SaltmanKnowles + 'Jazz Creative'

Duke Ellington and the coat of many colors

2009-03-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

We've been discussing the color-music relationship for the last few weeks, and we are hoping that you find this topic as fascinating as we composers do.

In Jazz history, a certain Washington, DC born composer by the name of Duke Ellington is credited with being one of the great composers in history- Jazz or otherwise.

Lets look at one of the things that Duke Ellington (and later Strayhorn) was doing differently from the other Jazz composers of his day.
Prior to Ellington, if you were to look at the compositions that Jazz musicians were writing and playing, you would find that almost exclusively, when they modulated(changed keys), they would always go to a closely related key. For example if you were in the key of C, you might go to the key of F. Some key with only one accidental different than the previous one. I'm sure you might be able to find a couple of exceptions to this rule, but generally speaking this is how Jazz tunes were being written and arranged.

Now, lets look at some of Ellington's music, from the same period in history, the 1930's.
Take the song 'Do Nothin' til you hear from me'. It starts in the key of Bb and on the bridge it goes to Gb . Why did Duke do this? These keys aren't supposed to be related.

The answer might lie in the fact that Duke's first job was as an artist- painting signs to make some money. Of course, its impossible to know Ellington's inner mind; but there seems to be a very logical connection if one tends to look at key centers the way one looks at colors;

Tonalities in your rear-view mirror may be closer than they actually appear.

Return of the composer at #8

2009-03-24T21:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry for all this shameful self-promotion; we'll get back to writing about more topical things shortly, but we are happy we have hit #8 on the JazzWorld charts;
http://charts.mediaguide.com/genre/JazzWeek_World_release.html

So a big Thank you for all of your support!
...and if we ever top Slumdog Millionaire, we'll know we've taken a step up.

2009-03-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks to AllAboutJazz for this nice review...

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=32092

CD Release Party April 3rd and 4th

2009-03-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

Okay-

Now for a bit of shameful self-promotion.
WE are having our CD release party for 'Return of the Composer' on April 3rd and 4th at
HR57 Center for the preservation of Jazz and Blues.

The cost will be $12 cover- plus if you are real cool you can purchase a copy of the new CD and have it signed by anyone or all of the group.

On a radio news update- we made it to number 10 so far on the JazzWeek World Charts and hopefully will get a but further up- although our main competition seems to be the soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire-
I don't know if we can top that one.

So far we haven't debuted yet on the regular Jazz charts, but we are keeping our fingers exed.
Hope to see you...

Our Foray into Jazz Radio

2009-02-28T19:57:00.000-08:00

Recently SaltmanKnowles new record 'Return of the Composer', which you maybe listening to right now, started to appear on Jazz radio stations.
So far 'Return' has made it as high as number 10 on the World Jazz charts but hasn't yet debuted on the straight-ahead Jazz Charts.
If you happen to be reading this and are a radio listener, please call your station and request to hear a track from our record.
While there may not be any immediate rewards coming to you other than a chance to hear our music, you will have our sincere thanks, and some good Karma.
We will try and keep you updated on our progress.

PS- you can hear some examples of the color theory written about below on this record.

Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington and Color Thought...

2009-01-27T20:29:00.000-08:00

Once you have decided that some of the key centers do in fact correspond with colors you can then start its application.
I would suggest looking at a good piece of Jazz or Classical music to see how the theory works.
For example, if you look at Bach, you will see his tonal movements mostly in fourths- that is around the key cycle.
Does it sound like he is moving to distant locations?
Probably not- but it is effective;
What about Beethoven?
What about one of my favorites, Billy Strayhorn?-
Now you really are cooking with gas as they say.

Strayhorn and Duke Ellington were the Composers who really moved Jazz out of the moving to the closest keys syndrome.
You can look at any of their tunes and see that they started moving to more remote centers- like tritones(complements) and half-steps (split complements).

In fact, if you look historically at tunes being created in the 1930s- you will find that they have almost exclusive movement in fourths;
Until Ellington and Strayhorn opened things up for the rest of us.
If you can think of moving in the same color pathways that they did, many more possibilities open up.

