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Below I discuss some of my compositional ideas and approaches
to improvisation, outlining the types of scales I employ and examining
my use of rapid harmonic movement. I discuss compositional use
of musical problems to spark an improviser's creativity, freedom
for players to voice their own musical identities via interpretation,
the unique capabilities of guitar as a compositional and ensemble
instrument, and jazz style as a reflection of personal idiosyncrasy.
I wrote the compositions on this recording between 1995 and 1999.
Most of my compositions are nondiatonic, and are derived from
other scales and modes such as those of the "jazz melodic
minor scale," where both the ascending and descending halves
of the scale are identical: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; the symmetrical
dominant scale: 1, 2(-9), 3(+9), 3, +11, 5, 6(13), 7,
8; and the harmonic minor scale. Most are characterized by frequent
modulations to unrelated tonal centers and liberal use of chromatic
alteration in chord and melody tones. As a result I've ceased
writing with a key signature, but generally let each bar speak
for itself, writing in accidentals as needed.
As a child it used to fascinate me to lie flat on the grass and
peer under the blades at the teeming, hidden world of insects.
Rapid harmonic movement reminds me of the microcosmic world of
insects just under the deceptively placid surface of lawns. The
chords and tonal centers for compositions which feature this sort
of movement may not have readily identifiable relationships in
the traditional sense (such as a ii V I), but they still bear
interesting intervallic relationships. Like bugs weaving through
grass stems the shifting meanings of individual notes against
a backdrop of rapidly changing harmony is fascinating to observe
and plot.
As in most jazz lead sheets, in my pieces chords are written above
the melody line, giving the improviser cues as to the scale used
for that portion of the composition. Almost invariably I write
the entire melody line in an organic, non-analytical process then
I go back and analyze it for what scales I used or what chords
are implied, creating a harmonic structure for the piece based
on what I observe going on in it. This system is more complicated
(and grueling) than the more common practice of creating a harmonic
progression and then writing a melody for it, or fitting a melody
over a "traveling" form, such as "Rhythm Changes."
But the results of writing the melody first are often unusual
and unexpected. The composer doesn't have to force melody into
a possibly restricting form, but allows it to go where it will,
like water carving out a streambed.
Frequently I use my compositions to pose musical problems which
then must be dealt with by both the listener and the performer
of the piece, who ultimately also improvises over the structure.
The general problem is how to move quickly from one tonal center
to another. But I also pose more specific musical problems. For
example, in the 12 bar composition "Bail," the first
8 bars are in 4/4, bars 9 and 10 are in 5/4, and then it returns
to 4/4 for the last two bars. In "Kindergarten," I wrote
something akin to a modified blues in G which quickly substitutes
an excursion into the D harmonic minor scale for the IV7 chord
in bars five and six. It then picks up again with modified blues
changes from the 7th bar to the end. It's not a blues at all,
but uses the concept of the blues as a jumping off point for a
new idea. Departures from the expected heighten tension and increase
harmonic interest. They also give the improviser challenging sections
to pass through prior to resolution. In this way, the music is
served because it makes the performance more edgy and electric.
"Lazybones" is a polytonal piece. The first 9 bars are
over Eb harmonic structures: Eb+7, Ebmi7 and Eb7, but the melody
is basically in Ab minor pentatonic. The improviser can use Ab
or Eb as a tonal center during these passages or both. In
the middle portion, some challenging dominant 7th cycles occur
and still later the piece becomes a vehicle for the whole tone
scale. I wrote it so that players would have the opportunity for
a sustained excursion into melodic ideas generated by the whole
tone scale. Usually our opportunities for use of this scale are
somewhat fleeting.
Sometimes the problems I pose for myself and others are in the
form of musical practical jokes: in "Gargantua" I open
with a short motif which starts as a pick-up note on beat 4. After
a slight development, the same motif reenters on beat 1 of bar
3. Later in the tune, this same motif and the opening developments
are recapped starting on beat 2 of bar 16 and then repeat at beat
3 of bar 18. The motif is rhythmically displaced each time so
that it's never played in the same place twice.
Gargantua, has a 22 bar form. Instead of always using set 24 bar
or 32 bar forms typical of jazz compositions, if I feel the composition
warrants it, I'll sometimes write a piece with a less usual number
of bars. Interestingly, just prior to recording I changed the
solo form for Gargantua from being an exact mirror of the compositional
form, with 22 bars and unexpected places of resolution, to an
easier 24 bar solo form and more conventional points of chordal
resolution. For years, bassist Bruce Grafrath and I tried to improvise
over Gargantua's more difficult compositional form, usually with
errors and confusion. I recently concluded that while it's one
thing to impose a problem like this on a player who is at liberty
to memorize a melody and then execute it, it's unconducive to
the process of zoning out that helps an improviser reach the musical
version of automatic writing.
This brings me to some other philosophical points of consideration
regarding improvisation. I do specify the melody of the composition
and which chords I want played in which bar, but the musicians
are free to interpret my pieces to a degree that would probably
be unacceptable in music other than jazz. For instance, I don't
usually write out bass lines, although I will occasionally request
that the bassist or the drummer throw in a particular effect or
end on a certain note. I want each player to bring something of
him or herself to the piece. In that way an element of chance
and also personal idiosyncrasy enters into the execution. Naturally
this is exemplified best by the improvisational or solo section,
but like most jazz performance personal freedom is part of the
written portion as well. I have written some arrangements for
horns (not heard on this trio recording) in which all the parts
are written out. But I do expect some slight deviation even from
written parts, especially in phrasing, in order to accommodate
the musical personality and wisdom of the player.
To begin with, the instrument is capable of an astounding range,
from the E on the first ledger line below the bass clef to the
A on the first ledger line above the treble clef - over three
octaves. Guitar brings out interesting compositional elements
because like any instrument it naturally lends itself better to
some ideas than others. Pieces written on a guitar add something
fresh to the jazz repertoire and force other instrumentalists
to think along different lines. Again, the timbre of chords played
on guitar and perhaps the restriction of, at the most, six notes
per chord, but more usually four, gives the guitar trio a distinctively
open quality. In the bass this open quality is even more pronounced.
The openess of both guitar and bass gives a soloist room to deviate
from the written structure, because chordal clashes are less apparent
than with the piano, for example. One of my favorite improvisational
techniques is to move from one scale to another that it shares
many scale tones with. For example over a Cmi7, I might move from
C Dorian scale into the Bb altered dominant scale, which hints
at the V7 via its tritone substitution B7, adding colors 9,
+9, -5 and +5. The bassist may fleetingly play a 7, or Bb
while I'm playing a B, but it's less apparent than it would be
if a pianist played a B. This approach to harmony heightens tension
by challenging the structure and forces me as an improviser into
both a predicament and the search for a solution.
The pieces on BAIL! were
written using "swing 8ths" as opposed to "straight
8ths." This is a reflection of my personal aesthetic, not
because I believe in adhering rigidly to one idea or another.
Jazz has developed like a tree with many branches and includes
a rich and broad spectrum of musical concepts, reflecting both
the interior and the experiences of the people who play it and
compose it. For that reason I think that jazz compositions should
be just as idiosyncratic as the people who write them and not
purposely locked into an interminable rehashing of yesteryear's
ideas or tendencies. While my compositions challenge the status
quo, at the same time they stem from the jazz tradition and are
part of the living tree of jazz.
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