A Cappella Jazz - Stephen Saxon  Stephen Saxon (www.saxon.com) has performed with Bobby McFerrin, Michael Brecker, Chet Baker, Mal Waldron, Gunther Schuller, Amenata Moseka (Abby Lincoln), The San Francisco, Berkeley and Spokane Symphony Orchestras, Pacific Mozart Ensemble, Chanticleer, and Kitka. Stephen sings bass and
writes many of the arrangements for Clockwork (www.clockworksingers.com), an award winning a cappella jazz quintet based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Send comments or suggestions for future columns to jazz@saxon.com.
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Friday, 15 September 2006 |
A week or so ago, I had the opportunity to sit with Gene Puerling for a couple of hours to talk about his days with The Hi-Lo’s, The Singers Unlimited, and what he’s been doing since those days. I’ll be working on transcribing that and editing it for a column soon. If my talk with Don Shelton is any indication, this interview will also probably run to two or three installments, and it will take a while to get into print. But it’s coming.
In the mean time, here’s a piece I’ve prepared on the difference between tempered and just intonation. It may seem like a dry subject that doesn’t really relate to the beat of A Cappella Jazz, but intonation is pretty fundamental to any a cappella music – or any music at all, for that matter. If you want your dominant 7, sharp 9 and your major 7, sharp 11 to sound right, you’d better make sure that the root, third and fifth are all in their proper place. Otherwise, you’re pretty much sunk before you set sail.
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Sunday, 06 August 2006 |
In early July I had a wonderful experience singing and playing in concert that featured one of the truly outstanding a cappella ensembles, Kitka, along with Davka, a quartet of virtuosi on violin, cello, bassoon and percussion. If you don’t know about Kitka (www.kitka.org), you should. They’re singing in the Slavic / Balkan tradition made popular by Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares a number of years ago.
It was a special concert titled “Kitka & Davka: Jewish Music from the Old and New Worlds” and it was filmed for future broadcast on PBS. That aspect of it was quite an interesting experience, in and of itself. Since I both sang and played trumpet, I was included as a guest artist in the third part of the concert when both groups got together for a combined set. I was pretty comfortable with both sides, even though I am not a member of either group – though I have professional history and good friendships with members of both Kitka and Davka. I’m hoping to write about that show and share it with you some time soon.
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Thursday, 25 May 2006 |
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(or my experiences in the Harmony Sweepstakes)
I have gone back and forth about whether to write this month’s column as an insider’s view of the Harmony Sweepstakes experience. I’ll be honest with you. I had planned since before I started writing this series to share some of my experiences at the regional and national rounds of the event. That was all well and good when I thought that we would win this year (everyone thinks they’ll win, don’t they?).
But reality didn’t match my expectations, so I’ve been unsure how to approach it. I thought of just not mentioning it. But I guess that would just be copping out. I was still of two minds on the subject, but my editor at CASA.org convinced me that it was probably something that people would be interested in, even if it didn’t end up the way I wanted it to, so I’m going ahead with it. Way to spoil the ending, eh? That’s alright. The journey is more important, this time around.
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Monday, 13 March 2006 |
This is the first entry for me in what is scheduled to be a series I’ll be writing on A Cappella Jazz. I’m not a star, but I have a deep dedication to a cappella and an abiding love for singing jazz. I’ve studied with some names you might recognize, performed and recorded with others, and over the course of my career I’ve taught people probably very much like you - from children through middle school, high school, college students and adults.
“A Cappella Jazz” will include some thoughts, some technical and musical analysis, some interviews, and some old fashioned soap-boxing (not to be confused with beat-boxing). Last weekend I had the opportunity to sit for two sessions interviewing one of the most impressive and influential a cappella jazz performers ever, Don Shelton (The Hi-Lo’s, The Singers Unlimited). I’m planning to share that with you very soon. To begin with, I’d like to take a look at a small part of what it means to sing jazz, especially in a voices-only context.
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