Ryan Hauser

MUS 114 12 PM - Concert

Following the existence of a musical genre for a long period of time,
attempts to bring fresh creativity as well as technical achievement will cause
changes to the genre as a whole Although a modern musical performance may
only attempt to play based on modern developments of a genre, the existence of
the past of a genre will influence its productions In the case of jazz, a thriving and
wide reaching genre that grew to encompass other types of music in the twentieth
century, it is impossible to escape the nuances and variety of techniques within
the genre At UIC on February 18 2015, the Robin Eubanks group performed music
of the past as well as original pieces The writing and arrangements of the pieces
as well as techniques of the performers were influenced by jazz history
Additionally the overall production of the concert is influenced by history
Although Bye Bye Blackbird, as well as many other pieces in the concert,
was written prior to many innovations and changes in technique in jazz, the
arrangement was influenced by history that came after the event For instance,
Kenny Clarke's shift of the hi-hat to the cymbal in the mid 20th century influenced
the presence of quarter notes with the hi-hat in the performance of Bye Bye
Blackbird, which is the first noise heard in the piece Similarly the call and
response nature of Miles Davis' So What, which appeared on Kind of Blue or the
most well known jazz record of the 1950s, involving the bass and trumpet is
present in the arrangement of Bye Bye Blackbird Furthermore, the squacking
type of sound from the saxophone during the saxophonists solo sounds similar to
performances of free jazz artists Although the set is not free jazz, the presence of

the technique is possibly influenced by the movement The technique of

syncopation, which existed following the development of Dixieland jazz, is present
in the piano's comping
Caravan and I Like the Likes of You are the first pieces to feature a
vocalist However, jazz history's influence is contained mainly in the
instrumentation of the performance Riffs among instruments are played by the
band simultaneously The development of short riffs following the end of Dixieland
jazz would continue to be present in big band as well as jazz fusion The trumpet
of the group sounds similar in timbre to the most well known trumpetist Lance
Armstrong, especially in the song Weather Bird The piece also features a
walking bass line originally developed by Milt Hinton In both of the pieces the
singer uses vibrato to bring across a sort of emotional connection to the pieces,
similar to the singer Billie Holiday However, the singer's vocal range is closer to
Ella Fitzgerald's due to their wide ranges I Like the Likes of You has the most
big-band sound of all the set due to the distinctive sound of the horns
The lack of intensity in the percussion and rhythm as well as the overall feel
of the melody in My Shining Hour allow it to be a cool track However, the
genre that acted in opposition to cool, bebop, has influence on the piece The
consecutive snare hits during the drum solo are similar to a solo that could come
from a bebop drummer like Max Roach or Gene Krupa both of the bebop era So
although the band could have made a conscious effort to create a sense of cool,
the past influenced the arrangement and introduced a technique that acted
contrary to the desired sound Infact, Dizzy Gillespie, also of the bebop era, seems
to have influenced the arrangement or performance of the piece The trumpetist

of the Robin Eubanks group displays a huge range, distinctive of Gillespie, which
grows as the song progresses However, the tendency for the rhythm section and
the horn section to play the same melody seems distinctive of early Dixieland jazz
Multiple techniques within Lickety Split from jazz set the song aside from
others of the set For example, the trombone sounds rougher or brassier The
difference in timbre is likely a result of a mute, which was introduced into jazz to
give a trombone player more control over timbre and therefore a stronger
emotional connection to the performance The rough sound of the trombone in
addition to the slurred delivery of the piece seems to completely bend pitches of
notes being played at times in the performance The changes in pitch are also
known as blue notes, which developed in jazz as an attempt to convey a sense of
emotional connection Another technique is non-conventional percussion, as a
percussive noise not on the standard drum kit is present on the off beat The nontraditional hit on the off-beat is similar to Latin percussion, which was introduced
into jazz as cubop in the mid 1900's
The song Blues for Jimmy exists to carry on tradition For instance, the
name which pays tribute to a fallen musical legend has existed within jazz,
Charles Mingus' Goodbye Pork Pie Hat which was named to acknowledge the
death as well as the status of Lester Young The use of distortion on a horn seems
to mirror the introduction of distortion of the guitar, both were analog
instruments that could suddenly be heard more easily through electronics Tribute
exists within songwriting, as the trombonist plays the opening line from Red
House by Jimi Hendrix before the rest of the band starts playing The same has
been done by jazz artists to pay tribute to an admired artist or to quote an

American folk song Furthermore, the heavy use of seemingly meaningless

dissonance before playing the intro to Red House possibly pays tribute to free
jazz artists Blues for Jimmy seems to contribute to the existing jazz canon
Waltz About Nothing is another big band type of track During the drum
solo, the drummer uses the kick multiple times, similar to the practice of
dropping bombs as Kenny Clarke because the kick drum is being introduced
unconventionally During the trumpet solo the rest of the band plays the melody
This is similar to the interjection of the rest of the band in Charles Mingus' Boogie
Stop Shuffle during the saxophone solo of the song Charles Mingus' profound
composing ability likely influenced the arranging of the piece
Lover Man includes new standards that existed as a result of technology in
music The use of flanger and feedback or reverb on the trombone would only
exist as a result of progressive rock based jazz and avant-garde works like
Bitches Brew that used new effects artistically The sudden absence of flanger
and feedback is possibly emphasizing the profound impact the technology has
had on jazz Therefore, the reintroduction of flanger later in the piece reveals the
integration of modern technology into jazz Furthermore, hip-hop is only possible
through the existence of modern technology that is used to create beats The
musical similarities, due to the rhythmic nature of the vocals as well as
instrumentation, between well known hip-hop groups like A Tripe Called Quest and
De La Soul and jazz, reveal a strong connection to the two When percussion
comes in on Lover Man, the simple beat as well as the repetitive riff played by
the trombone begins to resemble a hip hop beat The presence of atypical big
band sounding section with themes from the solo of the hip-hop type bit could be

emphasizing the closeness between jazz and hip-hop

For Jon acts as an interpretation of techniques within jazz For instance,
the singer uses her voice without singing actual words in the opening section
However, she does not use syllables similar to traditional scatting, syllables with
hard consonants like b and d Rather, the singer uses ah to create a sort of
horn like sound The singer is truly attempting to sound like another instrument in
the band The drummer seems to have reinterpreted the role of the drummer as
standard drumming rhythms, quarter notes eighth notes and triplets are not
present
The most noteworthy feature of My One and Only is the flute sounding
instrument The flute does not play the melody of the piece or any theme relevant
to the piece The line the flutes play along with the constant trills cause the flute
to have the sound of a whistle Besides the flute simply sounding similar to a
whistle when played with a trill he flute takes the role a whistle does in Latin
music, where the whistle acts almost as percussion The note being played on the
flute is irrelevant as the flute is only being played to create an accent to a part of
the harmony Latin music has clearly influenced the performance
The final piece, MDM, by Charles Mingus begins as a straight big band
type of track However, a tempo shift occurs sometime after the melody is
repeated and developed Along with a tempo change, consecutive solos from
horns as well as a shift in the drumming style a more intense sound, indicate
the piece was influenced by bebop, which Mingus was not a part of as it preceded
him Furthermore, the actual solos themselves within the section seem to derive
from bebop The solos themselves seem to be influenced by bebop, as they do not

play in a drawn out or dramatic manner but play within a small range along the
fast tempo to create a sense of intensity found within bebop solos of the era.
While the performing band as well as artists who composed played songs
were influenced by the many movements within jazz, unforeseen influences will
also occur. The chosen arrangements as well as the performance itself will
influence listeners of the music. New developments within jazz is inevitable.