Papers by Sopon Suwannakit
Maria Schneider’s “Choro Dançado” is the first part from her three-part suite “Three Romances” fr... more Maria Schneider’s “Choro Dançado” is the first part from her three-part suite “Three Romances” from the album Concert in the Garden (Schneider 2004). Instead of using many tutti chordal textures like typical big band orchestration, this piece employs various individual lines to create polyphonic texture. These individual lines keep reappearing throughout the whole piece in different groupings, harmonies, registers, timbres, and rhythmic values. My argument is, in “Choro Dançado,” Schneider efficiently uses and develops the main individual lines or statements throughout her composition. In order to support the argument, this analysis will use Steve Lajoie’s eight-stage analytical method (Lejoie 2003). The reason why I choose Lajoie’s method is in order to listen to counterpoint, it requires detailed aural and visual observation. Lajoie’s method asks the analyst to listen with and without reading the score. Also, it requires the analyst to read with and without listening to the music. This helps the analyst hear and see in different musical levels according to the material(s) being observed at a time.
By the time when mass audience for jazz had vanished, many British pop-rock bands had risen. The ... more By the time when mass audience for jazz had vanished, many British pop-rock bands had risen. The Beatles was one of them. Since their arrival to the U.S. in February 1964, their music had been nominated in the Billboard Hot 100 Number-One Single for more than three mounts. However, one man appeared from the musical side that had been forgotten by the mass audience. After the fourteen weeks of the Beetles's victory, Louis Armstrong beat the British bands with the song called "Hello Dolly!." The question is how could Armstrong do that. What are the factors that helped a jazz musician won against a popular music group in a popular chart during the time when mass audience for jazz was decreasing. The answer to this question are the musical familiarities and the humanity in the music. This will help jazz association today find more strategies for retrieving the attention from mass audience.
Rangsit Music Journal
Odd meters were experimented variously in the album Time Out by Dave Brubeck Quartet. The audienc... more Odd meters were experimented variously in the album Time Out by Dave Brubeck Quartet. The audiences accepted it widely during the launching period especially the tunes “Take Five” composed by Paul Desmond and “Blue Rondo à la Turk” composed by Dave Brubeck. This article discuses how odd meters become more acceptable in jazz which has been nominated by duple and quadruple meters for long. Ranging the musicians from Fats Waller, James Reese Europe, and Stan Kenton to Jonathan Kreisberg, Maria Schneider, and Hiromi Uehara. It shows the history of time signature usage in jazz, development, and the relationship between early and contemporary irregular meter approaches.
Thesis Chapters by Sopon Suwannakit
ProQuest, 2023
During the 1950s and 1960s, amidst the backdrop of the Cold War, the influences of Middle Eastern... more During the 1950s and 1960s, amidst the backdrop of the Cold War, the influences of Middle Eastern music on jazz became more pronounced. In a strategic move, the U.S. State Department dispatched jazz musicians to the Middle East to promote the genre. This initiative inadvertently led these ambassadors of jazz to bring back and incorporate Middle Eastern musical elements into their craft. Today, the echoes of the Middle East are prominently heard in jazz, evident in melodic structures, rhythms, instruments, and beyond. Yet, despite its profound impact, the Middle Eastern music influence remains underacknowledged in jazz circles.
This research delved into Middle Eastern-influenced jazz from the 1950s to the 1960s, examining works by three distinct groups of jazz musicians: the Jazz Messengers, the Jazz Ambassadors, and a cohort deeply rooted in Middle Eastern traditions—encompassing jazz artists adept at Middle Eastern instruments or those who collaborated with Middle Eastern musicians. Of these groups, the Jazz Messengers had the most limited exposure to Middle Eastern sounds, while the Jazz Ambassadors gained deeper insights through their Middle East tours. However, those with the most profound connection to Middle Eastern music were the jazz artists with extensive training in Middle Eastern music theory and performance or collaborated with Middle Eastern instrumentalists. This study sought to analyze how these jazz artists, each with their own level of Middle Eastern musical fluency, incorporated and adapted Middle Eastern elements through the dual lenses of jazz and Middle Eastern musical paradigms.
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Papers by Sopon Suwannakit
Thesis Chapters by Sopon Suwannakit
This research delved into Middle Eastern-influenced jazz from the 1950s to the 1960s, examining works by three distinct groups of jazz musicians: the Jazz Messengers, the Jazz Ambassadors, and a cohort deeply rooted in Middle Eastern traditions—encompassing jazz artists adept at Middle Eastern instruments or those who collaborated with Middle Eastern musicians. Of these groups, the Jazz Messengers had the most limited exposure to Middle Eastern sounds, while the Jazz Ambassadors gained deeper insights through their Middle East tours. However, those with the most profound connection to Middle Eastern music were the jazz artists with extensive training in Middle Eastern music theory and performance or collaborated with Middle Eastern instrumentalists. This study sought to analyze how these jazz artists, each with their own level of Middle Eastern musical fluency, incorporated and adapted Middle Eastern elements through the dual lenses of jazz and Middle Eastern musical paradigms.
This research delved into Middle Eastern-influenced jazz from the 1950s to the 1960s, examining works by three distinct groups of jazz musicians: the Jazz Messengers, the Jazz Ambassadors, and a cohort deeply rooted in Middle Eastern traditions—encompassing jazz artists adept at Middle Eastern instruments or those who collaborated with Middle Eastern musicians. Of these groups, the Jazz Messengers had the most limited exposure to Middle Eastern sounds, while the Jazz Ambassadors gained deeper insights through their Middle East tours. However, those with the most profound connection to Middle Eastern music were the jazz artists with extensive training in Middle Eastern music theory and performance or collaborated with Middle Eastern instrumentalists. This study sought to analyze how these jazz artists, each with their own level of Middle Eastern musical fluency, incorporated and adapted Middle Eastern elements through the dual lenses of jazz and Middle Eastern musical paradigms.