The Ways of Ostinato

Victor Vasarely

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The most famous (and sophisticated) ostinato is without doubt Maurice Ravel’s BOLERO composed almost 100 years ago in 1928. Originally written as ballet music for the Ukrainian dancer from Kharkiv, Ida Rubinstein (1885-1960), it became an influential model for a lot of later music (and also is quoted lot). It seems that Ravel (1875-1937) was not really satisfied with the piece as such but nonetheless he put in a lot of sophistication. Yes, the piece is rotating around its own axis in a seemingly endless way, but it comes to a quite consistent and brilliantly percussive end (while its basic pattern will be resounding in listeners‘ mind for a while, or even restart). It feels in a way as ’stuck‘ and at the same highly mobile. It’s also a good example for the musical base principle of ‚rhythm is the master, melody is the servant‘.

Even if you have internalised it, it’s worthwhile to give it a listen from time to time, especially the version of Pierre Boulez (w/ Berlin Philharmonics) – to discover its sophistication (listen HERE). And, for instance check also versions of Frank Zappa, the one of the Barcelona concert (watch HERE), and the one with a slight reggae undercurrent (watch HERE). When listening to the Zappa versions, it becomes evident that not only Stravinsky (1882-1971) but also Ravel laid some groundwork for later rock music (and jazz too – Charlie Parker used to insert Stravinsky parts in his live concerts). Stravinsky about ostinatos: „It is static -that is antidevelopment, and sometimes we need contradiction to development.“ Stravinsky used ostinatos to confound rather than conform rhythmic expectations. HERE a Stravinsky example („Three pieces for string quartet“). More of Stravinsky, rock and jazz you can hear in STRAVINSKY TO GO, one of my archived radio programs (listen HERE). Debussy (1862-1918) had his very own take of ostinato. To experience HERE in his „Des pas sur la neige“ with its fascinating tempo.

For Frank Zappa, ostinatos had a further reaching function in creating his own music as his memories of listening- and creating processes leading into the creation of the FREAK OUT album of the Mothers. This is what Zappa said about it:

I think my playing is probably more derived from the folk music records that I heard – Middle Eastern music, Indian music, stuff like that.

For years I had something called Music On The Desert Road [Deben Bhattacharya], which was a recording of all kinds of different ethnic musics from different places in the Middle East. I used to listen to that all the time – I liked that kind of melodic feel. I listened to Indian music, Ravi Shankar and so forth, before we did the Freak Out! album. The idea of creating melody from scratch based on an ostinato or single chord that doesn’t change, that was the world that I felt most comfortable with.

“If you listen to Indian classical music, it’s not just pentatonic. Some of the ragas that they use are very chromatic, all sustained over a root and a 5th that doesn’t change, and by using these chromatic scales they can imply all these other kinds of harmonies. The chords don’t change; it’s just the listener’s aspect that gets to change based on how the melody notes are driven against the ground bass.” (Guitar World Interview (1993))

Another famous and well-known ostinato is the piece TAKE FIVE written by Paul Emil Breitenbach aka Paul Desmond and recorded by the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1959. It’s in 5/4 time signature and takes about 5 minutes to play (listen HERE). The title also alludes to the saying meaning ‚take a little nice break‘.

Maybe after having given these two significant examples, other ostinatos pop up from your memory considered that ostinatos leave string memory traces and you get an idea over the ways and power of ostinatos. Here are more precious examples from recent past. The first one is from 1977 and even entitled „Ostinato“ (VIDEO) from the album SCALES (1976, Japo/ECM): it’s played by trumpeter Manfred Schoof, keyboardist Jasper van ‚t Hoff, bass clarinetist Michel Pilz, bassist Günter Lenz and drummer Ralf Hübner (recorded at NDR workshop). The piece can be considered as a blueprint for later electronics-based pieces in jazz. SCALES, released on vinyl prior to the CD-age, is still preserved in my Lp-collection.

Another piece i like to present, is LABYRINTH by Greek pianist Tania Giannouli. It’s recorded with her trio of oud-player Kyriakos Tapakis and trumpeter Andreas Polyzogopoulos on the album IN FADING LIGHT. There is also a live recording from Berlin Jazzfest 2018 in the A-Trane club (the concert was by the way attended by David Sylvian). A strong example, Carlos Bica’s BELIEVER has already been presented on Flowworker (watch HERE).

Ostinatos provide a continuing base element above which extensions flourish – both interacting and intertwining in dialectical manner. As listener you might not notice it consciously but you can be carried and uplifted by it. It should become clear that repetition plays a crucial role in different kinds of music. It can serve as anchor and at the same time be used to increase suspense depending on how sophisticated it is applied. Another famous example for sophisticated repetition, that remains firmly in many people’s memory is SO WHAT by Miles Davis (listen HERE).

Rock is still stronger entrenchend in the use of repetitive patterns. As an example I take here WHO DO YOU LOVE, a piece by Bo Diddley in the (short) version of Quicksilver Messenger Service: listen HERE.

Ostinatos can also be found in Sub-Sahara music. These ostinatos contain offbeats or crossbeats that contradict the main metric structure. Illustrative examples are reserved for another contribution. Further attractive, illustrious or instructive examples can gladly be added in the comments. I am aware that this post is peppered with music links. You can use it selectively, successively or as a travel through different times and genres.

As encore here an example by my beloved Giovanni Girolami Kapsberger (1580-1651) – watch HERE