John Crooks

Prelude 2 for Improvised Bass

2009

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The notated preludes common in western art music have roots in improvised introductions to larger pieces provided (mainly) by organists, keyboardists, and lutenists. Both improvised and notated preludes tended to explore a single tonal area and its relatives (usually the key of the piece to follow), test the instrument, and, often, teach a musical or technical principle. This improvised prelude explores a familiar tonal area, E pentatonic, which I chose right before I started playing. Like the old improvised preludes this preludes is meant to set the stage for music to follow as well as teach, or, better, share, something about myself.

Grotesque 2 for Improvised Bass

2009

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This improvisation abandons standard tonality and form to uncover deep emotions and unlikely connections between music and remembered experience. The word grotesque dates from the 15th century when it was coined to describe the uncanny yet naturalistic paintings and decorations discovered in Roman ruins. In western art the term grotesque can describe images that depict deformed or mythical human and animal forms, and any fanciful or foreboding image with natural elements. In such grotesque images anything is possible as the real and imagined are joined. With improvised musical grotesques I hope to echo this sense of possibility and danger.

Improvised Tonal Suite

2009

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transcription of this piece

An improvisation in three parts (more or less) that thoroughly explores a key and its relatives. The key, Bb, was determined just before playing. The Western tonal system and its building blocks—the major and minor scales and triads—provide, even in their simplest expression, rich material for improviser and listener alike. Many of my improvisations seek to rediscover “simple” tonality, which can be taken for granted by musicians and listeners seeking new sounds or historical authenticity. In jazz we hear tonality improvised in surprising and advanced ways. As a jazz bassist I began to wonder about new ways to explore tonality through improvisation and have found myself tack-ling the basics of string playing and improvisational harmony. With this improvised suite I want to develop thematic ideas, provide contrasting material, and develop a sense of narrative that uses my own sense of tonality and music to express myself using vocabulary familiar to many listeners.

Fantasy 1 for Improvised Bass

2009

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This improvisation uses some simple extended techniques and pitch patterns as thematic material, and departs and returns to this material in an unpredictable way. My improvised fantasies are inspired by the piano fantasies of the late 18th and 19th C.

Fantasy 2 for Improvised Bass

2009

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Blues with a Click in Headphones

2009

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Blues with a Click

2009

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These blues improvisations are inspired by artist Robert Morris’ 1961 piece The Box with the Sound of its Own Making, a simple box Morris built while recording the sounds of the building process. With an audiotape inside, the box now plays back the sound of its creation. While many of us share the experience of certain music, such as the blues, our exact understanding of musical form and significance is ultimately individual.