Le 29 juin 2017
de 10h00 à 10h30
Le Patio (université de Strasbourg)
22 rue René Descartes, 67000 Strasbourg
salle 3208
Séance - Stylistic Features of Jazz
Pré-acte / Acte
Auteur : Patrick Schenkius
Wayne Shorter’s (b. 1933) compositions are characterized by stretching conventional forms as well as bending traditional harmony, all bound together by a rhythmical persuasive melody. The standard 12-bar blues form is characterized by its three corresponding phrases and basic harmonic plan. The uncomplicated nature of the blues form seems to contradict with the modernity of Shorter’s compositions. Six blues-based pieces were composed and recorded by Wayne Shorter between 1961 and 1966, and two compositions with separate elements of the blues. This paper will examine how Wayne Shorter relates to definitions of the standard 12-bar form, starting with a display of the characteristic elements of the instrumental jazz blues. The ternary structure as well as the standard length of the 12 bars is clearly present in all of the discussed blues pieces. Wayne Shorter uses traditional riff-like bluesy melodies, though not always in a strict way. Motivic relationship is another important aspect to make the three phrases correspond to each other as statement, restatement and conclusion. Shorter’s distinctive harmonic approach for his blues pieces is the most important feature. Like his contemporaries John Coltrane and Horace Silver, Shorter modernizes the sound of his blues by using unexpected chord substitutions, constant parallel structures, suspended dominant seventh chords, progressions borrowed from other keys, minor mode as a key center and unusual final cadences to conclude the blues form.
