The Resonator - June, 2001

Nouveau Banjo - Brad Smith (more than just a review)

Hearing this CD brings up a dichotomy, which has bothered me for lo, these many years.

Brad has a similar background as I. I played several instruments before I played the banjo and I am a composition major from Cosmopolitan and Chicago Conservatories of Music. I love the banjo, as obviously Brad does. I see it as a legitimate musical instrument. By that I mean it should be used as any other instrument, such as a trumpet, oboe, etc. During the 20's and 30's, the composers in the serious music world would write for the banjo as they would any instrument in the orchestral family.

The dichotomy is: I love to go to the conventions, such as FIGA, and see the folks having a ball strumming away on their banjos. However, for the banjo to really carry on as a musical instrument (not just a virtuoso-based concept or hobby instrument), it needs to have new music for it to perform. Don't get me wrong, I love all those old songs, but they were new when the banjo first played them. So, as I say, I love to observe the folks enjoying themselves, but if I could only make you understand that if you truly love the banjo, not just your ego, you should try to understand what really keeps things alive. Please don't misunderstand me, I just want you to widen your musical tastes to keep the banjo alive. Bela Fleck is doing it for the five-string.

Now to this wonderful CD. Brad is a most talented banjoist - however, he is much more than just that. It appears that Brad not only performed the banjo parts, but also produced the keyboard parts. I don't expect you to understand that the composition is based on a 12-tone row, which means it uses the 12 tones of the chromatic scale (C to an octave C using the sharps or flats to create a chromatic scale). The idea is you can start on any note in this chromatic scale and go to any other note until you use all 12 before repeating any. You can put the notes to any rhythm you choose. This is a system or style of music brought by Arnold Schoenberg. It has been modified in many ways. The most effective change to this form was brought about by one of the disciples of Schoenberg, whose name was Alban Berg. He used two 6-tone rows. Please listen and see if you can hear how the banjo and the piano work these melodies. I think you can also enjoy the music from the standpoint of the banjo.

As for the second composition, it was an extremely large undertaking. Consider the writing first - than the physical writing out of the parts for the orchestra - then finding and paying an orchestra to allow the composition to be performed. We should all be pleased that this all came together, because this is a fantastic piece. Then finally, consider the musical ability of the banjo player! First rate!

I understand that this is not what you are used to, or even what you want for banjo music. However, please try to remember that this could be what carries the banjo on as a musical instrument.

Please help me with my dichotomy. I will promise to understand and enjoy your enjoying the banjo, if you could now and then try to understand others who truly love the banjo as a musical instrument. Now, part of my deal is don't just play this CD once and say that it's not banjo music (there is no such thing as banjo music). Remember the banjo is first, a musical instrument. Listen with an open mind and you might enjoy this wonderful music so well performed by one of the best banjoists anywhere, who just happens to be a fine, fine composer - a tip of my hat to you, Brad Smith!

- Eddy Davis

Banjo Times - October, 2001 (England) Link to Banjo Times

REVIEWS "NOUVEAU BANJO" - Brad Smith

1) Jazz Suite For Banjo & Piano

2) Concerto For Banjo & Strings

I must compliment composer, Eddie Peabody banjo stylist Bradley C. Smith for presenting the banjo in serious or classical mode. However, much of his Jazz Suite is rendered in standard forms of harmonic sequence, e.g. 12 bar blues. A 12-tone note row has been cleverly injected as a walking bass part in the piano left-hand.

The piece starts with a very atonal conversation between banjo and piano but ears are soon relieved when the multi-chorus improvised solos begin very much in the Peabody vein, occasional over-blowing et al. The second movement, reminiscent of a 1920s melody contrasts the chord-melody of the first movement with mainly single-string work. I would have enjoyed the piano being a little less prevalent here. The pretty waltz that follows ventures through several breathtaking modulations, finally resolving on a Dark Eyes sort of melody. A tango follows - all very fortissimo and strident accompaniment again from the piano with the banjo performing a tremolo obbligato in the background. The fifth movement, which resembles the chord sequence of the Hot Five's Irish Blackbottom, has a nice swing feel and fine improvisatory passages. I particularly liked the solo banjo opening of the sixth movement, which has unusual banjo chords. This is vicious, serious banjo playing. The Suite ends with a dirty blues, which gains momentum during several swinging choruses of innovative improvising on a 12 bar sequence and a final recapitulation of the tone row.

