Stacey Kent 4 (End of first series)

Blogger's Notes

Hey everyone. I'm covering the last part of Stacey Kent's "The Best Is Yet To Come" right now. It seems like it's the end of the series for Stacey Kent, but don't worry there'll be more about her in the future (then I have to change all the names >_<). Or I'll just continue as part of the series. I'll just note this as end of first series on her. =) Okay I added that as part of the title. I'm really hoping that everyone reading this will learn to enjoy jazz as an artform. It is a very all-embracing and free music which is why I think it's a great starting point for all people to start from here. =) I really appreciate all encouraging comments from friends and other music enthusiasts. Will continue to work on this blog and hopefully can generate a community of music enthusiasts to make music more of an accepted art than a commodity! Alright let's actually go into the topic now. =D




Analysis from 02:14 to 03:19

Piano Solo (Piano)

Oh! What a great way to start the solo! Usage of a motif to build up the momentum, then turning it into a full phrase and developing it once before doing a descending arpeggiaic pattern downwards! That's a mouthful! Haha.

Okay what's a motif? A motif is a 3-5 note pattern that is repeated, developed or expanded to create a full phrase or idea. Then when you actually repeat a few motifs with a few developments, you get a full phrase that you can develop more as well! This is a very important technique used by classical composers and jazz musicians alike. I just watched a documentary on Kurt Elling's scatting solo. He says it's like a variation and theme. You develop the idea from its basic form and expand it and develop it to something new. This is the method used for this solo. =)

Descending arpeggiaic pattern is something I'll be talking more about when we go into theory. But basically it's his usage of notes in what we call the chord tones, to form a descending melody downwards. He breaks it up into chunks which are like natural phrases and pauses in our speech, before ending on a nice repeated note of Db to lead back into the vocalist entry!

Another side note. Notice that the pianist is always laying back. It gives this swagger to his sound and his confidence. Every note he places is where it's meant to be. You can play the same notes without the rhythm and it can completely lose its point. Think about that.

Piano Solo (Everyone else)

Notice how Stacey Kent is dancing along to the beat during the solo? I know most vocalists seem very very awkward when another person is taking his/her solo and the vocalist has nothing to do. Well, enjoying the music is one of the most fundamental and natural way of being on stage. If you can't appreciate your own band member's solo, how do you expect anyone else to? Same for all other instrumentalists.

Okay if you've noticed, we went back to A' for this solo, it's just an 8 bar segment but there can be quite a bit said. Firstly it's the 4 on the floor again. It's a great thing to have whenever there's no drums. The bass and guitar are just driving the music, giving this beautiful momentum. Then on the second half of the A' the guitar starts doing hits at the same time as the 4 on the floor effect. He does this by playing on the on beat just before the hit and dragging out the hit till the next time he plays. It's a great way of continuing the sound while creating new push.

Back to C'! (Vocalist)

Stacey Kent comes back in on the second half of the song, starting on the C'. Okay, just scroll back to 01:32 to compare her tonal and phrasing difference. At first there's not much difference, and she does a habitual sound after the first four bars. But this time it is "ooooh" vs the "mmm" at the previous part; it is an effort to try to build up the energy, as when she comes back in she lays back even more! Not much tonal difference, in fact she actually is singing less forcefully, but she lays back a slight bit more. (Cross compare for yourself)

From that point on, she uses emphasis to bring up the energy. It is quite subtle, but whenever the emphasises a word, it brings up the intensity just a bit more, kind of like stronger accents to bring out a stronger point. The rhythm and phrasing is similar till she says "wait till the sunrise". Where this second time she actually simply speaks out the "wait". Brilliant. Little differences which tells you how the music is building up.

Back to C'! (Rest of the band)

Firstly, notice how the pianist plays a lot more this time? A lot more fills, but still part of the music. And notice that regardless of how intense he's playing, he's still laying back away from the beat, giving the swing feel that we know and love.

Secondly, the bass and guitar don't have to do much more than what they're doing. They keep the intensity up by plainly keeping up with the music. A great rhythm section can keep going forever and never get boring. And these two guys are great examples of that. 4 on the floor throughout, steady and pushing. It just ups the whole atmosphere.

Return to A'!

Familiar ending to D? Now the band softens down and settles down for the last part of the song. Familiar 2-feel from the double bass again. Familiar hits from piano guitar and piano, with saxophone joining from time to time. Then the regular repeat of the last 2 bars, and when Stacey ends, the bass and the guitar play in unison the melody modified with a chromatic 6 b6 5 1 to end the song, with the ending chord being a 13th (I believe).

Conclusion

That concludes the Stacey Kent's first series, using a song to analyse what makes her jazz and how to extract gems out of a song. This is not the only direction that this blog will be taking, so do not worry. =)

Thank you for reading this series.