Till Brönner

    Till Brönner is a German jazz musician with a trumpet emphasis. He also composes and arranges music. With respect to jazz, he uses bebop elements along with fusion jazz. He also incorporates native pop music (German) and movie soundtracks from old German films. 


    He was inspired by Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie and Chet Baker. He was trained under the teachings of Jiggs Whigham and Jon Eardley, both of the professors who happen to be Americans living in Europe. These individuals were on of the most highly respect musicians in Europe. He studied at the music academy in Cologne. 


    In this example, Estrada Blanca, the elements of fusion jazz is immediately noticeable from the electric guitar introduction with electric keyboard chord progressions. Further more, the time signatures sound complex in nature, which i imagine. The beats are not uniform and sounds constantly fresh due to the change. I would not say it is quite bebop because of the tempo. The tempo is lively, but it is not the fast typical bebop tempo. 

Lounge music

     Lounge music is probably one of my favorite genres to listen to mainly because there is so many styles that are woven together. I enjoy the how modern and traditional sounds play so well together. 

     Personally, I really like electronic/trance music and classical music and I find it rare for those two elements to be fused together. 

     To give a brief history on this unfamiliar genre, the derivation was actually from jazz and other traditional styles around the world. French, latin, and Polynesian styles are predominantly used due to the exotic and romantic elements they offer. The popularity rose with proportion to the development in digital/synthetic sounds. The increase in popularity steadily increased during th 1980's and 1990's.

     The mood it creates is quite exotic/mysterious. Imagine yourself in outer space, and island paradise or in the amazon. There are some characteristics that may feel retro and yet modern with the refined synthetic sounds. In this example, they also use the ocean waves that you hear on the beach, which makes you feel like you're in paradise. 

     Some people call this genre, nu-jazz. Most of these music is far more popular in Europe (Norway, UK, Belgium, Germany, France) than it is in America. The roots of combining electronic elements goes far back as 1970's with Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, and Herbie Hancock in their later careers when the digital age was beginning to dawn. Artists who experiment with nu-jazz enjoy playing with broken rhythms, melodic improvisation, and atonal harmonies. These individuals enjoy fusing traditional jazz elements with creating new sounds with digital devicies. 

     This music, I believe, was a bridgeway to a new genre that clubbers tend to enjoy, which is house, trance, electronica, etc. 

Ray Charles

     I've listened to Ray Charles' "I believe to my soul" and I found this to be an emotionally driven piece. The lyrics were sung with passion while dialogues were trading back and forth between the lead and backup singers. The style of the instruments playing were very "lazy" and chill. The tempo was taking its sweet time. There was no need to rush. The melody was a bit mellow, but at the same time, the overall mood of the piece was not completely grim. The spirit of the song portrays that there is a hopeful moment that will come very soon.

  

  Not only Ray Charles was a prominent musician, but he was a influential figure when it came to racial equality. Through his music, he tried to help society to integrate the countries through racial boundaries. Considering he was blind since the age of five, becoming such a powerful figure in America must have been a monumental success not only as a handicap but also a minority that had a harsh history in this country. When I read the lyrics of this song I can only help but wonder if he had some unresolved issues that he tried to conceal from people, even from his loved ones. 

One of these days and it won't be long,
You're gonna look for me and I'll be gone
'Cause I believe (I believe, yes I believe)
I say I believe right now (I believe, yes I believe)
Well I believe to my soul now,
Tryin' to make a fool of me (I believe it, I believe it)

Well you're goin' 'round here with your head so hard,
I think I'm gonna have to use my rod
'Cause I believe (I believe, yes I believe)
I say I believe right now (I believe, yes I believe)
Well I believe to my soul now
Tryin' to make a fool of me (I believe it, I believe it)

Last night you were dreaming and I heard you say
"Oh, Johnny" when you know my name is Ray
That's why I believe right now (I believe, yes I believe)
I say I believe right now (I believe, yes I believe)
Whoa I believe to my soul now
Tryin' to make a fool of me (I believe it)

   

   I wonder how he overcame the struggle of people taking advantage of him since he was a minority within a minority. I wonder how he overcame the struggle of being incredibly vulnerable and how he was able to trust and depend on people to get by everyday.

   

    Blues, gospel, and soul music was one of many genres that influenced his musical expressions. This sounded like a 12-bar blues progression. The 'blues' has a very melancholy and sad element not only lyrically, but their meaning as well. There is also a call-and-response with Charlie and the background singers which traditionally found among African-American style music which carried back from their native roots.  

Jane Monheit

     Since I enjoyed listening to Jane Monheit in class, I figured I listen to more of her music on my own. "Honeysuckle Rose" starts out with a solo introduction with a succession of pizzicatos. Jane's comes in not too long into the bass solo. Her voice has depth and is not afraid to project her emotions out loud. She sounds confident and she has complete control of her craft without any fear. The piano background comes in with a light percussion beat. There is a lot of chromaticism which adds flavor and color to the piece. It sounds she could improvise the entire piece. 

    The nature of the song is swing jazz. The strong rhythm section of the double bass immediately gave away of the swing characteristic. The general tempo was medium to fast. Again, another strong characteristic is the strong emphasis on the off-beat. The featured soloist, Jane, improvises the melody over the arrangement. There is such a strong rhythmic drive to the music, which strongly moves in a forward direction.

