jerry bergonzi - jerry bergonzi solos - setting standards

1Jerry Bergonzi Solos, Setting Standards

2 Jerry Bergonzi Solos, Setting Standards

Transcription And AnalysisBy

Miles Osland

Dorn Publications, Inc.P.O. Box 206

Medfield, Massachusetts 02052© Copyright 1994

All Rights ReservedPrinted In USA

International Copyright Secured

Jerry Bergonzi Solos

Setting Standards


THE TUNES ..................................................................................................... 3

THE RECORDINGS .......................................................................................... 5

OTHER THOUGHTS ......................................................................................... 6ON RECORDING ..................................................................................... 6ON ARTICULATION................................................................................. 6ON PRACTICING ..................................................................................... 7ON TRANSCRIPTION BOOKS.................................................................. 7

DISCOGRAPHY OF TRANSCRIPTIONS ............................................................ 7

TRANSCRIPTIONSMcCoy ............................................................................................................JAB ................................................................................................................Arbonius Unt .................................................................................................Conjunction ...................................................................................................A Different Look ............................................................................................I Ching Reading ............................................................................................On the Brink ..................................................................................................Tilt (Take 2) ...................................................................................................Red’s Blues ...................................................................................................

NOTE FROM THE AUTHORI would like to thank Tom Christensen (On the Brink, Tilt) and Rick DiMuzio

(Red’s Blues) for their dedicated assistance in the transcription process. I would alsolike to thank Larry Nelson and David Henderson for the painstaking job they accom-plished in transferring the notes, chords and articulations into the music printingsoftware, Finale, for this project. And finally, Jerry Bergonzi for his thoughts on eachtranscribed solo in the introductory remarks of this book. These are in regular type,and my additional remarks follow Jerry’s, in italics.

Miles Osland

Jerry Bergonzi SolosSetting StandardsTABLE OF CONTENTS


Miles Osland is currently Director of Jazz Studies and Professor of Saxophone at the Universityof Kentucky where he teaches jazz arranging, jazz pedagogy, studio saxophone, and saxophone

quartets. He is also the director of the University of Kentucky Jazz Ensemble and MEGA-SAX.An active performer, his credits include appearances with Doc Severinsen, Mel Torme, Clare

Fischer, The Temptations, the Rochester (NY) and Lexington (KY) Philharmonic Orchestras, andmany others. As a clinician for the Selmer Company, he is highly sought after around the countryas a guest conductor, arranger, composer and performer.

He has received numerous awards and grants including fellowships from the Kentucky ArtsCouncil and the National Endowment for the Arts for his original arrangements and compositionswhich are published by Walrus Music.

A busy recording artist, his debut recording Saxercise was recommended for a Grammy nomina-tion by NightLife Records, and was chosen as the featured recording for the Jazzsouth radio show,which is broadcast on over one hundred twenty-five radio stations nationally. A recording by theMiles Osland Little Big Band will be available on the SeaBreeze label in late 1994. He also recordsand tours nationally with the Top Brass Quartet, and they have recently released their first record-ing titled Artistic Growth.

Mr. Osland received his education at two of the finest music schools in the country. At CaliforniaState University, Northridge, he received his Bachelor’s degree in woodwind performance, and fromEastman School of Music he received his Master’s degree in Jazz and Contemporary Media. Milesblends his bi-coastal experience as a performer/educator with great success. Under his directionthe UK Jazz Ensemble, UK Saxophone Quartet, and MEGA-SAX have won critical acclaim with theirrecordings and performances. Three recordings by the UKJE have received “four-star” reviews fromDownbeat magazine, and the UK Studio Orchestra and the UK Saxophone Quartet won top honorsin their categories in the 14th Annual Student DeeBee Awards presented by the same publication.

In the field of research, his endeavors are varied. He writes for Saxophone Journal and JazzPlayer, penning regular popular articles titled “Creative Jazz Improvisation,” and “Expressive Tech-niques,” respectively.


