MASTER CLASS REED SCHOOL Woodshed | BY BEN KONO

:H_:LJ[PVU,]VS\[PVU!3LHKPUN;OL5L^7HJR ize matters. Or does it? There was a time the big band era, and I learned a great deal about Sduring my development as a lead alto saxo- phrasing, swing feel and tonal concept from the phonist when I was obsessed with my own vol- guys who were actually there. I played tenor, ume. Whether it was competing with a Stan but I learned a lot about how to lead a section Kenton-sized brass section, a bombastic rhythm from our lead alto saxophonist, Tracy Knoop. section, or just staying on top of the other sax- This was very traditional big band writing from es, the answer always seemed to be “play loud- the ’40s and ’50s—many arrangements by Billy HUµ7KHUHZDVGHÀQLWHO\DWLPHZKHQWKLVZDV Byers, Nelson Riddle, Neal Hefti, Bill Finegan— in vogue, perhaps a leftover sentiment from the where you played in a sax section that almost al- Buddy Rich and Maynard Ferguson schools. But ways took its cue from the lead alto, and you had the scene has changed quite a bit and so have the WREHDZDUHRIKRZ\RXÀWZLWKLQWKHJURXSKRZ rules. It’s not all about volume and pyrotechnical WRIHHOWKHWLPHH[DFWO\RQZKDWSDUWRIWKHEHDW chops anymore. WRFXWRIIDQRWHZKHQDQGZKHQQRWWRXVHYL- In my world as a saxophonist and wood- EUDWRLQÁHFWLRQVYROXPH7KHVHDUHWKHWKLQJV winds specialist in New York City, “size mat- a lead player must always make decisions about ters” doesn’t carry the usual innuendo. Rather, and do exactly the same way each time. the clever play on words points to an ongoing After leaving the Dorsey band I went to the concert series at the Tea Lounge in Brooklyn, the University of North Texas to get a master’s in EUDLQFKLOGRIWURPERQLVWFRPSRVHU-&6DQIRUG woodwinds, and while there I played lead alto in Monday nights have traditionally been “rehears- the One O’Clock Lab Band. Talk about a com- al big band night” in the city, but Sanford curates pletely different experience! Suddenly I found a completely different evening of large ensem- myself sight-reading all the time. There was just ble music every week. Bandleaders and compos- VRPXFKPDWHULDOZHZRXOGOLWHUDOO\EHVLJKW ers have been coming out of the woodwork with reading new charts during concerts. It could their own individual takes on what the new mod- be frustrating not getting to “settle in” with the Suggested Listening ern big band sound should be. Despite the abys- music at times, but it truly prepared you for the mal state of the industry, large ensemble jazz is New York scene where rehearsal time is at such Duke Ellington, “Jeep’s Blues,” Ellington At Newport 1956 (Columbia) thriving, and there is more interest than ever in a premium. Coming from mostly a tenor saxo- writing in this format. What is also apparent is phone background, I spent many hours listening Count Basie, “Jessica’s Day,” that the sound has changed and so has the need to, transcribing and playing along with some es- The Complete Roulette Studio Recordings for a different kind of musician, particularly in sential recordings from the Count Basie, Thad Of Count Basie (Mosaic) the role of a lead saxophone player. -RQHV0HO /HZLV DQG 6WDQ .HQWRQ RUFKHV- There is nothing like the experience of being tras and trying to get the sound and phrasing Miles Davis/Gil Evans, “Move,” in the midst of a great swirling, swinging, groov- right. Since much of what we were playing in Birth Of The Cool (Blue Note) ing mass of sound, everyone giving their all to school came from these libraries, it was im- combine into a sum greater than its parts. But portant to notice the different approaches: the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, “Tiptoe,” think about what you have to give up: The big lush vibrato of Marshal Royal with Basie, the Consummation (Blue Note) band is not a democracy. It is an autocracy, or dry and austere tone of Lee Konitz with Kenton perhaps a dictatorship. There is a chain