Interview with Randy Halberstadt

A full professor at Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts, teaching jazz theory, piano, and ear training, Randy Halberstadt has taken the time to answer some questions to help us understand why musicians choose particular compositions. The musicians' choices determine which compositions become jazz standards.

JS: Why do you pick a tune just to play?
RH: Well, there's certainly some indefinable magic that attracts me to certain tunes--the "I don't know, it just moves me" factor. It may have a certain harmonic or melodic twist that reminds me of a tune from my childhood. Or maybe it's from a movie that I loved. (For example, for a while I was playing the haunting theme from Schindler's List.) It could be the timbre of the original recording, just the tone qualities of the instruments used, that reached me.
The tune's groove may be so infectious that almost any melody or harmony would work over that rhythmic base. You just want to get up and dance or drum your fingers. "Killer Joe" comes to mind.
I think a lot of the remaining reasons for picking a tune to play can be lumped under the general banner of tension and release. For example, a melody is often more interesting and attractive if there is a large interval in it. That interval causes tension which requires release by a change in the direction of the line. Good examples would be “Invitation” (the second note to the third note), “I Love You” (again, 2 to 3, "love you"), and “Days of Wine and Roses” (1-2).
Then there's just the tension and release in the harmony itself, independent of the melody: i.e., the chord progression itself can be especially compelling. I think “Embraceable You” is a good example. It visits a lot of harmonic neighborhoods, setting up each one with a harmonic tension and then resolving into it. “All The Things You Are” is another good example, because it starts in Ab, then modulates to C, Eb, G, E, and finally back to Ab. Sometimes the pull that the harmony exerts on the melody is what makes a tune work. If a melody note descends or ascends when the chord underneath pulls it that way, that makes for a more organic, natural melody. "Stella by Starlight" does this.
Another form of tension and release can be set up by alternating two contrasting sections. Cedar Walton often writes tunes which alternate a harmonically complex section with a simple vamp. "Bolivia" and "Clockwise" are both good examples of this technique. Yet another important form of tension and release is between the utter simplicity of the tune's structure and the complexities that the musician is able to introduce. The simpler the tune is--and also, the more familiar--the more freedoms a musician can legitimately take without fear of losing the audience. "Autumn Leaves" is attractive just for that reason. There are so many possible harmonic, rhythmic, melodic, and textural departures. That's also one reason why jazz musicians keep coming back to the 12-bar blues.
Another reason I'd choose to perform a tune is simply that it feels good under my fingers. It may include chord progressions for which I have particularly good voicings or a melody that I can frame in a particularly attractive way. Sometimes that really depends on the key. In a different key I might not be able to use my best "tricks."

JS: Do all the same reasons apply when you are choosing a tune to record?
RH: Yes, all of the above reasons still apply, but in addition many musicians would include market-driven considerations: for example, does this tune have commercial appeal? Or is it consistent with the theme that I want to present on this particular recording? It could be as obvious as Fred Hersch choosing to do an all Cole Porter CD, or it could be more general (e.g., does this tune present an important side of my musicianship?)

JS: Why would you choose to include a tune in a textbook?
RH: Well, that's easy: because it's a simple, distilled example of whatever point I'm trying to make. Yes, it's nice if it's also a tune that might appeal to the reader on many levels, but it's almost more useful if the only interesting aspect of the tune is the example of my salient point so that the reader isn't distracted by the other aspects.

Randy Halberstadt's Parallel Tracks CD, with Jeff Johnson on bass and Gary Hobbs on drums is available on Amazon.com. It includes the jazz standards, "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," "Invitation," "The Touch of Your Lips," "Well You Needn't," and Everything I Love."
Randy Halberstadt is also the author of Metaphors for the Musician - Perspectives from a Jazz Pianist, published by the Sher Music Company.
"...a treasure trove of detailed, hard-core technical information, practice routines, advice, diagrams, music samples, and entertaining stories.... Part of its charm is that it's not the typical "how-to" instruction manual, but rather a non-dogmatic collection of pearls, gathered over the years." -Paul de Barros, Seattle Times
You may visit Randy Halberstadt's website at www.randyhalberstadt.com.

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