Timbre and orchestration of big bands and jazz orchestras

Symposiums and Workshops
Written By Joshua Rosner

* if you can’t see the video because the music in the presentation is copyright protected in your country, contact the author at joshua.rosner[at]mail.mcgill.ca

Abstract:

Current timbre research has focused overwhelmingly on what George Lewis (1996) describes as Eurological traditions; musical traditions that are based in European-derived beliefs, behaviors, and logics. Non-Eurological traditions remain understudied and offer the opportunity to study timbre’s role in new contexts. My research on timbre and orchestration of big bands and jazz orchestras, a Creole of Eurological and Afrological practices, brings in new perspective on timbre and orchestration. First, I present two interrelated Afrological ideologies of timbre: the transmission of personhood, character, or personality through instrumental timbre and what Olly Wilson (1992) calls the Heterogeneous Sound Ideal of African-American music: an aesthetic preference for timbral contrast yielding a mosaic of diverse elements that combine to form an unblended but unified whole. Drawing on examples from composers such as Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Thad Jones, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Bob Brookmeyer, and Maria Schneider, I demonstrate how these ideologies affect compositional, arranging, and performance practice. Additionally, my research has yielded new insight into timbre semantics unique to jazz musicians and writers, term that reinforce the aforementioned ideologies. Furthermore, in keeping with McAdams, Goodchild, and Soden (in prep) as well as Touizrar and McAdams (2016), I have adapted the taxonomy related to auditory grouping principles for orchestration practice for this music so these examples and timbral phenomena can be incorporated into future ACTOR research.

Joshua Rosner
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