Alfredo Lopes
Alfredo Lopes is a Portuguese-Australian musician/composer/educator and has been performing and writing jazz repertoire since his Associate Diploma of Jazz Studies at Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1993.
In 2012 he completed an Honours exegesis at Southern Cross University, Lismore: The harmonic explorations of Joe Henderson: A study by a professional jazz musician on his contribution to the modern jazz tenor saxophone sound. He has written and presented various research papers including: Jazzing: Intuition and Intellect, at the Australasian Jazz and Improvisation Research Network conference, Melbourne, 2–4 June 2017; Jazz as process: A different perspective for the 21st century, at the Continental Drift: A Century of Jazz on Record conference, Edinburgh Napier University, 15th–16th July 2017; and Developing art as process: Exploring the spaces between the outcomes, presented at the 14th International Arts in Society conference, Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, Portugal, 19th–21st June 2019.
In 2021 Alfredo completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts exegesis: Jazz as process: Developing artistic practice as a composer, player and leader in a small ensemble at Queensland Conservatorium of Music. He has studied arranging with Graeme Lyall, composition and harmony with Roger Frampton and piano and counterpoint with Judy Bailey. Alfredo has also studied with jazz great: Joe Henderson, saxophonist: Wes Anderson from the Lincoln Centre Orchestra and New York piano player/educator, Dr Barry Harris.
Alfredo has taught woodwinds at various state and private schools in NSW and QLD, preparing students for A.M.E.B and Trinity exams and various school and public performances, equipping students with a thorough understanding of music theory, performance, improvisation and composition fundamentals for more than 20 years. He has also taught at tertiary institutions as well as teaching workshops at various music camps and festivals.
In 2012 he completed an Honours exegesis at Southern Cross University, Lismore: The harmonic explorations of Joe Henderson: A study by a professional jazz musician on his contribution to the modern jazz tenor saxophone sound. He has written and presented various research papers including: Jazzing: Intuition and Intellect, at the Australasian Jazz and Improvisation Research Network conference, Melbourne, 2–4 June 2017; Jazz as process: A different perspective for the 21st century, at the Continental Drift: A Century of Jazz on Record conference, Edinburgh Napier University, 15th–16th July 2017; and Developing art as process: Exploring the spaces between the outcomes, presented at the 14th International Arts in Society conference, Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, Portugal, 19th–21st June 2019.
In 2021 Alfredo completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts exegesis: Jazz as process: Developing artistic practice as a composer, player and leader in a small ensemble at Queensland Conservatorium of Music. He has studied arranging with Graeme Lyall, composition and harmony with Roger Frampton and piano and counterpoint with Judy Bailey. Alfredo has also studied with jazz great: Joe Henderson, saxophonist: Wes Anderson from the Lincoln Centre Orchestra and New York piano player/educator, Dr Barry Harris.
Alfredo has taught woodwinds at various state and private schools in NSW and QLD, preparing students for A.M.E.B and Trinity exams and various school and public performances, equipping students with a thorough understanding of music theory, performance, improvisation and composition fundamentals for more than 20 years. He has also taught at tertiary institutions as well as teaching workshops at various music camps and festivals.
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Drafts by Alfredo Lopes
Various illustrations, using analogies such as ‘composition as experiment’, ‘creative design’, ‘decomposition’, ‘intangibles of intention and interpretation in the score’s performance’, ‘jazz as experiment’, and ‘small jazz ensemble composition as a social experiment’, are conducive for investigating the invention, performance and reflection of small jazz ensemble composition. These examples at play in music-making help form the hypothesis of intuition and intellect as a strand in framing and contextualizing the examination of presentation in small jazz ensemble composition; beginning with the musical idea, writing of a work, to its rehearsal and completed performance, thus contributing to understandings of jazz process. Which leads me to ask: How do various illustrations, using analogies, demonstrate methods involved in the composition, development, absorption, interpretation and transferral of musical material from the score to the performance, thus contributing to artistic practice as a composer/player/leader of a small jazz ensemble, and assist in the comprehension of intuition and intellect as jazz process?
Papers by Alfredo Lopes
This doctoral study involved the writing, performing and recording of ten original compositions in a small jazz ensemble context. These compositions, influenced by 1960s post-bop and free jazz improvisers/composers such as Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, and John Coltrane, provided material for frameworks. Data informing the exegesis was collected from a reflective diary, reflexive observations, audio/video recordings of public and studio recordings, scores, responses to an open-ended questionnaire by participating musicians, and analyses from a participant/observer perspective. The results of this study will demonstrate how reflecting inward on method and outward (Bartleet, 2009, p. 4) on the perceptions, experience and knowledge of other practitioners, contributes to the development of practice. The creative process in the writing, rehearsal and performance of compositions is defined, explained and demonstrated in the development of artistic practice.
Alfredo Lopes
Abstract
This is a creative practice led project and exegesis seeking to demonstrate why Joe Henderson is widely considered in the international jazz community to be one of the most meaningful players and composers to emerge from the 1960s, inspiring current players and composers in the field of modern jazz composition and tenor saxophone improvisation by evaluating the influence of his compositions, performance and improvisation techniques on the development of the current generation of jazz saxophonists.
