Although they may not realize it, many people, especially fans of Jazz, are familiar with the music of Michael Gibbs; most obviously from the title track of Stan Getz’s Sweet Rain, which is one of Gibbs's distinctive compositions. This tune, along with two more of his, was also used by Gary Burton on the album Duster, with the vibraphonist recording another of Gibbs’s tunes, “Feelings and Things,” with Chick Corea on their celebrated album Crystal Silence. In fact, Burton has recorded over twenty-five of Gibbs’s compositions over the years and the two have collaborated on several albums. But this is only scratching the surface, because in addition to those tunes Gibbs is also a talented trombonist, a heralded band-leader, a fusion pioneer, a film composer, and one of the most incredible arrangers I’ve ever heard!
Much like Gil Evans, about whom I posted about before, one of the things that sets Gibbs apart is his masterful use of dissonance and his harmonic sense is often unorthodox and highly imaginative. He readily admits an affinity for Evans’s music in the liner notes for Big Music. But I think that it would be unfair to generalize him as just an Evans acolyte; Gibbs has been active for over forty years, and he has his own voice as an arranger. He doesn't appear to be losing any steam either and he's released several great albums over the past few years. Just check out his discography, and this helpful index of his compositions and the albums that they’ve appeared on.
The opening measures* of Gibbs's arrangements of the old chestnuts "Moonlight Serenade" and "You Go to My Head" hold a wealth of interesting arranging techniques and reveal several of his idiosycratic devices. Take a look at the trombone section of Moonlight Serenade (a recording of this arrangement can be heard on his recent collaboration with the Upper Austrian Jazz Orchestra as well as his own album entitled Nonsequence). Normally we're charged to put a wide spacing between the lowest voices in an ensemble in order to ensure clarity and the lower the range the greater the interval between adjacent voices should be. But Gibbs seems to have a penchant for placing grinds between lower voices, and, much like Gil Evans, Gibbs approaches and resolves these dissonances “incorrectly,” or chooses to continue using them in parallel motion.
This can be seen clearly in mss. two through four, where he places a series of prominent half-step and whole-step rubs between the third and bass trombones. He continues this into the sixth measure, with the second trombone quickly joining the mix in order to create a clustered harmonization underneath the melody. The effect is a thickened, (intentionally) hazy background, while the melody itself is played in unison by the french horns; the reinforcement helps it to remain afloat above the dense, soupy trombone voicings. And the rhythmic offset that he sets up between the flutes in the opening measures imparts something of a glimmering, somnolent quality to the music, the texture itself enhanced by his discerning use of instruments (or lack thereof;). It all seems to harken back to the title, painting a breathtaking picture of the moonlight piercing through a hole in the otherwise opaque cloud banks.
Gibbs also uses rhythmic techniques to great effect elsewhere in this excerpt. Look again at mss. two and three and how he sparks interest by scrunching-up and stretching-out the rhythm of the simple four-note phrase. He also extends the melody with an extra, syncopated repeat of this same motive before allowing it to release into the sixth measure.
The opening measures* of Gibbs's arrangements of the old chestnuts "Moonlight Serenade" and "You Go to My Head" hold a wealth of interesting arranging techniques and reveal several of his idiosycratic devices. Take a look at the trombone section of Moonlight Serenade (a recording of this arrangement can be heard on his recent collaboration with the Upper Austrian Jazz Orchestra as well as his own album entitled Nonsequence). Normally we're charged to put a wide spacing between the lowest voices in an ensemble in order to ensure clarity and the lower the range the greater the interval between adjacent voices should be. But Gibbs seems to have a penchant for placing grinds between lower voices, and, much like Gil Evans, Gibbs approaches and resolves these dissonances “incorrectly,” or chooses to continue using them in parallel motion.
This can be seen clearly in mss. two through four, where he places a series of prominent half-step and whole-step rubs between the third and bass trombones. He continues this into the sixth measure, with the second trombone quickly joining the mix in order to create a clustered harmonization underneath the melody. The effect is a thickened, (intentionally) hazy background, while the melody itself is played in unison by the french horns; the reinforcement helps it to remain afloat above the dense, soupy trombone voicings. And the rhythmic offset that he sets up between the flutes in the opening measures imparts something of a glimmering, somnolent quality to the music, the texture itself enhanced by his discerning use of instruments (or lack thereof;). It all seems to harken back to the title, painting a breathtaking picture of the moonlight piercing through a hole in the otherwise opaque cloud banks.
Gibbs also uses rhythmic techniques to great effect elsewhere in this excerpt. Look again at mss. two and three and how he sparks interest by scrunching-up and stretching-out the rhythm of the simple four-note phrase. He also extends the melody with an extra, syncopated repeat of this same motive before allowing it to release into the sixth measure.
Also note how in ms. 4 he uses back-to-back voice crossings between trombone three and the bass trombone! This may seem extraneous or even sloppy at first, but the scoring actually allows Gibbs to achieve his desired vertical harmonies while avoiding the awkward phrases he would have created for the players had he not divvied up the notes this way; trombone three is relieved of a knotty chromatic phrase (see also that on the third beat there's a crossing with the second trombone for the same reasons) while the bass trombone's line is given shape and character beyond simply repeating the same 'd' several times.
In the next post we'll take a look at Gibbs's arrangement of "You Go to My Head." I know that I've put a lot of space in-between these posts, however I intend to step it up this year, so please stay tuned.
*These excerpts come from the website of Gibbs's publisher, where they are provided as free samples.
*These excerpts come from the website of Gibbs's publisher, where they are provided as free samples.
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