"Weird Like Me" - Elwood Bond's senior recital at UT 2019

"Weird Like Me" - Elwood Bond's senior recital for drum set at The University of Tampa at Sykes Chapel on Thursday, November 21st, 2019
01:14 Think Again (2008) - Pat Coil
03:50 drum solo
06:48 Night Dreamer (1938) - Wayne Shorter
08:58 drum solo
12:21 Nardis (1958) - Miles Davis
14:58 drum solo
18:29 Nica’s Dream (1954) - Hoarce Silver
24:43 Impressions (1962) - John Coltrane
26:16 drum solo
30:05 Take the A Train (1939) - Billy Strayhorn
33:02 drum solo
36:47 Evening Stroll (2019) - Elwood Bond
46:22 Kanto Samba (2019) - Junichi Masuda - Arr. Elwood Bond
50:17 drum solo
Elwood Bond - drums
Justin Medlen - guitar
Nic Giordano - bass
Jason Atheney - saxophone
Brian Ferreira - trombone
Audio provided by University of Tampa
“Think Again” is a tune written by Pat Coil for his 2008 album Bird House. This song’s harmonic structure is reminiscent of a minor blues progression with a few small twists. The harmonic structure revolves around the key center of G minor, spending 8 bars on the tonic chord before moving to the iv for another set of 8 bars, followed by a descending chord series resolving back to the tonic for its turnaround. Rhythmically, the tune maintains an Afro-Cuban feel throughout with the drums following a Cascara pattern that mimics a conga pattern on the rack tom and floor tom.
“Night Dreamer” is the title track off of Wayne Shorter’s 1964 album on the of the same name on Blue Note Records. The song is in triple with Elvin Jones’ drum groove creating a very peculiar sense of rhythm that Shorter further explains “although the beat does float, it also is set in a heavy groove. It’s a paradox, in a way, like? you’d have in a dream.” Originally composed by Miles Davis for the Cannonball Aderley 1958 album Portrait of Cannonball,
“Nardis” has become a standard that is synonymous with pianist Bill Evans, and it appears on over 10 different recordings throughout his career. Harmonically, the song uses the Phrygian dominant scale and the double harmonic scale, which is one reason audiences and musicians alike find it so compelling
“Nica’s Dream” was composed in 1954 by Horace Silver for Pannonica de Koenigswater. Notable performances of this piece include renditions by drummer Art Blakey and guitarist Wes Montgomery. The tune follows an AABA form, with the A sections being played in a Latin style that is reminiscent of a mambo pattern, and the B sections being performed in the swing style. Throughout the solos, the song’s form omits the Latin style and is completely swung, providing musical contrast to the full sections.
“Impressions” is a Coltrane standard, and an example of the modal jazz movement in the post-bebop era. This song, along with Miles Davis ’tune “So What,” shares the same chord progression as Ahmad Jamals’s rendition of “Pavanne.” In lieu of a fast harmonic rhythm that has multiple chord changes per measure commonly found in bebop jazz, Impressions shares similarities to the French School of composers by relying more on the use of musical modes rather than relying on clear harmonic expressions.
Take the A Train” was originally composed by Billy Strayhorn in 1939, but it became a signature tune of the Duke Ellington orchestra throughout Ellington’s career. Strayhorn was originally hesitant about showing Ellington this tune because he felt it sounded like something Fletcher Henderson, his rival might use. The song’s title and lyrics refer to the directions needed to follow to meet Ellington in New York City using a subway line that ran to Harlem and northern Manhattan, the hub for jazz. In the version performed tonight, the traditional swing form is replaced with a New Orleans-style of jazz with the drums relying on traditional snare drum rudiments being swung, reminiscent of a New Orleans second line band.
“Evening Stroll” is an original composition of mine that primarily draws influence from pianist Erroll Garner’s jazz standard “Misty,” along with the jazz standards from the Great American Songbook. Evening Stroll intends to invoke the feeling of tranquility one would experience walking city streets in the lateevening and pre-dawn hours where most businesses are closed, cars are off the road, and you feel as if you have the city to yourself during this brief time.
“Kanto Samba” is inspired by a musical theme written by Japanese composer Junichi Masuda for the original Pokémon games for the Nintendo Game Boy in 1996. The music originally served as a walking theme for the game’s region name Kanto, with the melody specifically being written for Pewter City. When Nintendo released the next installment of the Pokémon games in 1999, composer Go Ichinose reharmonized Masuda’s music, taking it from a contrapuntal-sounding work to a bossa nova. In my arrangement, I took influence from Masuda’s musical idea and Ichinose’s reharmonization and applied it to the tune as a samba, imagining the listener walking through the busy streets of Pewter City as a city-wide celebration was happening