ANATOMY OF AN IMPROVISER: THE STYLE OF NAILOR AZEVEDO “PROVETA
Manuel Silveira Falleiros
Chapter 3: The Construction of Originality
In the preceding chapters, we compiled the facts that constitute Nailor Azevedo’s musical trajectory. Observing the construction of his musical style—specifically regarding improvisation—allowed us to verify the high degree of proficiency he has achieved in this skill, which resulted from an intense and prolonged sequence of study. These studies, in turn, bear little resemblance to an ordered, progressive learning program; rather, study frequently merges with his professional activity as a musician and with his everyday life.
As the son of musicians and heir to a musical tradition typical of Brazil, Nailor found himself completely immersed in music from childhood. At the outset of his musical studies, he attended the musical corporation in his hometown—a place where one could obtain the best theoretical and practical musical information, as previously noted—and received instruction and austere guidance from his father. During this phase of his life, Nailor was able not only to accumulate technical skills on his instrument but also to absorb the poetic content of his experience with music.
Places, images, and situations were retained in his memory and played a significant role in his later artistic expression. We have seen that this process is possible, particularly in the case of his improvised solos, precisely due to the structural functioning of memory (the relationship between sensory, working, and long-term memory discussed in Chapter 1.2). One component of long-term memory—episodic memory, responsible for retaining recollections related to daily life events—activates alongside other components to enable the performance of the activity, in this case, improvisation.
We were able to observe in his improvised solos the use of specific techniques to achieve distinct effects. When Nailor seeks to create a melody that is structurally organized and balanced, he employs motivic development and antecedent-consequent structures (Chapters 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.4). Starting from a thematic cell (Chapter 2.2.1), we observe that Nailor applies melodic developmental patterns such as: regarding rhythm, symmetrically altering durations (augmentation, diminution), asymmetrically altering durations, displacing internal accentuation, adding or omitting notes, and shifting its position within the measure; and regarding melodic contour, transposing, modifying intervals and their direction, adding notes or ornaments, and omitting notes. To achieve balance in melodic contour, Nailor employs a rule derived from observing melodic behavior: the relationship between intervals, whereby a wide melodic leap is generally followed by stepwise intervals in the opposite direction (Chapter 2.2.1). We cannot determine whether Nailor studied this effect rationally or whether it is an intuitive product of his experience; however, we know that the vast repertoire he has encountered since childhood—such as wind band music and choro—exhibits these characteristics.
As seen in Chapter 2.1, through a brief retrospective of choro, this style features specific interpretive patterns that characterize it. One such pattern is the soloist’s manner of playing as if imitating two instruments simultaneously. We note that at various moments in his improvised solos, Nailor transposes this choroparticularity to other musical contexts throughout his improvisations.
Among the particularities of this same style, Nailor develops a more complex form of the duet effect. This time, the duet is performed with the listener’s own thematic memory—an effect we term mnemonic counterpoint. In it, Nailor creates a new melodic line that interacts with the original line, which he presumes to be already embedded in the listener’s memory.
Another procedure employed by Nailor in his melodic constructions is also commonly observable in choromelody: rhythmic superposition through ternary grouping over a duple pulse, achieved through melodic contour and accentual displacement (Chapter 2.2.4). We find examples in Waldir Azevedo’s Brasileirinho and relate them to Nailor’s improvised melodies.
Through solo analyses, we verified what we had previously asserted: Nailor imports into his creation knowledge derived from his studies in composition and classical music—more closely linked to interpretation—combined with his technical and creative procedures, which we observed are rooted in choro (Chapter 2.2), as well as phrasal structures derived from jazz (Chapter 2.2.3), specifically the bebop style.
In short, we have shown that Nailor incorporates elements from distinct styles into the construction of his improvised melodic lines. The content of these elements may include techniques, rules, patterns, stylistic characteristics, images, and ideas.
As we have seen, improvisation was selected as the most suitable substrate for observation because it best facilitates the study of the phenomena we intended to examine. In his solos, we noted that Nailor seeks to use his musical technique, skills, and knowledge to impart structural coherence to his melodies. Furthermore, we observed that his musical discourse is formed by typical phrasal structures that attest to his connection with the musical styles that permeated his artistic evolution—most prominently, the classical wind band repertoire, choro, samba, and jazz.