McCoyThis tune is a

blues in twodifferent keys: Fand Ab (concertpitch). What Itried to accom-plish with thistune and solowas make thepiece flow as if itwere a blues in one key. I tried to make itsound seamless, in a way. When I’m in thekey of F and going to Ab, I use a lot of theblue notes in F, one of which is Ab. Bluenotes in the key of F are great notes in thekey of Ab, and the blue notes in the key ofAb can also work in the key of F. There are alot of common tones between the two keyswhich I try to get. Even though I play a lot ofnotes in this solo, I’m trying to get the soundof playing seamless.

Jerry states the melody very freely in thebeginning, which is the first twenty-four bars ofthe transcription. After the head, there are fourchoruses of blowing.

JABThere’s a lot of diminished harmonies in

this tune. For example, in the second bar onthe Dbl3 b9 chord (concert pitch), you canthink of using the symmetrical diminishedscale (whole-step/half-step scale). You cando the same with the fourth (F#13 b9) andeighth (A13 b9) bars. Ninety percent of thetime, if I see a diminished chord, I’ll think

down a majorthird and usethe symmetricaldominant scale(half-step/whole-step). Forexample, if I seea C# diminishedchord I canthink A domi-nant. I’m reallynot a diminished

thinker. As soon as I see a diminished chordI think, “What dominant chord does thisfunction as? Do I feel like playing a sym-metrical diminished, altered, or harmonicminor starting on the fifth?” All of thosescales work. After awhile, when you know allthe different structures, you don’t even haveto think about it anymore. You just go whereyour line takes you. On the bridge I have ashort vamp, then in the fifth and sixth bars Igo into Giant Steps type changes (cycle ofdescending major thirds).

On this recording, there’s not much of theoriginal melody in my statement, I’m justplaying it fairly freely. A ballad is my favoritetempo to play, because I can feel totally freerhythmically. I can float the time, or I canarticulate it.

The form of this entire track on the recording(and transcription) is AABA, BA, plus a shortcadenza. I notated the A sections in slow 4/4ballad tempo. The rhythm section goes into adouble-time feel on both of the bridges, so Inotated the B sections as such. I’ve included alead sheet of “JAB” because Jerry only hints

THE TUNESWhile playing, I’m not thinking in a conventional way, I’m invit-

ing what I play. I’m not conscious of most of the following param-eters that are discussed. The concepts or ways of thinking of thesetunes are usually done after the fact. The following statements areafterthoughts, and are certainly valid in that light.

Jerry Bergonzi


at the melody in his AABA statement. Use thelead sheet to compare the melody in it’s origi-nal form to his improvised statement of thetune.

ARBONIUS UNTThis tune was named after my deaf cat.

He’s been adopted by somebody else nowbecause I’ve been out on the road so much.This is one of the few tunes I’ve composedwhere I wrote the melody first. I used to hearArbonius Unt jump on the piano, walk allover the keys, and make some of the strang-est melodies you’d ever want to hear. Hewouldn’t even know he was making a soundbecause he’s one hundred percent deaf. Ithought I would try to write a melody thatsounded like what he was doing on thepiano. The melody during the A section isvery disjunct sounding, and it’s 14 bars long(which breaks down to 8 + 6). The bridge,which is 8 bars long, is a tongue-in-cheekreference to the tune Jeeper’s Creeper’s. Thechanges are fun to play on. It’s circular, youcan never really get a hold of this tune. Theprogression keeps going and you can’t grabit. With that in mind, it’s fun to play on. It’salso very challenging.

After an AABA statement of the head (alsoincluded), Jerry plays three choruses on anAAB form. He then follows those three cho-ruses with one final chorus back on an AABAform. Changing the structure of a tune fromAABA to AAB and back is another improvisa-tional device that Jerry likes to exploit in liveand recording situations.

CONJUNCTIONThe A section of this tune is also 14 bars

in length (like the A section in Arbonius Unt).I don’t start out thinking “I’m going to writea 14-bar section here,” it just happens thatway. While soloing over this 14 bar phraseI’m not thinking about the phrase structure,I’m thinking about soloing from melody tomelody and playing circular. This piece wascomposed at a particularly trying period inmy life, so it’s kind of a dark tune. Duringthis period the planet Saturn was conjunctwith Pluto. Speaking in astrological terms,the planet Saturn at this time was fourteendegrees in Leo, which is exactly where myPluto was when I was born. That’s why I

titled the piece Conjunction. Pluto and Sat-urn are both dark, mysterious planets.While writing this piece I was trying to com-pose something that sounded mysteriousand nebulous. I wouldn’t actually say dark,even though it sounds dark. With this re-cording I also tried to convey the aspect ofbeing magical.

