美国国家公共电台 NPR How To Like Jazz: Charlie Parker, Dave Brubeck, Thelonious Mo

 

SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:

This new year, how about some new music?

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)

ANDREA BOCELLI: (Singing in non-English language).

TRAVIS SCOTT: (Rapping) Made this here with all the ice on in the booth.

UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Vocalizing).

(SOUNDBITE OF INSTRUMENTAL SONG MONTAGE)

MCCAMMON: Music that maybe you've told yourself you really don't like, like opera, hip-hop or country. So this month, we're bringing in some people to help you mix up your playlists. And today we're going talk about jazz with NPR's senior arts editor Tom Cole. Hi, Tom.

TOM COLE, BYLINE¹: Hi.

MCCAMMON: OK. If someone asked you why they should check out jazz, what would you say?

COLE: I'd ask them to give it a listen. I think listening is really important. Jazz is emotionally engaging music. For me, jazz is especially expressive² because it's based on improvisation³. A lot of the tunes⁵ will start out with a theme or a melody. And then the musicians will improvise⁶ over it. So maybe, let's start with one of the most famous jazz saxophonists - Charlie Parker.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHARLIE PARKER'S "SCRAPPLE FROM THE APPLE")

COLE: Now let's listen to what Parker does with it in his solo. He'll be playing off the notes and scales and chords in the theme and letting his imagination just go wherever he's feeling at that moment, just let him carry himself away. Listen to his sound, too. For me, it sounds like a human voice speaking.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHARLIE PARKER'S "SCRAPPLE FROM THE APPLE")

MCCAMMON: OK. So that's music that was recorded back in the 1940s. And, Tom, one thing you might hear people say is that jazz is music that their parents or grandparents listened to. How do you respond to that?

COLE: Well, there's been a lot recorded since then. And sure, jazz might seem old-fashioned to some people. But keep in mind, too, that jazz was America's popular music at one point in the big-band era of the '30s and '40s. You know, people like Benny Goodman were stars. Everybody listened to the music, not just parents. They listened to it. And they danced to it. That's another thing about jazz - it's active music. It sort of demands your participation⁷. You've got to give yourself a little bit to it to get something out of it.

MCCAMMON: Not just background music.

COLE: Exactly - not sonic wallpaper. Absolutely. And it was popular again in the 1960s when top 40 radio used to play instrumental tunes. That was a long time ago. Back then, the Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond hit "Take Five" was even in the jukebox in my favorite neighborhood bar a decade after it was released, perhaps in spite of or because of its unusual rhythm.

(SOUNDBITE OF DAVE BRUBECK AND PAUL DESMOND'S "TAKE FIVE")

MCCAMMON: A familiar tune⁴ there.

COLE: Oh, yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF DAVE BRUBECK AND PAUL DESMOND'S "TAKE FIVE")

COLE: Let's listen to Paul Desmond.

(SOUNDBITE OF DAVE BRUBECK AND PAUL DESMOND'S "TAKE FIVE")

COLE: Desmond wrote the tune - beautiful saxophone player. It was music that you could both listen to and sway to out on the college dance floor. And college audiences - young audiences - were a big part of Brubeck's success.

MCCAMMON: Tom, you talk about how long ago, jazz was sort of the popular music. What is happening in jazz right now?

COLE: There are a lot of young people playing jazz and playing very interesting music. I'd like to wrap up with two recordings⁸. The first is by a jazz cellist⁹ named Tomeka Reid and her quartet. In this particular group, everybody kind of talks together. It's like a conversation.

(SOUNDBITE OF TOMEKA REID QUARTET'S "NIKI'S BOP")

COLE: One last group. And this one, too, is very much an ensemble¹⁰ project. The group is called Parlour Game. It's led by drummer Allison Miller¹¹ and violinist Jenny Scheinman. And pianist Carmen Staaf is also in the group. And she really caught my ear.

(SOUNDBITE OF PARLOUR GAME'S "BEANS AND RICE")

MCCAMMON: So, Tom, if you're just getting started and if you're, you know - if you're somebody who doesn't think of yourself as a jazz aficionado¹², maybe aren't that into it, where would you tell somebody to start?

COLE: Back in the olden days when I was young and was listening to rock 'n' roll, there was a record store that I always used to go to. And, you know, I knew all the buyers - the rock buyer and the blues¹³ buyer. And I knew the jazz buyer, too.

And one day, I just went up to him and said, listen, I want to get into jazz. What should I listen to? And he picked five records for me - Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, the Thelonious Monk¹⁴ Quartet, Charles Mingus, the Art Ensemble of Chicago "Les Stances a Sophie" - and wonderful trumpet¹⁵ player, who's not as well-remembered as he should be, named Booker Little and an equally outstanding tenor¹⁶ saxophonist, who's also not as well known as he should be, named Booker Ervin.

So that would be a great start. And that sort of keeps you in the past. But if you ground yourself in the past, then there's lots to explore.

MCCAMMON: Build from there.

COLE: Yes.

MCCAMMON: Thanks so much. NPR's Tom Cole.

COLE: You're most welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF DIZZY GILLESPIE, SONNY ROLLINS AND SONNY STITT'S "ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 expressive   

adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的

参考例句：

• Black English can be more expressive than standard English.黑人所使用的英语可能比正式英语更有表现力。
• He had a mobile,expressive,animated face.他有一张多变的，富于表情的，生动活泼的脸。

3 improvisation   

n.即席演奏(或演唱)；即兴创作

参考例句：

• a free-form jazz improvisation 自由创作的爵士乐即兴演出
• Most of their music was spontaneous improvisation. 他们的大部分音乐作品都是即兴创作的。

4 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

5 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 improvise   

v.即兴创作；临时准备，临时凑成

参考例句：

• If an actor forgets his words，he has to improvise.演员要是忘记台词，那就只好即兴现编。
• As we've not got the proper materials,we'll just have to improvise.我们没有弄到合适的材料，只好临时凑合了。

7 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

8 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

9 cellist   

n.大提琴手

参考例句：

• The cellist's bowing was very sensitive . 那位大提琴手的弓法十分细腻。 来自辞典例句
• World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma founded The Silk Road Project in 1998. 世界闻名的大提琴家马友友于1998年创建了丝路工程。 来自互联网

10 ensemble   

n.合奏(唱)组；全套服装；整体，总效果

参考例句：

• We should consider the buildings as an ensemble.我们应把那些建筑物视作一个整体。
• It is ensemble music for up to about ten players,with one player to a part.它是最多十人演奏的合奏音乐，每人担任一部分。

11 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

12 aficionado   

n.…迷；运动迷

参考例句：

• This is good news for postcard aficionado Drene Brennan.这对明信片迷杰纳•布雷南来说是个好消息。
• I'm a real opera aficionado.我是个真正的歌剧迷。

13 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

14 monk   

n.和尚，僧侣，修道士

参考例句：

• The man was a monk from Emei Mountain.那人是峨眉山下来的和尚。
• Buddhist monk sat with folded palms.和尚合掌打坐。

15 trumpet   

n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘

参考例句：

• He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴，我吹喇叭。
• The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。

16 tenor   

n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意

参考例句：

• The tenor of his speech was that war would come.他讲话的大意是战争将要发生。
• The four parts in singing are soprano,alto,tenor and bass.唱歌的四个声部是女高音、女低音、男高音和男低音。