"Lil Shiner" - Craig Klein

"Lil Shiner" (PDF) from the Craig Klein album, New Orleans Trombonisms.

The third selection from this album features the trombone in a more traditional jazz setting, perhaps reminiscent of a pre-bop era in which the musicianship was masterful yet restrained for the sake of simplicity, breathing in time with its audience rather than alienating the casual listener, an era before saxophones had something to prove.  

It is hard to argue with a bebop musician because they will only run circles around you like the talking heads on political cable television.  In place of simplicity and subtlety, bebop musicians tend to prefer to be flashy and complex so as to obtain an untouchable status.  But the essence of jazz is a conversation between the musicians, a collaborative dance, rather than a showcase of dexterity or vocabulary.  Those people who shut down the conversation by using big words are called logophiles (see what I did there?).

Klein alludes to his abilities by embellishing on its theme during the repeat, but it is a tastefully variation that does not complicate the original melody.  And his solo does a nice job of making the changes between the chords and tonalities without relying on chromaticism to explain it all.  Simplicity does not have to mean boring or "vanilla," it just means that it is welcoming and mixes well with others.

Here is a short YouTube video of German musicians performing "Lil Shiner"

Recommended reading: 98% Funky Stuff: My Life in Music by Maceo Parker.  Published by Chicago Review Press.