Analyzes of Songs - A Night In Tunisia, I Remember Clifford by Lee Morgan - Assignment Example

1. JUST BY MYSELF The personnel in this song are; Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Bobby Timmons and Jymie Merritt. The instruments seen are the drums played by Blakey, trumpet played by Lee Morgan, saxophone by Benny, bass by Golson and piano by Jymie. The concert took place in Palais Des Beaux Arts in Brussels in the year 1939 at night. The scene is described to be having five personnel on stage with two soloists; saxophonist and trumpeters’. The drummer is in the far right behind huge drums, guitarist at the center and pianists in the far left. The concert begins with a high pitched solo by saxophonist and soft base sound from the drums. The song played is a modern jazz. Drums go all along the play giving a base sound which balances the high pitch from saxophone and trumpet. When the saxophonesoloist stops, trumpeter takes over the soloing. The piano is played alone just before the climax. In the climax of the song all instruments are played on maximum performance giving the song a sweet entertaining conclusion. The drum is played using sticks and it is played all through the song giving the song a walking bass. The trumpet is interchanged with saxophone. They both provide the ride pattern with the support of the piano at the background. Just after the end of the song, the drummer ArtBlakely takes to the microphone and gets a laughter to the audience then gives them the next step. This is so important since he involves the audience in the concert. I pick on the drummer who has made a great effort in drum playing all through the song. He was successful since he was able to give the song the bass sound matching the other instruments perfectly. 2. MOANIN Music personnel in this song are Bobby Timmons keyboard player, Benny Golson the saxophonist, Lee Morgan on the trumpeter and Art Blakely as the only drummer other instruments present are piano and a guitar.On October 30, 1958 Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers recorded the album ‘Moanin’ at Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey in Belgium. The scene of the song starts with introduction of the word ‘moanin’. The four personnel are arranged in a row with trumpeter from left and drummer in the right. The soloist is in front of the other three. The drummer plays the song aggressively until he is sweating hence the song style is a hard pop.The pianistTimmons composed the title track and consistently makes his presence heard through his tasteful comping and solos. Soloist uses the saxophone to produce a tenor sound which is accompanied by drum play giving a bass sound. The drum is played using sticks. The saxophone is alternated in play with a piano. There are two pianos in the concert and the personnel playing the piano is the same playing the trumpet. The instrumental transition starts with saxophone then trumpet and finally piano. The drum is played at the background although the song and at the climax guitar alone is played and then followed by all the instruments at ago to get the finish a high tempo. This end is so entertaining giving audience a longing for more. 3. "A Night In Tunisia" This song is performed by five personnel; Trumpeter Lee Morgan, pianist Bobby Timmons, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, guitarist Jymie Merritt and finally drummer Art Lekay. This concert took place in the year 1960 in Tunisia. In the description of the scene, trumpeter and drummer stand in the far left of the stage then guitarist and saxophonist at the center and pianist is to the right. The performance starts with an intensive and aggressive drum play only hence the drummer sets the rhythm and passé of the song. The jazz style used here is an afro- Cuban. The performance is introduced by drum beatshence the drum is used to set the rhythm and the passé. Drum gives a ride pattern to the song. The order of instrumental play begin with drum then followed by play of miscellaneouspercussion instruments by the pianist, bassist, trumpeter, and saxophonist. Trumpet is then played along with saxophone as the soloists with a soft back-up by drum and bassist. In this concert drum dominates the play and it give time for the soloist to rest not leaving the audience bored. Towards climax the trumpet is played at a slow rhyme then followed by climax play of all the instruments at ago. 4. "I Remember Clifford" The concert begins with introduction of personnel Art blakey the drummer, Lee Morgan the trumpeter, Bobby Timmons on piano,Jymie Merritt on bass and Benny Golson on the saxophone. This jazz was played to pay tribute to Clifford who died at twenty five on a road accident in the year 1956. The performance was in the year 1958 in Belgium. The stage is arranged with two soloists in the front line who are the saxophonist and the trumpeter. The other threeperformers; drummer, pianist and bassist are just behind them. The song starts with trumpet and saxophone at ago as the soloists. The play has got a slow rhythm with a sorrowful tune. I think this is to award respect to the late Clifford. After saxophone and trumpet, the pianist takes over the rhyme scheme. The trumpet and saxophone comes again. The drum is played using mallet and brush giving the song a smooth flow. The style used here is bebop. The bass give the riding pattern as the saxophone and trumpet gives the walking bass by the tenor sound it produce. This performance ends softly and cool. Actually the performances force a smile on our face because it’s so interesting. The drummer Art blakey is my performer of choice he actually plays the drums with emotions showing his internal feeling of the song.The trumpeter is so fast andtenor saxophone sound so good setting the rhyme. The performance was changing with the situations moods. Like in the song "I Remember Clifford" the mood is sorrowful and the rhyme used sets it out clearly. The climax of the songs is so wonderful and fast giving the audience a cheerful finish. Read More