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Recordings
MY CHRISTMAS WALTZ By Jeff Althouse Born in Youngstown, Ohio November 15, 1966
During the winter break of 2008 I found myself overwhelmed by Christmas at church and home. Reflecting on what I had prepared for my recital I realized that I did not have a waltz, something that I always enjoyed playing. I sat down and began writing a tune over a five note diatonic line that descended and ascended. I have always enjoyed modulating a tune up or down a half step and attempting to mask the fact that it has done so. I proceeded to find a sequence over a hemiola that through its repetition allowed me to move the main themes into another key area. I am joined by the rhythm section consisting of Pat Gallo on bass and Mason Fox on drums.
RENEE By Jeff Althouse Born in Youngstown, Ohio November 15, 1966
Renee is a ballad I wrote for my wife, the beautiful and enchanting Renee Althouse. The opening statements are meant to be her name in a falling melodic sequence. The other themes are the queries that only the heart of a husband may lament, but in music rather than words. The ballad follows an AABA format, moving freely through chords derived from a descending major scale. The bridge allows us to shift keys in preparation for a modulation up a whole step. Improvised solos will be offered by Dean Mosley on trumpet, Tom Dietz on saxophone and Jeff Althouse on the piano.
CON ALMA By Dizzy Gillespie (John Birks) Born in Cheraw, South Carolina, October 21, 1917 Died in New Jersey, Jan 6, 1993
Con Alma, by Dizzy Gillespie, which in Spanish means “with Soul”, was originally recorded on Dizzy Gillespie’s 1954 album, Afro under the Gild record label. Con Alma joins the list of tunes that bebop composers wrote over the changes of other standards, much like the Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen tune Like Someone in Love. It follows a standard AABA format. The “A” sections are built over a descending five note diatonic pattern in two keys, while the bridge moves to the flatted fifth for a moment before returning home. My arrangement of this tune was partially derived from the Slide Hampton arrangement of Con Alma on his World of Slide album. While performing on trombone at Youngstown State University in pursuit of my undergraduate degree, I was inspired by Hampton’s solo and arrangement for eight trombones. Following my improvised solo, listen for excerpts of Hampton’s solo when the horns play their soli section.
THE BEBOP By Jeff Althouse Born in Youngstown, Ohio November 15, 1966-
The Bebop is another melody I composed while studying the bebop style. It is written over the changes of Ornithology, by Charlie Parker. Ornithology is derived from How High the Moon, a 1940 standard by Nancy Hamilton and Morgan Lewis. My initial motif is derived from the words “the bebop”. I then applied the building blocks of bebop: outlining chords, descending lines of altered and unaltered scales or the outlining of varied important tones. The phrasing I took from such Parker tunes as Donna Lee, Confirmation, and Ornithology. After writing the main part of the tune, I chose the Yellowjacket’s Out of Town, from the album Four Corners, as a template for my arrangement, adding the vamps before the soli section and soloists. I asked the drummers I performed with at the time to imitate the percussion on the version. I also altered the original form of the tune into a tertiary arrangement where each of the “A” sections has an ending that is different than the one preceding it. The soli section I wrote especially for this recital, doing my best to prove my understanding of how to write in the bebop tradition.
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