This recording of CONCERTO FOR BANJO & STRINGS is a live concert with audience present. Now, this is a substantial, well written and well arranged piece for plectrum banjo and eleven strings with the banjo opening in slightly overblown Peabody heavy tremolo. The modem sounding orchestral tutti sections are beautiful. Perhaps some of the melody played single-string might help my ears catch the phrasing. I cannot help thinking that the banjo is occasionally more of an intrusion than a blend but, on a live hearing, this may well be spectacular. Touches of Gershwin creep into the latter part of the Adagio - slightly more relaxed now on the banjo. In movement two, the banjo suddenly breaks out of a long pianissimo into a sforzando reminiscent of the humour of Spike Jones.

Weird light, pizzicato phrases from violins fall like dewdrops joined by more violent banjo tremolo. A picture of Spike's great banjoist, Dick Morgan, arose before me in the cadenza. Frantic Peabodying follows with great dissonance in the strings and followed by another very interesting, dissonant solo banjo passage. This is the best part of the Concerto and would make an excellent banjo solo in its own right. In fact Brad elevates himself in my estimation when he uses more single-string and less chord tremolo. The last movement, described as "a pseudo-march in 7/4", brings the virtuoso performance to a strong, spiky end.

In conclusion, this is music to which every banjo player should listen at least once in his lifetime, if for no other reason but to appreciate where the banjo and its music have reached. You may not find this easy listening but do try to visualize Brad conquering both new territory on the banjo, and music itself. I am delighted to have listened to this and glad the banjo has had such an opportunity to venture into otherwise prohibited musical fields. -

- Amazing stuff, Brad! DP - David Price

"The Plectrum Challenge"

ORINDA RONDO

This Brad Smith guy is quite the musician/composer! He has a deal for any of you plectrum banjo players that are looking for a bit of a challenge. For a nominal sum of eight dollars, to cover materials and shipping, you can obtain a cassette and the music of an original plectrum banjo solo entitled "Orinda Rondo". He considers it moderately difficult.

In reviewing this package I will say the score is very professionally reproduced which makes it very easy to read. It is written in Rondo Form. I suggest you buy the package and then follow along with my analysis.

This is a pop/modern blues, built around the augmented ninth chord-melody. In the early days of jazz these notes were played by the soloists (usually horn players) and were known as blues notes. I'm referring to the flatted seventh and the flatted third. Then as the music got to what was referred to as avant-garde, the rhythm section players started adding these notes to the harmony. So the flatted third became the augmented ninth.

To explain the terminology: count on your fingers (in this key of "A") one=A, two=B, three=C#, four=D, five=E, six=F#, seven=G, eight=A. To augment something musically is to sharp it, so if the ninth is augmented, it becomes "B" sharp or enharmonically "C" natural, which is the same note as the blue note (the flat third). In "Orinda Rondo" the second melody note in the first bar is "C"natural or the flatted third or the augmented ninth.

Now to analyze the composition: the piece starts with a nine bar quasi-blues theme which ends with an extra bar vamp creating a ten bar phrase that goes into a twelve bar blues variation. Then twelve more bars in an ad lib style with a two bar repeated ending creating a fourteen bar phrase. This leads back to the nine bar theme. At the ninth bar there is a tempo change into a four-note block chord section made up of a ten bar and a six bar phrase which ends on a held tremolo chord. Then there is a ten bar section ala "Rhapsody in Blue" style. This ends in a one bar ritard back to the original nine bar theme. Then suddenly you are in three-four time in a new key with two bars to set the new tempo. This section is "A" minor is related by the pull of the "C" natural, the augmented ninth tone in the key of "A" major. This section is now in the parallel minor key.

Back to the composition: This waltz section is in the parallel minor or "A" minor. The key signature is now no sharps or flats. It is sort of a Russian melody in pop form. Thirty-two bars, then sixteen bars which incorporates the first section of the waltz. This ends with a nice glissando to an "E" seventh/augmented ninth chord. Then six more bars of accelerando that lead back to the original theme in the original tempo and four/four time. At this point the tempo goes up a little and the theme is swung in a series of pop style eight bar blues phrases. The second of these eight bar phrases has a two bar turnaround added making it a ten bar phrase. That leads to a very close variation of those two sections where the tag repeats three times. This leads back to the original theme for eight bars. Lastly there is a seven bar variation of the theme ending with a series of six two bar phrases built on the "E" seventh/augmented ninth chord. The piece ends with three chromatic thirteen chords.