Re: Hal Leonard Jazz Combo Pak Pdf Download
Gifford Brickley
Now that's about the last sound in the world you'd expect to hear in Philharmonic Hall, isn't it? Sounds more like your next-door neighbor's radio, or the Newport Jazz Festival. And yet, that's a sound that's been coming more and more often into our American concert halls, ever since American composers began trying, about forty years ago, to get some of the excitement and natural American feeling of jazz into their symphonic music.
Now because Mr. Schuller is such a fine conductor, as well as a composer, I have invited him to come conduct his piece himself; and I will step down and become the speaker taking my orders from him. So without any further explanation, here is Gunther Schuller's third-stream composition, Journey into Jazz, with a narration written by the well-known jazz critic Nat Hentoff; and here is Gunther Schuller himself.
[ORCH: Schuller - Journey into Jazz]
By the time he was five, Peter had his own toy trumpet. At six, he was given a phonograph that was as small and sturdy as he. And at seven, a transistor radio was added to help satisfy Peter's huge hunger for music.
The door was then closed. And from that day on, the sign appeared and remained in place from three to six every afternoon. From behind the door, Peter's parents could hear the trumpet, or the phonograph playing Prokofiev or the radio playing Rossini.
Soon Peter had a real trumpet and a real teacher whose tastes in music were as strong as Peter's. Peter's parents began to hear scales. First simple scales that soared slowly and floated back down again, sometimes stumbling on the way.
Soon Peter and his teacher began to play duets. Gradually, it became difficult to tell Peter apart from his teacher, and by the time he was fourteen, Peter was a most accomplished and exceedingly proud trumpet player. There was no music printed that he couldn't read.
Peter sadly trudged home. He thought and thought and finally realized that on all the records he had heard, he had been listening only to the trumpet player, and not to what the other musicians were doing. So Peter began to listen to his records in a new way.
Now we're going to hear that same Piano Concerto, thirty-seven years later; and I want you to realize that the kind of jazz you'll be hearing is from another time. It's jazz of the twenties, full of Charleston rhythms, boop-poop-a-doops, and a certain Gershwin-like sentimentality. And the wonderful thing is that, old as it is, it still sounds as fresh and charming and full of zip as it did in 1927.
Now, to end this exciting look into jazz in the concert hall, we're going to come back to the music of today, and see what our younger composers are up to. We've brought back our jazz combo (or three fifths of it, as you see), to play for you an unusual and strange new work by a young Californian named Larry Austin. Mr. Austin is as serious a composer as you can find anywhere; he is a master of all the techniques of modern music, and, at the age of thirty-three, he is an assistant professor of music at the University of California. So this is no tossed-off stuff, but a really serious symphonic piece.
The other thing that makes this piece so special is the amount of improvisation that goes on in it. There are two times during the music when we long-hairs just stop playing, and let the combo invent whatever notes they happen to feel at the time. And even more unusual is the fact that certain members of the Philharmonic are also asked to improvise, every now and then, and that's a new wrinkle.
Jazz has a long and storied history at WSU. Wichita has historically been a popular stop on concert tours for many of the famous jazz musicians. Our partnership with the Wichita Jazz Festival, the longest-running educational jazz festival in the nation, continues today and brings our jazz students into contact with some of the best and brightest of the jazz world.
Jazz Studies alumni have gone on to do great things. The ranks of great players to come through WSU include NYC drummer Matt Wilson (student of J.C. Combs), current Assistant Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan Andrew Bishop, current WSU Professor of Jazz Piano John Goering and Professor of Jazz Trumpet Scott Strecker, vocalist with the Air Force Band Blue Steel Julie Bradley, and LA-based bassist Edward Livingston.
Interested undergraduate students should check out our future students page or click here to find out more about auditioning for the School of Music. Those interested in Graduate work should see our graduate information page for more or email David MacDonald, our Graduate Coordinator, to get started.
