Mingus Ah Um: Song Analysis

The beginning sounded similar to a salsa type of music due to the drum’s rhythm on the crash cymbal. Each musician had a solo within each piece. The rhythm section (double bass and drums) did a phenomenal job at maintaining as well as driving the tempo when it felt dragging. Moreover, they displayed great control and maturity of their sound throughout their solos. The dexterity and mastery within their instrument of some of the soloist in this group is inspiring because it truly shows their years and years of practice and

In my opinion I thought the song was great. It had a nice bluesy feel and was relaxing to listen to him. King is such a great lyricist and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to him during this tune. Many people recognize B.B. by this tune and I can see why. His take on the song is very original and unique only to him. I truly enjoyed learning about the King of the Blues throughout this project and through his

When listening to “The Santé Fe Jazz Combo,” you get a mellow feeling that courses through your body. Their opener “Recorda-Me,” which was my favorite piece, featured solos from Dr. Hamilton on Piano, Spencer Hoefert on Guitar, Ben Salhanick on Bass, Doc B on Alto Sax, Wyatt Thomas on Trombone, and Noah Woolard on Drum Set. The song had a moderate swing tempo that kept your feet tapping up until the solo. First, the brass rang through their part, then the electric instruments. Next came the bass; he was strumming so fast but he was barely audible. The pianist busting through with a tricky piano rift and the drummer finished it off with an intense solo. Every rim-shot sent a jolt into the air like lightning and the buzz rolls sounded like thunder. Noah’s part reminded me why I love playing the drums.

The song starts off from 0:00 to 0:12 with a melody begun by the saxophones, and there are riffs apparent played by the brass section behind this melody, followed by a repeating of this section until 0:22 when the brass section of instruments climbs up the scale to a higher key. This section, from 0:22 to 0:29,

It is a formless music, but because the performers are quite literally composing in the moment, there were three noticeable sections in the piece. The first part was developing an idea, slowly getting used to each other’s sounds, sometimes gentle and sometime aggressive. Beginning of the improvisation the drumbeat is simple but rather random. There is no set pattern that I could find, but the tom-tom pattern was rather similar so I think that was the main motif. The bass clarinet also started an idea, a 6-note pattern downward without any tonal center. He slowly develops this idea by playing a similar patters, or sequence, to concrete the idea for the audience but slightly mutating the motif little by little each time he plays it. He never plays the same way again. As the bass clarinet gets more active by increasing the amount of notes played and the intensity of the tone, the drum slowly matches the bass clarinet in aggressiveness. The drum plays very sudden loud snare drum occasionally, creating tension in the music with already atonal bass clarinet. Then the drummer starts to put a cymbal and a pad on two different drums to create a very dull thick sound. The bass clarinet and the drum both simultaneously becomes very aggressive, loud, and complex at this point. Bass clarinet sounds very similar to a saxophone at this point. The drummer still

With its rip roaring beat, tactical lyrics, and powerful message this song is the anthem that Spike Lee was aiming for. It gives context to the scenes and sets the mood for the rest of the film.

This song had a nice ballad sound to it. Casey Blackwelder played a wonderfully smooth trumpet solo. There were a few moments where the background music seemed to overpower the solo, but that did not affect the quality of the solo. The next solo was Bryce Harris on the saxophone. The solo was simple, but yet complemented the song extremely well. This song was played second and really caught and kept my

A track that captures the ear for it's different approach and strong precision, is "Time is Lost." Not only does this track offer ...but proves the craftsmanship of Lopez's drumming. Lopez knows when to apply his technical measures and how to fill sound and time beautifully without being excessive. Between the other worldly melody in the intro, and several tempo changes, "Time is Lost" musically personifies the abstract notion of losing

The very first music piece started off slow but then flutes and chimes came in and took the song to a different level. It then later on has the same type of beat which helps it continue to flow. I really like the flute solo that was played around the middle of the song. In the next song it starts out as if it is a church choir. The song sounds serious and probably takes part of some ritual or ceremony. The third song sounds very inviting and calm. This song also is song by a choir or a group of people. Throughout the video the church is present so in that case this means that this song had an importance inside the church. The beginning of the fourth song is different by how the drums are the first things you hear. In this song you will also presence all the songs playing at the same time. The

The first song played was “Hope Street” written by Tom Harrell. The piece was started off with Jerald snapping his fingers to a quick beat and then the Trumpet (Lynn) starts with a loud entrance. The other musicians join in and copy his notes as he plays. When the trumpet hits the high notes he trills the note as he holds it before dropping back down in PITCH to match the rest of the instruments. The bass, drums, and guitar carry the beat and the trumpet and trombone take turns playing in a sort of solo. As the trumpet and trombone fall back into rhythm with the other instruments the tempo becomes quick and the guitar take the lead in the piece. All three “solos” mirror each other in notes and TEMPO as the rest of the instruments keep the rhythm and beat. All instruments join in at the same note and continue playing together now in a

The tempo of this song is not too fast and not too slow. The track runs around 88 beats per minute, close to a maestoso. It’s the perfect mix of deep thoughts and relentless energy. If this song was any faster, it may ruin the strong statement that it delivers, while if it’s too slow, it contradicts the fundamental beat and rhythm of hip hop. Although many

The next song on the playlist was called “Everything Happens To Me”. The texture to this was very soft as well. The instruments were playing off each other but it was still a freestyle type of song. I think jazz is generally played like freestyle. There was no melody to this song. The rhythm was not existent as well. It was more of a free flowing song. This song had a very quiet dynamic. It sounded very romantic like something out of a movie. The tempo of the song was very slow and mild but the trumpet was going very fast. The cello and the drums had a portion of the song where they fed off each other’s energy and the trumpet was doing its own thing.

The title of the fourth song was called, “Let’s get away from it all”. In their fourth song again, saxophone was played a huge role. From the beginning of the song piano kept playing same melody line repeated and saxophone was moving wide range of notes and pitch. The rhythm and the tempo of drum changed as saxophone changed rhythm and the tempo. The bass guitar helped drum to follow saxophone’s rhythm and tempo. The saxophone style was kind of similar with the how Louis Armstrong was playing a solo. There were two guitars, but saxophone dominated other instruments and it was difficult to hear other instruments.

The song that takes fifth place on the album is “Wanted Dead Or Alive”. This song is a slower song, but has some instrumental elements. The ones that stuck out to me the most were the guitar and keyboard. The drums were hard for me to pick out on this track, but I know Mr. Torres was in there. After the first verse/chorus, the tempo of the song picks up a bit and there are guitar riffs with the accompaniment of the percussion instruments. “Wanted Dead Or Alive” was written by Richie

It is known to be one of albums that convert people to liking jazz styled music, even though it was created over fifty years ago. The most significant part of the album to me was that it made such an impact on the jazz community and it was only made in seven hours and all but only one of the tracks were first takes. What has stuck with me in the documentary was the saying, “The first thought is the best thought.” I really appreciated this because the artist stuck with their initial first gut feeling. The music was really innovative and most specifically, the opening of “So What”, was completely improvised and then the riff takes off, allowing to be one of the most iconic songs in jazz (in my opinion). The magic of music was truly created in this album creation and led a different direction of jazz