of com- and Gil Evans, and the pungent, penetrating, al- Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, “Little Pixie,” mand and, as a saxophonist, you are pretty much most tenor-like approach of Dick Oatts at the ;OL+LÄUP[P]L;OHK1VULZ!3P]L-YVT;OL on the bottom rung of that ladder. Your choices Vanguard. I spent the next four years after UNT Village Vanguard, Vol.1 (Nimbus) on how to phrase a line are limited to what is be- honing my lead alto skills with the U.S. Army ing dictated by the lead trumpet or trombone. As Jazz Ambassadors. It was a good time to prac- Maria Schneider, “Dissolution,” the leader of a saxophone section, you need to tice woodwind doubling, build chops and write Allegresse (Enja) VHWWKHH[DPSOHLPSHFFDEOHLQWRQDWLRQDFFXUDWH music, but by the end of my hitch I was ready for VLJKWUHDGLQJDQGUK\WKPEHLQJDEOHWROLVWHQ a move to New York and to work on my career John Hollenbeck, “The Cloud,” understand and follow the hierarchy of drums to as a solo artist. Eternal Interlude (Sunnyside) OHDGWUXPSHWWROHDGWURPERQHNQRZLQJZKHQWR Of course all those skills came in handy for John Hollenbeck, “A Blessing,” EOHQGLQVWHDGRIEHLQJRQWRSSURGXFLQJDFOHDU the New York big bands scene. I arrived in the A Blessing (OmniTone) FODVVLFDOWRQHRQDOO\RXUGRXEOHVSKUDVLQJLQ- city at a time when Maria Schneider’s orches- telligently and doing it consistently and correct- tra was starting to attract a lot of attention with Darcy James Argue, “Zeno,” ly each time. her new sound, informed more by the orchestral Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam) 7KHUH LV GHÀQLWHO\ D WUDGLWLRQ RI OHDGLQJ D colors of Gil Evans and Bob Brookmeyer than saxophone section, and many of the princi- the hard swing of Basie and Thad. At the time, Ed Palermo, “What’s New In Baltimore,” ples remain the same to this day. Right out of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop Orchestra Eddie Loves Frank (Cuneiform) Eastman College, I spent a year touring with the QHHGHG D VD[RSKRQLVW WKH OHDG WHQRU ZDV UH- Tommy Dorsey Orchestra under the direction of quired to play English horn, so I subbed in that Ben Kono Group, “Castles And Daffodils,” Buddy Morrow. It was a crucial part of my edu- chair and eventually moved over to the second Crossing (Nineteen-Eight) cation, for the band was a direct connection to alto spot, where I still play. After years of play-

70 DOWNBEAT MAY 2011 ing lead alto, it was a great education to play sec- LFDOVD[VHFWLRQLQIDYRURIGRXEOHUHHGVÁXWHV ond to Mike Migliori and, often, Gerry Niewood. and clarinets. Then there is Argue, who retains I tell students the best way to learn lead is to play the traditional instrumentation but uses the horns second—you learn by shadowing the lead and in unusual ways. Again, it’s pretty heavy on the playing inside their sound. The majority of the ZRRGZLQGGRXEOHVWKHOHDGERRNKDVVRPHIHD- bandleaders I play for in New York all went WXUHVRQDOWRÁXWHDQGRIWHQFDOOVIRUDGYDQFHG through the BMI program at one point, so it was WHFKQLTXHVOLNHÁXWWHUWRQJXLQJDQGJURZOLQJ a great launching pad for me. It was here that I %HLQJSURÀFLHQWRQPXOWLSOHZRRGZLQGVDQG met composers Sanford, Darcy James Argue and saxophones has been absolutely central to my Joe Phillips, and reconnected with a classmate success in this arena. I actually detest the term from Eastman, John Hollenbeck. The workshop “doubling,” because the great doublers in New requires all participants to work within the big York are at the top of their game on every instru- band instrumentation, but beyond that the sky ment. I prefer “woodwind specialist.” The way is the limit. Strong reading skills are a must to composers are writing for large ensembles is navigate most modern charts, and sometimes more demanding than ever and assumes the reed math skills are a plus. I would say that rhyth- player has a fairly wide arsenal of woodwinds to mic complexity is the most distinguishing