I know that WFXD plays country music but that’s not the ONLY music I listen to. As a matter of fact, I cut my teeth on R & B, Big Band and Jazz before I even considered country music. Those sentiments go way back to the mid-60’s, so what’s my point in this post?
Play it, Cool!Over the weekend, I want back in my DVD archive and pulled out the musical, West Side Story. Released in 1961, the production contains some of the best musical scoring from Leonard Bernstein. My favorite song from the movie is, “Cool” but what I found out by reading about the song was that this particular score is termed a “fugue” (pronounced – fewg). A fugue is defined as a compositional technique in two or more voice built on a subject theme that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and recurs frequently in the course of the composition. A fugue usually has three sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation containing the return of the subject.
When you listen to the composition, “Cool”, you can hear the subtle expositions develop with the flute, clarinet, xylophone and electric guitar. By the time you reach the three minute mark of the piece, the entire orchestra’s horn section is laying into piece along with some amazing drumming from Stan Kenton’s Jerry McKenzie.
I don’t presume to understand the entire musical concept because the fugue can become quite complicated BUT, when My ear hears the music – it knows what it likes!
Here is the movie segment of “Cool “from “West Side Story”….enjoy the dancing too!!
