The Sinners Choir: Music Analysis

At the Rex Jazz and Blues Bar on 194 Queen Street West, The Sinners Choir performed in the genre of Americana, Free Jazz to an audience of around twenty-five people. Free Jazz was first introduced in the summer of 1960 when Saxophonist Ornette Coleman and his band recorded This is Our Music for Atlantic records. In the album, “Coleman reordered structural principles to offer the members of his group maximum melodic and rhythmic freedom,” (Anderson 2007, 1). He accomplished an improvised approach to the Jazz genre by providing the opportunity for each musician to play inside or outside conventional cords. In the same sense, The Sinners Choir continues to celebrate the Americana/ Free Jazz genre that was developed by Coleman, but with a fresh sound heavily influenced by New Orleans and Chicago style Jazz. This is recognized significantly when The Sinners Choir trio consisting of; Terry Wilkins playing bass, Adam Beer-Colacino playing guitar/scratchboard and Adam Warner playing drums, begin their performance at Rex Jazz and Blues venue by taking requests from the audience. Similar to The New Orleans and Chicago Styles of Jazz, the banjo is replaced by the guitar, and several of their songs incorporate elaborate introductions and endings. Throughout the performance, the trio simultaneously participate in vocal harmonies, and individual solos that are consistent throughout the performance, often accompanied with a harmonic drone produced by Adam Beer-Colacino playing scratchboard. Pilon 1 The Sinners Choir FA/Music 1900: Music and the City The Rex Jazz and Blues Bar Sara Pilon Attended March 12, 2016 Irene Markoff, Tutorial 11 _______________________________________________________________________March 16, 2016___________________ One aspect that occurred to me as I was listening to the Sinners Choir is the power that the scratchboard has on the overall quality of the performance. The instrumental drone from the scratchboard establishes a regular meter that contrasts meticulously with the orotund chest and head voices, and the bass played by Terry Wilkins. The pitch from the vocals consistently ascends and descends throughout the composition of their songs. The reason this may be considered successful is due to the different tensions aligned for the duration of their performance. As stated in an article by the National Public Library Association, “Harmonization usually sounds pleasant to the ear when there is a balance between the consonant and dissonant sounds. In simple words, this occurs when there is a balance between ‘tense’ and ‘relaxed’ moments,” (Harmonically, 2016). Through studying the distinction between consonant and dissonant sounds further, I was able to recognize the balance between the sound sources of the scratchboard and the bass instrument when The Sinners Choir did their interpretation of Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.” The scratchboard performed by Adam Beer- Colacino has a regular meter consisting primarily of consonant tensions. …show more content…
Meanwhile, the bass performed by Terry Wilkins has a regular meter, but with a mixture of consonant and dissonant sounds. At the end of each phrase one brief dissonant chord acts as a separation between two phrases; ultimately providing a “brief pause to allow the singers or players a moment to breathe,” (KayKaufman 2006, 26). Pilon 2 The Sinners Choir FA/Music 1900: Music and the City The Rex Jazz and Blues Bar Sara Pilon Attended March 12, 2016 Irene Markoff, Tutorial 11 _______________________________________________________________________March 16, 2016___________________ In addition to the balance