Such a great essay. I'll be listening to the material from the jazz interlude all weekend I think ;-)
"We need more music in three all year long."– I'm working on it. West-African music splits its time much more evenly between 3s and 4s (I'd be hard pressed to argue a percentage, but certainly for some regions/styles/musicians, 3s are MORE common than 4s)...and unlike Cuban music, where straight 4 slow-to-mid tempo feels are relatively common, in the Manding world at slower tempos they really do tend to lean into a swinging 3 feeling more (implying 12), straightening out into a clearer duple feeling (think the classic afrobeat rhythm) only at faster tempos. And then there's the huge repertoire of what I would call 6/4 or 3/2 rhythms....anyway. Here's a track by Oumou Sangare that can be heard both as 3/4 and 12/8.
I'm a sucker for jazz waltzes -- I hadn't even realised, till a musician friend made fun of me for it. My favourite is probably Chick Corea's 'Windows' (the version with Hubert Laws on the flute)
Beautiful and informative. Thanks for this! I read somewhere that the Beatles went on in rehearsal about if "All You Need I Love" should have been in 3 or 4. After some deliberation they stuck with a bar of 4 followed by a bar of 3. Whatever works! It worked. I think it might have been a George Martin interview. Waltz on Michelle!
Thank you! "All You Need Is Love" is an interesting case of mixed meter. Often songs decide on their meter themselves. I wish they'd decide in favor of triple meters a little more often. ;-)
Thanks for your wide-ranging consideration of the "power of 3"! I'll toss two more facets into the mix: [1] the rich, suave and powerful drumming approach that Elvin Jones brought to triple meters. Every decent jazz drummer of my generation knows what's meant if you say "an Elvin 3" -- or, for that matter, a (Bernard) Purdue shuffle; [2] as I understand it, the Cameroon groove called "bikutsi" is commonly a type of 12/8 feel (four triplet quarter-notes per bar, a cousin of swing and shuffle feels). But check out what virtuoso Cameroonian drummer Brice Wassy (credits include Salif Keita and Jean-Luc Ponty) created in his piece "Flip Stories", which is a "bikutsi in 3" (three triplets per bar)!: https://youtu.be/E8z5eaxQtIs
We need way more writing on drummers working with 3, for sure. That bikutsi in 3 is one of the hippest meters I've ever heard that also feels perfectly natural! Thanks for sharing, Jerome!
Great article! I would like to contribute, many of the songs on Sting's wonderful "Last Ship" album are in 3 (the album came out before the Broadway show). He told me when he was writing the music for the album that he was "bringing back the waltz", so it was a conscious effort to write songs in triple meter.
Such a great essay. I'll be listening to the material from the jazz interlude all weekend I think ;-)
"We need more music in three all year long."– I'm working on it. West-African music splits its time much more evenly between 3s and 4s (I'd be hard pressed to argue a percentage, but certainly for some regions/styles/musicians, 3s are MORE common than 4s)...and unlike Cuban music, where straight 4 slow-to-mid tempo feels are relatively common, in the Manding world at slower tempos they really do tend to lean into a swinging 3 feeling more (implying 12), straightening out into a clearer duple feeling (think the classic afrobeat rhythm) only at faster tempos. And then there's the huge repertoire of what I would call 6/4 or 3/2 rhythms....anyway. Here's a track by Oumou Sangare that can be heard both as 3/4 and 12/8.
https://youtu.be/TbbSDBx_LeM?si=iODEew6T_i6V9dUv
I'm a sucker for jazz waltzes -- I hadn't even realised, till a musician friend made fun of me for it. My favourite is probably Chick Corea's 'Windows' (the version with Hubert Laws on the flute)
"Better off Dead," Elton John
"Half a World Away," R.E.M.
"Chorégraphie des âmes," Klô Pelgag
https://www.google.com/search?q=The+Story%2C+dog+dreams&rlz=1CAYGYA_enUS831US831&oq=The+Story%2C+dog+dreams&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i64.12258j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:caf51353,vid:U5jVxRc6l_Y
Early Jonatha Brooke, yes! I was obsessed with her Woody Guthrie tribute album a while back.
Thanks for this very informative and inspiring article !!!
Some of my favorites :
„Emily“ - Johnny Mandel
„Sno Peas“ -Bill Evans
„Cravo e canela“ - Milton Nascimento - a different treatment, brazilian style !
„Fly me to the moon“ - Bart Howard , originally in 3/4 time
„Answer me“ - Keith Jarrett version
Christian, all strong songs! But I've always had a special love for Milton's "Cravo e Canela." Milton forever.
Beautiful and informative. Thanks for this! I read somewhere that the Beatles went on in rehearsal about if "All You Need I Love" should have been in 3 or 4. After some deliberation they stuck with a bar of 4 followed by a bar of 3. Whatever works! It worked. I think it might have been a George Martin interview. Waltz on Michelle!
Thank you! "All You Need Is Love" is an interesting case of mixed meter. Often songs decide on their meter themselves. I wish they'd decide in favor of triple meters a little more often. ;-)
Thanks for your wide-ranging consideration of the "power of 3"! I'll toss two more facets into the mix: [1] the rich, suave and powerful drumming approach that Elvin Jones brought to triple meters. Every decent jazz drummer of my generation knows what's meant if you say "an Elvin 3" -- or, for that matter, a (Bernard) Purdue shuffle; [2] as I understand it, the Cameroon groove called "bikutsi" is commonly a type of 12/8 feel (four triplet quarter-notes per bar, a cousin of swing and shuffle feels). But check out what virtuoso Cameroonian drummer Brice Wassy (credits include Salif Keita and Jean-Luc Ponty) created in his piece "Flip Stories", which is a "bikutsi in 3" (three triplets per bar)!: https://youtu.be/E8z5eaxQtIs
We need way more writing on drummers working with 3, for sure. That bikutsi in 3 is one of the hippest meters I've ever heard that also feels perfectly natural! Thanks for sharing, Jerome!
Great article! I would like to contribute, many of the songs on Sting's wonderful "Last Ship" album are in 3 (the album came out before the Broadway show). He told me when he was writing the music for the album that he was "bringing back the waltz", so it was a conscious effort to write songs in triple meter.
Thanks, Geoff! Heading over to listen to the whole album, so I can hear how the waltzes fit in. Appreciate you sharing.