Week 5 - Ska / Reggae

Bob Marley and the Wailers started their career making Ska records at Studio One in Kingston Jamaica.

Ska was partly inspired by the call and response vocal patterns of American RnB.

Jamaican musicians though used a distinctive syncopated off beat in which guitarist would play a scratchy 'ska' accent inbetween the beats:

  / 1 ska 2 ska  3 ska  4 ska  /

Many 'Ska' hits used the same chord pattern:

Tonic    Subdominant  Dominant   ( I IV V)













Bob Marley and the Wailers in the early 1970's signed to UK indie label Island Records.

They now favoured a more laid back style in which the guitar played a 'reggae' double beat
(the cola part of a coca-cola semi-quaver) inbetween each beat of the bar.

Reggae also tended to feature prominant bass riffs.
Aston Barrett plays a distinctive triad pattern on Stir it Up.

His brother Carlton favoured cross stick over snare back beat.

Notice how the kick drum plays on the backbeat too.




Bob Marley and the Wailers were inspired by the falsetto harmony of soul stars Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions.

The three part harmony on Stir it Up is based on the lead vocal singing the 3rd note of the scale.

The backing singers harmonise on the higher 5th and 8th note.

Eric Clapton was to cover a Bob Marley song can I Shot the Sheriff.  It went to number one in the USA.


Reggae rhythm was now fasionable and cool. It shared many musical ingredients with funk and disco. Especially the funky clavinet and wah wah toned guitars.

Many established performers including Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin flirted with Jamaican rhythm.


In the multi-cultural districts of London young white musicians were starting to add Jamaican flavour to Punk records







A group of young musicians in the midlands began to re-visit old Jamican ska recordings which they released on their own 'TwoTone' label. 

The label released a string of hit records by The Specials and Madness.




Contemporary performers continue to cover ska /reggae material:








 Do you recognise this obscure Reggae instrumental?








Do you recognise it now?

Funk Disco Hip Hop

Several musical styles converged to produce contemporary 'RnB' music


Funk + Disco + Hip Hop


Isaac Hayes made a very influential Funk recording in 1971.


'Theme from Shaft' written for the movie 'Shaft' won a 'Best Soundtrack Oscar. This was the first Oscar awarded to a black composer.









Stevie Wonder made another influential recording in 1972 


Superstition was dominated by a funky electric piano ostinato recorded using a guitar wah wah pedal.

The drum groove (played by Wonder) was  the drum pattern that would dominate Disco in the latter 70's.



The Bee Gees were white artists inspired by the slick production of the soul records made in Philadelphia. They called their music 'blue eyed soul'.

This record that would help define the 'disco'genre has the same rhythmic pulse as 'Superstition'

 


Disco was born in the nightclubs of New York city.


Live music venues were being replaced by 'discotheques' in which DJ's spun records often cross mixing tracks with similar BPM.


Popular dance floor tracks were then released on 12 " records with extended rhythmic breakdowns'









A classic disco track might have some of these ingredients:

1 BPM 100 110 120

2 'Four to the floor' - kick drum crotchets

3 Strong hi-hat rhythms

4 Syncopated Hi-Hat pedal 'shhhips' on the off-beat

5 A strong bass ostinato. 

6 Staccato rhythmic guitar riffs. 

7 'wah wah' EQ filter sweep effects.

8 Textured vocal harmony with Baritone & Falsetto



Even established rock & punk artists felt the need to record songs with a disco feel.

This Rolling Stones Disco inspired song revived their 1970's career:











HIP HOP




 In the late 1970's those with  money went to glamourous discotheques in Manhattan New York.

Across the river in the Bronx district poor young teenagers were also mixing together records. However these DJ's would only use the instrumental 'breaks'.

An MC would then rap over the break.

The most famous example used a sample from 'Good Times' by Chic

Salt n Pepa were one of the first female Hip Hop artists.


This song challenged the macho/sexist male persona of some Hip Hop artists:

Jazz

Jazz!



Jazz was the popular music for 30 years.

We are going to be playing/singing modern pop songs in a 'Hot' Jazz style & a 'Cool' Jazz style. 

'Hot' Jazz has roots in New Orleans but became most influential when played in the clubs of Chicago and Harlem during prohibition:



'Sweet' Jazz was softer, slower and more melodic to try and appeal to white audiences.  

Fat's Waller starts this song in a 'sweet' style but then the band play 'hot' (1min 26)

 

 'Gypsy' Jazz developed in Paris in the 1930's. 

It was inspired by 'Hot' Jazz but was led by guitars (no drums) playing 'La Pompe' rhythms. 

Django Reinhardt is the most influential jazz guitarist. 

A modern band re-create his style:



'Swing' Jazz of the 1930's featured a steady groove at around 120bpm that suited dancers.

It was often blues based and had catchy riffs.

The Count Basie Orchestra had the best rhythm section:



'Cool' Jazz of the 1950's featured laid back vocal styles and arrangements. 

Miles Davis led this style with the best selling Jazz album ever 'Kind of Blue' in 1956:



Frank Sinatra was 'Cool' styled jazz singer.

He had been inspired by Billie Holiday's vocal style of singing slightly behind the beat. 

"Wrong but so right!" he said....







http://youtu.be/ds04UIj3GJY



 

 


 


 
 

 



PREP





We will be working in the key of G minor.

This is the relative minor of B Flat.

In jazz you are more likely to play in Bb than C because jazz

started on brass instruments that are transposed 


i.e.  B Flat played on a piano:

        is a C note for  trumpet or tenor Saxophone.

        is a G note on an Alto Sax!

Bass

The jazz style walking bass plays a different note on each 1/4 beat:

In G minor:

/G A Bb C /D C Bb A / C D Eb C / D C Bb A /

or tab:

A-----------3--5--3--------3--5--6--3--5--3------
E--3--5--6-----------6--5--------------------6-5--

Guitar /Piano 

Be prepared to take a bluesy solo.

The G blues scale works well:

G Bb C D F G

No bending strings.

Jazz guitarists used strings so heavy they couldn't be bent more than a 1/4 tone. 

Only smear notes are allowed!

Try playing triplet solo phrases against the 4/4 rhythm:



/123  123  /123  123/
/1  2  3  4 /1  2  3  4/

Vocalists:

Prep by singing the G minor scale:


ascending:



G A Bb C D F G



descending:



G F D C Bb A G




Experiment with flattening the 5th note (D)