"Before the Music Dies"

Simply put, making money is first and foremost in the eyes of large record labels.  They do not always have the best interest of promoting the highest quality of music.  Sadly, the person that can make the quickest buck for the label is the first to be signed while the talented original musician is left behind.  Check out the trailer to the documentary "Before the Music Dies" which dives into the inner workings of the music industry.  The full film (roughly an hour and a half) is also linked below.  HIGHLY recommended.





Below is the full documentary hosted on HULU.



"With outstanding performances and revealing interviews Before the Music Dies takes a critical look at the homogenization of popular music with commentary by some of the industry's biggest talents like Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews, Elvis Costello, Erykah Badu, Branford Marsalis, Bonnie Raitt and more. Using historic footage the film looks at the evolution of American music and the artists who created it and pulls back the curtain (in a very creative way) to expose the sad truth behind today's "artificial" music stars. "The reality is that superficiality is in," says Marsalis. "And depth and quality is kind of out." Inspired by the death of his brother, director Andrew Shapter and his crew traveled thousands of miles, visiting dozens of cities, speaking with hundreds of fans, journalists, record executives and musicians while searching for "real" American music. What they found were mega-talents without a major label, including one artist Eric Clapton believes is "the real thing."

"The Sidewinder" by Lee Morgan

Factoids:

• Album released in 1964 with 6 tracks
• the Album was entitled after the first track "The Sidewinder"
• All six tracks were original compositions by Lee Morgan and five of the six were heavily blues influenced
• Artists on the album
• Lee Morgan (trumpet), Joe Henderson (Tenor sax), Billy Higgins (Drums), Barry Harris (piano), Bob Cranshaw (Bass)
• Critics label it "soul jazz"
• The entire album influenced the format of many future albums by having a long funky blues-based chart followed by more hard bop tunes
• Chrysler car company used "The Sidewinder" in television commercial advertisements 
• Listen for:
• the chord structure is based on the 12 bar blues - The Sidewinder is 24 measures
• I7 (8 bars) |  IV7 (4 bars) |  I7 (3 bars) | iii7 VI7b9 (1 bar) | ii7 V7 (4 bars) | 17 (3 bars) | break on the last bar
• the use of repetition in the head, piano accompaniment, & bass line
• Lee Morgan (at the 2:17 mark) pulls a lick from the head in his improvisation to give structure and foundation to his solo

Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown (ULHS)

Factoids:

• Jazz has an extensive history that is directly tied to culture & its current events
• Lindy Hop - danced based on the popular Charleston dance step.  It evolved in Harlem, NYC in the 1920's and 1930's.  Lindy is a fusion of many dances from jazz, tap, breakaway, and Charleston
• When Bebop style music came around in nightclubs in the late 40's and 50's, there were signs that strictly prohibited lindy hop dance
• This made bebop seem very "elitist".  Many people hated Bebop because they just simple "didn't get it" since it was a radical change from playing in large swing bands to small combos playing tunes and improvising seemingly at the speed of light
• Listen to the band in the background
• Listen how the soloists use their range when improvising to rise above the chatter of the people 

"I Adore You" by Esperanza Spalding

Factoids:

• Born 1984
• Esperanza recently won the Grammy award for "Best New Artist" in 2011
• first jazz artist to ever win the award in the Grammy's 53 years
• Jazz bassist and vocalist who arranges and composes
• She started on the violin at a very young age and then discovered the bass at 15
• she also plays the guitar, oboe, and clarinet
• Attended the Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship
• Upong graduating she was hired by the college of music
• At the age of 20, she was the youngest professor ever hired at Berklee
• Her music pulls from world sounds as inspiration
• this particular song is influenced by Brazilian music
• she does a pretty sweet solo where she improvises & scats at the same time

"Malaguena" performed by the Stan Kenton Orchestra

History:

• Latin tune first arranged for jazz big band by Bill  Holman
• Stan Kenton Orchestra's 1961 album "Adventures in Jazz"
• Stan Kenton is known for usng alternative instruments in his band
• This recording, Kenton even mentions the use of the "mellophoniums"
• it was used to "bridge the gap" between the trombone and trumpet sections
• He used a 4 man mellophonium section between the years 1961-1963 to create 11 albums
• Upon his death in 1979, he donated his entire music collection to the music department of The University of North Texas (A collegiate jazz powerhouse)
• There is a recital hall in the University of North Texas named after Stan Kenton
• Listen to the intensity that his band plays with
• all of the phrases use a contant air stream with energy
• The complexity of the Latin rhythms

"Take the A Train" by Billy Strayhorn

History:

• Written by Billy Strayhorn (piano) in 1939
• ASCAP (American Society of  Composers and Publishers) raised their broadcasting fees in 1940
• This made it very expensive to play live recordings over the radio (compositions by ASCAP members - Ellington was a member)
• Most radios hired bands to perform live over the air to broadcast to a jazz hungry audience
• Strayhorn, a non-ASCAP member, was playing in Ellington's band at the time and composed this as The Duke Ellington Orchestra's new "signature" jazz chart
• Duke Ellington is considered one of America's best composers (he wrote over 1000 compositions)
• Billy Strayhorn collaborated with Duke Ellington for almost 30 years
• Duke Ellington's band was a symbol of racial equality - it toured around the country with both black and white jazz performers
• That is Duke Ellington playing the opening piano solo in this video clip
• The Duke Ellington Orchestra still tours the world to this day 
• after Duke's death, Mercer Ellington (his son) took over as bandleader and it is currently being led by Paul Ellington