   The ensemble sounded very simple! I was hoping to hear saxophone, trombone, or clarinet, but all I heard was light piano and percussion background, strong double bass and the singer. I do admire the simplicity because all of the musicians seem receive their own special recognition of their playing. There is so much passion from the soloist and the bass player and their enthusiasm and energy really does overflow to their audiences.  

  

     The format of the piece sounds like an AABA format. Personally, I thought the sections of the song was a bit too repetitive. I wish there were more "B"-like sections because the repetitive ideas were short and redundant. 

Polish smooth jazz

     The piece starts with an orchestra pizzicato, then the percussion adds the beat to the piece. The accordion plays its solo introduction and caries the melody through the rest of the piece. This is not the typical jazz style due to its ultra modern twist. However, the vibe and the ambiance the piece emits does have is jazzy qualities. This is also very soothing. The bass gives depth and the electric keyboard adds a nice blend of colors. The trumpet solo pours out its emotion in the later part of the piece. 

  

   The artist is not mainstream yet, but I believe he does a great job fusing the jazz elements and the modern elements together. There is a french quality as the accordion plays through out the music. This gives a typical parisian romantic quality. There is a bit of french whispering in the distance. There is also sound of city traffic played in the background. There is syncopation played throughout the piece that builds on each other.

   The group name is called 'Button Hackers.' This song is called 'Night.' 

   I tried to research the group and their history, but nothing has surfaced on the web with respect to their biographies. There was one such icon, but it was written in Polish. I do not know Polish.  

   The genre of this song is definitely smooth jazz because there is a lot of modern elements such at electronic influences, pop, and subtle new age. Another name for this genre is called 'chill' jazz due to the ability of the mood it creates. 
   This piece is symmetrically constructed. It sounds like an ABACABA format. the A forms are not quite executed verbatum, but the chord progressions and the generality of the section was very similar with slight variations. The C section was the longest with a stretched out improvisation of the keyboard. 

   This song is actually not recent. Based on the multiple sites which archive this album, the release date was from the mid 2000's. This group is actually from Poland. This makes some sense why a Polish group would devote a section to France due to cultural ties from their history. Smooth jazz was popular around the 1990s until the 2000s. This was probably one of the last groups before the popularity descended. 

France and America

     

    

    In continuation of french influence on jazz, there was a soundtrack that i discovered from the same animation "triplettes de belleville." This nice modern twist of rag-time is called "générique d'ouverture." It's quite short, but it starts out with a suspenseful trumpet escalation followed by an immediate descending piano arpeggio (tapering off). Then, the attitude completely changes into something very fun and enjoyable. The music is very danceable. There is a nice flowing conversation taking place between trumpets and saxophones. The piano and percussion adds a very satisfying background accompaniment to the excerpt.   

   

    The video above is not the music to "générique d'ouverture" but the animation is to give you an idea how the music and the animation go hand in hand. Compared to American animation, where things tend to be more conservative, the French are not afraid to express human emotion to any limits. In their perspective, the human art of expression should not be censored because it is who we are. If we are covering up/sugar-coating the way humans portray their emotions, then we are not being true to ourselves.    

  

    These ideas are not something I read about, but rather several conversations I had with my French friend about her culture and the comparisons of the French and American culture.    

   

   From an American point of view, we tend the French to be very exposé when it comes to the arts, sexuality, and etc. because we developed from a conservative Puritan mindset. In France, their intentions were not meant to defy or rebel against a set of 'morals,' but expression was something to be shown and revered by leaving it in its original and its purest form. 

   At the same time, she also told me the French are very trendy. They always look for something new in all areas such as fashion, film, music, the arts. I believe this is why jazz became such a hit because jazz was not a European phenomenon. It was a phenomenon from the New World. A world that most Europeans were so curious about. Even today, she tells me America always leads and inspires the European youth in so many areas, especially in music and film. 

   I do not mean to digress from the excerpt of this animated piece, but understanding music and culture tremendously helps me understand why and how things came to be. 

French Animated Jazz

    As for the portfolio project, I am currently looking at a soundtrack of a French animation "les triplettes de belleville." The song is called "belleville rendez-vous" and the style is swing-like. The main reason why I was interested in french style was because the french were obsessed with jazz. It was interesting how their style influenced the nature of jazz. I find it easy for jazz to take form in many cultures because there is really no set of rules. Jazz has this "whatever goes" attitude to its fluid structure. 

   

    The animation of this film was actually a co-production of four countries: United Kingdom, France, Belgium, and Canada. 'Les Triplettes de Bellville' was written and directed by Sylvain Chomet, which was an animated comedy film about an elderly woman who tries to rescue her grandson, a champion cyclist of the Tour de France, who was kidnapped. 

  

    The inspiration to film's soundtrack was from the 1920's. The musical inspirations came from some of the most prominent jazz artists such as Josephine Baker, Fred Astaire, Glen Gould, and Django Reinhardt. If you notice, the conductor from the animation is supposed to resemble Django Reinhardt. 

    There are English and French versions to this song (lyric-wise).

   

    I would like to research how jazz made an important impact in shaping the french music culture and how they used this idea in their arts.