His ability to organize all this material into an improvised solo was confirmed through John Kratus’s theory of improvisational development. In it, Kratus asserts that certain developmental phases must be traversed for an improviser to reach a level of excellence: Exploration, Process-Oriented, Product-Oriented, Fluid, Structural, Stylistic, and Personal. Comparing the characteristics of these phases with Nailor’s musical experience, we concluded that he has surpassed all of them and can very likely be said to be currently engaged in the final phase, in which the improviser utilizes distinct styles to compose an original form of creation. As we have seen, this applies to Nailor, allowing us to affirm that his manner of improvising is unique and original.
We have seen that in improvisation, the improviser deals with the unpredictable. In reality, what we observe is an articulation between listener and soloist. In this dynamic, Nailor engages with the pact the listener establishes during the artist’s performance. This pact is formed by the listener’s need to be surprised, and for this reason, the listener makes certain concessions to validate the pact. It is within this field that the soloist operates, and Nailor has skillfully captured the listener’s need and satisfied it. The most important concession the listener must make for this pact to be established is to believe that the improvising soloist is engaging with the unpredictable at every moment. As we have seen, at least in the context of this study, this unpredictability is meticulously prepared through hours and years of study. Aware that the listener makes this concession, it falls to the soloist to satisfy and surprise them by employing the best strategies at their disposal. The greater the soloist’s capacity to navigate the listener’s expectations, the more successful the solo will be.
Although the musical content of his solos inherently carries its own charge of originality and expression as a representation of national culture, the force of Nailor’s solos also lies in the fact that, during their musical construction, he connects with symbols of his own existence. The wind band, in Nailor’s case, determined his way of perceiving how music is made, and this has reflected in his current work by dictating how he directs his artistic production—always related to writing for ensembles that resemble, for some reason, the wind band. (To illustrate: we saw in previous chapters that one of the groups Nailor participated in, Sambop, was fundamentally constituted of winds and percussion, the typical formation observed in wind bands. Moreover, his most recognized work today is with the group he leads, Banda Mantiqueira, where winds and percussion once again predominate.) In short, it appears to us that what Nailor experienced in his childhood within the wind band has ultimately reproduced itself, in different forms, during his artistic maturity. Thus, the last solo analyzed (1 x 0 by Pixinguinha) becomes even more emblematic of his conception, as winds and percussion transform into symbols when represented by his saxophone and the drum set. Therefore, when improvising, Nailor is not merely combining notes to produce effects; he is engaging with symbols pertaining to his own existence.
Through a study of Nailor’s musical biography, the formation of his conception of improvisation, and the analysis of his improvised solos, we have ultimately achieved the objective of this work: clarifying the construction of his original style and presenting its particularities.
This work will certainly open avenues for new research related to the themes presented, which, for reasons of scope, could not be explored at this moment. However, we may suggest several directions for future investigation. Nailor also stands out as an arranger for the ensemble he leads, Banda Mantiqueira. This group remains active today and frequently undertakes national and international tours. His importance as an arranger lies in Nailor’s absorption of the North American big band writing language and its fusion with the Brazilian character of the inland coreto band and the gafieira band. This is undoubtedly a rich field of research that will elucidate one of the writing approaches for this formation, which has already become standard among musicians involved with this type of sonority. Such research would continue the work of recovering memories of typically Brazilian urban musical groups that are gradually disappearing.
Another emerging question relates to how Nailor utilizes the subjective elements provided by the original theme in favor of his improvised solos. Research of this type would delve into the author’s creative process, thereby offering a broader explanation of creative possibilities and providing insights for the field of composition.
We may also consider tracing the evolution of the typical improvised accompaniment line in choro, which originates in the performance of the ophicleide (the direct predecessor of the saxophone), highlighting Irineu “Batina” as its foremost representative; passing to Pixinguinha’s tenor saxophone; then being adopted by guitars, such as those of Dino 7 Cordas and his successors; and from there, new research could reveal in detail how the evolution of this melodic line manifests today and its influence on musicians in their creative activities.
With this, we are confident that our work has contributed to the field of research on Brazilian popular music, particularly regarding improvisation, presenting yet another of its rich forms of manifestation through the creativity of a major protagonist, while also leaving doors open for future researchers.