SHORT LISTENING ASSIGNMENT FORMAT - Essay Example

One O’clock Jump The youtube video of One O’clock Jump by Count Basie and his big band orchestra represent the Kansas Jazz style of the 1930s and 40s which inspired the swing era in jazz. The video of the song shows instruments like piano, bass, trombones, saxophones, trumpets and drums. After carefully going through the video the group techniques that can be observed are collective riffs where certain portions are repeated by a section and then there are soloists who do their piece in turn with others from other sections.

The head riffs, which refers to the memorized sequences by the performers can be clearly studied in this video.The roles played by the piano, the bass and the drums are all very important. The piano is the lead and it starts out with the tone, melody and rhythm it wants to set for the whole song. The drums and bass play a similar role of maintaining the rhythm for the rest of the performers. The 12-bar blues chord progression (Rickert) is followed throughout most of the song. The pianist plays some variations during the performance.

The bassist comps for the soloists by playing the root using slapping technique. The drummer uses fillers in between the performances of brass instrument players.The sequence of events in the song start with the pianist and bassist, then the saxophone, trombone and trumpets with the drummer play their sequences. The sequence displays head riff technique where the saxophone soloist performs his piece, the trombone player takes over for a while reiterating the chorus music and the saxophone soloist resumes his piece.

The trumpet soloist also gets to showcase his variations. What is interesting to note is that the drummer and the trombone player have brief little duet which is very pleasant and emphasises the rhythm and melody of One O’clock Jazz.The light and upbeat melody of the entire piece is rejuvenating. The tone is simple yet energetic. The sequence of performances by the soloists and the sections is very well balanced. The video is visually appealing because the rhythmic motion display of the musicians rubs off on the listener and sets them swinging.

Reference:Rickert, David. “Count Basie: One O’Clock Jump” Swing Set. 2005.