Music forms part of life. While most music is for entertainment, it may also contain moral teachings and also used to pas on culture. Instruments and instrumentals are vital in any music as they give the flow and also create tempo for music. This is especially so with jazz music. Among the music writers of the twentieth century, Count Basie and his band were prolific and renowned for their production one o’clock jump. He played piano when they were recording this song that was a hit for half a century. Its popularity led to the production of the two o’clock jump.
The standard jazz music was first recorded in 1937 and was a hit acquiring the title the blue ball. This is not just another piece of music. The great combination of the instrumentals makes the audience glued to the screen to the end. Its title is controversial though. Whether its one in the afternoon or one in the middle of the night. But the flow that it takes brings out the whole story. This is an after lunch music that gives a cool relaxations.
In particular the keyboard is outstanding. Many persons have argued that it is mainly because Basie is the one who plays the piano being the writer of the song is more compassionate about the whole thing,. However, the re is more to his kind of playing than being the composer of the song. According to the set piece, each of the instrumentals rise at a certain point, however, the piano is noticeable through out whether at the background or when it’s rising. In this set, the recording was done in 1943 which is a revision of the recording done earlier.
The piano gives the introduction to every verse. A keen listener will note that, the song is divided into various verses and the piano does well in letting the audience to recognize where every break is. The other instrumentals in the 12-bar song which is arranged in the head arrangements setup come in as a reverb of the piano. This is carried though the whole song. The piano also helps in maintaining the transpose of the song as the band moves it form octave down to octave high then again down. The other instrumentals carry though the octaves with the lead being given from the piano. The other instruments in the song are saxophone, trumpet, and bass. They at last form a great combination. To touch on the trumpet, they give the atmosphere of multitude or crowd, this is very vital to lunchtime music which gives an atmosphere of breaking boredom.
It is the drums; however, that shows where the various instruments in the set up come in. this comes out conspicuously as they go high and low when there is a change of responsibility between the sets of instrumentals. But finally, the piano carries that day and surely lives to the expectation of the composer on its role in the music.
In my opinion, the music is good for an afternoon, as it does not sound so hard for an evening neither is it more of a lullaby. It preserves the atmosphere of a break needed before the person resumes the day’s job. This clearly indicates why it set bases for other recordings not only by Basie but other artists.