factor bring to the music. If you have a special skill, you separating the newer breed of writers from the might want to advertise it. old. In Argue’s band Secret Society, we are of- One of my favorite bands to play with is led ten playing in several time-feels layered at once. by Ed Palermo, who has been arranging and per- Hollenbeck had once written a piece for us based forming the music of Frank Zappa for more than on the transcribed rhythm of raindrops falling on \HDUV,QKLVEDQG,SOD\WHQRUÁXWHDQGRERH a roof—probably the most rhythmically complex and will probably never play alto. What sets this thing I’ve ever read. band apart is the stylistic thing you need to bring Hollenbeck’s large ensemble writing spot- to the gig—straight-up hard rock and funk. What lights another departure from tradition. In the I love is that a song like “King Kong,” which has reed section the baritone sax is replaced by con- basically two chords, can become such a great WUDDOWRDQGEDVVFODULQHWRQHRIWKHVD[RSKRQH solo vehicle when it’s opened up and stretched FKDLUVLVDOPRVWHQWLUHO\FODULQHWRQHRIWKHWHQ- way out in creative ways. It’s changed the way I RUVGRXEOHVRQ(QJOLVKKRUQDQGWKHOHDGDOWR like to improvise. SOD\V SULPDULO\ ÁXWH DQG VRSUDQR VD[RSKRQH Some of the new bands can get quite “out The addition of vibes and Theo Bleckmann’s there.” In the BMI class there is always some- voice round out a sound that is very orchestral body trying to reinvent the wheel. What I like to in color. In fact, the instrumentation and his writ- hear is some kind of connection to the lineage ing for it grow largely out of the musical relation- of the big band, writing that displays a sense of VKLSV +ROOHQEHFN KDV ZLWK KLV PXVLFLDQV KH·V the history and tradition while still pushing the writing for the performer’s unique voice, not nec- boundaries of the new and unfamiliar. Just as the essarily the instrument. This seems like a return jazz improviser’s unique voice grows out of what to Duke Ellington’s concept of writing for a par- has been handed down, so does the tradition of ticular group of players and using their particular writing, and the composer almost always has personalities to mold the music. Another parallel some sonic picture of what the saxophone sec- to Ellington’s approach is how Hollenbeck often tion should sound like. You just can’t play this doubles instruments across sections. Your focus music right without having at least checked out of attention gets moved around the band in inter- Johnny Hodges, or Marshal Royal, or Art Pepper esting ways and doesn’t reside within a section and Lee Konitz, or Jerome Richardson and Dick for very long. Oatts. And now the big band has changed again, Other favorites of mine in this regard include and it is lead players like Tim Ries, Charles Joe Phillips’ Numinous, which started out with Pillow and Steve Wilson who are setting the the BMI big band instrumentation and quick- standard with strong woodwind doubling and in- ly morphed into a much more orchestral instru- stantly recognizable solo voices. mentation with strings, voices and mallet percus- I am happy to say, after so much large en- sion replacing much of the brass and woodwind VHPEOHSDUWLFLSDWLRQ,DPÀQDOO\UHOHDVLQJP\ UROHVWKHUHHGSOD\HUVWKHPVHOYHVZRXOGEHGRX- own debut recording, Crossing, on Nineteen- EOLQJRQÀYHRUVL[ZRRGZLQGV,W·VDWKULOOWRLP- Eight Records. Interestingly enough, many of provise over such a rich tapestry of sound, and the tunes have long, complicated forms, complex the rhythms and harmonies owe more to mod- rhythms, dense textures and lots of woodwind ern classical genres than jazz. Sanford’s own orchestrations. You can take the player out of the band, Sound Assembly, has gradually taken on big band, but just try it the other way around— a more chamber music vibe, eschewing the typ- the big bands have come back to haunt me! DB

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