Bebop Is...

Shot on November 22, 2009 at Boutique De Son in Montreal, "Bebop Is..." is the third in a suite of short films about jazz. Featuring Al McLean on saxophone, Kevin Dean on trumpet, Morgan Moore on bass and Hans Verhoeven on drums.

In this sequence, we begin to understand the player's perspective on the musical genre of Bebop. Dean gives us a brief analysis of the style, and McLean offers a great metaphor on 1950's design.

Both trumpeter and saxophonist are clearly devoted to this source dictionary of modern Jazz - Dean as a true-to-form practitioner, a 'heavy' of the genre, and McLean revealing a more post-modern approach, gathering diverse inspiration to create a flexible and facile personal style.

And both musicians are playing vintage instruments that are not their usual horns; Dean a 1953 Reynolds Contempora trumpet and McLean an well restored post-war Buescher Aristocrat alto sax.

The film's director Randy Cole asked McLean and Dean to play a variety of vintage horns during this session, which took the musicians slightly out of their comfort zone, resulting in an unpredictable and fresh performance.

Cole has a longstanding fascination with Jazz, both as a language, and as a living contemporary art form, albeit changed from the heady days of its inception. "Jazz musicians are storytellers principally," Cole says, "the richness of communication between themselves, and with an astute audience is remarkable. A true unspoken language."

Musicians were recorded by prolific Montreal recording engineer and impresario George Doxas, horn mics used were an RCA 77D ribbon, and Neumann U67 tube microphone.

Al McLean can be heard regularly in Montreal's Jazz venues, and is a sought after saxophone repair man. Read more about Al McLean here:
http://www.almclean.com/about.html

Kevin Dean is professor, and a founding faculty member of the Jazz program at McGill University's Schulich School of Music (http://www.mcgill.ca/music/).

More on Kevin Dean:
http://kevindeanmusic.com/
http://people.mcgill.ca/kevin.dean/

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Kevin
• Dean
• Al
• McLean
• Morgan
• Moore
• Jazz
• Bebop
• Montreal
• Doxas
• Lee
• Clifford
• Brown
• Dizzy
• Gillespie
• Art
• Farmer
• Charlie
• Parker
• John
• Coltrane
• Dexter
• Gordon
• Vintage
• Trumpet
• Saxophone
• Allan
• MacLean
• Straight
• Ahead
• Rhythm
• Changes
• Blues

[altrane40]

@TheCzarofussr

That's a great question, and I will happily give you my answer as a saxophonist and technician. The Voll True is a rich-sounding saxophone, with great response. It easilly approaches parity with the Zepher and the Super 20 series. The issue you want to watch for on the Voll-True is the design of the G# mechanism. Those who have the G# tone hole on the 'back' of the horn are limited to a 'closed pad-height' kind of setup. So search for a conventionally built 1.

[HCL991]

Is that song called "straight ahead"?

[TheCzarofussr]

What do you, as a professional saxophonist, think of the H.N. White King Voll True 1930 Alto Sax i plan on getting? How is it as far as being used for straight jazz music only.

[altrane40]

@TheCzarofussr :

You are correct Czarofssrr!

Its a Buescher Aristocrat 140. 1949. It came from an estate sale and I bought it an resurrected it.

Finished tone-holes, shellacked precision pads retaining original snap-in resonators. Super original horn. Still plays great!

[TheCzarofussr]

What saxophone was he playing on and what year, perhaps a buescher?

[BashuUp]

would have been nice to have known the name of the song, damn

[micodoso]

WOW! Digne des bonnes soirées au 2080! Mico

[HADJEE]

@HADJEE I read the notes it is a Reynolds Contempora from 1953

[HADJEE]

Hey Kevin Dean,

What kind of trumpet are you blowing in this video?

[BrettSaraghi]

inspirational, thank you