Special of the week; Issue 40-70 "For Jazz Keyboard and the Blues 1 of 2"

NDE are the national educational radio network presents special of the week from Yale University from its series called Yale report. This blue is Keyboard Music belongs here. From about the turn of the century

pianists and later other musicians try their hand at improvising and interpreting this form of music. To what degree has the blues progressed in the sense of a keyboard performance. What modifications and what changes have taken place. James drew composer and assistant professor of the theory of music examines these changes for us today. Before coming to his career as a composer Mr. Drew played with Lester Young Yusef Lateef and Henry red Allen. He was one of the winners in the new star category of the international jazz critics award of Downbeat magazine in one thousand sixty one. Mr. Drew any attempt at trying to investigate the history of the blues keyboard player has to do necessarily with individual talents and therefore presents a problem in as much as we will have to during this brief time discuss these talents collectively. Mainly we're dealing of course with a certain kind of system let's say all music

has some systematic aspect of what we're dealing with here is a consensually a scale that I have come to call a blues scale. Now let me tell you or show have you listen to the differences as opposed to let's say the major scale of the minor scale we have here another kind of systematic collection of pitches which would be. Or I could go on for many many more variants but the main thing is that we understand that there is a definite systematic frame of reference for the music that we're going to be discussing and that through this from rest reference will find that when it comes to keyboard. Many elaborate changes take place for instance a melody that would be

essentially a blues melody such as this let's say. I'm picking a rather elaborate a little Nelly because first of all all of these all of these little connecting phrases were in the on the keyboard harmony just for instance. Harmonization is here that give all sorts of bases for stylistic comparison in all styles for instance in the earlier styles there. And of course in the newest newer styles. All of these basic elements therefore we must discuss in terms of their capacity or their potential to be evolved through a period of

time. Now in the early music the blues keyboard player for his frame of reference. That's a world we have to deal with the end of an era the end of the ragtime era where you have a highly stylized very syncopated kind of playing where we take up our investigation would be in the area of already a fairly well matured but very and I use this word with qualification primitive kind of playing on the piano. Now notice for instance this short fragment. Much of the ragtime flavor is still in this business of comes again from this type of stride

base which developed and many other things I will discuss later. But we find that there is a frame of rock reference rhythmically. Now it's not very long before we have the first blues players that are that are generally referred to by the way as boogie woogie players. And actually what they played was were in the sense is closer to ragtime the beginning but they played another kind of music too. I'm talking now about turn of the century coming into the 20th century ragtime of course had already in its essence really died the ragtime that we hear talked about and the kinds of ragtime that would being played in the 20th century were a second or third time around. People had in many areas had become very. Accustomed to ragtime it had gone the way of many musics and they were on to him into other newer things. So

when we're talking about ragtime in the 20th century we're talking about something you'd already gone through several kinds of changes anyway and was not necessarily even very close to the original forms at all. Not in the Blues Plus we have players on the on the way to some higher high degree of sophistication. Let me give you some examples of the tunes that were available let's say in the middle 20s and very available be in as much as in the late 20s some of them were we were a record. And if they had reached a fairly high degree of sophistication by that time we can say that they probably started quite a few years before they're now of course we don't have documentation of recordings but we do have the handed down apprenticed kind of playing from one player to another. I'll give you an example of some of the earlier keyboard play.

Now immediately one would say in characterizing something like this will fly all in the lower register. Well I know some players would play there is another another player let's say might play the same type of thing in twos for his interpretation of the same tune. Right now these kind of blues players are

closer to the boogie woogie type of music that we have already had a good deal of exposure to. I know that myself as a child I was fortunate enough to live very close to and had some early piano lessons from one of the blues players who is now dead meat looks Lois and who used to play things of this nature which were quite in the same vein as the last little thing I play that is closer to boogie woogie. Now let me give you an example. And so on. Now what is significant here is that you can hear me luks was also playing this kind of situation where you have the same notes involve the same

bass fundamental bass and so on. And so on. Now what is significant here is that middle Oxalis generally use the same bass notes but in a highly much more sophisticated blues frame of reference. Notice these No. Repetitious Yes they are time keepers. There's a great unifying factor in these chords. After all we're dealing with a linear situation. Which is actually giving us.

