Group performancehttps://hdl.handle.net/10500/274862024-03-28T08:30:21Z2024-03-28T08:30:21ZDevroop and Prins DuoDevroop, Karendrahttps://hdl.handle.net/10500/302332023-06-30T12:03:04Z2022-09-11T00:00:00ZDevroop and Prins Duo
Devroop, Karendra
The piano and saxophone duo has emerged as a powerful musical combination, demonstrating the evolution of both instruments and their significant role in shaping contemporary music. The piano, dating back several centuries, has undergone various advancements in design and technique and has expanded its role on both classical and jazz music. It also features prominently in other styles of music such as Brazilian music. Similarly, the saxophone, a relatively newer addition to the musical landscape, has carved its niche in the world of jazz and classical genres. Together, these instruments are able to create a harmonious blend, each complementing the other's unique qualities in both classical and jazz genres.
The importance of the piano and saxophone duo lies in its ability to captivate listeners and evoke powerful emotions. However much depends on their choice of repertoire as the classical duo remains the hallmark of this duo setup. The jazz piano and jazz saxophone duo although in existence for some time, has not risen to the prominence of their classical counterparts. It is rare or almost never happens that a classical pianist will collaborate with a jazz saxophonist. A quick review of the literature specifically online recordings and concerts reveals a very small number of such performances. While artists such as Phil Woods have written works for classical piano and jazz saxophone, performances and recordings remain scarce.
It is against this backdrop that I decided to collaborate with Megan Geoffrey Prins who is an internationally recognised classical pianist. The goal of this project was to have us collaborate in a new and totally unique setting, namely a concert for classical piano and jazz saxophone. There were several challenges associated with such a project. Firstly, repertoire was a problem due to the very limited amount of repertoire available to such a duo. Secondly such a project would require me as the jazz saxophonist to have significant technical ability in order for the performance to be truly collaborative from a technical perspective.
The choice of repertoire was overcome by firstly selecting works that would lend themselves to jazz style, interpretation and possibly improvisation. Most of the works by Astor Piazzolla meet this criteria although some works can be technically very demanding for saxophone. I deliberately selected Piazzolla works including Oblivion, Libertango, Tango Preparense and Tanti Anni that would work well with jazz style, interpretation and improvisation. John Williams recently composed a three-piece suite for jazz saxophone, vibes and full orchestra. This work was written for the Steven Spielberg move “Catch me if you can” with Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio. The work was subsequently reduced to piano and saxophone. Although extremely technically demanding for saxophone, it is one of the few works that is truly collaborative in nature for a classical pianist and jazz saxophonist.
We rehearsed extensively due to relatively new environment for both artists. Many adjustments needed to be made in the music such as changes in form to accommodate sections for jazz improvisation, stylistic changes to include jazz interpretation and greater liberties for the classical pianist to play in a more improvisatory nature. After extensive rehearsals, we performed these works for a near full audience at Miriam Makeba Hall at the Unisa Muckleneuk campus in Pretoria. Needless to say the concert was an overwhelming success. This motivated to expanded on our literature. These concerts will be performed in 2023 and 2024 including a national tour.
This creative is new and innovative in the following ways:
1. This is the first instances in SA that a classical pianist and jazz saxophonist have performed in concert together. There are only a handful of international concerts of this nature.
2. Given the very small number of works composed for this type of duo, this output significantly expands on the literature currently available.
3. The interpretation of these works presents new insights into how these and other works may be performed in this setting.
We envision expanding on the current literature but working up the entire 3 movement suite of the work by John Williams, identifying other composers whose works may be suitable for this type of setting, potentially recording some these works and finally commissioning composers to write original works for this duo while taking cognizance of the myriad of styles present in South Africa and the continent.
2022-09-11T00:00:00ZEndangered Horns EnsembleDevroop, Karendrahttps://hdl.handle.net/10500/289602022-06-23T10:23:34Z2021-06-11T00:00:00ZEndangered Horns Ensemble
Devroop, Karendra
This creative output submission contains two separate performances with me performing in two ensembles that performed during the 2021 Unisa Virtual Jazz Festival. The festival included some of South Africa’s most high-profile artists such as McCoy Mrubata, Bokani Dyer, Linda Sikhakhane, Concord Nkabinde Ensemble, Vuma Levin, The Unisa Big Band, Thamie Mahlangu Quintet, Endangered Horns Ensemble and several others. The 2021 Unisa Virtual Jazz Festival was a very large-scale event that involved a full production crew including 4 cameramen, vision mixer, video editor, audio engineer, 5 support audio technicians, lighting technician and 5 stage assistants. The entire festival was recorded live in ZK Matthews Hall over a one-week period with various groups recording their live performances daily. The final production included performances of all artists, originally created video graphics and animation, narration and audio; all presented in high-definition audio and video. The virtual festival was made available to the public with tickets sold via Quicket. The festival was widely publicised on radio, social media and print media through a dedicated marketing campaign with a nationally recognised media marketing company.
