Tonality and the Extended Common Practice in the Music of Thad Jones
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TONALITY AND THE EXTENDED COMMON PRACTICE IN THE MUSIC OF THAD JONES Michael A. Rogers Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS May 2015 APPROVED: Frank Heidlberger, Major Professor and Chair of the Department of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology Daniel J. Arthurs, Committee Member Bernardo Illari, Committee Member Benjamin Brand, Director of Graduate Studies, College of Music James C. Scott, Dean of the College of Music Costas Tsatsoulis, Interim Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Rogers, Michael A. Tonality and the Extended Common Practice in the Music of Thad Jones. Doctor of Philosophy (Music Theory), May 2015, 300 pp., 28 tables, 168 musical examples, bibliography, 83 titles. Tonality is a term often used to describe the music of the common practice period (roughly 1600-1900). This study examines the music of mid twentieth-century jazz composer Thad Jones in light of an extended common practice, explicating ways in which this music might be best understood as tonal. Drawing from analyses of three of Jones’s big band compositions: To You, Three and One, and Cherry Juice, this study examines three primary elements in detail. First is Jones’s use of chord-scale application techniques in the orchestration over various chordal qualities represented by the symbols, revealing traditional as well as innovative methods by Jones. Second is Jones’s use of harmonic progressions, demonstrating his connection to past practice as well as modern jazz variations. Third is Jones’s use of contrapuntal connections and their traditional relationship to functional tonality, but in a chromatic scale-based environment. Jones’s music is presented in this study to demonstrate a tonal jazz common practice that represents an amalgamation of traditions including twentieth-century scale-based procedures, Renaissance and early twentieth-century modality, eighteenth- and nineteenth- century voice leading schemas, and Baroque and Classical descending-fifth progressions. Also included as an appendix is a list of possible note errors in the published scores of To You, Three and One, and Cherry Juice. Copyright 2015 by Michael A. Rogers ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am thankful to the UNT music faculty, past and present, that have helped shape the way I understand music. A special thanks to those who agreed to serve on my committee, your guidance has been invaluable. Appreciation is extended to Kendor Publishing, Inc., for allowing me to reproduce parts of Jones’s scores for this study. All musical examples are used with their permission. Thanks to Dr. David Demsey, coordinator of Jazz Studies and curator of the Thad Jones archives at William Paterson University, for continuing to look into the archives for me and for helping me keep the information here as accurate as possible. A special thanks to my wife, Tammie, for constant encouragement and support. Along with being a full-time medical doctor, you have happily agreed to fulfill the role of wife, mother, chauffer, maid and chef in these difficult years. You are truly amazing and I thank God for you. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................ vi LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ......................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 Thad Jones .............................................................................................................................. 3 Definitions of Tonality and Analytical Considerations ........................................................... 5 Straus’s Common Practice Tonality Characteristics ..................................................... 7 Martin’s Tonal Cues .................................................................................................... 16 Tymoczko’s Expanded View of Tonality ...................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 2 SCALARITY .................................................................................................................. 27 Scalarity in the Literature ..................................................................................................... 27 Major Chords .............................................................................................................. 29 Dominant Chords ........................................................................................................ 33 Minor Chords .............................................................................................................. 34 Half Diminished Chords .............................................................................................. 36 Diminished Chords ...................................................................................................... 38 Scalarity Types in Thad Jones ............................................................................................... 39 Simple Scalarity ........................................................................................................... 39 Scalar Toggling ............................................................................................................ 98 Polyscalarity .............................................................................................................. 114 Blended Scalarity ...................................................................................................... 129 CHAPTER 3 HARMONIC PATHS IN PITCH CLASS SPACE .............................................................. 141 Descending Fifth Paradigm and its Variations .................................................................... 141 1st Level Variation: Dominant Substitution via Replacement/Insertion .................. 141 2nd Level Variation: Tritone Substitution via Replacement/Insertion ..................... 144 Tritone Substitution Effect by Ellipsis ....................................................................... 147 iv Jones’s Use of Harmonic Pitch Class Space in “Three and One” ........................................ 153 “Three and One” Original Progression ..................................................................... 153 “Three and One” Reharmonizations and Chord Substitutions ................................. 160 Jones’s Use of Harmonic Pitch Class Space in “Cherry Juice” ............................................ 174 “Cherry Juice” Reharmonizations and Chord Substitutions ..................................... 182 CHAPTER 4 LINEAR PATHS IN PITCH SPACE ................................................................................ 193 Creating Contrapuntal Connections in a Potentially Static Environment: Theoretical ...... 193 Avoid Tones ............................................................................................................... 195 Scale Substitution ..................................................................................................... 200 Chord Substitution .................................................................................................... 202 Creating Contrapuntal Connections in a Potentially Static Environment: Thad Jones ...... 210 Non Functional Harmony ................................................................................................... 217 Neighbor Chords ....................................................................................................... 218 Passing Chords .......................................................................................................... 222 Chromatic Planing ..................................................................................................... 227 Harmonic Analysis of “To You” ........................................................................................... 231 CHAPTER 5 AN AMALGAMATION OF TRADITIONS ..................................................................... 246 Twentieth Century Scale-Based Procedures ...................................................................... 246 Non-Chord Tones ...................................................................................................... 247 Dissonance and Upper Extensions ............................................................................ 250 Renaissance and Early Twentieth Century Modality .......................................................... 256 Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Efficient Voice Leading Schemas ............................. 259 Baroque and Classical Descending-Fifth Progressions ....................................................... 261 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 266 A Jazz Common Practice ..................................................................................................... 268 APPENDIX ERRATA ...................................................................................................................... 270 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................ 295 v LIST OF TABLES Page Table 2.1 Major chord-scales ...............................................................................................