Historical colorings...

2009-01-26T16:48:00.000-08:00

The Number 12 plays a significant role in the connection between music and art. It is the number of keys in our Western musical system and the number of colors on our Color Wheel.
(not to mention the Zodiac and the 12 tribes of Israel.)

The idea of combining music and art goes back to at least Ancient Greece when philosophers questioned weather there was a physical embodiment to music.

There are many well-known artists who have worked on this premise; Many of whom may not have been actual Synesthetes.
The list includes Isaac Newton who thought there was a correspondence between the frequencies of color and sound, Painter Arcimboldo, Paul Klee,Vassily Kandinsky, Alexander Scriabin and Duke Ellington.

Many of these folks tried to discover a relationship between notes or keys and colors, and developed their own system for doing so.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia_in_art

It seems like more than a coincidence that in Western thought, we have divided our systems so similary- so correspondence between the 2 seems so natural.

More to come...

1 irrefutable Reason to vote Obama

2008-10-26T07:47:00.001-07:00

Okay- first we have to apologize for not writing for a while- and secondly for delving into politics.
Now to the crux of the matter.

We have been watching the presidential debates quite avidly this time around- and one thing keeps striking me above all others.
Intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence- No, not the secret spy clandestine kind.

The kind I thought people admired- the "I have a real 'Intellect' kind".
Why wouldn't we want the person to represent our country be as bright as possible?
Isn't that what world leaders respect?
I know I do.
- and while that is certainly not the only criteria to being our leader- the opposite definitely aught be true-
If you just are not that bright- you should NOT and can not be our highest representative.
So,
Joe 6 pack, Joe plumber and and Joe Schmo;
Lets all use our intelligence and eloquence, and vote smarter.

PS- Please do not take this to mean that I believe that I would be an intelligent representative of anything other than my pet cat.

Music is an addiction (thanks TSA)

2008-08-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

Well hello again; and this time I'm coming to you from Edinburgh, Scotland while on vacation.

I've discovered that not having a working instrument can really be a *itc* on your psyche and general state of mind.

You may be asking yourself why a musician would be going away for two weeks and not have an instrument that they can play.

I was asking myself the same question a few nights before I left; and concluded that it wasn't a good idea, so I lovingly got a medium hard/soft case and a lot of bubble wrap and put my instrument carefully and lovingly inside- even testing it a bit to make sure that it would hold under most circumstances.

After arriving in Scotland thru New york and the UK I discovered that one of my two bags had not arrived with me, but the airline repeatedly assured me that it would be coming soon, oh, very soon.

A day later, it did in fact arrive, and while the case looked completely intact, I couldn't shake that certain feeling.
Yes, my Bass neck was broken in 3 places- of course there was a lovely note from the TSA saying that they had inspected it. (of course they didn't mention the shifted, no longer protected belongings)
And while in fact I might be safer when I fly now,
I know my Bass isn't.

PS- It was 'inspected' two times more on my return home. Thankfully it was already broken.

Pimpin' the "J" word

2008-07-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

Yeah that "j" word.
Everywhere we turn there are "jazz" festivals being advertised in well known media locales.
It seems that now a days there are hundreds of Jazz festivals every month;
but don't be fooled.
Very few of these festivals have what most of us would consider anything resembling Jazz.
Yes, its just a word: but that word is used to justify all sorts of reasons not to play real Jazz music;
and yet- to call every festival a Jazz festival.

Not only that, but when are we going to redefine what the word "mainstream" really means.
All of these "terms" that the industry uses are just jargon to justify doing what they have always done.
"sell quick"
"sell in volume"
Just as long as it can
"sell ".

Gas- its whats for dinner.

2008-06-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

You may be asking yourself what gas has got to do with music, even as you are reading this opening line.
Fortunately, while I do love a mystery, clarity might be good.
Unless you were a working musician circa 1970, you may not know that the wages being payed in what few jazz clubs left today, bear more than a striking resemblance to those paid over forty year ago.
Up until recently, Pre-W, era- at least the wages that you had to spend arriving at said jazz club, remained relatively stable. Henceforth, while general wage increases couldn't be taken into account, you weren't paying more to arrive at said establishment.
We are getting closer to the point where the new phrase will be
"gas- its what's for dinner".

