ANATOMY OF AN IMPROVISER: THE STYLE OF NAILOR AZEVEDO “PROVETA
Manuel Silveira Falleiros
2.2.4 Transcription and Analysis of the Solo in 1 x 0
This piece was composed between 1926 and 1927 by Pixinguinha and immortalized on the 1946 recording featuring Pixinguinha and Benedito Lacerda. It constitutes an obligatory component of the repertoire for any musician studying or dedicated to choro, given its historical significance and its status as a benchmark of performance competence due to the technical demands it imposes.
The solo performed by Nailor was recorded live, specifically for this project, at the Blén-Blén music venue in São Paulo on November 15, 2006. Nailor performs as a soloist accompanied solely by drum set.
Below is the score in its complete version: [Full Transcription Placeholder]
This solo perhaps best represents Nailor’s concept of improvisation in its entirety. The success in achieving such a fluid improvisation leads us to question whether we are witnessing an improvised solo utilizing elements of the original melody, or rather an extreme interpretation of the piece’s theme. We propose that the most accurate description of his soloing approach navigates between these two ideas.
As is known, interpretation in choro can exhibit, among other traits, a playful or jocose character. At times, the soloist achieves this character through an effect we will term mnemonic counterpoint. According to Lívio Tragtenberg,⁸⁴ there exists a type of counterpoint that is realized solely in the listener’s memory—for instance, when hearing a work intended as a parody, one mentally connects the two. In our case, however, this is not a parody but a re-creation of the same music, which nevertheless retains perceptible differences when comparing Nailor’s improvised solo with the internally memorized original. In this manner, our performer achieves a counterpoint effect that playfully engages and surprises the listener’s memory. Expected musical events are substituted to evoke delight and amusement.
We must reiterate that we are dealing with a creative construct that does not strictly align with what is conventionally termed free interpretation or improvisation within the models previously outlined.
The first three measures of the solo maintain a relatively faithful relationship with the theme, to the extent that we may consider the theme itself to be performed here. This is evident in the following comparison: [Excerpt: Comparison with original theme] Excluding minor alterations and variations, the melodic trajectory remains consistent in this passage. However, in the subsequent excerpt, we observe a “magnification” effect on the melody, as if the soloist were focusing intently on the passage, causing a sudden deceleration of the pulse and an augmentation of note values: [Excerpt: Rhythmic augmentation] This augmentation creates a parallel to the bass line in choro (the baixaria on the seven-string guitar), typically descending in contour. This effect of accent displacement through a grouping of three sixteenth notes will be discussed further below.
In the second system of this same excerpt, we verify that Nailor is concerned with preserving the formal shape of the original theme. On the second beat of the first measure (11), he repeats the same contour as the original, concluding in the following measure on a G natural. This occurs because what is actually taking place is a form of accompaniment performed by the soloist. This accompaniment interacts with the theme existing only in the listener’s memory—a prime example of what we term mnemonic counterpoint.
The following excerpt also exhibits this effect, evidenced by the similarity of pitches at moments of melodic deviation: [Excerpt: Melodic deviation] In the first system (measure 17), we note that the soloist has not strayed far from the original melody, which serves to reawaken the thematic memory. Then, in the second system (measure 23), the descending contour of the opening measures is maintained, but alterations to specific pitch heights occur.
It is in the third system (measure 29) that we observe, from the second measure onward, the creation of a chromaticized bass line, highly characteristic of choro. The subsequent measures continue the idea of creating a duet with the original melody until, in the penultimate measure, the theme is restated and immediately abandoned via a brief descending glissando in the final measure. [Excerpt] Above (measure 40), we find the same types of procedures already described: a duet with the listener’s memory.
In moments where the melody is performed with greater fidelity to the original, we note the use of ornaments, such as appoggiaturas, as well as slight pitch alterations that subtly modify the melodic contour. As previously stated, within the context of choro, this type of richer or more exploratory ornamentation is itself classified as improvisation.
