Randy Pingrey – trombone
Ezra Weller – trumpet
Chris Veilleux – alto sax, flute
and special guest – Kathy Olson – flute
On March 7th, the Randy Pingrey Trio +1 opened for Shaw Pong Liu’s amazing Ligeti string quartet project. I couldn’t have been happier with the way the evening turned out – Ezra, Chris, and Kathy all played amazingly (check out the end of Short Notes for some pretty sick ensemble playing), and it was the first time I heard Ligeti’s first String Quartet (it was stunning). As always, thank you very much for listening!
Randy Pingrey – all instruments and arrangements (except for Deed I Do, which is based on a Kathy Olson arrangement)
I recorded these tracks over the past few months using a small digital four-track device. It started out as something that I was doing just for fun, but eventually I realized that I had pull together a few of my favorite tracks to release here. I hope you enjoy it!
While at NEC, I was fortunate enough to study for a year with the famed trombonist-extraordinare Robin Eubanks. For a while, I was bringing in Charlie Parker solos to work on with him, and in one of our lessons he said (and I’m paraphrasing here):
You know, someone should take some time to transpose these solos up a fourth. They’re really in the pumpin’ register.
After you take a second to chuckle at the phrase “pumpin’ register”, let me explain what he meant: When trombone players practice Parker’s solos (say, from the Omnibook or from their own transcription), we play what Parker played, but down an octave. Unfortunately, the “money register” for a saxophone tends to skew lower on the instrument’s available tessitura than what is common for the average jazz trombonist. As a result, here is what a trombone player looks at when they try to play a Charlie Parker solo:
To a jazz trombonist, the preceding excerpt, although playable, doesn’t really lay in an idiomatic fashion on the horn. When a trombone is played in its lower register, all of the slide positions are further apart compared to the closer positions of the higher register. In other words, what Robin meant by “pumpin’ register”, is that the solo is just too damn low and one has to move the slide too much. Bebop is already hard enough on the trombone, and the range that trombonists play Parker’s solos in certainly doesn’t make these tricky solos any easier. Here is what the same excerpt looks like when it’s transposed up a fourth:
Now we’re talking! The range is much more reflective of what jazz trombonists actually play. So, I went ahead and I transposed the whole solo up a perfect fourth, just like Robin suggested. Here, take a look and listen for yourself:
The benefits are pretty clear – I’ve been working on the solo for about a week, and the bebop vocabulary feels much better suited to my instrument. I suppose one could argue that it would be more valuable to study Parker’s solos at the original pitch, but I’ve always thought that the jazz tradition is ours to play with, so why not?
I also went ahead and did the same thing to Parker’s solo on Donna Lee. Check it out too:
Birds Solo on Donna Lee (pdf file)
(I haven’t had the time to work on this solo, so I can’t totally swear by its accuracy, and there’s not yet an audio file for me to post. Besides, it’s really, really hard…)
So anyways, feel free to download these solos, and share them with your trombone playing friends!
What a great evening! Kathy and I can’t thank Mark and Austin enough for being so shockingly perfect for our music, and it was wonderful to see so many people at the gig.
And special thanks goes to Rutman’s Violins for having us play…
…and an extra special thanks goes to Joel and Laura for being totally awesome.
For the past few months I’ve been working on solo trombone improvisations, but it’s been a while since I’ve thought about it much – I’ve been busy dealing with other issues. However, just recently my friend James Wylie put on a concert of solo saxophone improvisations, and that inspired me to revisit the subject.
The music of the first generations of jazz trombonists has interested me more recently. I’ve been checking out Miff Mole, Vic Dickenson, and Bill Harris in addition to the trombonists I was already into (viz. Teagarden, Dickey Wells, Lawrence Brown). It’s that spirit that has been influencing me more and more.
These are also the first recordings I have with my new equipment – a Conn 6H – and it’s a horn I love to play. It makes me feel much more connected to “the tradition”. Whatever that means.
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted any solo work – the last time was in mid-June. I feel very different than that trombonist who recorded those tracks three months ago. I no longer have the time to be constantly obsessing about technique and virtuosity. I mourn the loss of that time, but the very lack of time that has made it seemingly impossible to work on trombone mechanics has also taught me something about the power of ideas over the allure of chops. Anyways, I think “Missing You” – which is dedicated to my sweetie, Kathy Olson – and “Decay” are two of the best solo pieces I’ve ever tried. I hope you enjoy the music.
Please come and check it out! It’s going to be a really fun night – it’s an amazingly beautiful space, and all the music will be brand new! There’s never been a finer way to spend a fall evening!
Here are two choice tracks which were recorded on August 21st at La Luna Cafe in Cambridge, MA. I might put up a few more tracks in the next several days, as I have time. Download the track by clicking on the name, or listen to it via the streaming flash player.
I’m particularly excited about the track Low Contrast. I wrote it for this group, and my idea was: what if Morton Feldman wrote a tune for the Mulligan/Brookmeyer band? I’m quite pleased with the results, and it’s a thing I’m definitely going to pursue in future projects.
Live at La Luna Cafe in Cambridge, MA – June 20th 2009
Tea for Two
Deed I Do
On the D.L.
Smoochin’
Featuring:
Kathy Olson – bari sax
Randy Pingrey – trombone
Keigo Hirakawa – piano
Brad Barrett – bass
All of these songs are transcribed and arranged (and, for On the D.L., composed) by Randy Pingrey, except for Smoochin’, which was composed and arranged by Kathy Olson. Special thanks goes to Kathy for recording and editing these tracks, and for giving me permission to put them up here. And also to La Luna for supporting live jazz!
For the past few months I’ve been working on solo trombone improvisations, but it’s been a while since I’ve thought about it much – I’ve been busy dealing with other issues. However, just recently my friend James Wylie put on a concert of solo saxophone improvisations, and that inspired me to revisit the subject.
Randy Pingrey: trombonist-at-large 