Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > French music reconfigured in the modal jazz of ...
View graph of relations

French music reconfigured in the modal jazz of Bill Evans.

Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSNChapter (peer-reviewed)

Published

Standard

French music reconfigured in the modal jazz of Bill Evans. / Mawer, Deborah.
Jazz Chameleon: 9th Nordic Jazz Conference Proceedings . ed. / Janne Mäkelä. Helsinki: Finnish Jazz and Pop Archive, 2011. p. 77-89.

Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSNChapter (peer-reviewed)

Harvard

Mawer, D 2011, French music reconfigured in the modal jazz of Bill Evans. in J Mäkelä (ed.), Jazz Chameleon: 9th Nordic Jazz Conference Proceedings . Finnish Jazz and Pop Archive, Helsinki, pp. 77-89. <http://iipc.utu.fi/jazzchameleon/Mawer.pdf>

APA

Mawer, D. (2011). French music reconfigured in the modal jazz of Bill Evans. In J. Mäkelä (Ed.), Jazz Chameleon: 9th Nordic Jazz Conference Proceedings (pp. 77-89). Finnish Jazz and Pop Archive. http://iipc.utu.fi/jazzchameleon/Mawer.pdf

Vancouver

Mawer D. French music reconfigured in the modal jazz of Bill Evans. In Mäkelä J, editor, Jazz Chameleon: 9th Nordic Jazz Conference Proceedings . Helsinki: Finnish Jazz and Pop Archive. 2011. p. 77-89

Author

Mawer, Deborah. / French music reconfigured in the modal jazz of Bill Evans. Jazz Chameleon: 9th Nordic Jazz Conference Proceedings . editor / Janne Mäkelä. Helsinki : Finnish Jazz and Pop Archive, 2011. pp. 77-89

Bibtex

@inbook{0eeb23138254403b92f8e8e666a3b717,
title = "French music reconfigured in the modal jazz of Bill Evans.",
abstract = "Twentieth-century French music played a privileged role in the improvisational thinking of the American modal jazz pianist Bill Evans (1929-80). And these loci offer an ideal opportunity for investigating relations between musical types: from parallels, potential intersections, through to specific eclecticisms, which assimilate, adapt and individualize a given source. Implicit are {\textquoteleft}crossings{\textquoteright} and transformations of genre, culture, national identity and time-frame; at issue are the nature and mutability of music materials. I aim to show the richness and significance of these interactions in two case studies: aspects of Kind of Blue (1959) and {\textquoteleft}Peace Piece{\textquoteright} (1958) in connection with Chopin, Ravel and Messiaen. Evans{\textquoteright}s parentage and education meant he was exposed to highly varied music: {\textquoteleft}sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven and works by Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Ravel, Gershwin, Villa-Lobos, Khachaturian, [and] Milhaud{\textquoteright} (Pettinger, Bill Evans: My Heart Sings). I argue that in French repertory, particularly, Evans discovered an affinity with, and catalyst for, his improvisational priorities: lyricism, polyphonic lines, a rich harmonic palette of sevenths/ninths, subtle textures, {\textquoteleft}voicings{\textquoteright} and exquisite tone – a vehicle for expressivity and imagination. Conversely, it is intriguing that relatively old French music has {\textquoteleft}lived on{\textquoteright}, re-configured {\textquoteleft}chameleon{\textquoteright}-like within a new postwar context.",
author = "Deborah Mawer",
note = "See too Portuguese translation: {\textquoteleft}A m{\'u}sica Francesca reconfigurado no jazz modal de Bill Evans{\textquoteright}, trans. Fausto Bor{\'e}m, Revista Per Musi, 26 (forthcoming 2012). ",
year = "2011",
language = "English",
isbn = "978-952-67401-5-7",
pages = "77--89",
editor = "Janne M{\"a}kel{\"a}",
booktitle = "Jazz Chameleon: 9th Nordic Jazz Conference Proceedings",
publisher = "Finnish Jazz and Pop Archive",

}

RIS

TY - CHAP

T1 - French music reconfigured in the modal jazz of Bill Evans.

AU - Mawer, Deborah

N1 - See too Portuguese translation: ‘A música Francesca reconfigurado no jazz modal de Bill Evans’, trans. Fausto Borém, Revista Per Musi, 26 (forthcoming 2012).

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - Twentieth-century French music played a privileged role in the improvisational thinking of the American modal jazz pianist Bill Evans (1929-80). And these loci offer an ideal opportunity for investigating relations between musical types: from parallels, potential intersections, through to specific eclecticisms, which assimilate, adapt and individualize a given source. Implicit are ‘crossings’ and transformations of genre, culture, national identity and time-frame; at issue are the nature and mutability of music materials. I aim to show the richness and significance of these interactions in two case studies: aspects of Kind of Blue (1959) and ‘Peace Piece’ (1958) in connection with Chopin, Ravel and Messiaen. Evans’s parentage and education meant he was exposed to highly varied music: ‘sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven and works by Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Ravel, Gershwin, Villa-Lobos, Khachaturian, [and] Milhaud’ (Pettinger, Bill Evans: My Heart Sings). I argue that in French repertory, particularly, Evans discovered an affinity with, and catalyst for, his improvisational priorities: lyricism, polyphonic lines, a rich harmonic palette of sevenths/ninths, subtle textures, ‘voicings’ and exquisite tone – a vehicle for expressivity and imagination. Conversely, it is intriguing that relatively old French music has ‘lived on’, re-configured ‘chameleon’-like within a new postwar context.

AB - Twentieth-century French music played a privileged role in the improvisational thinking of the American modal jazz pianist Bill Evans (1929-80). And these loci offer an ideal opportunity for investigating relations between musical types: from parallels, potential intersections, through to specific eclecticisms, which assimilate, adapt and individualize a given source. Implicit are ‘crossings’ and transformations of genre, culture, national identity and time-frame; at issue are the nature and mutability of music materials. I aim to show the richness and significance of these interactions in two case studies: aspects of Kind of Blue (1959) and ‘Peace Piece’ (1958) in connection with Chopin, Ravel and Messiaen. Evans’s parentage and education meant he was exposed to highly varied music: ‘sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven and works by Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Ravel, Gershwin, Villa-Lobos, Khachaturian, [and] Milhaud’ (Pettinger, Bill Evans: My Heart Sings). I argue that in French repertory, particularly, Evans discovered an affinity with, and catalyst for, his improvisational priorities: lyricism, polyphonic lines, a rich harmonic palette of sevenths/ninths, subtle textures, ‘voicings’ and exquisite tone – a vehicle for expressivity and imagination. Conversely, it is intriguing that relatively old French music has ‘lived on’, re-configured ‘chameleon’-like within a new postwar context.

M3 - Chapter (peer-reviewed)

SN - 978-952-67401-5-7

SP - 77

EP - 89

BT - Jazz Chameleon: 9th Nordic Jazz Conference Proceedings

A2 - Mäkelä, Janne

PB - Finnish Jazz and Pop Archive

CY - Helsinki

ER -