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APHS Jazz Ensemble

 

Course Information and References

This page is designed for students in the APHS Jazz Ensemble course to use as a reference. Since we will examine a wide variety of styles and artists, you should refer to this page often, as a starting point for further research.

 

Required listening 

A jazz musician MUST listen - a lot. Part of this course is a weekly listening, where you are expected to listen to a specific work and complete a form with details about what you hear.

Listening are chosen from the following

Quarter 1 (Jazz Combo"heads")

A Foggy Day (George Gershwin)

All Blues (Miles Davis)

All The Things You Are

Autumn Leaves (Joseph Kosma)

Blue Bossa (Kenny Dorham)

Blues in the Closet (Oscar Pettiford)

C Jam Blues (Duke Ellington)

Cantaloupe Island (Herbie Hancock)

Come Rain or Come Shine (Harold Arlen)

Doxy (Sonny Rollins)

Equinox (John Coltrane)

Freddie the Freeloader (Miles Davis)

The Girl From Ipanema (Antonio Jobim)

Groove Merchant ( Jerome Richardson)

Here’s That Rainy Day (Jimmy Van Heusen)

I Could Write A Book (Rodgers and Hart)

Imagination (Jimmy Van Heusen)

Killer Joe (Benny Golson)

Mr. PC (John Coltrane)

My Favorite Things (Rodgers and Hammerstein)

My Funny Valentine (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

Old Devil Moon (Burton Lane)

Polka Dots and Moonbeams (Jimmy Van Heusen)

Revelation (Kenny Barron)

September Song (Kurt Weill)

Song For My Father (Horace Silver)

So What (Miles Davis)

Summertime (George Gershwin)

Take Five (Dave Brubeck)

Watermelon Man (Herbie Hancock)

 

Quarter 2 (Big Band)

A Night In Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie)

A String Of Pearls (Glenn Miller)

American Patrol (Glenn Miller)

At The Woodchopper's Ball (Woody Herman)

Begin the Beguine (Artie Shaw)

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (The Andrews Sisters)

Chattanooga Choo Choo (Glenn Miller)

Cherokee (Charlie Barnet)

Front Burner (Count Basie)

Harlem Nocturne (Ray Noble)

I’ll Never Smile Again (Tommy Dorsey)

It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) (Duke Ellington)

In The Mood (Glenn Miller)

Jumpin' At The Woodside (Count Basie)

Mack the Knife (Louis Armstrong)

The Man I Love (Billie Holiday)

Minnie The Moocher (Cab Calloway)

Night and Day (Billie Holiday)

One O'Clock Jump (Count Basie)

Opus One (Tommy Dorsey)

Pennsylvania 6-5000 (Glenn Miller)

Perdido (Duke Ellington)

Satin Doll (Duke Ellington)

Sentimental Journey (Les Brown)

Sing, Sing, Sing (Benny Goodman)

Stardust (Artie Shaw)

Stompin' At The Savoy (Benny Goodman)

A String Of Pearls (Glenn Miller)

Take the "A" Train (Duke Ellington)

 

Quarter 3 (Dixieland / Early Swing)

Alexander's Ragtime Band

Ballin’ The Jack

Basin Street Blues

Bill Bailey

Black Bottom Stomp

Bourbon Street Parade

Clarinet Marmalade

Copenhagen

Down By The Riverside

East St. Louis Toodle-oo

Indiana

Ja-Da

Jazz Me Blues

Johnson Rag

Limehouse Blues

Livery Stable Blues

Mood Indigo

Muskrat Ramble

Royal Garden Blues

South Rampart Street Parade

St. James Infirmary

St. Louis Blues

That's A-Plenty

The Sheik of Araby

Tiger Rag

Wabash Blues

West End Blues

When The Saints Go Marching In

 

 

Quarter 4 (Post 1960's Jazz - please choose a jazz recording by or including one of these artists each week) 

Chick Corea

Christian McBride

Gordon Goodwin

Herbie Hancock

Joey Alexander

Joshua Redman

Jaco Pastorious

Miles Davis

Pat Metheney

Snarky Puppy

Wynton Marsalis

Yellowjackets

 

