Tchicai, Don Moore and J.C. Moses). That
band mostly played in Europe.
In 1971, Shepp began a 30-year career as a professor of music and of African American
Studies at university level.
Stylistic Epoch
Archie Shepp is not easy to categorize, since he plays well both in bebop, modal jazz, funk,
blues, soul, cool jazz and avant garde. However, the main emphasis is laid on avant garde and
free jazz forms.
Archie Shepp copied his sound from Ben Webster with the addition of own sound effects such
as growls, roars, screams and various types of distortion. He has an emotional style and raspy
sound, which is more important than the selection of notes.
When playing funk, soul and blues, Archie Shepp is extremely hard swinging. He can acquire
an intensively swinging feeling with very few notes and a lot of space for his fellow
musicians to contribute with fill-ins.
He uses short, abrupt phrases in beat rhythm on the pentatonic scale.
Sometimes he sings his race messages with a not too beautiful voice, but in some way strange
and exotic, and sometimes a little scary.
When playing mainstream hardbop with up tempo bass walking, Shepp has an interesting and
unpredictable selection of notes. One can among his rapid series of notes trace small fractions
of motives repeated chromatically up or down. A rapid sequence of notes mostly goes from
the bottom and up, or from top and down, strictly in one of the directions and very seldom
twisting around. It is more like a scale presentation.
He can start a phrase from the bottom register of the saxophone and struggle his way up to
extremely high register.
When playing the tune melody, it is often decorated with atonal ornaments and long drills.
When playing ballads, he uses similar effects as Ben Webster, i.e. air stream attacks instead of
tongue attacks, blowing through the mouthpiece without any particular note sound and at the
same time chewing on the mouthpiece, thus producing a hissing sound with vibrato.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Archie Shepp:

Album: A Jazz Hour with Archie Shepp:
- Stream
- Along Came Betty
- Crucificado
- Miss Toni
Album: Left Alone Revisited:
- Easy Living
- When Your Lover Has Gone
- Porgy
Album: Black Ballads:
- I Know About The Life
- Lush Life
- Angel Eyes
George Adams, 1940-1992, tenor saxophone
Life History
George Adams was born in Georgia and played both clarinet, flute and tenor saxophone, of
which the latter is his main instrument. He has worked with masters as Charles Mingus, Gil
Evans and above all the marvellous pianist Don Pullen.
Stylistic Epoch
George Adams is very much based in rhythm & blues, the way it is applied in modal jazz in
the 60s, and in American (especially black) popular music. However, his sound reveals that he
is hardbop musician.
George Adams sound is metallic and harsh, yet in ballads he can play in a soft way, just like
Archie Shepp. He plays with a tremendous intensity and passion.
When playing a famous melody, he can pick out a single phrase and sing the lyrics instead of
playing it on the saxophone. This is an example of Adams musical humour.
He utilizes the full register of the saxophone from bottom to top, and lands often on a high
flageolet note.
Now and then he can hack a note several times very rapidly. He can mix this with long
cascades of very rapid notes in extreme registers. Now and then a sudden very low note or a
very high note can be inserted into such a cascade.
In a cascade of rapid notes Adams can play a motif recognized from a previous part of the
solo, which is repeated once or twice, before the cascade continues. The motif might then
show up again, which proves that the cascade does not consist of notes selected by chance,
but is based on a conscious thought. This gives a hint of the high level of Adams musicality.
He can mix atonal cascades with hard swinging blues phrases, providing a feeling of ecstasy,
especially when combined with extremely high or low notes.
Adams can surprise with his microphone technique when holding the saxophone unexpectedly
near the microphone and playing in low volume, which gives a strange sound.
Adams body language and physical power is noteworthy. He can walk around on the scene
as a gospel preacher, and his body is jerked and moved back and forth according to the
rhythmic accents being played. Adams artistry is a visual as well as an audio experience.
Adams is capable of creating a marvellous swing intensity, much thanks to his pianist Don
Pullen, who matches Adams very well with his orthodox way of treating the piano.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of George Adams:

Album: Anthology:
- Stronger Than Words
- All I Know
Album: Dont Lose Control:
- Autumn Song
- Remember ?
- Places & Faces
Album: Live At The Village Vanguard Vol. 1:
- Solitude
- Intentions
- Diane
Sal Nistico, 1938-1991, tenor saxophone
Life History
Sal Nistico was born in Syracuse in New York. He started playing alto sax, but switched to
tenor in 1956.
Nistico is tightly associated with Woody Hermans band and belonged to the four brothers,
He was also the star soloist of that band. However, he made shorter outings to other bands,
such as to Count Basie.
He is not a well-known public figure, but he was highly respected for his excellent section
playing.
Stylistic Epoch
Sal Nistico was a typical big band saxophonist, but also a genuine bebop musician. His solo
work contrasts his big band work by being more bebop oriented than his big band work.
Sal Nistico is known as a technically brilliant saxophonist and was considered a new
promising young member of the Woody Hermans band.
Like Johnny Griffin, he is full of ideas flowing out of his saxophone in a never-ending stream.
He builds up the intensity by repeating motives transposed in pitch. One motif reminds of the
previous, which makes it easier for the listener to follow the intensity build-up. He is a master
of building up a climax in this way. He plays with a force and energy as if each solo was the
last thing to do in his life.
However, he is more technically perfect than Griffin. He seems to be able to keep up with all
ideas passing his brain, which is not always the case with Griffin, who sometimes stumbles
over the notes. Odd enough, Nisticos perfectionism makes him less interesting than Griffin,
who has some kind of enthusiastic charm. Nisticos neat and clean sound also contributes to
this feeling of being too perfect. Nistico has a nice and beautiful sound with a minimum of
distortion or roars or screaming.
When playing with Woody Hermans band he uses the swing and blues scales to a great
extent. However, he is also capable of experimenting with more modern harmony and scales.
He can sometimes use out-of-chord notes in his sequences, and dynamic fluctuations within a
phrase causing a hard-swinging feeling.
He can sometimes repeat a motif over and over again, which does not fit into the periodicity
of the tune, thus creating polyrhythmic effects.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of Sal Nistico:

Album: Sal Nistico / Tony Scott:
- The Song Is You
- Groovin Sal
- Lady Day
- Perdido
Album: Empty Room:
- Lush Life
- Inner Urge
- Empty Room
- I Should Care
Album: Jazz Friends:
- Horace Scope
- Sal The Light
- Polka Dots And Moonbeam
- Song For Larry
- Little Italy
- Tony My Dear
McCoy Tyner, b. 1938, piano
Life History
McCoy Tyner was born in Philadelphia. He began studying the piano at an early age and
converted to Islam.
He is most famous for his cooperation with John Coltrane and Elvin Jones. However, in 1965
he left Coltranes group, because he felt Coltranes musical ideas strange and full of noise
only. Since then, he has worked with solo performances and trio recordings.
Stylistic Epoch
McCoy Tyner is associated to the modal and free jazz styles. He also incorporated African
and East Asian musical elements.
McCoy Tyner has a formidable technique. He often plays in a polyphonic way, not just chords
in the left hand and solo melody in the right. The left hand contributes a great deal to the
musical output, it does not only perform an accompaniment. Maybe, the fact that Tyner is
left-handed, is an explanation of the emphasis on the left hand accompaniment.
Tyner's right-hand melodies are mostly played with staccato.
Both his usage of scales and harmony are very similar to Coltranes style.
He sometimes plays so fast that it seems to be more arpeggio figures than a melody. This kind
of playing provides a mighty cluster-like sound output.
He uses powerful attacks, not very much nuances.
His left hand accompaniment often consists of a bass fifth followed by syncopated fourth
chords during the following two bars.
The right hand plays rapid runs, often in modal scales, fourth sequences, and sometimes
atonal or pentatonic scales. Sometimes he plays an octave drill in the right hand based on the
massive left hand accompaniment, which creates a kind of an ecstasy feeling.
He can use a standard tune from the American Song Book and play it in this modal powerful
style, which totally reverts the original character of the tune, but still gives it an interesting
and unpredictable touch.
His harmonic style often consists of strange chords with notes selected from some kind of
modal scale instead of using a major or minor based chord.
Tunes Included in the Analysis of McCoy Tyner:

Album: Inception / Reaching Fourth:
- Inception
- There Is No Greater Love
- Blues For Gwen
- Have You Met Miss Jones
Album: Prelude and Sonata:
- Loss Of Love
- Ill Wait For You
- Soul Eyes
- Smile
- Prelude In Minor
Album: Uptown/Downtown:
- Three Flowers
- Genesis
- Lotus Flower
- Blues For Basie

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Analysis of Jazz Solo Build-up Techniques - Appendix

Lester Young (Prez), 1909-1959, tenor saxophone

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Lester Young

Coleman Hawkins (Hawk, Bean), 1904-1969, tenor saxophone

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Coleman Hawkins

Red Norvo, 1908-1999, vibraphone

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Red Norvo

Which Switch Wich

Album: Delightfully Light:

Benny Goodman (King of Swing), 1909-1986, clarinet

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Benny Goodman

Charlie Parker (Bird), 1920-1955, alto saxophone

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Charlie Parker

Ella Fitzgerald, 1917-1996, singer

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Ella Fitzgerald

Red Mitchell, 1927-1992, bass

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Red Mitchell

Fats Navarro, 1923-1950, trumpet

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Fats Navarro

Miles Davis, 1926-1991, trumpet

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Miles Davis

Dexter Gordon, 1923-1990, tenor saxophone

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Dexter Gordon

Sonny Rollins, b. 1930, tenor saxophone

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Sonny Rollins

Charlie Ventura, 1916-1992, tenor saxophone

Ventura sometimes uses a screaming sound in his hard-swinging blues burst-outs.

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Charlie Ventura

Oscar Peterson, 1925-2007, piano

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Oscar Peterson

Bud Freeman, 1906-1991, tenor saxophone

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Bud Freeman

Lennie Tristano, 1919-1978, piano

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Lennie Tristano

Chet Baker, 1929-1988, trumpet

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Chet Baker

Art Pepper, 1925-1982, alto saxophone

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Art Pepper

Charlie Byrd, 1925-1999, guitar

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Charlie Byrd

Lee Konitz, b. 1927, alto saxophone

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Lee Konitz

Stan Getz, 1927-1991, tenor saxophone

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Stan Getz

Paul Quinichette, 1916-1983, tenor saxophone

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Paul Quinichette

Herbie Mann, 1930-2003, flute

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Herbie Mann

Charlie Mariano, b. 1923, alto saxophone

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Charlie Mariano

Clifford Brown, 1930-1956, trumpet

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Clifford Brown

Hank Mobley, 1930-1986, tenor saxophone

He also reminds of bebop when playing in double tempo.

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Hank Mobley

Gigi Gryce, 1925-1983, alto saxophone

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Gigi Gryce

Album: Studio Live Takes:

Wayne Shorter, b. 1933, tenor saxophone

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Wayne Shorter

Freddie Hubbard, b. 1938, trumpet

Tunes Included in the Analysis of Freddie Hubbard

Phil Woods, b. 1931, alto saxophone