On this recording, after a statement of thebridge by the rhythm, Jerry plays the melodywhich is the first 44 bars of the transcription.The form of “Conjunction” is AAB (14+14+16).After a piano chorus, Jerry plays two choruses.

A DIFFERENT LOOKI wrote this tune about a month before the

recording session for no particular reason. Iwanted this tune to sound very casual andeasy going. I achieved an interesting har-monic structure with this piece by using alot of different major tonal centers. When Iplay this tune with a rhythm section I havethe bass play in two and the drums in bro-ken four. I tell the guys “let’s take it easy,don’t get too excited.”

This piece is a perfect example of how Jerryapproaches a statement of a melody followedby an improvisation on the form. He thinks ofthe melody and his improvisation as one unit.His melodic statement flows perfectly into hischorus. The form of this composition is AABA.The A sections are 16 bars in length, and theB’s are 8. The transcription is comprised of astatement of the melody plus one improvisedchorus.

I CHING READINGThe challenge to this piece was making

my solo sound horizontal. There is a lot ofvertical motion in the changes. For example,during the A sections in bars 1-3 & 5-7, theroots of the minor seventh chords move inascending major thirds, while in the bridgebetween bars 1 & 2, 3 & 4, and 5 & 6, theroots move in descending major thirds. Themelody is also very vertical, so the challengewas to make my improvisation sound hori-zontal. During my solo I’m trying to get mylines to go in the same direction, and whenthe chord changes I’m trying to keep thesame idea going through the progressioninstead of having to go with the changes.


The form of the tune is AAB, and I’ve found Ienjoy soloing over that type of structure.

I’ve included Jerry’s statement of themelody so you can take note of the verticalnature that he mentions. His solo is threechoruses of AAB. The A sections are 12 bars inlength, the B’s are 8. During the period of thissession Jerry was heavily into playing over thebar lines using cross-rhythms. This solo is agood example of how he would execute thistechnique.

ON THE BRINKThis head is based on the changes of

Charlie Parker’s Confirmation, which is ablast to play on. This tune fits a lot of bills.In the course of an evening, if I feel likeplaying a medium tempo piece, it fits. It alsoworks as up tempo or latin. Of course this ishindsight, but what strikes me about thissolo, is that I’m just trying swing a little bitand have fun doing it. I play a little themethat you’ll find in the introduction (bars 1-6)and in the solo (beginning of the fourthchorus). I also have a lot of freedom har-monically and rhythmically throughout thistrack because I’m playing with just bass anddrums.

On this recording Jerry is swingin’ hard forsix and a half minutes non-stop. This cut isanother great example of how Jerry conceptu-alizes a tune in relation to an improvisation. Thetranscription consists of an unaccompaniedintroduction, the head, and five choruses ofblowing. Each idea flows perfectly into the nextas if it was one complete six and a half minutethought. The unaccompanied introduction isfour choruses long. Jerry vamps on the firsttwo bars of the progression, which extends thefirst A section of the intro by four bars. This isalso where the reoccurring improvised themeoriginates. The fourth chorus of the intro isABA.

TILTThis tune is a 24-bar minor blues which

gets tilted when the progression goes from aminor 7 chord to it’s parallel half-diminishedchord in bars 3, 7, 11 & 15. Thinking inconcert pitch, the progression goes to aBbmi7 (the minor four chord of the key) inthe ninth bar and turns into a Bbmi7b5 inbar 11, which is really functioning as an

altered C7 (V7 of the key) that gets us backto Fmi7 in the 13th bar. The Fmi7 then getstilted into another Fmi7b5, but this time itis functioning as an altered Db7 whichresolves to the GbMAJ7b5 in bar 17. I chosetake two to be transcribed because on therecording it felt like that version flowedbetter. This was because on take two Iplayed the melody twice, which put me morein the mood of the piece.

After two statements of the melody, whichis the first twenty-four bars of the transcription(repeated once), Jerry plays four choruses.

