Hi everybody

John and Bob : +1 here. Seems to me that nobody writes jazz themes anymore. I did listen to some Monk arrangements by Marsalis that I liked a lot. Maybe I'm caricaturing too much. A few chords on top of what I wouldn't call a melody and like you said Bob, scale lines going from top to bottom. Hey, I'll never play as fast as these guys, but I don't mind a bit. Anyway, composers like Ellington, Porter, Gershwin up to Monk and Mingus knew how to write a theme. It had substance and intention, a signature like John said. Even if I really like Shorter, Hancock and (some) Coltrane, maybe themes like yes & no or impressions were the start of that kind of writing, which is built only on a few chords, with a minimalist sort of melody. Then you improvise practically whatever you want. Some musicians told me they felt freer with that type of writing. I think a more thought out theme gives much more material. That being said, I do feel like an old buzzard when I say things like that. What can I say, some jazz music nowadays just doesn't interest me.

Like John said : "Wadda I know".

Last edited by Pierre Julien; 02/09/11 11:28 AM.
Best of all and hope your day is a nice one

Pierre

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