In the following excerpt (measure 49), a figure appears starting from the fourth measure of the first system. It functions as an accompaniment of predominantly rhythmic character, reinforcing the same melodic accentuations of the original theme. Its reference, particularly in this passage, is the rhythmic articulation of the pandeiro, a hallmark of the style. [Excerpt] What we can ascertain thus far is that Nailor engages the listener’s memory by creating an accompaniment for the original theme without the theme being explicitly performed. Furthermore, the type of accompaniment Nailor executes contains passages characteristic of choro, such as the articulation that simultaneously supports the style’s rhythmic drive and the melody’s accentuation.
From this excerpt onward (measure 64), the solo begins to detach from the original melody, gradually losing its metric relationship with the source material and gaining internal momentum through the development of compact patterns. [Excerpt] In the excerpt above, referring to Nailor’s solo, we observe the development of a pattern through displacement. The closely related rhythm and the altered resolution in the second grouping suggest a connection between motives and an articulation between them in an antecedent-consequent relationship.
We must also reference another typical manifestation of melodic treatment in choro, frequently encountered in the genre’s repertoire: accent displacement. By subdividing the measure into continuous pulses that differ from those suggested by the meter itself, one can achieve an effect of shifting a melodic group that applies, within the simple pulse of the measure, an overlapping pulse that alters the relationship between strong and weak beats.
In the excerpt below, we note Nailor’s clear intention to create this effect by subdividing the measure into groups of three dotted eighth notes (each comprising three tied sixteenth notes), which ultimately establish a new pulse—this time ternary—in opposition to the duple meter. As if this were not sufficient, from the middle of the fourth measure of the excerpt (measure 82), Nailor introduces a figure that unmistakably evokes the accompaniment of a waltz, inherently ternary in nature. This displacement model (grouping of three sixteenth notes) is widely used and readily verifiable in this context across numerous compositions of the style, for example, in Brasileirinho by Waldir Azevedo, as well as in: [Excerpt] This procedure demonstrates the soloist’s ability to establish new pulses without losing connection to the original metric framework.
In measure 90, we encounter the same type of contour that began in the middle of measure 29, though at different octave levels and metrically displaced. We believe this to be an occasional repetition, as it presents no significant variations and is too distant from its first appearance to establish a motivic developmental relationship; conversely, this allows us to surmise that this fragment had been previously explored and studied.
From the following excerpt onward, continuing this moment of disconnection from the main theme, the “duet” procedures disappear. [Excerpt] Here, from measure 95 onward, we observe a form of embellishment achieved through diatonic and chromatic approaches applied to each note of a descending A major ninth arpeggio, namely: B, G♯, E, C♯, and A. This type of embellishment precisely reflects earlier assertions regarding the elaborate, agile, and dazzling ornaments characteristic of the style.
From the middle of measure 97, Nailor begins to construct a harmonic framework, primarily through six-note arpeggios, extending through measure 107. Here, once again, we encounter the superposition caused by accent displacement, interposing a new pulse.
At the conclusion of this passage, we find a combination of the two-voice effect with accent displacement. These are again ternary groupings formed by two sixteenth notes and a sixteenth rest. Once more, below, the same effect is constructed, but now with groups of three eighth notes forming the new pulse. Note that the third eighth note is represented by two sixteenth notes. [Excerpt]
From measure 146 to measure 154, the soloist prepares a conclusion by interlocking phrases with the drums, ultimately ending his solo with a quotation from another piece, specifically the third section of a choro (also highly characteristic) by Ary dos Santos and Raul de Barros entitled Na Glória. This serves simultaneously to reinforce audience interaction and demonstrate instrumental prowess, as is customary in the style.
We have observed that improvisation on this theme presents numerous aspects directly related to the characteristic elements of the genre. Beginning with the instrumentation—saxophone and drum set only. Despite the passage of years having established a more traditional instrumental configuration, as previously noted, this style emerged alongside urban centers that brought together musicians of diverse instruments and skill levels in shared spaces.
Furthermore, we note the use of ornaments and the figure of the chromaticized bass line. Finally, we verified an elaborated counterpoint constructed for the original melody.
Through these analyses, we have been able to more clearly illustrate Nailor’s cognitive and constructive approach to his improvised solos.