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A COMPENDIUM OF COMPOSITIONS M.J. ARCHER A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF FINE ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN MUSIC YORK UNIVERSITY, TORONTO, ONTARIO APRIL 2008 Library and Archives Biblioth&que et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'6dition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Voire reference ISBN: 978-0-494-62248-3 Our file Notre r6f6rence ISBN: 978-0-494-62248-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserves transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1*1 Canada iv ABSTRACT "A Compendium of Compositions" is a collection of jazz-pop compositions exploring the Buddhist concept of the disturbing emotions or "mind poisons", and the corresponding wisdoms which, according to Buddhist philosophy, we can achieve by working with these emotions. All but two of the songs have lyrics, each dealing with a specific emotion, either directly or obliquely. The music of these compositions is an attempt to suit the music to the mood of the lyric, whether serious or satirical. The two instrumentals are attempts to evoke aspects of the theme which did not seem as well suited to a vocal treatment. The compendium as a whole is a vehicle not only to examine these concepts, but as an exercise in exploring a variety of compositional techniques. V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to thank the following for their invaluable assistance with the preparation of this thesis and the development of the compositions described herein. Bill Westcott Michael Coghlan Sundar Viswanathan A1 Henderson Roy Patterson Gabrielle McLaughlin Barry Elmes Courtney Quebec Matthew Clark vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE Introduction and musical context 1 CHAPTER TWO My musical background 9 CHAPTER THREE: Compositional parameters 11 CHAPTER FOUR Market considerations 17 CHAPTER FIVE Compositional method: overview 19 CHAPTER SIX Conceptual background: The Five Disturbing Emotions 23 CHAPTER SEVEN Conceptual background: The Five Wisdoms 25 CHAPTER EIGHT Mister Bad Dude 28 Smash The Glass Girl 32 The Noble Cat 36 Imaginary Fanclub 38 You're Just Jealous 41 Skin +Bone +Silicone 44 Superlucky 47 Melsa 49 Darling Let's Never Quarrel Again 52 Indoor Jungle 53 How Very Kind 56 Sleeping Buddhas 57 Dear Caroline 60 Last Day of Summer 62 CHAPTER NINE Conclusions 66 CHAPTER TEN Plans for Future Study APPENDIX A Music Charts APPENDIX B: Lyrics Bibliography Discography 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION AND MUSICAL CONTEXT My thesis is a compendium of jazz-pop compositions exploring the Buddhist concept of the disturbing emotions or "mind poisons", and the corresponding wisdoms which, according to Buddhist philosophy, we can achieve by working with these emotions. All but two of the songs have lyrics, each dealing with a specific emotion, either directly or obliquely. The music of these compositions is an attempt to suit the music to the mood of the lyric, whether serious or satirical. The two instrumentals are attempts to evoke aspects of the theme which I felt weren't as well suited to a vocal treatment. The compendium as a whole is a vehicle not only to help me and others understand these concepts, but as an exercise in which I hope to continue finding my musical "voice", by focusing on the genre of jazz-pop. Perhaps, then, it would be opportune to begin by attempting to answer the question: what is "jazz-pop" (or "pop jazz")? Obviously it must be some kind of mixture of "jazz" and "pop music". While both these types of music have been studied and defined to death, resources defining the mixture are scant. Scouring the libraries and the internet, I came across few existing definitions. I'll comment on two of the more useful ones below: "This music tends to be either vocal-based simplified jazz songs or orchestrated (often string backed) jazz targeted toward a broader based popular audience than the formal jazz idiom tends to hit. 2 This style was often driven by recording companies in the 70's to provide a more marketable approach for jazz to counteract the decline in sales of jazz albums. Strong hard bop artists from the 60's such as Wes Montgomery and Grant Green unfortunately made some of their last recordings in the format." 1 As we can see by the use of the word "unfortunately", this definition categorizes pop jazz in a pejorative way, as some kind of deviation from the path of real jazz genres such as hard bop. It might also be more favorably viewed as an attempt by a performer to connect with a larger audience by adding some songs with which the audience is already familiar to their repertoire. A melody that is robust enough can be harmonized in many ways. Turning a IV / V/1 progression into a ii / V /1 makes it sound a little softer for example; going to iii / vi /ii / V after the first "A" rather than straight to "I" is another common device that achieves a similar jazzy effect. At present-day jazz clubs during any given week one can see young performers - usually singers - using devices like this to "jazz-ify" pop tunes by writers such as Bruce Springsteen or Prince. Pat Boone's "No More Mr Nice Guy" CD, in which he performs jazzed-up versions of hard rock classics, is a more sophisticated example of the same phenomenon.2 Looked at this way, jazz-pop can be seen as part of the long-standing trend among jazz 30l "Jazz pop" discussion / definition: http://www.smallsiazz.com/popJazz/index.html Boone, Pat. (1997) In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy (CD). USA: Ilip-O 40025 3 musicians to breathe new life into the repertoire by recording atypical pieces. Miles Davis' recording of "Someday My Prince Will Come" and John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" were initially viewed with scepticism, as pieces not serious enough to warrant serious artistic expression. 3 It may also point to the larger fluidity between genres that can conversely be seen in the many Tin Pan Alley songs rearranged for pop or rock. Notable examples include: • Dubin & Warren's 1934 composition "I Only Have Eyes for You", which became a 1959 hit for the Flamingos (whose record was also revived note for note in 1975 by Art Garfunkel).4 • Cole Porter's 1936 composition "I've Got. You Under My Skin", which became a smash for the Four Seasons in 1966.5 • Peter DeRose's 1933 composition "Deep Purple", which became a number one hit in 1963 for Nino Tempo and April Stevens.6 (It also provided the name for the legendary British hard rock act - it was their guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's grandmother's favourite song .)7 • Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1949 song "Happy Talk", which was revived in 1982 by Captain Sensible.8 Porter, Lewis. John Coltrane: His Life and Music. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998 Flamingos. (1991) Flamingo Serenade (CD). USA: Collectibles 5424 Four Seasons. (1990) Anthology: Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons (CD). USA: Rhino R2- 71490 Tempo, Nino & April Stevens. (1996) Sweet & Lovely: The Best of Nino Tempo & April Stevens (CD). USA: Varese 5592 Thompson, Dave. Smoke on the Water: The Deep Purple Story. Toronto: Ecw Press, 2004, p.35 Captain Sensible (1982) Women and Captains First (LP). USA A&M 68548 4 • Mercer and Bloom's 1940 composition "Fools Rush In", which was revived in 1963 by Ricky Nelson. 9 All of which point to the categorization of music not as an identifier of musical characteristics so much as a way to market product. Will Layman invokes Norah Jones' success in his definition of pop jazz, which focuses squarely on its function as a marketing tool: "The trick, it seems, is to carefully balance the jazz content of the music with a non- jazz pop sensibility. Or, put another way, to mix just enough jazz into a pop artist's bag to give it the Norah spark. NPR listeners and jazz fans are drawn in, but the reg'lar folks ain't scared off by crazy saxophone solos. You cultivate some confusion, just like Norah and her predecessors have." 10 Nebulous labels are of course nothing new in the music industry.