Jazz, Music, and Language

Thoughts about language and music

Language and sound are fundamentally identical. Language represents a form of sound, and music likewise. Due to their shared nature, verbal language and music can communicate similar things. Music is simply a verbal language with letters that are notes and words that are chords.

The lack of rigidity regarding the use of notes and the meanings one can assign to a musical sound — in contrast to many of the prescriptive rules placed on language through grammar and the well defined meaning of words — indicates that increased subjectivism is more accepted and differing interpretations of one musical piece become equally valid as a result.

Though musical forms have their own rigidity as well, once in the realm of genres such as jazz, the style of music becomes more improvisational and free flowing, allowing for even greater ranges of subjective experiences and interpretations.

Miles Davis’ style takes this improvisational quality in his song “All Blues” in his album Kind of Blue. “All Blues” represents an individual’s journey into a dreamscape or a similar reflective state, indicated by its initially lulling and salient tone that pervades the beginning and ending sequences.

It symbolizes an introduction into the dreamscape as well as a similar end to it. The time between the beginning and ending sequences represents the introspective journey and conclusions that the individual makes.

The relatively flowing nature of jazz and of the piece “All Blues” lends itself to a seemingly infinite series of digressions, with each musical digression seamlessly disappearing into the next: similar to how our thoughts and conversations with others often function.

For example, consider how Davis’ morphs his melody into the dreamscape from the repeating introduction and then back to the introduction as a conclusion: this observation represents the form or structure of the piece.

The introduction is characterized by two repeated piano notes in the background: a trill, and a steady drum beat. Further, the jazzy saxophones function predictably as well, drawing out one long note.

The whole musical selection taken together represents a person casually drifting off into a dream state or a reflection, with the length of the saxophone notes representing the preliminary preparations one takes to calm and centralize one’s thoughts before falling asleep or into a deeply meditative state.

It is very important to notice that the tempo, melody, and structure of the piece at this point are repetitious, predictable, and constant. A certain sobriety and somberness pervades the tone of the piece, which is in line with the blue, depressing theme of the piece.

From there, while the beats and accompanying instruments maintain their tempos, the saxophones slowly drive the song into a different direction. The accompaniment changes accordingly. The saxophones start to improvise, a defined, unique melody from the alto saxophone emerges as a dominant driving tone above all the rest.

The high notes drift and hang in and out, teeter a few times on the same note, and occasionally return to the original melody for a brief moment. The piano then begins to work itself around the alto saxophone’s melodies, becoming gradually more involved and engaged with its accompaniment.

It soon returns to a repeated, generic beat along with the drums again, though. After this return, the alto saxophone begins to break the tempo that is given by the background instruments. The notes played become seemingly random at times, but still remain within the context of the jazzy song and reflective, subdued, and leisurely theme.

The instruments shift and again and while the drums maintain their beat, the alto saxophone is phased out, leaving the piano to improvise.

The piano engages in a series of intense tones, creating a noticeable melody and becoming the dominant driving force of the song.

As its solo progresses, the notes of the piano become more dissonant and messy.

This random, entropic quality increases until the piano suddenly returns to its characteristic trill, heard at the introduction. The rest of the instruments then join again in solidarity in repeating the themes of the introduction. This signals an end to the reflective state and a return to normalcy for the individual. Davis’ jazz is purposefully vague and meandering, so as to allow for the maximum amount of interpretation.

Ultimately, the notes that Davis and his band plays are meant to create a canvas upon which the imagination of the listener can paint a picture. The meandering, seemingly random yet organized melodies, the shifting instrument solos and the seamless integration of a series of complete, unrelated thoughts representing digressions through the piece allows for the thoughts of the listener to function similarly.

The introduction sets the mood for the listener and as the instruments begin to engage in improvised melodies, the listeners’ thoughts will adjust accordingly.

Reading a novel represents a similar dynamic for the reader. The author creates a canvas upon which the interpretation of the reader of the author’s text can paint a picture in his imagination. In this way, the canvas that music and language creates for their audience describes their similarities.

The structure, tone, tempo, and melody of Davis’ song are analogous to the structure and organization of a novel, the tone of the words, the pacing of the story, and the driving forces: the protagonists or antagonists.