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Anthony Wilson's solo on 'Devil May Care' from Diana
Krall's 'A Night In Paris'
On this tune, Anthony Wilson delivers an absolute masterclass in how to deliver a burning, up-tempo solo in a straight-ahead jazz setting. There isn't space here to discuss everything that happens in these two choruses, but I'll try to point out some of the main characteristics.
Articulation - Because the musicians sound so relaxed, it's easy not to notice just how quick the tempo is - the cleanliness of Wilson's playing is remarkable. He also achieves a full, vibrato-less sound, with a crisp attack - ideal for mainstream jazz playing.
Time feel/phrasing - Ideally again for the idiom, Anthony delivers his quaver lines dead straight. Meanwhile, several of his statements display very creative phrasing - he is happy to start and finish phrases on any beat of the bar. The sequence of octave jumps between bars 48-50 provides the most obvious example - the phrase emphasises beat 4, which has the effect of shifting the pulse forward by one crotchet, creating urgency. The tricky passage between 25-28 takes similar liberties - Wilson avoids emphasising beat one throughout this phrase.
Note choices/harmony - As with any good jazz solo, what's played here can't be rationalised purely in terms of chords and scales, although there are some distinct harmonic techniques being applied, such as the tritone substitution at bar 70, and the bop-ish 'enclosures' in 6-7 and 20-21. Since the A sections of the tune don't really leave the key of Bb minor, it's more helpful to think in terms of how different intervals sound against the key centre. Wilson seems particularly fond of the natural 7th (A nat.) against the Bb minor sound - in fact, it forms the bedrock of the opening phrase. The passage of crotchet triplets between 65-73 is particularly brilliant - starting with diatonic arpeggios, then becoming more adventurous, culminating with the 'outside' playing in 71-72. There is also 'outside' playing in 29-30 ; in both cases it works because of the strong shape of the phrases and the way they 'get back in'. This kind of playing tends to elude theoretical analysis - the best way to get it into your playing is to start by looking at how other people do it!
Finally, notice how Wilson has the presence of mind to refer to the phrasing of the original melody towards the end, at bars 80-83.
tritone substitution - replacing a chord (usually a dominant 7th) with another (usually of the same type) whose root is a tritone (flattened fifth) away e.g. Db7 replacing G7.In 'Devil May Care' AW implies this at bar 70, playing a C triad against the F#7 chord.
enclosure - approaching a target note with a phrase that encircles it e.g. Db to B to C. There are many variants of this idea.
diatonic - made up entirely of notes that belong to whatever key centre has been established at a given time - e.g. if the key centre was C major, a diatonic phrase would contain no sharps or flats.
outside - the opposite of diatonic - an 'outside' phrase would be one in which many (or all) of the notes do not belong to the current key centre. Jazz players constantly play notes from outside the key, though, so this term tends to apply to an extended idea rather than just the odd accidental.
Download the sheet music
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On this tune, Anthony Wilson delivers an absolute masterclass in how to deliver a burning, up-tempo solo in a straight-ahead jazz setting. There isn't space here to discuss everything that happens in these two choruses, but I'll try to point out some of the main characteristics.
Articulation - Because the musicians sound so relaxed, it's easy not to notice just how quick the tempo is - the cleanliness of Wilson's playing is remarkable. He also achieves a full, vibrato-less sound, with a crisp attack - ideal for mainstream jazz playing.
Time feel/phrasing - Ideally again for the idiom, Anthony delivers his quaver lines dead straight. Meanwhile, several of his statements display very creative phrasing - he is happy to start and finish phrases on any beat of the bar. The sequence of octave jumps between bars 48-50 provides the most obvious example - the phrase emphasises beat 4, which has the effect of shifting the pulse forward by one crotchet, creating urgency. The tricky passage between 25-28 takes similar liberties - Wilson avoids emphasising beat one throughout this phrase.
Note choices/harmony - As with any good jazz solo, what's played here can't be rationalised purely in terms of chords and scales, although there are some distinct harmonic techniques being applied, such as the tritone substitution at bar 70, and the bop-ish 'enclosures' in 6-7 and 20-21. Since the A sections of the tune don't really leave the key of Bb minor, it's more helpful to think in terms of how different intervals sound against the key centre. Wilson seems particularly fond of the natural 7th (A nat.) against the Bb minor sound - in fact, it forms the bedrock of the opening phrase. The passage of crotchet triplets between 65-73 is particularly brilliant - starting with diatonic arpeggios, then becoming more adventurous, culminating with the 'outside' playing in 71-72. There is also 'outside' playing in 29-30 ; in both cases it works because of the strong shape of the phrases and the way they 'get back in'. This kind of playing tends to elude theoretical analysis - the best way to get it into your playing is to start by looking at how other people do it!
Finally, notice how Wilson has the presence of mind to refer to the phrasing of the original melody towards the end, at bars 80-83.
tritone substitution - replacing a chord (usually a dominant 7th) with another (usually of the same type) whose root is a tritone (flattened fifth) away e.g. Db7 replacing G7.In 'Devil May Care' AW implies this at bar 70, playing a C triad against the F#7 chord.
enclosure - approaching a target note with a phrase that encircles it e.g. Db to B to C. There are many variants of this idea.
diatonic - made up entirely of notes that belong to whatever key centre has been established at a given time - e.g. if the key centre was C major, a diatonic phrase would contain no sharps or flats.
outside - the opposite of diatonic - an 'outside' phrase would be one in which many (or all) of the notes do not belong to the current key centre. Jazz players constantly play notes from outside the key, though, so this term tends to apply to an extended idea rather than just the odd accidental.
Download the sheet music
< Back