John Coltrane Retrospective: Jazz Performance Term Paper

Total Length: 590 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

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However, there was a greater seriousness to the concert than jazz as 'background music' might possess. The music had a kind of melancholic quality, despite the fact that it was not spontaneously arising as an emotional outpouring of the musicians. The other instruments prominently featured were piano, drums, and base. All of these instruments are very visceral in nature, and complimented the soprano saxophone's lighter tone.

Although all of the instruments had solo passages, the solos were not strident 'featured' performances, or showpieces like a guitar or drum solo during a rock concert. The solos emerged from the hum of the other musicians, as the other instruments took up the background chords while the solos gradually emerged in prominence. Melody in "My Favorite Things" is passed around, and because it is fairly unobtrusive and unostentatious -- more like a rhythm than a distinct melody -- the status of 'soloist' slowly emerges rather than is announced.
The band worked together like a single intelligence.

For the last arrangement, the band played a 'mix-up' of some of the earlier pieces, and this was more spontaneous and fun, although it still stayed true to the original tone of the Coltrane standards. It was interesting to watch the close involvement of the band members in this more free-wheeling piece. In a jazz performance, regardless of what is played, there is always a clear, dynamic relationship between the musicians, as well as a relationship between the audience and the performers. Sometimes the performers might affect the performance through tapping to the rhythm, as in the case in any concert, but the musicians must be attuned closely to one another, as well as to audience reactions......

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