The WSU School of Music and the Jazz Studies area requires an audition on the major instrument for all first year, transfer students and graduate students. The audition determines acceptance into the School of Music. Your audition will be performed for representative members of the music performance faculty. In the Jazz Studies area, a live, on-campus audition is required for full acceptance and for scholarship consideration.
If you are a prospective undergraduate student and you live prohibitively far from WSU, you may submit a recording for entrance and consideration for scholarships. All prospective graduate students must complete a live, on-campus audition.
While the WSU Jazz Studies Department is a competitive area in the School of Music, we recognize that musicians develop at different rates and we encourage all hardworking students to apply. We recommend that you contact a member of the WSU Jazz Faculty directly to schedule a lesson in order to receive feedback prior to taking an audition.
Students should be prepared to perform three tunes of varying styles (swing, Latin, ballad, waltz, etc.) with a backing track. Students will be asked to play the melody and improvise over the chord changes. Memorization of materials is encouraged but not required. Tunes should be selected from the standard jazz repertoire, the likes of which can be found in leadsheet form in resources such as The Real Book (6th edition, Hal Leonard, multiple volumes) and the Jamey Aebersold Play-A-Long series. The following list offers a handful of suggested tunes:
Rhythm instruments should also be prepared to demonstrate comping skills (piano, guitar), or walking (bass). Drumset auditionees will be asked to demonstrate a variety of styles including but not limited to: swing, up-tempo, Latin styles, rock/funk, brushes, waltz, trading fours.
Students should be prepared to perform three tunes of varying styles (swing, Latin, ballad, waltz, etc.) with a backing track . Students will be asked to play the melody and improvise over the chord changes. All materials must be memorized, and tune selection should reflect a graduate-level understanding of jazz repertoire. The following list offers a handful of suggested tunes:
The degree in Jazz Studies at WSU currently consists of the Bachelor of Music in Jazz and Contemporary Media. We also offer a MM in Music Performance in applied instrumental performance to jazz students who wish to pursue graduate studies at WSU.
The Jazz area also has a Graduate Teaching Assistantship available. This person assists the Director of Jazz Studies and is an integral part of the WSU Jazz Invitational, part of the Wichita Jazz Festival. To inquire about graduate study, please contact William Flynn, the Director of Jazz Studies.
Jazz Scholarships are available to any and all undergraduate students based on academic performance while in high school. We are also pleased to be able to offer two scholarships to jazz studies students:
The Bill Thomson Scholarship is awarded to especially qualified undergraduate students in jazz studies. The Glen and Celia Goering Music Scholarship is awarded to an outstanding incoming freshman in jazz studies.
Prerequisites: For Jazz Studies Majors, you must be enrolled for private lessons for acceptance into Jazz Arts Ensemble I. For non-majors, you must be enrolled in lessons or Improvisation I or II.
Description: The Jazz Arts Ensemble is a traditional 19-piece big band jazz ensemble selected each year through an audition process. WSU's Jazz Arts Ensemble is part of the Jazz Studies curriculum, and the ensemble puts on two concerts each semester. The Jazz Arts Ensemble may also perform at public and private functions throughout the Wichita community, and for WSU special events. Jazz Arts has consistently been selected to perform at state, regional and national conferences, and festivals and has performed with notable guest artists. The repertoire of the ensemble consists of high-level arrangements of varying styles, including swing, Latin, rock, and pop charts, as well as new compositions. The Jazz Arts Ensemble welcome the opportunity to work with arrangers and composers on new projects.
Description: The Jazz Combo program at Wichita State University is an alternative and supplement to the large ensembles of the Jazz Studies curriculum. All Jazz Combos perform two concerts each semester. Students who are enrolled in 411M/711M are required to have one or two additional performances outside of school each semester (respectively). Juries for Jazz Studies majors will take place at the end of each semester through a performance with their combos. Combos are required to perform a minimum of five different tunes per semester, and are strongly encouraged to create original arrangements and compose original tunes. The coordinator will give guidance and assistance when necessary/appropriate.
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