An Introduction to America’s Music

302 PART 3 | FROM WORLD WAR I THROUGH WORLD WAR II

timing theme comments

0:00 chorus 1 Minor-mode paraphrase of “The Holy City”; melody in muted trumpet, harmony

line in muted trombone, over chords on every beat of 4-beat bar.

0:25 B strain 16-bar major-mode melody featuring Hardwick’s sweet alto sax, with thick vibrato

and portamento, over banjo chords on every beat and bass notes on beats 1 and 3

of each bar. A break at bars 7–8 is fi lled with chromatic chords for the full band.

0:57 chorus 2 Choruses 2–6 are in major. Miley begins his solo with a long-held, tightly muted

note for 4 bars, then uses plunger mute for wah-wah effects.

1:21 chorus 3 2-bar trumpet phrase is punctuated by cymbal (1:25); Miley continues to growl.

1:46 chorus 4 Ellington takes a piano solo in stride style (see chapter 14).

2:10 chorus 5 Nanton’s trombone solo begins tightly muted, then opens; the third phrase

contains an eerie whinny and speechlike closing gesture.

2:35 chorus 6 Miley returns for a solo fi lled with growling and stuttering repeated notes.

2:56 coda 4-bar return to the minor mode quoting Chopin’s “Funeral March.”

composer: Duke Ellington

date: 1927

performers: Duke Ellington, piano;

Bubber Miley, Louis Metcalf, trumpets;

Joe “Tricky Sam” Nanton, trombone; Otto

Hardwick, Rudy Jackson, and Harry Carney,

saxophones; Fred Guy, banjo; Wellman Braud,

bass; Sonny Greer, drums

genre: New York big-band jazz

meter: duple

form: 12-bar blues with a contrasting 16-bar

strain

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

• eerie, voice-like timbre of trumpet and
  trombone using plunger-and-growl
  technique


• alternation of minor and major modes


• contrasting 16-bar non-blues strain


• quotations of non-jazz tunes at beginning
  and end

Listen & Refl ect

1. What are some similarities and differences between Black and Tan Fantasy and the other
   early jazz pieces in this chapter, especially in terms of their structure and their musical
   effect?

Listening Guide 12.5

Black and Tan Fantasy

CD 2.13 DUKE ELLINGTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA

172028_12_280-304_r3_ko.indd 302 23/01/13 8:41 PM