6. CODA

The selected recordings in this chapter are the result of my artistic developments during the years of my research.

     Section 6.1 contains all twelve movements of Carillon as recorded in January 2013 by saxophone quartet “Dicke Luft”. Each movement is constructed on the basis of a single hour of the Tone Clock. In sections 4.5.1 – 4.5.3, three movements, “Onsa”, “Pontiac”, and “Dicke Pitter”, have been analyzed in depth. Both in the composed and improvised parts of these pieces, the twelve-tone applications with the trichords from the Tone Clock hours appeared to be attractive and useful tools to operate beyond tonal limitations.

     Of the five pieces presented in section 6.2, three have been discussed before in this study: “Bird Buzz” (sections 3.3.2), “Master Slow Feet” (section 3.5.2), and “Count Your Blessings” (section 3.7.2). Changes in the line-up of my Dick de Graaf New Quartet have had a remarkable effect on the band’s sound. Thanks to the contributions of pianist Loran Witteveen, the approach to my compositions has become more focused on moving beyond tonality, also one of the aims of my research. Most of the pieces are not new, but as a result of my developments during the last few years they have been re-considered and re-styled to sound remarkably different than in their initial forms. Not only have I enriched my artistic palette considering my improvisational idioms as a result of the transcriptions and analyzes I have made, and of the construction of the improvisational patterns in chapters 4 and 5. I also feel more confident now in expressing my new approach to my band members, in words and in music.

6.1 Carillon (2013)

    Saxophone Quartet “Dicke Luft”

    Arno Bornkamp – soprano saxophone

    Werner Janssen – alto saxophone

    Dick de Graaf – tenor saxophone

    Nils van Haften – baritone saxophone

6.1.5    “Pontiac”

6.1.8    “Emporio Armani”

6.1.3    “Mondaine”

6.1.4    “Ancre”

6.1.6    “Swatch”

6.1.1    "Onsa"

6.1.2    “Seiko”

6.1.7    “Heuer”

6.1.10    “D.H. Quartz”

6.1.9    “Dicke Pitter”

6.1.11    “Junghans”

6.1.12    “Omega”

6.2.3    “Master Slow Feet” (2004)

The solo section of this somewhat older piece is based on a limited number of chords, allowing the soloists a free modal approach. In my improvisation, I play superimpositions of triad pairs (hexatonics) and Messiaen’s modes M2, M3, and M4.

6.2.2    “The Titmouses” (2015)

The composed parts of this piece are largely based on Milton Babbitt’s second all-combinatorial source set 1+5+1, demonstrated before in section 4.7.8. This tetrachord, and tetrachord 2+3+2 are also the points of departure for my solo. In section 5.5.4 I have shown that tetrachord 1+5+1 is also embedded in Messiaen’s mode M4. The same goes for tetrachord 2+3+2. By superimposing Messiaen’s fourth mode on the piece’s tonal center F,  FM4 implies the tetrachords f–g–b♭–c and b–c♯–e–f♯.

6.2.5 “Count Your Blessings” (2011)

“Count Your Blessings” is a contrafact of Miles Davis’ “Tune Up”. The construction of this piece has been mentioned before in section 3.7.2. The original chords of “Tune Up” are reharmonized with the fifth hour of the Tone Clock. However, in contrast with “Why Birds Always Sing”, where the fifth hour reharmonization is applied as a superimposition on the static C7 chord, in “Count Your Blessings” the reharmonisations of the first three tonalities of “Tune Up”: D, C, and Bb are notated as three chord successions, which the soloists are considered to treat as “traditional” chord changes. The example below shows the first nine bars of the solo section.  

ex 6.2.5.1 “Count Your Blessings” – first nine bars of the solo section

6.2.1    “Bird Buzz” (2015)

This piece is a contrafact of the jazz-standard “Night And Day”. Both its structure, based on the application of two three-interval sets, and the collective improvisations on a previous recording, have been discussed in detail before in section 3.3.2. In the current recording the approach to the composed parts and the improvisations sound a lot freer than in the previous one. Apart from the collective solos at the end of the first part, this is particularly apparent in the saxophone and piano improvisations during the second part (with the reggae rhythm). On top of the repetitive bassline, consisting of six four-bar patterns constructed with a non-retrogradable rhythm, a number of techniques mentioned in this study can be identified, such tonal and non-tonal superimpositions (Liebman), the application of triad pairs (Weiskopf, Bergonzi, Garzone), also combined with elements from Messiaen’s modes and Tone Clock trichords. 

6.2.4 “Why Birds Always Sing” (2004)

This composition has been recorded before on the CD Moving Target (2007). In my solo, I play superimpositions of M4, and of the fifth hour of the Tone Clock. For instance, on top of the static C7 chord, I freely superimpose C – D♭7 – G♭– D7– Gmaj7 – Abmaj7.