Lady Day and (John Coltrane)

Dynamics

• No Crescendos and diminuendo but more abrupt changes from mp to mf bar 8

Rhythm / Tempo / Metre

• 4/4 with one 2/4 bar in bar 122

• Fast tempo (116) provides a driving feel.

• Prominent/Constant use of syncopation in accompaniment, sax solos and vocals

• Dotted rhythm in the riff

• Cross rhythmic effect at bar 80 arising from two consecutive dotted quavers

• Stop-Time effect in bar 28,82 - creates excitement and variation

• Scotch Snap

• Cross-rhythms, triplets used in the saxophone solo - creates rhythmic complexity. 

Texture

• Melody Dominated homophony with lead vocal or alto saxophone over accompaniment

• Antiphonal / Call and Response where Saxophone plays short responding phrases(”fills”) between vocal lines

• Monophonic trill at close
  

Structure

• Based on a 12-bar blues progression but extended and varied (8 bars of tonic C7 before moving to the subdominant).

• Structure:
  • Repeated introduction (Bars 1–4): Features vocal "babble," turntable effects, and a news report sample.
  • Verse 1 (Bars 5–32): Long section containing eight bars of static C7(#9) harmony.
  • Link section (Bars 33–36): Connects the first two verses.
  • Verse 2 (Bars 5–28 repeat, then 37–44): Further development of the lyrical theme.
  • Instrumental Sax Solo (Bars 44–76): Virtuosic section that avoids the basic blues progression for more complex jazz chords.
  • Extended Coda (Bar 77–end)

Melody

• Heavy use of “Blue Notes” - Specifically flattened 3rds, 5ths, and 7ths in both the vocal and sax lines.

• Balanced Phrasing(4 bars)

• Saxophone
  • Very Disjunct
  • Highly Ornamented(trills, acciaccaturas, rapid chromatic scales)
  • Virtuosic Range of 3 Octaves(low register to altisimo)
  • Descending chromatic scale (Bar 75): Ends the saxophone solo with a rapid flourish. 

• Voice
  • Pentatonic Scale with added Notes
  • largely conjunct (stepwise) with occasional expressive melismas at phrase endings.
  • Mostly syllabic however there is some melisma
  • Starts on the blue scale with melisma

Instrumentation(sonority)

• Jazz-fusion instrumentation: Combines live instruments (Sax, Vocals, Keys) with music technology (Drum program, Turntable effects(scratching).

• Male Vocalist(Lynden David Hall)

• Backing Vocalist

• Music technology effects: 
  • reversed voices
  • artificial crowd noise
  • newsreader sample (Stephen Lawrence report).

• Hammond B3 Organ which Features a Leslie Speaker for a distinct tremolo/vibrato effect.

• Keyboard programmed to sound like Hammond organ (nostalgic)

• Alto Saxophone with techniques
  • Scoop(Glissando)
  • Fall Off
  • Ghosts Notes
  • Slides between notes
  • Controlled Vibrato
  • Multiphonics (Bar 127):
  • Key clicks (Bar 130)
  • Altissimo register: Playing extremely high notes outside the normal range.

Tonality

• C minor  established by the A pedal in the bass.

Harmony

• Static Vamped harmony in the verses with Eight-bar blocks on the tonic C7(#9).

• Heavy use of extended chords (7ths, 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths) - typical of jazz

• False relations produced by the C7(#9) chord (E against Eb,) - creating a "Hendrix chord" dissonance.

• Augmented chords