Date written: December 7th, 2012
Topic: Development of Jazz - Round Midnight
This essay includes information about Lester Young, Bud Powell, Dexter Gordon
Music is an art of
sound that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the
elements of rhythm, melody, and harmony. In the early 20th century,
Jazz originated in black communities in the United States. By time, jazz has
seen many changes and developments by many creative, talented musicians.
Throughout the 1930s-1050s, major changes in jazz have been made, as the swing,
bebop, and cool jazz eras were taking place. Some of the main influential jazz
musicians who played major roles in the development of jazz are Lester Young,
Bud Powell, and Dexter Gordon who played the role of Dale Turner in the movie
Round Midnight.
To begin with, Lester
Young was an American jazz musician
who played the saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, violin, and drums. Young grew up
in a musical family and he was inspired mainly by his father and brother. His
father was a multi-talented musician, his brother was a drummer, and many of
his relatives played music professionally. His dad organized them as a family
band that played in carnivals and theatres. At the age of 18, his father
proposed taking the band on a tour to the South, but he refused to go as he
claimed that it was a place of racism and humiliation. Since then, he was an
independent jazz musician. At that time, Coleman Hawkins was the king of the
instrument, and most tenor saxophonists were imitating his style. As a
saxophonist, Young brought a cool modernism and a new rhythmic flexibility to
jazz, his playing was almost the complete opposite; his sound was soft and
mellow in the lower registers, while his higher notes were clear and delicate,
and his melodic lines were slow, and never in a hurry. In the 1930s, he became
a member of The Count Basie Orchestra, where he rose to prominence and was the
master of the clarinet. Young’s style when playing the clarinet influenced many
other jazz musicians because his style was very unique and truly remarkable. He played with a cool tone and used sophisticated
harmonies; his style satisfied both dancers and listeners. Also, Young invented
and popularized the hipster character which was associated to music, as he was
famous for his hip and quiet style.
Throughout the 1940s,
Young performed with Count Basie’s Orchestra from time to time. “He claimed
that he did not want to be a “repeater pencil”, which describes the act of
repeating one’s own past ideas, but his playing showed reliance on a small
number of clichéd phrases and reduced creativity and originality.” He produced
some of the old, smooth-toned flow of the 1930s. In 1994, Lester was sent to
the military, but his playing style was significantly different after he was
sent back home. He began alcohol abuse from around 1951, because there was a
declining command on the swinging music that he used to play, as the bebop era
began. As a result, his level of playing declined rapidly. Although Young had
many physical and mental issues, he still continued to play his instrument and
recorded many of his “new” songs in the studio. In January 1959, Young
travelled to Paris to continue his career as a jazz musician, but in March, his
alcohol abuse put him through dangerous medical conditions, which made him fly
back home.
Bud Powell was also a very influential
jazz musician. As a child, he was influenced by his father, who was a pianist, and
he was taught how to play the piano by a teacher whom his father hired. Powell
showed his interest in jazz as he grew older, and his playing was heard all
around the neighborhood. He had a significant impact on the development of bebop.
His style became the leading approach for other
pianists, as he reduced left hand functions to playing brief, shifted chords
supporting long melody lines by the right hand. In 1945, Powell developed severe
head injuries due to the police beating him on the head after a racially
motivated attack, which interrupted his career several times for the rest of
his life. In 1947, Powell got the chance to demonstrate his mature style when
he was chosen to be Charlie Parker’s pianist along with three well-known jazz
musicians. He acquired a brief solo spot in one of their performances, where his
jocular chord filled while the horn players paused to breathe. In the late
1940s Powell developed alcohol abuse issues; even one drink had an overpowering
impact on his character, making him aggressive and pessimistic.
In the late 1950s, he
moved to Paris, in the company of a woman called Altevia
"Buttercup" Edwards. In Paris, Powell
worked in a trio with two other professional jazz
musicians. He continued to perform and record despite the fact that Buttercup
discouraged him from playing, as she did not have his best interests in mind,
and kept control of his finances and overdosed him with medication. His technique formed the basic small
ensembles that have dominated jazz since the bebop era.
In his later years, some of his recordings and performances sounded quiet sad,
while others would be scarily intense. However, he had a major role in the
development of jazz and he will remain one of the most outstanding pianists
ever. Nonetheless, many later pianists copied his daring attacks, looking to
attain that rarefied status, of the fearless improviser.
Moreover, Dexter
Gordon was an American jazz tenor
saxophonist, one of the most influential saxophonists in modern jazz, and
an Academy Award-nominated actor. Gordon started playing the clarinet since he
was 13 and the saxophone at 15. One of his major influences was Lester
Young. He was one of the primary innovators of bebop jazz and a lasting
favorite of audiences and music critics. Crossing 50 years in recorded jazz
history, Gordon’s studio and live performance careers were both extensive and complex.
He is widely remembered for his wonderful charisma, his
sense of style and sophistication, and his broad legendary sound on the
saxophone, in addition to his innovative contributions in the world of Jazz. His
styles included his clear, strong, metallic tones, their tendencies to bend up
to high notes, and their abilities to single-tongue and still swing. One of
Gordon's habits was to rehearse the lyrics of each ballad before playing it.
Gordon spent 15 years in Europe, mostly in Paris and Copenhagen,
where he played regularly with fellow expatriate jazzmen such as Bud
Powell, and others. During the 1960s, Gordon
experienced less racism and greater respect for jazz musicians in Europe.
In 1986, Gordon
starred in the movie Round Midnight as
'Dale Turner', an expatriate jazz musician much like him; although Lester
Young and Bud Powell were
its main inspirations the role might even be a lightly, indirect biography of
him. In 'Round Midnight, real-life jazz legend Dexter
Gordon brilliantly portrays the fictional tenor sax player Dale Turner, a
musician slowly losing the battle with alcoholism, estranged from his family,
and hanging on by a thread in the 1950's New York jazz world. Dale gets an
offer to play in Paris, where, like many other black American musicians at the
time, he enjoys a respect for his humanity that is not based upon the color of
his skin. A Parisian man who is obsessed with Turner's music befriends him and
attempts to save Turner from himself. Although for Dale the damage is already
done, his poignant relationship with the man and his young daughter re-kindles
his spirit and his music as the end draws near.
Furthermore,
the fictional character Dale Turner represents Lester Young’s original style
and sophisticated tones when playing the saxophone. It also shows how listeners
and dancers were pleased and entertained by his performances. To add on, the
flashbacks about his military experience, the experience in Paris and the
return to New York just before his death also show parallelisms to Young’s
life. Additionally, Gordon played with Powell in the early 1960s, which helped
him revise and rewrite the script. Dale Turner’s character also portrays
Powell’s tortured and mysterious character, his experience with Buttercup, and
his alcohol abuse issues. Dexter’s dynamic character allowed him to perfect the
role of Dale Turner as a professional saxophonist, his experience with Powell
helped him play the role, and his own experiences made him genuine about
describing circumstances in Paris.
To sum up, jazz have gone through a
lot of changes and developments. Although Young, Powell, and Gordon have been
through a lot of difficulties, they continued influencing other musicians
because they were determined to make a difference in the jazz world. The fictional
character, Dale Turner, in the movie Round Midnight portrays the circumstances
that Lester Young and Bud Powell lived through, as they were Gordon’s
influences.