RED’S BLUESI wrote the melody to get a real bluesy

feeling, because the progression is complex.Red’s Blues is basically a blues in Bb, butby bar three I’m in a different key. In bar fiveI get to the four chord, but it’s a MAJ7. Tofinish out the progression, I go into a GiantSteps (ascending major thirds) type groove.After the EbMAJ7, there’s a IImi7-V7 into G,then a IImi7-V7 to B, which functions as abIIMAJ7, that leads us back to the IImi7-V7to Bb7. After I wrote this complicated, al-most awkward progression, I intentionallywrote a melody that sounded simplistic.

On this recording, after the statement of themelody (included in lead sheet form), MulgrewMiller plays 13 choruses, followed by Jerry’seleven choruses of Coltrane-type changes onthe blues.

THE RECORDINGS

STANDARD GONZ(McCoy, JAB, Arbonius Unt, Conjunction)

I didn’t get a contract from Blue Note torecord Standard Gonz, we just submitted ademo tape. Joey (Calderazzo), Dave(Santoro), Adam (Nussbaum), and I recordedthe demo tape in three hours. We went intothe recording studio and punched out all thetunes. We did not expect the demo to bereleased. I sent the demo to Matt Pierson atBlue Note, and he really liked it. He told mehe would send the tape to his affiliate inJapan, and they liked it as is. Except forMcCoy and JAB, everything on the recordingis from the original demo session. We wentback into the studio to record those two,because Blue Note wanted some more mu-


sic. Some people have told me that the saxo-phone has a varying sound quality to itthroughout the recording. This is becausewe recorded the original demo at 15 ips(inches per second), and then we went backinto the studio and recorded McCoy and JABat 30 ips. This change in the recordingprocess created a slight variance in therecorded saxophone sound. Both sessionswere held at the Outpost Studio inStoughton, Massachusetts.

SIGNED BY(A Different Look & I Ching Reading)

It was really a lot of fun for me recordingthis CD. The thing that was unusual aboutthe date was that I had never played withthis piano player before. His name isJoachim Kuhn. He really exemplifies theartist type persona. He gave me a copy of acouple of his tunes that we wanted torecord. I copied them out in Bb (his hand-writing is truly something to behold), and bythat time we were in the studio recording. Iwas very happy about the way the date cameout because it was so spontaneous. Wereally didn’t work anything out, and most ofwhat is on the recording are first takes. TheFrench engineer Philippe Laffont used twomicrophones on the sax, one to the right ofthe bell, the other to the left. The only prob-lem with the recording is that when it wasreleased on CD, the pitch came out slightlylower than a half step from where it’s sup-posed to be. It makes the music sound la-bored, and the piano sound dull. It justmakes the tenor sound weird. The newpressing of the CD has the music in thecorrect key.

TILT!(On the Brink & Tilt)

For this recording I decided that I wantedto do some quartet tunes, and a few triotunes. I wanted to record some tunes with-out piano because I thought from a creativestandpoint it would be a nice change for me.Unfortunately, the original piano player onthe date took that as a personal attack,which imposed a negative dark charma onthe session. But you know what? I love themusic that came out of the session. On theday of the recording I felt so powerful musi-

cally, that there was nothing that could havegotten in the way of being creative.

LINEAGE(Red’s Blues)

This was recorded live in concert at the1st & 2nd Church in Boston. We had neverplayed together as a group (Mulgrew Miller,piano; Dave Santoro, bass; and AdamNussbaum, drums). Mulgrew came overearlier in the day and we went over some ofthe tunes. The sound was really echoey inthe church. Everything blended in togetherand sounded blurry. There was no definitionto the sound on stage. I couldn’t hear any-one very well, so I thought the concertwasn’t going the way it should. But low andbehold I got the tapes back, and I wasshocked that the music actually came out!Sonicly, during the performance, the concertwas weird. Sometimes you think the musicis terrible and it ends up sounding okay andother times vice-versa. Luckily, this perfor-mance was an example of the former and notthe latter. I got a performance grant from theNational Endowment for the Arts to do thisconcert.