Jazz, the final frontier?

2008-06-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

These are the voyages of SaltmanKnowles... (and yes, we do love Star Trek)

Twenty years ago, I had a music professor in school who repeatedly proclaimed "Jazz is dead" to our entire class.
It often reminded me of "space: the final frontier".
What do we do once we shoot off into space? Are there no more places to go?

If we keep doing and playing the same things, then we might be abetting the death of great music. Classical music seems to like this, as its difficult to remember any major programs not containing music by people living during the past 100 years.
This is not to say that Classical music doesn't have programs of new music, but they seem to rarely contain any Singable, non-gymnastic, or groove elements- translation; "not good".

Well, the good new is that Jazz is in fact not dead at all, but the old gatekeepers certainly make it seem that way. There is plenty of great new Jazz with all of the aforementioned proper elements-
We have new grooves to write, beautiful new melodies to compose and some very hip and appealing harmonies to be voiced.
the only question is; when will the rest of the community catch on to the fact that these are the elements which make our music GREAT- and will lead us beyond the last frontier?

Go ahead, make my day!

2008-06-19T14:34:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I was in the post office to mail some cd's for our upcoming European radio campaign.
One of the nice post office workers was helping me pack my cds up and asked what kind of music I was sending out.
When I told her it was Jazz, she said, "I love Jazz, I'll take one, how much?" and immediately put a smile on my face and some money in my pocket, which of course I had to turn around and give her back for postage.
The more important point here though, is how many folks out there really do love Jazz? I'd put my money on the fact that its a hell of a lot more than purchase the mere 1% of market share that Jazz makes up.
So, here's to hoping more folks make my day and come out of the "jazz lovers" closet.

Why Jazz is truly America's Music

2008-06-02T20:49:00.001-07:00

We know that for years Jazz has been referred to overseas as America's Music, but why?
For years, Jazz has been the voice of america: Its been the music that we tout to other cultures as representing us or U.S.

We have developed other music here in America, so what makes Jazz special, and how does it truly reflect our values and culture?

Our country's core value is Freedom. Freedom to speak and criticize, Freedom to express, and Freedom to make your own choices.

Freedom is essential in any music that contains improvisation as a primary element like Jazz.
However, just like in our country freedom does have some limits.
One must adhere to our country's laws, often for the benefit of all; Jazz has similar restrictions like form and harmony that must be dealt with- but the amount of choices you can make within those forms is enormous.

But Jazz also contains elements which other improvisational music does not. The most important of those is what we call 'swing'.
Swing reflects the heartbeat of our nation better than any other rhythm.
The true feeling of swing comes from the polyrhythmic feel of cultures fused together just like our country.

When you hear Bossa Nova you immediately think Brazil.
Ska, Soca, Polka all are immediately associated with their countries of origin.

When you hear, real hard swing you think...

America

Artistic Teams

2008-05-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

Working in a collective artist situation is different from regular gigs. By collective, I mean lots of different artists across many disciplines. My point of reference is theater. I'm also speaking from the theater musicians point of view. First there is a hierarchy of ideas and people who can have them. The creative team consists of designers: wardrobe, set, lights, choreographer, writer, composer, musical director, and sound. The director is the captain of the ship. His first mate is the stage manager. The stage manager is the conduit of information between all departments. She calls the show, sets rehearsal times, and schedules. The director is the source of artistic vision for the entire piece. The musical director rehearses the band and singers. He conducts, makes cuts, and handles the coordination of music and the piece.

Time is often short. Being on time is important. I think the greatest myth about theater musicians is their instantaneous ability to process information. Yes good reading skills are a plus, but there's more to the game than that. Other parts of the game include: awareness, ability to take a cue, patience, and being a good company member.

