Bemsha swing
Bemsha Swing is a jazz joint composition by Thelonious Monk and Denzil Best from 1952. It is one of Monk's most famous compositions and has become the jazz standard . The name "Bemsha", originally "Bimsha", is a phonetic spelling of "Bimshire", which means "Little Bimshire". "Little Bimshire" is a slang name for Barbados, where Best was born.
Characteristics of the song
Bemsha Swing is usually a dominant Swing - Beat played (quarter note Swing). The song has a riff-like theme with 16 bars in the song form AABA. But it can also be viewed as “a rhapsodic blues in 8 bars, actually just a theme in C major , which is transposed again into F major .” According to Ralf Dombrowski , “the peculiar charm of the motif arises through the whole-tone scale on which it is based and which keeps the melody in suspension between the minor and major expectations. "
Recordings by Monk
The first recording was made on December 18, 1952; In addition to Monk on piano, Max Roach played drums and Gary Mapp played bass (an amateur musician who was a cop by his main job). The piano was “mercilessly out of tune,” although it is unclear whether this was possibly intended. "Since Monk decorated the piece in the original recording with seconds and all sorts of disharmonious ornaments" and Roach sometimes drummed wildly, "the song seems like a parody of the emphatically exaggerated genius aesthetic of the outgoing bebop euphoria."
Monk kept the title in the repertoire later and took it up several times ( Brilliant Corners , Misterioso ), also in 1954 with Miles Davis ( Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants ); it is also included on a live recording of Monk's Quartet from Japan in 1963 ( Tokyo Concert ).
Further recordings
Cecil Taylor recorded the song in 1956 ( Jazz Advance ). John Coltrane selected the title for his album The Avantgarde , on which Don Cherry was involved; the two “interpreted the subject with the humorous dryness it deserves”. Other recordings include Geri Allen , Don Cherry / Ed Blackwell , Bill Evans , the Esbjörn Svensson Trio , Hal Galper , Jim Hall , Bobby Hutcherson , Keith Jarrett and Max Roach . In 2002 coverte the fusion guitarist Larry Coryell , the piece on his album "Cedars of Avalon". But the song also found its way outside of the jazz context: Andy Summers recorded it ( Green Chimneys ) as did Elliott Sharp ( Sharp? Monk? Sharp! Monk!, 2006); the Red Hot Chili Peppers had the song 1989/1990 as FU in the tour program ( Out in LA ).
The interpretation of the piece by Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell has also found expression in literature. In several thrillers by Janwillem van de Wetering , Brigadier de Gier and Adjutant Grijpstra take the Bemsha swing as a model for their own jazz games.
literature
- Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 4th, revised and supplemented edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-15-010355-X .
- Hans-Jürgen Schaal (Ed.): Jazz standards. The encyclopedia. Bärenreiter, Kassel u. a. 2001, ISBN 3-7618-1414-3 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Robin DG Kelley: Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original. Free Press, New York 2009, p. 161.
- ↑ See Reclam's Jazz Guide
- ↑ a b c d Ralf Dombrowski, in: Hans-Jürgen Schaal, Jazz-Standards , p. 58f.
- ^ Cedars of Avalon. On: allmusic.com
- ^ Cedars of Avalon. ( Memento of the original from November 6, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: allaboutjazz.com
- ^ AllAboutJazz
