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Zwee dot! with Kelly Sill
Zwee dot! with Kelly Sill
Date Posted: October 10 2009
Written By: kelly sill
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How Chicago musician and educator Kelly Sill hears jazz music
Bassist Kelly Sill recently gave an explanation of what he calls the “god-essence” moments in jazz—those moments that transcend the music itself and form a spiritual connection between the artist and the listener.
As a particular example of this, Sill notes that on a live recording of “Stella By Starlight” an audience member squeals with joy when Miles Davis plays two simple notes—zwee dot!—on his trumpet.
Zwee dot!, then, seems to be an apropos name for this column, as Sill uses classic jazz cuts to share his “listening” with us. For this column, Sill listens to Sonny Rollins’ “St. Thomas” from his Saxophone Colossus album. Time markers are placed next to the text to allow readers to follow along.
“St. Thomas”
Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus
Sonny Rollins – Tenor saxophone
Tommy Flanagan – Piano
Doug Watkins – Bass
Max Roach – Drums
0:04 Max Roach begins a drum intro; this is actually a true calypso beat.
0:11 This is a lo-o-o-ng intro.
0:23 Beautiful. Sonny comes in––each note is a different length. Most are very short.
0:32 During the last section he plays longer notes. But each note length is very important.
0:45 Here is the second in-head. It’s almost identical to the first.
1:00 He continues with short notes. He develops a theme with only three or four notes.
1:07 He continues with the theme. Then he opens up with a bebop line.
1:10 Now he’s back to short notes.
1:15 His second chorus starts with an equally simple theme of short notes.
1:21 Now again he plays the bebop stuff.
1:23 Yeah, that’s stone-cold bebop.
1:31 He ended that phrase with the same short note phrase that he started with.
1:35 Now he’s taking his time, developing slowly the way that he did with short notes, but he’s using long notes.
1:41 Beautiful. He’s singing.
1:45 He also takes his time.
1:50 He can really mix it up melodically.
1:55 Yeah––this is beautifully constructed.
2:06 Melody, and then short rhythmic stuff.
2:17 Really nice “scaler” stuff, always melodic.
2:24 Total bebop.
2:30 Funny little turn of a phrase to end his solo. And now Max plays.
2:34 Still playing calypso beat.
2:37 Starts to churn it up.
2:47 Now he’s getting some flamboyant stuff.
2:52 Mixing up the flamboyant stuff.
3:05 Now he’s using all the drums–– there is still a remnant of the calypso beat.
3:10 That’s bebop stuff right there.
3:12 Now this is a lot a percussionist stuff.
3:15 Playing cymbals now and across the drums. He hasn’t done much of that yet.
3:30 Wow––great Max!
3:55 Bam! Sonny comes in, Max stays on the cymbal, and now they’re in four-four.
4:01 They’re in deep––it’s as if they’ve waited until now to let loose.
4:08 Doesn’t my bass sound good?*
4:13 Wonderful! Sonny at his best.
4:17 He waits, and then he explodes!
4:30 How wonderfully he turns the phrase inside and out.
4:36 He sits on something rhythmically and harmonically––hear him grunt?
4:46 Singing, and then sitting on something else.
4:01 He twists it out, and then waits.
5:00 He finishes the twisted phrase, and has another small twist.
5:03 Subtle phrase out
5:07 Tommy comes in––straight-ahead bebop along.
5:15 Lots of triplets.
5:25 Some short notes like Sonny’s.
5:27 He’s using some of Sonny’s ideas, but it doesn’t seem overt.
5:38 Using chords in his left hand strongly for the first time.
5:47 He’s basing his lines more on the chords than on melodic development.
5:59 He used a bit of the melody.
6:07 Very beboppy––it sounds good.
6:11 Sonny back for the out-head.
6:16 It sounds the same as the in-head, although he’s added a few notes (e.g. turning one quarter-note into two eighth-notes).
6:22 He’s more animated, playing fall-offs at the end of phrases.
6:27 That was quite a fall-off.
6:38 Always long notes there.
6:45 A slight retard, and one more fall-off.
6:47 Another great cut!
*P.S. I got my main bass from Ratso Harris thirty years ago in a house on the corner of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco. He got it from Doug Watkins. Odds are that my bass is on this record.
–– K.S.
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