Recital: Mark Tipton '24 DMA, Jazz Trumpet

A central inspiration for this recital is the incredibly rich harmonic and motivic language employed by trumpeter Woody Shaw and saxophonist Joe Henderson, as well as the fearless compositional voices of Carla Bley and Andrew Hill. To my ears the ideas these artists developed between the 1960s and 1980s still sound fresh today, and there is much more to be gleaned from close study of their recorded output and scores. The original compositions I chose for this recital have a lot to do with where my musical and extra-musical thoughts have been over the past two years, and I am so fortunate to have such brilliant colleagues to help me bring these scores to life!

Woody Shaw (arr. Tipton) | Woody II: Other Paths

Program note

I first heard this piece when I was at Oberlin, and I happened to find an LP of Woody Shaw’s album Woody III at a used bookstore. At first, the record just blew my mind, but then I felt compelled to figure out what exactly was going on in the music, and particularly in Woody’s improvisations. The cover of this 1979 release features a photo of Woody Shaw (II), his father (Woody Shaw I), and his infant son (Woody Shaw III), and each of the three movements is dedicated to one of them. Woody II: Other Paths is about the trailblazing spirit of Woody Shaw the jazz trumpeter, and the intervallic content of this melody is one of my favorite aspects of this piece and album.

Joe Henderson (arr. Tipton) | Major Adjustments (Punjab)

Program note

Joe Henderson included Punjab on his album In ‘n Out, released in 1965. Kenny Dorham, (known as “K.D.”), is heard on trumpet on this track. I took some considerable liberties with this tune, adapting what was originally a tune in 4/4 time to 6/4 time, and writing an entirely new melody, yet keeping the original chord changes more or less intact. Throughout the history of jazz countless new tunes based on preexisting forms and harmonic structures have been written, which we call “contrafacts.” Thus, this is a contrafact on Punjab, which I call Major Adjustments.

Mark Tipton | Blue Heron Voyage

Program note

The inspiration for this piece occurred a few years ago in Northern Maine, when my wife and I were on a camping trip in the remote Northeastern corner of Baxter State Park. My wife and I took a canoe trip one evening down Trout Brook into Lake Matagamon. It was a beautiful clear summer’s evening, and just as the brook was widening into the lake two blue herons swooped down right in front of our canoe, and then disappeared. Not long after that we were sitting by the fire looking up at the stars, but the magical moment of the herons’ flight was still very present in our minds.

Mark Tipton | Trouble on the Border

Program note

The sketch for this tune was written during the so-called “build a wall” campaign. It was written as a way to musically portray the frustration, fear, grief, and anxiety of people seeking a better life for themselves and their families yet confronting a metaphorical and/or literal wall of exclusionism, including policy-enforced racism and xenophobia. 

Tipton | Plangam Glacies

Program note

The title of this piece is in Latin and translates to Lament for Glaciers. There are many saddening and troubling signs of climate change, but one that really stood out for me was seeing pictures of the Morteratsch glacier retreating in the Bündner Alps in Switzerland. To witness documentation of such a monumental and irreversible environmental change that has occurred within such a short period of time is disturbing, but it can also serve as a catalyst for humans to recommit to protecting the environment. This piece includes a chant, and is both meditative and a call to action.

Mark Tipton | ...a healing touch of madness…

Program note

The title of the piece is evocative, mysterious, and ironic. The listener can either form their own opinion about the meaning of this piece, or simply accept it as a Neo-Neo-Dadaist excursion. Suffice it to say, I feel that a modicum of (healthy) madness can serve as a viable (though perhaps fleeting) remedy for weltschmerz and existential crises. The harmonic, intervallic, gestural, and structural constructs of this piece were in part inspired by a combination of expressionist music, Weimar era avant-garde silent film, the improvisations of Woody Shaw, and my ongoing fascination with complexity and absurdism. 

Carla Bley | Vox Humana

Program note

Carla Bley wrote this piece in 1963, and it was recorded in 1975 by vibraphonist Gary Burton for an album featuring Bley’s works, titled Dreams So Real. My arrangement is based on Carla’s manuscript version, which features a consonant melody floating atop a sparse accompaniment, yet I have changed the original 4/4 time signature to 5/4 and orchestrated it differently. In this and other pieces, Carla Bley proves that economy can be both compelling and beautiful.

Mark Tipton | Plantation Bag

Program note

Recorded in 1969 for Blue Note, Plantation Bag was a tune intended for the album Passing Ships, which went unreleased until 2003(!). The original version featured solos by Joe Farrell, Andrew Hill, and Dizzy Reece, with an ensemble that also included Howard Johnson, Julian Priester, Ron Carter, and Lenny White. I appreciate the ostinato-based groove behind the melody, and the understated quality of Hill’s comping on the original cut. I tried to stay true to Hill’s original version, while throwing in a compositional curveball towards the end.

Profound gratitude to my wife Heather
for her patience, support, and understanding
during the first year and a quarter of my doctoral studies.

Thank you to my parents, grandparents, relatives, and friends
for all they’ve done to support and encourage me over the years.

I also wish to thank my private teachers here at NEC
for their ongoing support and inspiration:
Jason Palmer, John McNeil, and Ken Schaphorst.