Join Dr. Benjamin Nichols, Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, for this live webinar on the music of Jerry Bergonzi (1947- ), a late-twentieth and twenty-first century jazz saxophonist and composer, often associated with the 1970’s New York Loft Scene.
Through the use of specific rhythmic, intervallic, and harmonic shapes, Bergonzi uses compositional techniques inspired by John Coltrane, Olivier Messiaen, and Arnold Schoenberg. Bergonzi’s compositions “It’s the Same,” “Philapino,” “Ryvim with Ding,” “Awake,” “Do It to Do It,” “Ellwood,” “New in the Neighborhood,” “Czarology,” “Cadiz,” are studied. Through formal analysis this presentation gives insight into Bergonzi’s compositional methods used in the selected pieces. This presentation supplies research that answers two questions: What are Bergonzi’s compositional techniques? What makes his compositions compelling and unique?
A presentation from the Jazz Education Research and Practice Journal, a publication of the Jazz Education Network.
