Black And Tan

Black And Tan

1. Structure: Based on 12 bar blues also known as the head arrangement. Head – bars 1-12 Alto sax solo – 13-28 Head with trumpet solo – 29-52 Piano solo – 52-64 Head with trombone solo – 65-76 Head with trumpet solo – 76-86 Coda – 87-90.

2. Tonality: Bars 1-12 = Bb minor Bars 13-86 = Bb major Bars 87-90 = Bb minor

3. Harmony: 12 bar blues pattern Frequent pitch bends creating blues notes – bar 3 Bars 1-12 – muted trumpet melody accompanied in parallel 6th’s. Head is diatonic apart from a passing d natural. Bars 13-28 – Chromatic substitution. chord (Gb7 instead of F7 bars 13-14; 21-22). Bars 19-21 - circle of 5ths. Bars 29-52 – Backing simple and triadic. Occasional 7ths – bars 32-33. Bars 52-64 – Secondary dominant chords. Dim 7th chord bar 58. 59-63 Longer circle of 5ths pattern.

4. Texture: Mainly MDH. Bass outlines root and 5ths of chord. Simple triadic piano accompaniment. Jungle style (see instruments). Coda – homophonic.

5. Melody: First melody heard is adaptation of a popular ballad Holy day that was familiar to black and white audiences of the day. Solos are improvised and use lots of blues notes. Reference to Chopin’s’ funeral march in the coda.

6. Instuments: Jungle style – use of heavy drums; dark sax; rough growling brass sounds. Three main sections: Reeds (sax and clarinet); Brass (trumpet and trombone); Rhythms section (piano, banjo, drums and bass). Interesting effects – vibrato and slides on sax; Trombone uses plunger mute and small trumpet mute for timbre effects such as ‘wah-wah’ and glissandi. Stride bass pattern in piano – wide leaps and decorations.

7. Context: Duke Ellington played at the cotton club in Harlem New York. Although located in a black community it catered for a purely white audience. The title ‘Black and Tan’ fantasy is full of meaning. Behind it is Ellingtons ‘fantatsy’ that racial integration may one day be possible. This can be seen through two ways: 12 bar blues structure contrasted with the white European 16 bar structure of the Sax solo and the reference to popular ballade at the start and Chopin’s pessimistic funeral march at the end.

8. Rhythm: Swung 4/4 time. Use of triplets in solos. Piano solo begins with anacrusis (also known as a ‘pick-up’) and has syncopation.