MUSIC - GRADES 7 and 8 - April 27- May 1

I hope that you all enjoyed your April vacation! Right before the break, I sent you two renowned jazz pieces to listen to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WPCBieSESI Louis Armstrong - West End Blues "West Ends Blues" is a twelve-bar blues composition by Joe "King" Oliver. It is most commonly performed as an instrumental composition. King Oliver and his Dixie Syncopators made the first recording for Brunswick Records on June 11, 1928. Clarence Williams later added lyrics to the instrumental tune. There were several recordings with female vocalists, but the best known recording is with Louis Armstrong playing the trumpet and scatting with his Hot Five on June 28, 1928. The "West End" of the title refers to the westernmost point of Lake Pontchartrain within Orleans Parish, Louisiana. During its peak popularity, it was a thriving summer resort with live music, dance pavilions, seafood restaurants, and swimming. Listen carefully to the soloists and see if you can identify which instrumental solo comes first, second, third, etc... Armstrong's unaccompanied opening trumpet cadenza is considered to be one of the defining moments of early jazz, incorporating a rhythmic freedom that anticipated many later musical developments. Also notable is Armstrong's scat vocal chorus (in a duet with clarinetist Strong), performing a "call and response" like a throw and catch of solos. Sometimes the response can be exact or different from the initial call. This is a fundamental that came from Western Africa and evolved into many other examples of improvisation and further developed the Blues idiom.(style) in the years and styles to come! This recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1979. Armstrong recorded several later versions of "West End Blues", including for the 1947 film New Orleans and with his All Stars in the 1940's.

Duke Ellington and his Orchestra - Take The A Train (1962) [official video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6mFGy4g_n8

This composition was written by Billy Strayhorn and was first recorded on February 15, 1941 by Ellington for Victor Records. This became the signature piece and opening theme for Duke Ellington and his Orchestra.

Ella Fitzgerald was best well known for singing the piece, with the first coming in 1957. She performed the song numerous times during her long association with Ellington and it also appears on her 1957 critically acclaimed album Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook.

This song was used in several films including Paris Blues, starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in 1961, the 1998 romantic-comedy, The Pallbearer, and it is on the soundtrack of the 2002 Leonardo DiCaprio film, Catch Me if You Can. It has also been used on stage in at least four different musicals.

This week, I would like you to do a Silent, Quiet, Uninterrupted, Listening Time

Use this (S.Q.U. I. L. T.) sheet (attached) with both of these pieces. I hope you enjoy these two jazz classics! Mrs. T. :)

S.Q.U.I.L.T. (Super Quiet UN Interrupted Listening Time)

Title of Composition: ______

Composer’s name: ______Please use this Listening Guide to write down and record your thoughts on the piece of music you are listening to:

Dynamics: Tempo & Rhythm: Is the Music Loud (Forte), Soft (piano) or a Does the music move quickly, slowly, or both and are there combination of both? any repeated rhythmic or melodic patterns throughout?

Instrumentation: Mood or Emotion: Do You hear Strings, Woodwinds, Brass Percussion, How does this music make you feel? Does it evoke a certain or a combination of both? Do any instruments emotion or feeling? Happy, Sad, Scary, Calm or something have Solos by themselves? else?

Would you recommend this piece to a friend or your parents? ______Why?______