Jazz Music: “One O’Clock Jump” by Count Basie Orchestra

The name of considered song is One O’Clock Jump by Count Basie Orchestra. The whole palette of sounds is created by such main instruments as: piano, drum, saxophone, trumpet, contrabass and trombone. The style of the performance is jazz.

Each kind of instrument contributes its colors to the sound of the whole musical composition. Piano, for example, makes the sound natural, voluminous, rich and sets the pace for the entire work. Its melodic motifs at the beginning of the performance make sound lively and rhythmic. The next type of musical instruments of this composition is the bass instruments. Bass music instruments confer certain chords and set the character of musical sounding. More often this sounding becomes more deep and exciting with the help of bass instruments. One more type of instruments – drum – makes the listeners to concentrate attention on the enchanting sounds of the whole work. Drum sounds suddenly burst into the composition and make it strong, focused and relevant.

The whole composition One O’Clock Jump by Count Basie Orchestra begins from the sounds of bewitching piano solo. Other instruments in this moment produce background stain. After the piano there are bursts sounds of saxophone. Onwards is the alternating solo of trombone and drums. This method of alternating makes the music intense and unpredictable. After trombone and drums there is again the solo of saxophone. Further trumpet enters and after it there is a duet of contrabass and piano. The mild sounds of the piano are well diluted and harmony with crude contrabass sounds. There is a mix of sounds at the end of the composition.

Piano solo of One O’Clock Jump is produced by Count Basie – American jazz pianist, organist, and famous leader of the Big Band. Count Basie shows a completely individual, concise style, with a characteristic use of short melodic phrases, often – no more than a cliché, artistically arranged and played with wit and ingenuity. Count Basie consciously stuck minimalism, evading popular piano styles and mannerisms peculiar to many pianists of that time. He saw his main problem in ensuring freedom of orchestral improvisation. Basie’s piano was the energy source for musicians of his famous orchestra.

Piano solo sets the tone for the whole musical composition at its very beginning and bursts throughout the whole composition, making music diverse. It is difficult to say that the solo progresses from beginning to end, it is more correct to say that this solo is impermanent. In the middle of the composition piano solo merges with contrabass and sets its own notes. But it is also necessary to note that the character of piano sounding notes is permanent and doesn’t change throughout the whole composition. At the end of the One O’Clock Jump piano sounds harmoniously blend with the sounds of all the instruments of orchestra. To my mind the piano solo is really successful, because it colors and harmonizes the sounds of all orchestra instruments. It is good that the piano does not sound throughout the composition, but appears and focuses the attention of the audience on its sound and simultaneously sounding musical instruments.

The overall performance is extremely positive and energizing, saturates positive emotions thanks to its fun and rhythmic tempo. The most specifically thing that I personally liked is an alternation of contrabass and piano sounds. Such different sounds, but finally such a pleasant duet! If I could change something in the play of the whole orchestra it would be adding of some more musical instruments, such as guitar or tuba. But, in general, the composition is sufficient in this form and doesn’t need changes.

 

References

Basie, Count (2000). Good Morning Blues: The Autobiography of Count Basie. Paladin Grafton Books. p. 25. ISBN 0-586-08638-2.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
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[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]
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