The goal of the Endangered Horns Ensemble was to recreate the historical saxophone sectional sound of the 1930s bands such as the African Jazz Pioneers, Jazz Maniacs and Merry Blackbirds (horn section). In current performance practice in South Africa, the saxophone and saxophone ensemble/sectional sound has been largely “Americanised” with most contemporary jazz saxophonists trying to emulate current and recent American saxophonists such as Michael Brecker, Bob Berg, Kenny Garret, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Stitt and Charlie Parker. Few if any South African saxophonists try to emulate the distinctively South African saxophone style of artists such as Kippie Moeketsie, Ezra Ngcukana and Winston Mankuku Ngozi who all played with a distinctive style and African inflections. Furthermore, the saxophone sectional sound of ensembles such as the African Jazz Pioneers is almost non-existent in modern saxophone ensembles. Accordingly, to goal of this ensemble was to try to recreate that historical sound with the Endangered Horns Ensemble.
The Endangered Horns Ensemble is an ensemble that I put together which was comprised of 4 of South Africa’s leading saxophonists including McCoy Mrubata, Linda Sikhakhane, Thamie Mahlangu and myself accompanied by a rhythm section. The works performed aimed to produce new insights into historical works while maintaining historical relevance in terms of sound and style. The saxophone section attempted to play with “township” inflections with a unique sound and style. The Endangered Horns Ensemble presented new and innovative arrangements of well-known South African jazz works, thereby presenting new insights into the music. However, the accompaniment was kept very traditional with the rhythm section playing in a style that was consistent with the music of the 1950s. Each of the tunes presented by the Endangered Horns Ensemble presents music arranged for 4 saxophones in 4-part harmony, thereby expanding on the original compositions. Each tune also includes room for improvisation by one of more of the saxophonists with some tunes calling for collective improvisation by all saxophones.
Please follow the link to the YouTube video of the performance at the top of the record below URI.
2021-06-11T00:00:00ZSophiatown SwingDevroop, KarendraDuby, Marchttps://hdl.handle.net/10500/277942021-08-11T07:18:27Z2019-04-19T00:00:00ZSophiatown Swing
Devroop, Karendra; Duby, Marc
Sophiatown Swing is an original Jazz Theatre production that I had created in 2019. This unique, first of its kind production includes a 9 piece jazz ensemble, video, narration and a small set. The basis of the production takes the audience member into Sophiatown (the heart of jazz) in the late 1950’s and tells the stories of jazz during this time which was one of the most prolific jazz periods in South African history because a few years later (1960), jazz, dancing and the beer halls were outlawed. The result being that jazz as we know it practically ceased to exist with most artists going into exile.
Sophiatown Swing takes the audience member to various beer halls/shebeens in and around Sophiatown and focuses on the legendary artists of the time (Miriam Makeba, the Skylarks, Hugh Masekela, Dorothy Masuku, Abdulla Ibrahim and several others). The lives of the artists are told (via narration) while their music is performed live by the 9 piece jazz ensemble. The performance is put into its social environment via video which presents historic footage of Sophiatown, the artists, the dance and beer halls and the living conditions at the time.
Musically, all the music for this production was carefully selected and arranged for a 9 piece ensemble which included a saxophone section (5 saxophones) and rhythm section (piano, bass, drums and guitar). The music focusses on some of the iconic jazz compositions of this period that paved the way for future generations of jazz artists in South Africa.
The creation of this production required me to firstly research this time period in jazz by identifying social constructs of the time, setting, iconic artists and their music. Several influential artists were identified and key compositions were selected. I then had these compositions arranged for the ensemble while simultaneously searching the archives for video footage of Sophiatown and the artists. This video footage was then edited in order to create a storyline. A narrative script was created that told the story of the artists, their lives and their music. This narrative text was then synced to various compositions (that would be performed live) and to the video so that one continuous story unfolds. The net result being audience members transported into Sophiatown during the late 1950s and experiencing the music, video and narration in order to be fully immersed into this historic period in jazz.
Please follow the links to the individual videos of the performance.
Artists in the production included jazz musicians from Unisa, Tshwane University of Technology and Pretoria University in addition to Artvark Saxophone Quartet from the Netherlands.
2019-04-19T00:00:00Z