OTHER THOUGHTS

ON RECORDINGOnce I get through making a recording, I

never listen to it. Editing these transcrip-tions is the first time I’ve listened to Stan-dard Gonz since it’s been out. Some recordsI’ve never heard once. Some recordings Ilisten to before they’re released because I’mthinking about what takes to put on, whatmix on the tunes I would like, or fixingendings. But as soon as a recording is out Ihardly ever listen to it. It just feels pasttense to me. I am usually listening to tapesof my most recent recordings. You can reallylearn a lot about your art by listening toyourself, even though it can be real work attimes.

ON ARTICULATIONArticulation has been a priority of mine,

not because somebody told me, it’s just theway I hear music. People ask me “what doyou practice?” I practice time feels, I practiceplaying time and swinging. That’s priority


number one. It’s the articulation that makesme sound like me. I’ll practice articulatingone way for a day, another way the next, allkinds, a whole variety. I don’t want to havejust one way of playing. Depending on therhythm section I play with, I’ll play a differ-ent way. I might be the only one who noticesthat I’m playing differently. Somebody elsemight think I sound the same, but to me itsounds different. I have a student who saysthere’s an expression that states, “God isinto details,” and I feel that way about mu-sic. You listen to the great players, andthey’re really detailed about what they do.Even if they haven’t thought about some-thing that they do for a long time, at onetime they practiced a lot to get a certainsound.

Whenever I felt that Jerry’s articulation insome way affected his phrasing, I made noteof it on the transcription. I believe that notatingarticulation is an important step in the tran-scription process. For a full understanding ofJerry’s phrasing and time feel, the next stepfor the listener is to write in each and everyone of Jerry’s articulations. This is part of thedetailed method of practicing that he talksabout.

ON PRACTICINGI learned how to play from playing along

with records. I would play along withrecords for four hours, and then go practicefor another four. I can remember playingalong with Hank Mobley, Wayne Shorter,Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins,Cannonball Adderley, Joe Henderson, JohnColtrane, Stanley Turrentine, and manyothers. I would play along with all the solos,not just the saxophone, but the trumpet andpiano solos, also. One time I would justlisten to the bass line, another time I’d justlisten to the piano. I was trying to listen in avery particular way, to get my ears so theycould hear things. I didn’t write down manyof the solos I learned, maybe 20 or 30.

ON TRANSCRIPTION BOOKSI think they’re great. When I wanted to

study jazz there wasn’t any teachers, so Ihad to learn how to play it my way. Jazzmusicians would tell me, “Just listen torecords and learn tunes.” So that’s what I

did. Now, years later, there’s a lot of veryfine jazz educators around. If I had theopportunity to study with these teacherswhen I was younger, I would have definitelytaken advantage of it. Instead of getting frompoint A to point B in ten years, I could havecut it down to two years. As far as transcrip-tion books go, I don’t get a lot out of justlooking at notes on a piece of paper, so youmust do the listening homework. Even to anaccomplished musician the transcription islifeless unless he hears the artist articulateit and listens to his time feel.

I adamantly concur with Jerry’s thoughts ontranscription books. Do not take his wordslightly.

DISCOGRAPHYDISCOGRAPHYDISCOGRAPHYDISCOGRAPHYDISCOGRAPHYOF TRANSCRIPTIONSOF TRANSCRIPTIONSOF TRANSCRIPTIONSOF TRANSCRIPTIONSOF TRANSCRIPTIONS

CD TITLEStandard Gonz

RECORD LABEL and NUMBERBlue Note CDP 7 962562

TUNESMcCoy, JAB, Arbonius Unt and Conjunction

CD TITLESigned By

RECORD LABEL and NUMBERZZ DeuxZ ZZ 84104

TUNESA Different Look and I Ching Reading

CD TITLETILT!

RECORD LABEL and NUMBERRed RR 123245-2CD

TUNESOn the Brink and Tilt

CD TITLELineage

RECORD LABEL and NUMBERRed RR 123237-2CD

TUNERed’s Blues

DO YOUR LISTENING HOMEWORK!

jerry bergonzi - jerry bergonzi solos - setting standards

Documents

jazz arranging

jazz pedagogy

director of jazz studies

studio saxophone

professor of saxophone

universityof kentucky

additional remarks

introductory remarks