When
Rob Mounsey and I began the process of composing "Clafouti"
we worked from a percussion loop which was in
a 3/2 rhythm. Because of the broad feel within this notation,
it leaves room for a player to interpret the pulse in
several different ways. The lead sheet/mini-score to the
piece is written out in 3/2, but, as I was really 'feeling'
the pulse of the solo in six, I decided to write out the
transcription in 6/4. One of the best ways to DO a transcription
of anything
is to first answer the question, "What are they soloing
over?" What are the changes and what is
the form?
The solo format I chose for the
guitar improvisation on "Clafouti" is derived from two
different sections of the tune. The Dm7 comes from the
basic vamp at [I-3] and the two bars of G/D and
of Bb/D(which for this transcription I'm going to call
Gm7/D) came from letter [B] of the piece. Written
in 6/4 the solo is played over an 8-bar repeated progression,
but, it begins in an interesting fashion. On the 'full'
version of "Clafouti" from the "YOU ARE HERE" CD,
the guitar solo, performed on a Yamaha APX-10N nylon-string
acoustic, follows [D](which only appears ONCE in
the entire piece). That section is followed by 4 bars
of our basic [I-3] vamp, again on Dm7. But, instead
of beginning the solo form with another 2 bars of Dm7,
the solo begins mid-format on the G/D chord which means
that the first time through we only have a 6-bar phrase.
For discussion, I have labeled the four 'intro' bars to
the solo as bars [a]-[d]. On the 'full' version
of "Clafouti" the guitar solo is followed by [C]
which also only appears ONCE in the piece. Perhaps this
is something to think about when structuring a compostion
you're working on?
Since 1980, I have fundamentally
worked in keyboardless formats and, in truth, the only
breaks in this exploration have been the two CDs with
Rob Mounsey. The first of those was "LOCAL COLOR"(Denon)
in 1987. Among the reasons for choosing to work without
a keyboard is that it affords me the freedom to explore
the chordal possibilities of the guitar, something I love
doing. So, in the framework of the improvisations on "YOU
ARE HERE" one won't hear the chordal side of my playing
too much. But, this improvisation begins with two little
arpeggiated voicings in bars [a]-[d]. An 'open
voicing' style which one can see explored more fully in
my recent book CONTEMPORARY CHORD KHANCEPTS(Warner
Bros. Publications).
Even though "Clafouti" has a
very Latin feel to it, the [A] melodies have a
very blues based attitude about them and it is this attitude
which is felt throughout the solo. In the history of jazz
improvisation, all soloists have extracted and developed
parts of the melody in their solos. The same is true here.
At the end of each of the four phrases in the [A]
melodies there are upbeats which are accented, and this
becomes a running 'theme' in this solo. You can hear this
in bars: 2, 13-14, 28-30, 37-38, and 45-46. This device,
to my ears, helps 'glue' the solo together. Getting back
to the blues based elements, these can be found in bars:
5-6, 10, 11-12, 18, 29-30, 31-32, and 36-37.
The development of ideas is certainly
something any good solo should have and examples of this
fundamental principle can be found right at the beginning
where the pick-up to the first two phases is three 8th-notes
giving them a kind of call-and-response feel. There's
a nice small idea which appears in bars 26-27. Bars 15-22
feature two phrases which are connected to one another
as they both utilize bits of neighboring tone ideas with
superimposed altered dominant 7th-type approaches. For
me, without the appearance of such elements, an improvisation
can be very one dimensional and, limited in the ways in
which tension & release are created. One of the beauties
of working with Rob is that he is such an incredible accompanist.
One can hear how he's always listening and offers musical
'comments' when the space is there. His style of playing
long-note pads underneath an improvisation is what affords
me the chance to explore these kinds of lines. It is this
same style which enabled me to briefly fall into the chordal
passage which appears in bars 39-42. As I explain in more
detail in my recent book, this kind of passage owes more
to pianists like McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock
and Chick Corea than to any guitarist. In this
passage, I again used an upper neighbor chordal approach
to created a little harmonic tension. Although during
almost every G/D bar you'll hear lots of f-naturals, further
adding to the 'blues' feeling, the most you ever hear
the sense of it being a dominant 7th is in bars 41-42.
Although upon reflection you can hear it in bars 33-34
as well.
One of my dear friends, and one
of our greatest guitarists, Joe Beck once said
something to me which was very sobering and has never
been forgotten. He said, and I'm paraphrasing, "NO ONE
ever plays something fast that they haven't played 1,000
times before!" So, with that comment in mind, take a look
at the similarities in the triplet phrases in bars 26
and 33. Though in hindsight, parts of the phrases are
quite similar but the first is played into the next chord
change and the second time it appears, the end of the
phrase is completely different. If you study the transcribed
improvisations of any of your favorite players, and on
ANY instrument, if you look at the double-time passages
over similar chordal movements, you should see glaring
similarities. Everyone does this! That aside, it's reason
enough to always try to remind yourself to concentrate
on hearing melodies when you improvise and developing
those ideas!
Here's hoping that you'll enjoy
listening to "Clafouti" as an entire piece of music and
that you've enjoyed the analysis I've tried to provide
here.
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