Friday, May 11, 2007

Time The Revelator

The Trevor Hart Quartet at Jazzworx! Club

Being a new dad I've got plenty of time to think whilst nursing P'rly Shells. I've been thinking about an upcoming gig with a drummerless quartet. It comprises of me on trumpet, John Rodgers on piano, violin and hopefully flamenco guitar, Toby Wren on guitar and piano and Andrew Shaw on Double Bass.









It'd be easy to do stuff from the THQ repertoire. So, whilst nursing P'rly Shells, I started thinking about doing some rarely played pieces and.... contemporary country improvisation.

Contemporary country improvisation! What's that? I'm not sure if such a thing exists but John is de facto president of the Johnny Cash Appreciation Society and Toby plays beautiful country guitar. There also exists a sort of alt country that's rootsy and spare.

Time The Revelator

Take Gillian Welch for example. Hers is what I'd call badlands music. It evokes a bleak landscape full of desperados and the downtrodden. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings play with a consumate timing that becomes mesmeric and this is an exciting concept to explore. Here's the video clip for those who are not familiar with them.

Jig a Jig






Jig a jig is a kind of bent hoedown. It sounds like a hoedown but is written in the Kerralic 105 pulse form in 10/8. Here's the 1st page of a 3 part arrangement. It's going to be a killer to improvise over!

Click on the score to make it large enough to read.