When "Wrong" Jazz Articulation is Right?
|
Download the PDF for this lesson:
|
|
|
|
|
First you must know the rules in order to break them - this is usually said in the context of discussing WHAT notes we play, but it also applies to the HOW (aka articulation) as well. When the right Jazz/Swing Articulation is your default, reversing it in spots can create an emotional contrast.
1) Gallop Technique (ala Dick Oatts) Typically consecutive 1/8th notes are connected, but here we play them short. Dick Oatts most iconically used this articulation technique, as well as Joe Henderson and Sonny Rollins. We call this the "gallop technique" because it sounds like horse galloping ("giddy-up!"). 2) Lyrical Quarters Typically, quarter notes on downbeats are detached in Jazz (aka "Miles Davis Quarter Notes", as Bruce Barth would say). But after the gallop eighths, we hold these quarters for lyrical contrast. This excerpt is from a solo piano performance of "I Fall in Love Too Easily" from a special solo piano concert at Peebles Theatre in Newport News, VA. To watch the FULL cut, click HERE |