Ricardo -> RE: Improvisation? (Aug. 27 2008 12:09:59)
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Good topic, I have a lot of thoughts about it. First, modern players and old trad players improvise FLAMENCO falsetas the same way, they have them prepared first, then toss them out at will, not in a specific order, and book end them with compas and remates that might also have been worked out at some point, but don't necessarily need to be the same for each falseta. So as long as you have the rhythm, you can "improvise" either very long phrases of one full compas to several compases, or, just little rhythmic pieces, non of which needs to relate compositionally. In a lot of cases, some flamenco players dont' want to leave out their favorite falsetas, so they will order their falsetas in some way to "compose" a piece, but that does not change the fact that the fundamental phrases are still short and COULD be mixed up and "improvised". So how is jazz improv different? Well, you have a chart of chords as the structure, more than just a rhythmic base, and you need to adhere to that. But Jazz is not just totally freedom. Most masterful players of jazz ALSO have something like "falsetas". For example, J. Coltrane worked out these phrases of various lengths to handle the tough 2-5-1 changes in Giant Steps. Looking at a transcription, you will notice how he repeats himself a lot. Those are like "falsetas" that the he throws out to not get lost in the chart, and imbetween he tries to create. Most jazz guitarist have similar "licks" that they know will work to go smooth from one chord to the next. In Moron style flamenco for example, they also have lots of short "licks" that they can repeat or play in sequence ad libitum, and know it will hold in compas, but those are not necessarily worked out falsetas. So it is very similar concept. But Entre dos Aguas was like a bridge to the true jazz concept of a chart. You have a chart structure, then paco plays "falsetas" but a jazz guy can actually ignore the falsetas and play over the chart too. And that is how paco got to play with Al dimeola. mediterranean sundance has a head, then they play "entre dos aguas", and they truly improvise over the chart. Paco plays just a few faletas the same, like the long picado, but mainly it is improv. So later paco introduced the compas of Alegrias to those guys. Chiquito was the tune. Then modern flamenco players picked up the idea. Nuñez's Gallo Azul is a normal buleria in the sense that he mixes falsetas at will, then at the end he establishes an "estribillo" or chorus that repeats, and there you have a "chart" and now he can improvise over the chart in a "jazz" way, but still you have the flamenco compas. So there is your "flamenco jazz fusion" concept, which is still popular. On Calima, Gerardo plays the same piece, but notice the true flamenco portion has a total different mix of falsetas until the same chart appears at the end. Anyway, so those are my thoughs about it. Ricardo
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