Happy 20th Birthday Microjazz! Meet composer Chris Norton ...
(April 2003)
It’s 20 years since its launch but Chris Norton’s Microjazz series continues to inspire new generations of teachers and pupils. We catch up with the composer, whose professional portfolio encompasses a truly broad range of work
Q: Happy birthday, Microjazz! Why, Chris, do you think the series has proved so popular for two decades?
A: There are a number of reasons, I think. Although the series is called Microjazz it’s not really jazz. My personal influences were soul and pop music more than jazz. It’s a synthesis of styles rather than pastiche. The tunes are easy to grasp and the chord backgrounds are relatively straightforward and the pieces lend themselves to improvisation exercises.
Q: Does that account for the diverse nature of the Microjazz audience?
A: It’s a funny sort of crossover audience. Microjazz is something that doesn’t put off jazz teachers yet also appeals to traditional classical teachers. It breaks down barriers and I think classroom teachers find them very useful.
When teachers first tried it out, they made it sound right because it was notated. I was in Denver a few years ago and I met a teacher with a rock and roll background. When he got the first book, he said, ‘Gosh, he writes like I play’. That’s because the voicings and melodic figures are what people might actually perform in a jazz or pop context.
I erred on the side of trying to get things right stylistically. But I would say I have a natural ability to write catchy melodies and nifty structures.
Q: Your own background is not in jazz, though, is it?
A: I’ve always been intrigued by the fact that I started as a classical pianist and got involved in pop and jazz as a freelance musician and arranger.
I’m from New Zealand, did a traditional honours music degree and came to the UK to study for a further degree at York. I had not been playing pop very long when I started writing Microjazz-style pieces.
When I wrote them down I realised I was writing them as part of the classical tradition, fully notated and with phrasings and such like. Then I was asked to write a series of pieces and that’s how Microjazz was born.
Q: Does it bother you that you’re well known to a large part of the world simply as composer of the Microjazz series even though you’re creatively involved in many other types of music?
A: I do write quite a lot of stuff and in some ways it’s hard to be well known for only one thing. But it’s better than being known for nothing! In fact, the main thing I do is work as a record producer of Gospel and Christian music. I’m apparently the biggest-selling producer of Christian music in Europe; I’ve sold more than one million albums! I distribute to all the Christian bookshops. One of my latest projects is called Worship Chillout.
Q: Worship Chillout? How would you describe that?
A: How about ‘ambient meets cathedral’?!
Q: Where do you produce your recordings?
A: I have a studio here at home in Leeds and also one in Nashville, Tennessee.
Q: Nashville – the home of country music. Is that reflected in your broader compositional output?
A: I have written country preludes and I’ve done background bluegrass music. But I have also done quite a few concert pieces, I’ve written opera and even electro-acoustic music and have just been asked to write a jazz cello sonata. I am probably producing 30 albums a year. I also do lots of arrangements and work for publishers such as Boosey & Hawkes.
I have found a number of niches! So, in terms of my profile, it means I have a lot of stuff on the market.
Q: Talking of the market, what are you doing to celebrate the silver jubilee of Microjazz around the world? And where does the series go next?
A: I have made a recording for the 20th anniversary of concert pieces from the Microjazz series. You can listen to these online or request our new sampler CD (email us here). We are going to be doing a lot of Microjazz workshops in the UK – and America seems to be quite familiar with the series. I’ve done work there and I’m off to Canada both this year and next.
I still think it’s possible that we could end up with the new Microjazz. There’s nothing to stop us from going right back to the beginning and doing an entirely new series.
© Impromptu Publishing Ltd 2003
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