CHAPTER 13: Jazz Composition in the 1950s
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Forward-thinking jazz composers of the 1950s combined modern jazz style with all of the
following traditional elements EXCEPT:
a.
standard jazz and pop themes
b.
classical chamber music forms
c.
stride piano
d.
short breaks
e.
cadenzas
2. Approximately how many pieces did Thelonious Monk compose?
a.
15
b.
50
c.
70
d.
150
e.
1500
3. Which is the most important and most widely recorded of Thelonious Monk’s early compositions?
a.
“Ruby, My Dear”
b.
“Epistrophy”
c.
“Hackensack”
d.
“’Round Midnight”
e.
“Ducky Wucky”
4. Which of the following is NOT an idiosyncratic behavior associated with Thelonious Monk?
a.
naming songs after anagrams of his bandmates’ names
b.
mood swings
c.
onstage dancing
d.
frequent all-nighters
e.
obsessive concentration on a small number of compositions
5. In 1957, Thelonious Monk played a long engagement at the Five Spot with which important tenor
saxophonist?
a.
Sonny Rollins
b.
Ben Webster
c.
Charlie Rouse
d.
Sonny Stitt
e.
John Coltrane
6. How have classical pianists responded to Thelonious Monk’s compositions and improvisations?
a.
They have ignored them.
b.
They have transcribed his improvisations and performed them as compositions.
c.
They have shunned his recordings as amateurish.
d.
They have performed elaborate improvisations based on his compositions.
e.
They have corrected many mistakes that Monk made in performance.
7. Charles Mingus is celebrated for his work in all of the following areas EXCEPT:
a.
bassist
b.
composer
c.
peacemaker
d.
activist
e.
memoirist
8. What was the political message of Charles Mingus’s “Fables of Faubus”?
a.
It was pro-communist.
b.
It criticized President Eisenhower.
c.
It made fun of an unscrupulous jazz club owner.
d.
It was pro-integration.
e.
It was anti-women’s rights.
9. As the Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop developed, how did Mingus’s compositional role within the
group change?
a.
He wrote longer and more intricately notated scores.
b.
He developed a collaborative, freewheeling approach to performance.
c.
He developed stronger compositional organization.
d.
He handed off primary compositional duties to Dannie Richmond.
e.
He ceased writing new works, instead revisiting his earlier compositions.
10. All of the following musicians were important members of the Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop
EXCEPT:
a.
drummer Dannie Richmond
b.
pianist Horace Parlan
c.
saxophonist Charlie Rouse
d.
all of the above
e.
none of the above
11. Although he composed original works, Gil Evans is known primarily as:
a.
a pianist
b.
a jazz historian
c.
a music theorist
d.
an arranger
e.
a concert organizer
12. Gil Evans’s conception of the LP as a unified large-scale composition prefigured the late 1960s
conceptual albums of which rock band?
a.
The Beatles
b.
The Rolling Stones
c.
The Animals
d.
The Monkees
e.
Led Zeppelin
13. All of the following are signature aspects of Gil Evans’s arrangements EXCEPT:
a.
generous use of counterpoint
b.
sonorous slow-moving chords
c.
a wide range of instrumental registers
d.
tunes drawn from a wide array of styles
e.
a close musical connection to the harmonies and textures of the original composition
14. Which of the following soloists was NOT a featured soloist in a work arranged by Gil Evans?
a.
Miles Davis
b.
Charles Mingus
c.
Cannonball Adderley
d.
Steve Lacy
e.
Kenny Burrell
15. Gil Evans’s interest in blending jazz and rock led him to arrange works by which rock guitarist?
a.
Eric Clapton
b.
Jimmy Page
c.
Pete Townshend
d.
Jimi Hendrix
e.
George Harrison
16. George Russell’s Lydian Chromatic Concept forms the basis for which approach to jazz
improvisation?
a.
paraphrase
b.
modalism
c.
bebop
d.
free jazz
e.
harmonic substitution
17. In conceiving of the relationship between chords and associated scales, George Russell hoped to
help improvisers think more:
a.
harmonically
b.
rhythmically
c.
dynamically
d.
texturally
e.
melodically
18. Which 1947 George Russell composition fused modal jazz with Afro-Cuban rhythms?
a.
“Cubana Be/Cubana Bop”
b.
“Desafinado”
c.
“St. Thomas”
d.
“Concerto for Billy the Kid”
e.
“Haitian Fight Song”
19. Which pianist did George Russell discover, compose a piece for, and introduce to Miles Davis?
a.
Herbie Hancock
b.
Bill Evans
c.
Gil Evans
d.
Horace Parlan
e.
Thelonious Monk
20. Which is NOT true of George Russell’s later career?
a.
He taught at the University of Sweden during the 1960s.
b.
His large ensemble used acoustic instruments exclusively.
c.
He taught at New England Conservatory for more than twenty-five years.
d.
He wrote a composition based on Miles Davis’s 1959 solo improvisation on “So What.”
e.
Jazz at Lincoln Center refused to book his band.
TRUE/FALSE
1. Thelonious Monk is the most widely performed of all jazz composers.
2. In his early years, Thelonious Monk was considered an eccentric and poor pianist.
3. Charles Mingus’s “Goodbye Porkpie Hat” was conceived as a tribute to Lester Young.
4. All of Charles Mingus’s compositional outputs can be comfortably classified as hard bop.
5. Charles Mingus was a purist with regard to recordings, playing all parts live in the studio and
refusing to do any editing to the final takes.
6. Late in his career, Gil Evans embraced rock and pop musicians and collaborated with young
artists.
7. Gil Evans’s arrangement of “King Porter Stomp” differs from Fletcher Henderson’s arrangement
in that it smooths out the tricky syncopations of the Jelly Roll Morton composition.
8. George Russell is unique among major jazz figures in that he worked solely as a composer and
bandleader and not as an instrumentalist.
9. George Russell’s music is often thought to be too esoteric to be understood by the general public.
10. A portion of George Russell’s “Concerto for Billy the Kid” is based on the harmonic structure of
“Rhythm-a-ning.”
SHORT ANSWER
1. Thelonious Monk mentored the younger pianist _____________, helping to connect him to the
inner circle of bebop innovators.
2. An acclaimed 1957 recording of Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane remained unknown until the
year _____, when it was discovered in the Library of Congress and released on Blue Note Records.
3. Charles Mingus switched to bass from ______ after being advised that a black man could not
succeed as a classical musician.
4. Gil Evans is best known for his use of ________________, in which he builds elaborate textures
around the work of an individual soloist.
5. Miles Davis’s album _______________ popularized the modal approach to jazz improvisation.
MATCHING
Match each Thelonious Monk composition to the song or form from which it was adapted.
a.
“Thelonious”
d.
“Rhythm-a-ning”
b.
“In Walked Bud”
e.
“Bright Mississippi”
c.
“Evidence”
1. “Just You, Just Me”
2. “Sweet Georgia Brown”
3. “I Got Rhythm”
4. AABA with a ten-bar bridge
5. “Blue Skies”
ESSAY
1. Discuss how jazz composition changed in the postbop era of the 1950s by comparing and
contrasting one work by Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Gil Evans, or George Russell with a
work from an earlier period of jazz history.
2. Explain George Russell’s Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization as discussed in
Chapter 13. In what ways does this approach differ from earlier conceptions of jazz improvisation,
and how does it change the tools available to musicians?