JAZZ EDUCATION NETWORK

The Connection Between Don Byas and Charlie Parker’s Improvisational Approach to Rhythm Changes w/ Dexter Moses

Educator resources

Carlos Wesley “Don” Byas, tenor saxophonist, was regarded by his peers as a pivotal figure in the development of bebop. Even though his roots were in the swing era, he was open to new harmonic possibilities explored by the likes of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Musicians during the bebop era (mid-1940s) would embellish popular song forms at the time, most notably “I Got Rhythm” (Rhythm Changes). Parker and Gillespie are among the few credited with the creation of bebop, but Byas is left out of the conversa- tion. However, On November 2nd, 1944, jazz enthusiast Timmie Rosenkranz recorded Byas and Stewart playing “I Got Rhythm” in his apartment. Due to the recording ban of 1942–1944, early bebop was substantially undocumented, therefore, the recording made by Rosenkranz showcases the earliest bebop improvisation played over rhythm changes at 300 beats per minute based on discography records. I will compare three choruses of improvisation from Don Byas’s 1944 recording of “I Got Rhythm” to three choruses of Charlie Parker’s 1950 live recording of “Anthropology.” I am looking at how they use the following techniques in both of their solos: chromaticism, chord substitutions, and use of non-diatonic chord extensions.

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Plus a Q & A with the live audience.

A presentation of the Jazz Education Network Research Committee.

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ABOUT DEXTER MOSES

Dexter Moses is a saxophonist, composer, and educator from Richmond, Virginia. He is an alumnus of North Carolina Central University with a BM in Jazz Studies (2021) and MM in Jazz Composition and Arranging (2023). In addition to leading his own group, the Dexter Moses Quartet, he has performed and/or recorded with top leaders on their respectful instruments and voices, including Branford Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, Joey Calderazzo, Nneena Freelon, Charles Tolliver, James “Saxsmo” Gates, Desirée Roots Centeio, Billy Williams, and many more. As an educator he teaches private lessons in saxophone, clarinet, and flute. As part of his teaching phi- losophy, he expects students to not only become competent musicians, but to have them grow as well-rounded, disciplined, and creative individuals.

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charlotte lang

Swiss/Dutch saxophonist Charlotte Lang was born in 1996 in Basel and studied the bachelor and master program at the JAZZCAMPUS Basel under the guidance of Domenic Landolf and Daniel Blanc. She is currently studying the Master of Music in Global Jazz at the Berklee College of Music in Boston under the artistic direction of Danilo Pérez. In addition she is part of Terri Lyne Carrington’s Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice.

From 2015 to 2018, Charlotte she was a member of the Swiss National Youth Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Christian Muthspiel. Since 2020, she became a member of the German National Youth Jazz Orchestra (Bundesjazzorchester Deutschland), under the direction of Niels Klein and Ansgar Striepens. She also plays is the Austrian FJO (Frauen Jazz Orchester→Women Jazz Orchestra of Austria).

In 2021, Charlotte founded her own Quintet the „Charlotte Lang Group“, for what she is composing, arranging and booking. In the fall 2023, her first album will be recorded and hopefully released by a renowned label.

Charlotte plays in the “Swiss Jazz Orchestra” and the “Zurich Jazz Orchestra”, the two professional Big Bands of Switzerland.

Charlotte recently got the unique opportunity to write a monthly blog for the Swiss Jazz & Blues Magazine called JAZZTIME, to tell readers about her time at abroad and specifically her time at Berklee. Her graduate program lasts only until the summer of 2023. She hopes to stay in the United States to enlarge her network and build her musical career.