Sunday, 16 November 2008 22:15 Written by Administrator

Jazz Notes

Jazz for non-jazzers, by Richard Bissill

Writing jazz charts for symphonic players, i.e. non-jazzers, needs some careful thought, irrespective of which instruments you’re writing for.

Symphonic players just aren’t schooled in jazz; jazz phrasing, articulation and timing needs to be instinctive and natural and classical players generally fail miserably in those departments. In a way it’s not their fault; classical music training can be like a straightjacket in that respect. Writing music which is too jazzy for straight players to handle can result in frustration and disappointment for the writer who feels his efforts are being severely compromised.

However, orchestral brass players probably get closest to what’s needed due to their instruments having a jazz connection and also the fact that the players don’t possess the pack mentality and restrictions of string sections!

French horns of course are not so readily associated with jazzing although there have been notable exponents over the years. Due to its sheer difficulty, the horn doesn’t lend itself to flying around like a trumpet. A jazz horn soloist is far more impressive when not surrounded by trumpet and sax soloists!

That said, when it came to writing charts for the Give it One album, I had no doubt that with such a fabulous line-up of talented players covering the depths and heights of the horn’s range and technique, I would be able to write pretty well what I wanted to as far as style and difficulty were concerned. So in those respects I treated the arrangements no differently from any other brass arrangements I’ve done. Knowing individual players’ strengths also helped me to personalise some of the more extreme moments. Writing Fat Belly Blues for Tony Halstead was a joy. His rich dark fundament is well-known amongst horn players and he certainly comes up trumps on the recording. At the opposite end of the spectrum, knowing that Pip Eastop is at your disposal adds another octave above what most mortals can hope to achieve. His stratospheric solos are incredible. As far as ensemble was concerned, having a really tight rhythm section helped enormously to drive the group along and as long as everyone trusted it, latched on to it and stuck to it, everything became easier.

Richard Bissill