Jazz for aficionados

rok, Nappy said it during the battle as the "Old Guard " was in full retreat.


Sincere wishes for A Happy New Year 

Hi O-10:  here is your question:  "If this music was written out, do you think the classical musicians could play it, and make the music sound as though it wasn't faked?"  

I must admit to being a little puzzled here, especially by the second half of the question.  If they are playing it, then it is not faked, so I really don't understand what you are asking there.  The answer to the first part of the question is of course they would have the ability to play it!  Again, I am puzzled as to why you think they might not??  

What they would not have the ability to do is to improvise those notes on the spot like those musicians are doing.  There is nothing that is played in that clip that would be beyond their technical ability by a long shot.  They would of course  not sound exactly the same as the musicians in the clip, but I don't think that is what you meant.  They certainly wouldn't have the same "feel" as these musicians do, who play in that style all the time.   They could imitate the style pretty well with practice, but you would be still be able to tell the difference.  Sort of like you can almost always tell the difference between a native speaker of a language and one who has learned a lot about it but doesn't speak it very much.  I think and hope this answers your question?? If not, please continue!  

As far as the complexity of that music, it isn't very complex at all.  Perhaps the speed and number of the notes is giving you the illusion that it is, but it is actually just a simple duet - in fact, the two soloists are almost never playing together.  The beat is pretty simple and steady, as is the bass line and harmony.   This is a big part of the reason the soloists can do what they are doing  -  the piece is a showcase for their technical and improvisatory talents.  The rest of it is a very simple framework that they can play around in.   

Just because someone is playing very fast does not necessarily mean it is particularly difficult, by the way.  Let me use Kenny G as an example of this - most of the crap he plays is just noodling around on very simple patterns, very fast, and he is miked so much that he doesn't actually have to expend much physical effort.   

Last time I was at a jazz club?  Last night, to hear a close friend and his group.  

       

Hello again, O-10.  Now to explain more about the doublers.  Let's take the first four woodwind books in your Phantom list.  

Woodwind 1 is Flute and Piccolo.  Yes, this is technically two instruments, so it is a double.  However, all piccolo players started on and still play the flute.  There is no such thing as someone who only plays the piccolo.  That said, a great many flute players want no part of learning the piccolo.  In a big symphony orchestra, the third flute player usually is officially the piccolo player (or the second player, in a smaller orchestra).  

Same thing with Woodwind 3, Oboe and English Horn.  Again, the English Horn is always played by an oboist, there is no such thing as someone who only plays English horn, they all started on and still play oboe.  Again, in a big symphony, the third oboist would officially be the English Horn player.  

Woodwind 4 is technically 3 instruments, so a triple.  Again, though, they are all clarinets, and there is no such thing as someone who only plays the smaller E-flat, or the larger bass.  They all started on and still play the regular B-flat (and A) clarinets.  However, in a big symphony orchestra, usually the second clarinet player plays the E-flat, and the third clarinet player plays the bass.  So this triple is a little more unusual than the first two.  There aren't too many clarinetists that would play all three really well, speaking of the top level, anyway.

Woodwind 2, flute and clarinet, is what I would call a true "woodwind doubler", two totally different instruments.  This is the only one of the five that is a book that only a true "woodwind doubler" specialist could play.  

And speaking of the Frogman, I'm sure he has done doubling work before, being extremely proficient on both clarinet and sax.  No sax in Phantom, though.  I think he would corroborate the above.  A flute player who plays piccolo well can get more gig opportunities.  Same with an oboist who plays English horn well, and a clarinet player who decides to learn the E-flat or bass clarinets well.  Someone who is a principal player in a large orchestra, however, may never play those other instruments, and may never have, except out of curiosity in a practice room.  

And Frogman, if you see anything to correct or hopefully clarify in either of my posts today, by all means chime in!  

Schubert:

Yesterday, here at the local Texas State Veterans cemetery..   Thought it might interest you.


[url]http://kdhnews.com/news/local/more-than-attend-funeral-for-vietnam-veteran-billy-david-hill/article_...[/url]

Thanks rok. I was a Plt. Sgt and my chopper was shot down, several times. Pathfinders motto is "First in, last out "
To each his own and all, but I told all and sundry if I fell to leave me just where I fell and move on , God could find my atoms wherever  they were
and  he did not love one piece of ground more than another .