It's us in a sense it's a major triad with both a major third and a minor third. Major of the collection. Now what is happening was a relinquishing of this constant time which has its roots in ragtime and boogie woogie. Listen to the same notes. You know here we have a temple and we have a temple very

at the ease of the performer in other words this is the blues player this blues player is saying that he is in time when he wants to be in time he is out of time when he wants to be made like snow was of course not the only example of this kind of player we have of course early players like Montana Taylor Romeo Nelson they many times Lincoln lean to an out of time. Rubato kind of playing. Also you hear the early these early players Montana Taylor Romeo Nelson particularly lean heavily towards these in time sort of train basis. These are sort of training bases there were imitations of in the sense trains but they're also study time people remember we're dealing with inventive piano players that had to find ways to keep time all by themselves. They're not playing in groups or anything at this time they're keeping time and with a very minimal harmony. There are only three chords.

Many times only two in the early blues. Of course this is inherent in the idea and in the idea of melody here the feel chance for instance that we only have you know change of harmony one chord one frame of reference and all elaboration over there. But when we get let's say to the to the end of the first period life feel the first period of blues players all sorts of very elaborate kinds of playing would take place. Let me give you an example here of an attunement Romeo Nelson have done a number of times under various titles and I only played just a little part of it to show you just a little bit of the melodic elaboration noticed by the way that the treatment of the triads in the in the train bass in the left hand. Here we have almost a synthesis of styles. The ragtime E

kind of bass but yet not right Tony because it is considered stylistically beyond it had chromaticism in it by that. It was no longer just that it was. And so on the right hand was even more elaborate you know as much as we had no some very pianistic. Easy. Not easy things to do and particularly at this period in history where we have people or blues players travelling about learning obviously two things one about the piano too about how to apply what they feel about music to this instrument.

Now this presents a rather marvelous problem in the sense that each player that we talk about we have to talk about individually but as I said before we collectively would say that the blues player was could be characterized in the following way. One he was I to know and this meant that when he traveled around from place to place he would hear other players. And he would benefit no doubt from the good ones that hear heard and of course they would benefit from him. But as they travel they were not necessarily soloists they were soloist. Yes but they also had to accompany singers. They also had to perhaps work under various other conditions that they actually came into a contact with a good deal of music that is European music they read music. They were many of the very gifted but as the the evolution goes on they're coming into contact with more and more music. Well now

the blues player that could be classified I suppose historically in his own. Context as primitive at one point becomes very articulate very elaborate because of the way that the whole idea of playing has been now presented to him. He has learned to play other kinds of music for musics that had various other kinds of indications of playing chromatic passages rather complicated melodic passages that he would have to figure out fingering for or at least follow that that was indicated wherever that might be if it was or not is another question in many of these situations in as much as we're dealing a lot of the time with people who are writing music. Right on the spot not publish music that was coming from a large city or wherever but all of a sudden here is a new kind of music here's a new piece of music it might be a ballad it might be something that still sounded a little like ragtime but nevertheless the

blues players started to absorb not just the triad triadic music of the European culture that had of course was firmly transplanted here but he was learning the more intricate. The features of this music already the chromatic movements of the music already he had applied that kind of detail that kind of the ornamental aspect of that kind of music. Much of the elaborate frosting on the cake he was getting this but he was applying the technique to his own kind of music. In other words chromaticism in the beginning of the of this playing of sound for instance like this. Here. These are chromatic automatic phrases. These are chromatic many of the what we think of as being a

neighboring kind of notes the fact that we have or these are our neighboring kind of notes they're ornamental they're also by the way just another way of doing. And all of these things become rather involved in wrapped up in their own individual styles of course but the main thing is that we start to become aware of the blues player is now progressing to this type of play. Elaboration on the same analogies we would

