Articles by Kurt Ellenberger
Harmony and the Harmonic Series: I-V to Rule Them All
by Kurt Ellenberger
Preamble Since writing my article on Music and Evolution, I have received many emails asking the same question: “How does harmony and the movement of chords function in conjunction with the harmonic series and our ability to predictively 'hear' simple resolutions to complex wave relationships?" This article will try to answer that question by delving into the relationship between the three most important chords in tonal music--I, IV, and V. These three chords and their relationship with each other are ...
read moreStrange Bedfellows: Jazz and Pop and Heinrich Schenker?
by Kurt Ellenberger
I. A Brief Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis Heinrich Schenker (1868-1935) was an Austrian musician, composer, and most notably, music theorist whose ideas about analyzing and explaining music were groundbreaking and successful. Along with other theories, like Allen Forte's “Set Theory" and Arnold Schoenberg's “Serialism" (two mathematically oriented theories of analysis (Set Theory) and music composition (Serialism), Schenker's theories were very popular in academia. These theories were well-suited for higher education--they are complex, abstract, and have their own terminologies. In Schenker's ...
read moreFrom Chart to Reality: The Editorial Role of the Pianist in a Big Band
by Kurt Ellenberger
Note: This article was first published in the Jazz Education Journal in 2005, and was revised for All About Jazz. Preamble This article was written to address an issue that needed clarification, and indeed still needs clarification almost 20 years later, regarding the vagaries inherent in many of the published big band piano charts in use at hundreds of colleges and high schools. The professional jazz pianist will treat the written part with a great deal of freedom, ...
read moreArtificial Intelligence and All About Jazz? DIG 9000 jams with ChatGPT
by Kurt Ellenberger
As the internet's oldest jazz resource, All About Jazz (AAJ) has always been on the cutting edge of using new technologies in the promotion of jazz and jazz musicians. This commitment continues to this day with the new technology that has emerged in recent months, namely, the so- called “Artificial Intelligence" (AI) known as “ChatGPT" that has created such a stir in the media and in education in particular. AAJ has experimented with AI for content creation and ...
read moreMusic and Evolution: Hearing Math, Seeing Sound, and other Unanswered Questions
by Kurt Ellenberger
Music and Evolution: A Brief Overview The evidence presented in the research on music and evolution, beginning with Darwin himself,[1] focusses largely on music's purported ability to support “mate selection, parental care, coalition signaling, and group cohesion," [2] language development, [3] and other things. The prevailing evolutionary theories about music follow Darwin's lead--they are predominately sociological, cultural, and behavioral in nature. Other researchers cite explanations that are more utilitarian: How did music evolve? Here, we show ...
read moreA Tale of Two Genres: The Surprising Similarities in the Development of Jazz and Classical Music
by Kurt Ellenberger
Jazz and classical music are two of the most monumental achievements in human history. Together, they encompass a range of expressive capability that is simply astounding, giving voice to the human experience from centuries past to the present and in doing so, enriching our lives immeasurably. This is more remarkable when one considers that they have nothing to do with our survival as a species, but rather serve to nurture our emotional and intellectual needs, occupying a place in our ...
read moreMusical And Lyrical Sophistication In Jazz And Other Genres
by Kurt Ellenberger
This scatter graph (directly below) shows the results of an All About Jazz Readers' Poll that was conducted during portions of 2021. There were almost 400 participants who rated these genres on their “musical and lyrical sophistication" on a 10 point scale. No instructions were given on the definition of “sophistication"—the participants were free to use their own criteria. However, with a jazz audience, “sophistication" is likely viewed as meaning higher levels of complexity in harmony, rhythm, and melody, and ...
read moreMichael Wollny: Treasures from the Wunderkammer
by Kurt Ellenberger
German pianist Michael Wollny is one of the most exciting and important jazz artists of our time. His work is marked by exquisite pianism and a restless creativity and search for expression that knows no stylistic boundaries. Wollny's output has been remarkable both in quality and quantity--he is in his early 40s, and has released almost 20 recordings as leader, along with many more as sideman, making him one of Munich-based ACT Music most prolific artists. All About ...
read moreEmiliano Sampaio: Rising Transatlantic Star
by Kurt Ellenberger
In 2013, I was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to teach and to work on a research project at the Kunstuniversität Graz ("University of the Arts in Graz"). I taught a first-year course in jazz theory that was really a delight. These students were already extremely accomplished performers and composers. About half of the class was comprised of students from China, the United States, Germany, the Czech Republic, and other countries. One of those students was Emiliano Sampaio, a Brazilian trombonist ...
read moreBuilding a Jazz Audience: The Sisyphus Redux
by Kurt Ellenberger
Since my controversial article on jazz education and audience development, many have asked “Well, if education isn't the answer, what's the solution? How do we develop and maintain a strong jazz audience?" Audience development is a complicated issue, and it's not limited to jazz. Every artist and arts organization is trying to answer the same question. We've identified a problem and we're going to “build" something to solve it. Sounds so simple, doesn't it? It's not ...
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