Awareness encompasses a lot of things. For example, you're in tech and ten people are trying to communicate with each other. This is not the time to noodle away on your instrument. Let's say you have a scheduling conflict. It's a few days before opening. If one is aware of the chain of command, one should approach the stage manager not the composer/musical director. Your cue is coming up, and you're still reading your novel and not watching the director. The singer just jumped three bars; did you go with her? Awareness can also be called common sense.

Musical directors have different styles. The good ones will give you an idea of the tempo in advance. Sometimes they give the wrong tempo and want to adjust it. One's ability to take a cue comes into play. Some cats are nervous and you have sit back off the tempo. Others really mean what they give. Some cats don't want to conduct at all, so you're left finding it yourself.

Patience... The rehearsals are long. Bring something to read or do in your down time. It makes the process more bearable. Crappy food is a must. The bottom line is this. Everyone in the process has to perform together. The actor has to make his quick change; the sound man has his cue; the crew needs to move the walls; and so on. Tech is the time when all areas of the team work though the show together.

A good company member is someone you don't mind being around. He initials the sign in sheet. He's on time and ready to play. He has a pencil and marks his music well. He takes his book home and practices. He's reasonably positive and has a decent attitude. A good company member doesn't comment on areas outside his expertise. i.e. ( A musician giving actor notes. )

Notes are method of improving the work, suggestions of how to do something better. Director's give actors notes. Musical directors give musicians notes: softer bar 33, or you missed an entrance etc. If you make a mistake and receive a note it's o.k. Don't argue with cat. If you don't understand something ask about it. Otherwise, be aware of the note and perform better the next go round.

Theater is a great form of storytelling. It's live and compelling. The audience is the unknown cast member. The pay is steady, and you can swing in some cases. The audiences listen to you and occasionally they'll follow your work. I will visit this topic again from the designers point of view.

Playing Slow and Pretty

2008-05-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

Fast Food, Fast Cars, Instant Information and ... Fast Music.

How many times can you remember hearing a song that was truly a "ballad"?
Was it written in the last 10 years?
How about the past 20?

Everything has sped up in our society; and music is no exception.
Everyone wants to hear the latest man-child that can play cleanly at a thousand miles an hour...thats what makes a prodigy, isn't it?

If you listen to the past giants, they certainly could play fast, but they also knew how to play slow, and did it quite often. In the 60's we had great whole records of just ballads; John Coltrane/Johnny Hartmann, Dexter Gordon just to name a few of the the memorable ones.

The missing part about this, is that speed is relative; it works in contrasts. I can remember going to a concert of a well-known guitarist. He opened with a burning tune, wow. The next tune he played was fast too, and the next one was medium-fast- where did the edge go? It really lost my interest, and by the forth tune, I was outta there.

While there is no way keep our society from moving rapidly; there is a desperate need for balance;
Always make a place for Playing Slow and Pretty.

Music in our schools for the wealthy is not making us healthy or wise

2008-05-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

Recently I remarked to a parent that 'they' (meaning the school chancellor, board, gov't etc.) just don't get how important the Arts are to any kid's education.

"No", she said, "they get it; they only send their children to schools that have a FULL arts program."
...and she's right!
The school chancellor, mayor, and every single Senator would not and have not sent their children schools without Music, Art, Dance, Ironic isn't it? Are we really still willing to accept such an uneven, biased public education system?

Even in ancient Greece they understood the importance of arts education.

I remember one of my friends in music school (college) telling me that without music, he would never have made it through high school; and this is a common for a lot of kids.
Just about every student has a bent in at least one of the intelligences; but in today's climate, it seems like we are more than willing to let a few of them go-
As long as he can read and count, I guess 3/5 of him is just fine-
You just better hope that he/she is not the doctor on call during your next emergency.

Colors and Key Center

2008-05-19T18:25:00.000-07:00

Darkness in the Lights

2008-05-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not talking about doing your wash. I am referring to the purpose of understanding how Music and Color relate to each other.

Have you ever heard a tune which just sounds "sappy happy"- not genuinely uplifting like some of the spirituals and psalms, but sappy sweet?
How about one that just sounds morose with no real meaning?

