Recordings and Information for Discussion Board #3

Recordings for Discussion Board #3 include orchestral performances led by Fletcher Henderson, Coleman Hawkins, and Duke Ellington. Notable soloists in Ellington’s orchestra include Cootie Williams on trumpet, Johnny Hodges on alto sax, Ben Webster on tenor sax, and Jimmy Blanton on bass, as well as Duke Ellington himself on piano.

We’ll also hear a small ensemble of string instruments led by French gypsy jazz guitarist, Django Reinhardt (1910-1953). Reinhardt is considered the first great European jazz musician, and we’ll hear his recording of “Dinah,” performed by the Quintette of the Hot Club of France. From the age of 18, Reinhardt was missing portions of the ring finger and pinky from his left hand. This recording, made some six years afterward, demonstrates that Reinhardt had found his own technique that more than compensated for the loss.

Among the pieces on this board are several that exhibit yet another characteristic form in jazz, a binary form that can be described as: A A’ form. It is often 32 bars in length, making it a 32-bar A A’ form, and each of the larger 16-bar sections can be divided into 8-bar subsections. In that regard, it shares much in common with 32-bar song form. The big difference between the two forms is at the midway point in the form: In song form, the contrasting B section–the Bridge–begins the second half of the form; in a binary A A’ form, the second half of the form begins with a return to the opening material. The contrasts in A A’ forms exist principally between the latter two eight-bar subsections in both 16-bar halves of the form. Characteristically, in an A A’ binary form, smaller letters could represent 8-bar subsections, the A section being subdivided as “a b”; the A’ section, as “a b’.”

https://cms.psu.edu/section/content/default.asp?WCI=pgDisplay&WCU=CRSCNT&ENTRY_ID=29A7875B6B5F406BB60D27180DD629D9

Recordings and Information for Discussion Board #3

Recordings for Discussion Board #3 include orchestral performances led by Fletcher Henderson, Coleman Hawkins, and Duke Ellington. Notable soloists in Ellington’s orchestra include Cootie Williams on trumpet, Johnny Hodges on alto sax, Ben Webster on tenor sax, and Jimmy Blanton on bass, as well as Duke Ellington himself on piano.

We’ll also hear a small ensemble of string instruments led by French gypsy jazz guitarist, Django Reinhardt (1910-1953). Reinhardt is considered the first great European jazz musician, and we’ll hear his recording of “Dinah,” performed by the Quintette of the Hot Club of France. From the age of 18, Reinhardt was missing portions of the ring finger and pinky from his left hand. This recording, made some six years afterward, demonstrates that Reinhardt had found his own technique that more than compensated for the loss.

Among the pieces on this board are several that exhibit yet another characteristic form in jazz, a binary form that can be described as: A A’ form. It is often 32 bars in length, making it a 32-bar A A’ form, and each of the larger 16-bar sections can be divided into 8-bar subsections. In that regard, it shares much in common with 32-bar song form. The big difference between the two forms is at the midway point in the form: In song form, the contrasting B section–the Bridge–begins the second half of the form; in a binary A A’ form, the second half of the form begins with a return to the opening material. The contrasts in A A’ forms exist principally between the latter two eight-bar subsections in both 16-bar halves of the form. Characteristically, in an A A’ binary form, smaller letters could represent 8-bar subsections, the A section being subdivided as “a b”; the A’ section, as “a b’.”

https://cms.psu.edu/section/content/default.asp?WCI=pgDisplay&WCU=CRSCNT&ENTRY_ID=29A7875B6B5F406BB60D27180DD629D9