Background

Major Historical Time Periods:

Ragtime

Dixieland

Hot Jazz

Swing

Bebop

Cool Jazz

Fusion

Jazz Rock

   

Some links regarding improvisation:

Jazz Improv for Beginners article

A Jazz Improvisation Primer

Ed Ulman's Website

JazClass

Jim Snidero Jazz Improv Basics handout

Simple Steps to Improv

World of Jazz Improvisation

   

Interesting history links:

Here's a great article from "The Instrumentalist"

Jazz History Detailed Timeline: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/timeline.htm

Smithsonian Jazz: http://www.smithsonianjazz.org/

A Passion for Jazz – good brief timeline - http://www.apassion4jazz.net/timeline.html

To grow as an improviser, the best method is to transcribe solos played by the great artists. Here are some helpful weblinks:

Anton Schwartz: How to Transcribe

Wilktone - Advice for Beginning to Transcribe

Effective Jazz Solo Transcribing

David Liebman - The Complete Transcription Process

The Jazz Resource - First Steps

 

APHS Transcription Exercise worksheet (please print, complete, and turn in as Mr. B requests)

 

To grow as a musician, we need to study the artists from the present and the past.

Players to know (not listed in any particular order):

Piano

Art Tatum

Thelonious Monk

Duke Ellington

Herbie Hancock

Ahmad Jamal

Chick Corea

Ellis Marsalis

 

 

Clarinet

Artie Shaw

Benny Goodman

 

Bass

Charles Mingus

Jaco Pastorius

Ron Carter

Ray Brown

Todd Coolman

Milt Hinton

Dave Holland

Sam Jones

Marcus Miller

John Pattitucci

Esperanza Spalding

Victor Wooten

 

Guitar

Pat Metheny

John Scofield

Joe Pass

Wes Montgomery

Herb Ellis

Charlie Christian

Les Paul

John Abercrombie

John Pizzarelli

 

 

 

 

Drums

Gene Krupa

Buddy Rich

Chick Webb

Philly Joe Jones

Elvin Jones

Tony Williams

Art Blakey

Max Roach

Joe Morello

Roy Haynes

 

 

 

 

Saxophone

John Coltrane

Coleman Hawkins

Lester Young

Stan Getz

Art Pepper

Zoot Sims

Charlie Parker

Pharoah Sanders

Paul Desmond

Wayne Shorter

Sonny Rollins

Benny Carter

Dexter Gordon

Michael Brecker

Joshua Redman

Joe Lovano

Kenny Garrett

David Liebman

Branford Marsalis

Mark Turner

Jerry Bergonzi

Cannonball Adderley

Joe Henderson

Ornette Coleman

Grover Washington, JR.

Jeff Coffin

Trumpet

Louis Armstrong

Wynton Marsalis

Miles Davis

Dizzy Gillespie

Bix Beiderbecke

Arturo Sandoval

Maynard Ferguson

Clark Terry

Chuck Mangione

Quincy Jones

 

Flute

Eric Dolphy

Jeremy Steig

Herbie Mann

Hubert Laws

James Moody

Frank Wess

Brian Jackson

Rahsaan Roland Kirk

 

 

 

 

 

Trombone

Frank Rosolino

Trombone Shorty

J.J. Johnson

Jack Teagarden

Lawrence Brown

Curtis Fuller

Carl Fontana

Tommy Dorsey

Al Grey

Slide Hampton

Kid Ory

Robin Eubanks

Steve Turre

Wycliffe Gordon

Bill Watrous

Glenn Miller

 

Violin

Stephane Grappelli

Regina Carter

Ray Nance

Stuff Smith

Jean-Luc Ponty

 

 

Non-drumset/piano percussion


Malleted Instruments

(vibraphone/marimba)

Milt Jackson

Red Norvo

Roy Ayers

Cal Tjader

Lionel Hampton

 

 

Latin Percussion

(Congas/Bongos/Timbales)

 

Ray Barretto

Tito Puente

Willie Bobo

Candido Camero

Chano Pozo