Research methods: 1) Creative component: transcription and analysis of Joe Henderson’s work, composition of original repertoire and a documented CD recording of a jazz ensemble performing the original compositions. 2) Theoretical component: a review of literature on Joe Henderson’s scores and music, an analysis on the influence of Joe Henderson, and an evaluation of his influence on my development as a musician/composer and saxophonist. A harmonic analysis of transcriptions from music audio files of influential improvisational saxophone solos by the selected artist was written. Transcription is a credible musicological practice for jazz musicians and it enables them to learn tools and develop vocabulary used in improvisation and the jazz language. Original compositions were written, performed and recorded as an audio CD by a jazz ensemble lead by Alfredo Lopes in the harmonic style of Joe Henderson, putting into practice the information learnt from methodologies previously mentioned (practice led research from the creative arts paradigm). The study is documented as an exegesis in the following format: 1 Introduction 2 Methodology 3 Literature Review 4 Repertoire Analysis 5 Analysis Of My Own Creative Work 6 Comparative Study 7 Conclusion 8 References 9. Appendix Main Conclusion: This examination has led me to new discoveries in the potentialities as a jazz composer and improviser, having developed from working within the boundaries, structures and influences of various tunes and performances by past masters such as Joe Henderson, who provide knowledge and space to transmute ideas and break new ground. This study contributes to a greater knowledge, assessment and mapping of the influential techniques of Joe Henderson’s music and its impact on the current saxophone playing and composition being integrated into original creative practices which may be used as a Pedagogical study and educational tool.
Conference Presentations by Alfredo Lopes
Various illustrations, using analogies such as ‘composition as experiment’, ‘creative design’, ‘decomposition’, ‘intangibles of intention and interpretation in the score’s performance’, ‘jazz as experiment’, and ‘small jazz ensemble composition as a social experiment’, are conducive for investigating the invention, performance and reflection of small jazz ensemble composition. These examples at play in music-making help form the hypothesis of intuition and intellect as a strand in framing and contextualizing the examination of presentation in small jazz ensemble composition; beginning with the musical idea, writing of a work, to its rehearsal and completed performance, thus contributing to understandings of jazz process. Which leads me to ask: How do various illustrations, using analogies, demonstrate methods involved in the composition, development, absorption, interpretation and transferral of musical material from the score to the performance, thus contributing to artistic practice as a composer/player/leader of a small jazz ensemble, and assist in the comprehension of intuition and intellect as jazz process?
This doctoral study involved the writing, performing and recording of ten original compositions in a small jazz ensemble context. These compositions, influenced by 1960s post-bop and free jazz improvisers/composers such as Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, and John Coltrane, provided material for frameworks. Data informing the exegesis was collected from a reflective diary, reflexive observations, audio/video recordings of public and studio recordings, scores, responses to an open-ended questionnaire by participating musicians, and analyses from a participant/observer perspective. The results of this study will demonstrate how reflecting inward on method and outward (Bartleet, 2009, p. 4) on the perceptions, experience and knowledge of other practitioners, contributes to the development of practice. The creative process in the writing, rehearsal and performance of compositions is defined, explained and demonstrated in the development of artistic practice.
Alfredo Lopes
Abstract
This is a creative practice led project and exegesis seeking to demonstrate why Joe Henderson is widely considered in the international jazz community to be one of the most meaningful players and composers to emerge from the 1960s, inspiring current players and composers in the field of modern jazz composition and tenor saxophone improvisation by evaluating the influence of his compositions, performance and improvisation techniques on the development of the current generation of jazz saxophonists.
Research methods: 1) Creative component: transcription and analysis of Joe Henderson’s work, composition of original repertoire and a documented CD recording of a jazz ensemble performing the original compositions. 2) Theoretical component: a review of literature on Joe Henderson’s scores and music, an analysis on the influence of Joe Henderson, and an evaluation of his influence on my development as a musician/composer and saxophonist. A harmonic analysis of transcriptions from music audio files of influential improvisational saxophone solos by the selected artist was written. Transcription is a credible musicological practice for jazz musicians and it enables them to learn tools and develop vocabulary used in improvisation and the jazz language. Original compositions were written, performed and recorded as an audio CD by a jazz ensemble lead by Alfredo Lopes in the harmonic style of Joe Henderson, putting into practice the information learnt from methodologies previously mentioned (practice led research from the creative arts paradigm). The study is documented as an exegesis in the following format: 1 Introduction 2 Methodology 3 Literature Review 4 Repertoire Analysis 5 Analysis Of My Own Creative Work 6 Comparative Study 7 Conclusion 8 References 9. Appendix Main Conclusion: This examination has led me to new discoveries in the potentialities as a jazz composer and improviser, having developed from working within the boundaries, structures and influences of various tunes and performances by past masters such as Joe Henderson, who provide knowledge and space to transmute ideas and break new ground. This study contributes to a greater knowledge, assessment and mapping of the influential techniques of Joe Henderson’s music and its impact on the current saxophone playing and composition being integrated into original creative practices which may be used as a Pedagogical study and educational tool.