Another Mood Indigo for a September Friday

If Peter Josheff (or Julia Perry, for that matter) has taught us anything, it's to never stop searching for those composers melancholically trapped between jazz and the classics.  I've mentioned before that the 1950's was arguably the most financially and publicly successful time for American classical music, it goes without saying that Jazz may have been in a heyday never to be seen again.  I only bring this up because post-WWII America saw a number of musicians bridging the gap between these institutions more than ever before, and not just in the dubious ways Benny Goodman got praised for.  One name that comes to mind is Mel Powell, a renowned jazz pianist who left a shining career to pursue Avant-Garde classical music full time (and making another shining career to notch his bedpost).  However, far fewer people remember Hall Overton (1920-1972), another jazz pianist/classical composer whose compositional language was much different than Powell's and deserves closer inspection.  Unlike Powell he never gave up the combo circuit, playing with such luminaries as Stan Getz and Jimmy Raney, and his works shadow his jazz background more noticeably.  I haven't seen much of his stuff, what with it being largely unrecorded and scores largely out of print, but I have seen three wonderful piano works: Polarities no. 1 (from Joseph Prostakoff's seminal New Music for the Piano anthology, recorded by Robert Helps for CRI), Piano Sonata no. 1 (really stunning and available from the ACA) and this little guy:

(Click for larger view)

A Mood was published to little viewing in the compilation American Composers of Today, an anthology of easier piano pieces curated by Joseph Prostakoff under the guidance of the Abby Whiteside Foundation, as with New Music for Piano published around the same time.  I'll return to that collection soon enough, but this Mood will do the trick for now.  While lacking in tonality, there is still an anchored harmonic structure, focusing on the interplay of of major thirds and minor sevenths, arguably the two most important intervals in jazz harmonizing.  Motives are freely expanded, working with the slow, reflective tempo to infer an atmosphere of hesitant improvisation.  I'd be amiss if I didn't mention Hall's Mood's similarity to Dawn from Bartok's 10 Easy Pieces, and anybody who took piano lessons should know that one (as I can't seem to find a convenient score to compare - sorry).  It's a bit funny I should be publishing this now, seeing my previous post was A Veltin Infusion and the two leaves are so similar in emotion and execution they should get together for scones and sweet nothings.  What's even funnier is that I'm once again plumbing the depths of my BU YouTube performances to bring Overton's piece to you.

Incidentally, I was contacted by Overton's son not too long ago in response to this performance, which is almost as fantastic as becoming Facebook friends with a relative of Irwin Heilner, as the latter turned out to be a severe arts nerd like myself.  He said

which I thought was wonderful considering the quality of piano in this performance, but also because I can pretend that his attic was in the back room of a jazz club.  Whatever the venue, Englewood's Favorite Son needs more exposure, and if my first effort is at least passable there's nothing stopping the rest of you.

~PNK