start out with saying they were sort of primitive little nobodies and so on when they're not. The fact of the matter is that when you have only this dimension to create it becomes very very marvelous thing that someone can sit with three middle chords or even two and four hours set and play marvelously intricate very beautiful. By the way. Blues in the sense are there's a great beauty in blues music whether it's sad or happy and by the way of course there are different kinds of blues but there's a great beauty. A lot of people talk about the beauty in the elaboration of blues and it's very very prevalent in many of these players now. When we come to the stage of the game that harmony starts to become again a. Component. Something to be thought of with these players. We find it already problematic kinds of alterations modifications have come you know and we no longer have

the playing that might be characterized by. Which is a little bit. Still looking back rather than forward all the sudden we're getting much more sophistication let's say when we're getting into the 30s. Particularly there's a great different difference between the kinds of plans we're playing that we run into between the late 20s and early 30s. Now this of course has to do mainly with players that are traveling to larger areas that are becoming much more sophisticated in their styles of play. By the way there is a very marvelous kind of thing that takes place in the situation let's say a player that comes from oh let's say St. Joe Missouri he leaves goes to Chicago four years later he makes

recording the recording finds its way back to St. Joe or wherever it came from and people of course know him hear him. And of course turn what he has done into something slightly different the players that are still left there. But they're getting no sophistication anyway coming from his reaction to the bigger larger cities the more urban situation without even leaving town. Getting back to this business of the 30s and that style of play we find that the differences that are taking place are mainly differences in detail. Let me give you a short example and then we'll talk about it just just a moment. You know immediately we can see a lot of elaborations going. We no longer

have just. One so now we have. More. Various kinds of diminished chords are now creeping into it. Chromatic alterations. But the main thing to understand I think at this point is the sophistication the fact that somebody can go. Noticed. All of these are very important notes there chromatic notes they're starting to point

more ways more sophisticated ways of getting the one chord to another. And later on of course it's not too long before the player himself starts to follow. With harmonized versions such as. Same. With with of course harmonize and and not only that but he is ready to elaborate with no. He's getting to a point where he says. No of course one thing that we can overlook is no matter what we say about elaboration we still seem have never lost. These kinds of basic things well this of course is inherent on any

player whoever we're going to listen to. But today of course you're listening to me but another time I'm going to do these things no matter what I'm going to play. You probably noticed I never played these things the same way. Even as examples if I did I would be kidding. Because if you're going to do this truthfully and do these examples the way you seem to want to express them they would have to be changing all the time but have a certain characteristic that would be generally acceptable as being something stable in the playing that you would say well I have heard that before I think it was sort of like that it was sort of like this well this is the best you can do about it. Now at this point let's discover some of the other sophistications First of all the first pieces that we came to many of them were quite fast or gave the illusion of being fast by the way this is something that we find today in a lot of the popular music. I'm stating no in rhythm and blues and things of that nature that we have

tempos that are given such as this. How is that 1 2 3 4 or is that 1 2 3 4 or is that 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4. Well if we would listen to another hand we would say it's this. What we're doing again is discussing two things at the same time. One there is a variable right. It is in several different tempi. If you will and against a stable left hand figure that changes according to the right hand you will understand it in terms of how the right hand tells you to understand. Now this

business will that we're at now is a sort of a focal point very important part historically in the Blues player's life and the history of the blues player because in the time that we're talking about now the 30s coming to the 40s many people in the jazz world start to hear and listen to and aren't influenced by the blues player. And a blues player at the same time is beginning to be influenced by the more sophisticated aspects of jazz music. James drew composer and assistant professor of the theory of music and the first professor to teach an Afro-American music course at Yale talking about and illustrating blues keyboard music. Next week Mr. Drew will bring us to modern keyboard styles. Scripts of all Gale reports programs are available without charge by writing to Yale reports 1773 Yale station New Haven Connecticut 0 6 5 2 0. This program originates in the audio visual center of Yale University.

Any RS special of the week Thanks Yale University for the recording of this program. This is any are the national educational radio network.