Part of that "yuck" factor is the lack of color shading in the tune. If you look at some of the great 'color field' painters of the past generation, Mark Rothko, Clifford Styhl etc. notice how even within their large field of color there are differentiations;
Yellows are not simply one yellow, Blues not just a single blue etc.
Otherwise you might as well just ask Sherwin Williams or Dupont to create your next masterpiece.

In music the same principle exists. Using the same color creates monotony-monotones do not give the listener anything to hope for. If its all happy flavors we are just bored to tears, even more so than just sad flavors. Unfortunately we have way too much of this type of music.
Good art must effectively utilize and contrast/combine lights and darks to make pieces that genuinely reflect emotions.

Emotions which are not simply happy or sad but actually contain dimensions greater than 2, just like me and hopefully you.

Where's the beef?

2008-05-09T22:25:00.000-07:00

I recently spent my hard earned cash on an evening of jazz music (straight ahead). I highly recommend it. As the evening progressed, I found myself more restless. There was something missing. The ensemble included only sax, bass, and drums. The harmony was missing. The music sounded too thin. It reminded me of those old where's the beef commercials. There was no meat in the middle. Harmonic instruments exist for a reason. They are great for covering the middle. As soon as the horn player takes the horn out of his mouth, the ensembles shrinks to two players. Even great players sound dull when they are compensating for missing elements. No rhapsodic solos, open fifth's and tenth's in the bass, or drum fills can cover the fact that something is missing. There are three elements of music: rhythm, melody, and harmony. The music and the listening experience is incomplete without them.

More on the colors

2008-05-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

So, in our last post we left you with:
Cmajor- being the yellow color- and its complement Gbmajor being Violet (just like the colors)
If you follow the circle of fifths in music and correspond them with the colors you will see

Gmajor being the yellowgreen color on the right
F major the yelloworange- lets keep it going down the left side.
Bb major being orange
Eb red-orange
Ab red
Db red-violet
which of course brings you to Gb.
Now do the same for the sharps- after G you have
D Green
A BlueGreen
E Blue
B Blue Violet
which brings you once again to Gb- violet.
It really is an astounding correlation when you think about it.

Colors Colors and more Colors

2008-05-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

As referred to in our earlier post about Synaesthesia, (yeesh, hard word to say)
we composers often look at sounds in terms of colors.

While the concept maybe old, no one seems to be able to agree on a specific set of colors/key correspondence.
We thought we'd add our unsubstantiated, but educated notions.

Yellow at the top would correspond to C major- Brightest of all keys(no sharps, flats etc.)
Violet at the bottom (complementary color) - is Gb Major- Darkest of all keys.

We'll be back with more... have to keep you on the edge of your seats.

The Future of Jazz? (and classical too, shhh)

2008-05-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

Okay Okay- before everyone or no one goes off on this, lets start with this:

There are really TWO interconnected sides to the future of Jazz. There is of course, the business side of it; which we know everyone in the music industry is trying to figure out now, not just us Jazz musicians.

But, at least of equal importance is the artistic side, the musical side. Certainly trends in the business side greatly influence the artistic side, but does it work the other way?

As musicians, we have become increasingly reactionary to other types of popular musics. Sometimes we copy parts of them, but we always do it with the air of one-ups-manship.
In our minds, we know that because we are better trained musicians, we can automatically do it better. Or we tend to go the other way- include no elements of the things that make other music 'popular'.

Unfortunately, as you may have guessed, neither approach seems to be beneficial to the music itself.

One of the great things that makes other music popular is that it often still contains an element of Melody- something modern Erudite Jazz and Classical musicians have often forgotten.
Secondly, and this is specifically a criticism of modern classical music; it has an element of GROOVE.
Third- there is often times an element of ethnic folk musics, hey, we have a World full of em.

While, good Jazz can never lose the things that make it great, rhythm, hard swing, etc.
Hopefully, at some point, we can begin to embrace these elements which many of us currently shun, and keep moving the music forward. There are still places to go, and countries undiscovered.
But, don't wait for most industry folks to point the way, they're too busy waiting for their next new 'Savior' of music.

