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 Courtesy of Lyndon Aguilar and
Downbeat Magazine, Sept, 2005
Woodshed
Solo By Lyndon Aguilar
Billy Childs' Piano Solo
on 'Joy Spring'
Pianist Billy Childs' touring and recording with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard in the early 1980s influenced the way his lines breathe. Just as a trumpet player breathes in between phrases, Childs rests and punctuates with sudden bursts of complex chordal voicings, inhaling and exhaling with the music.
Childs' piano solo on Clifford Brown's "Joy Spring," from Hubbard's 1982 release Born To Be Blue (Pablo), contains many characteristic devices that flow effortlessly from Childs' sophisticated improvisational concept. His solo consists of chord fragmentations, bebop lines, rhythmic phrasing variety and superb use of anticipated left-hand comping. Childs improvises once over the AABA song form and accomplishes it by maintaining a sense of structure, balance and sure touch at the keys.
Childs' solo begins with a descending quarter-note triplet figure outlining a C major chord from measures 1-2, punctuating chord extensions over Fmaj7 and Gm7. Childs utilizes arpeggiated chords throughout (in bars 4-6, 10-13, 16, 18-24, and 26-31). Notice how he uses these chords to outline the extensions over the changes—an Ab major chord over Bbm7 (bar 4), a G major chord over Am7 (bar 5), a C minor chord over Gm7 (bar 6), a Gb major chord over Abm7 (bar 10). He uses this device to create a sense of rehannonizalion over the changes, displaying a mastery of the bebop vocabulary.
Measure 15 contains ascending quartal fragments that proceed to a chromatic pattern in octaves, giving the line a sense of momentum and excitement. Quartal fragments occur again on bar 17. Notice how Childs separates the two fragments by connecting them on descending chord figurations on bar 16, emphasizing the entrance of the bridge section at measure 17.
Childs' use of varied phrasings serves as the central activity and provides continuity in his solo. His left-hand comping also serves as the foundation of marking the end of phrase as well as providing a deep swing groove. Childs' habit of beginning a phrase on the second half of the beat occurs throughout (measures 1,3,6.7, 10, 13,15,18 and 20), giving a forward motion to the groove. Another point of interest is how Childs groups his phrases. A quasi three-measure group phrase in bars 1-3, 3-5, 6-8,
10-13 and 15-17; a quasi two-measure group phrase on measures 20-23; and a quasi eight-measure group phrase on bars 25-32, emphasizing the climax and end of his solo. In measure 32, six-note chord voicings punctuate the cadence. DB
Note: Lyndon Aguilar teaches jazz harmony at the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music in Manila, Philippines. E-mail him at lyndonaguilar@hotmail.com
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