Come Visit us on OUR STAGE

2008-04-27T21:44:00.001-07:00

We thought we'd try an experiment on the new website 'Ourstage'. Its a site where fans judge songs and artists are ranked based on those judgements.

Well, so far the results for us have been pretty good- we're in the semis for the JVC Jazz festival.

Since we don't want to say anything negative about the competition, we'll just say go ahead over, sign up and vote if you get the chance.
Its certainly an interesting concept, and as far as I can tell, no read downside since it is a free site.

http://www.ourstage.com/welcome

Synaesthesia- try it.

2008-04-27T15:47:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I went to a Smithsonian exhibition on the subject of Synaesthesia- combining the process of 2 or more senses-
In this case it was on Visual Art and Music as one. This is not a new topic as Sir Isaac Newton and others have postulated on the connection between the two for centuries.
Some folks have even gone so far as to assign a color for every note of a Bach partita to come up with a painting.

I tend to look at it much more in terms of colors and Key centers.
For example-
the key of C major- no flats or sharps corresponds with a white/yellow to me. While the key with the most Gb major would be the complement-A dark purple.

Since there is no direct scientific correlation established yet, why not try a completely random experiment.
Try closing your eyes at the piano- hit some notes and see what feelings and sounds it evokes.

One of the reasons I associate dark colors with more flats and sharps, is because it brings a dark feeling to play in some of those keys.

See how it works for you.

The Demise of IAJE (International Assoc. Of Jazz Educators)

2008-04-18T22:44:00.000-07:00

The shocking news that the International Association of Jazz Educators; a long standing institution in the world of Jazz, came to a quick close today.
While many members including ourselves are indeed surprised and saddened by the news, it should come as no surprise that another Jazz institution has fallen by the wayside.

Jazz, America's music, was once known as the music of freedom to be heard around the world- it was in fact Voice of Americas musical choice to represent American ideals worldwide. Today many of us have forgotten how powerful this great music is; and in part the Jazz world itself must accept part of the blame.

Instead of reaching out to new markets with real original Jazz music, we have stagnated and tried to water Jazz music down by creating "crossovers" into just about every genre. While Jazz has a rich history of being able to adopt new sounds, it will not remain in the public consciousness without touting its own strong unique voice- and sound.

The Hang - Where is the Arts community today?

2008-04-13T19:02:00.000-07:00

We often hear stories from older musicians and artist friends about the 'hang'. Back in the 70's it seems that all kinds of artists would hang out together all the time.
If you were a modern painter you knew of all of the folks in the Jazz scene, and vice versa. There was a true community of artists sharing social, artistic and personal ideas.

Didn't Harlem have great painters and musicians and writers and philosophers together?

What about today...
Where do all of these artists hang out? Not in college.

The internet is certainly one place, but where are all of the important discussions on social and artistic thought?
Sure we can go to lectures but thats not always discussion.
Sure we can go to concerts and art openings but where are the elements of sharing ideas?

We need to go back to discovering a place for the exchange of artistic thought- without being afraid of PCness.

Will downloads make music better?

2008-04-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

Gone are the days of buying a crappy record for one good tune. We all have the power as consumers to take what we like and leave the rest alone. So, why is there so much junk still around? Our taste has eroded. As a kid, I listened to my parents music first. I didn't control my listening my folks did. Fortunately, my folks liked good melodic music. Today young listeners are directly marketed to. Unfortunately, the music they receive is not melodic, limited structurally, and can be played by a 5th grader. Downloads will not make music better. Crappy music will flourish until consumers demand music with compelling melodies, a form and a harmonic structure beyond a couple of chord changes.

Welcome to the SaltmanKnowles Blog

2008-04-04T17:32:00.000-07:00

Hello Spider Friends,

Mark Saltman and William Knowles will be here, writing about our thoughts on things:

Most importantly, Music, but a few other things may creep in as well.
First, if you want to hear some music from us, just click the player below us and start groovin.
If you want to leave us a comment- especially if it involves large transfers of money from a foreign entity to our bank accounts go right ahead.