The "Five Bridges Suite" is a modern piece of music, written in the 1960s, combining classical music and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

. Written about the UK city of

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, it was released as an album by

the Nice The Nice were an English progressive rock band active in the late 1960s. They blended rock, jazz and classical music and were keyboardist Keith Emerson's first commercially successful band. The group was formed in 1967 by Emerson, Lee Jack ...

as ''Five Bridges'', which achieved the number two position in the UK album charts. In the Q &

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...

Classic Special Edition ''Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock'', the album came No. 29 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".

History

The work was commissioned for the Newcastle Arts Festival and premiered with a full orchestra conducted by Joseph Eger on 10 October 1969 (the recorded version is from 17 October in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

Fairfield Halls Fairfield Halls is an arts, entertainment and conference centre in Croydon, London, England, which opened in 1962 and contains a theatre and gallery, and a large concert hall regularly used for BBC television, radio and orchestral recordings. Fa ...

). The title refers to the city's five bridges spanning the River Tyne (two more have since been built over the river, including the

Gateshead Millennium Bridge The Gateshead Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian and cyclist tilt bridge spanning the River Tyne between Gateshead arts quarter on the south bank and Newcastle upon Tyne's Quayside area on the north bank. It was the first tilting bridge ever ...

), and the album cover, by

Hipgnosis Hipgnosis were an English art design group based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black Sabbath, UFO, 10c ...

, features an image of the

Tyne Bridge The Tyne Bridge is a through arch bridge over the River Tyne in North East England, linking Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead. The bridge was designed by the engineering firm Mott, Hay and Anderson, who later designed the Forth Road Bridge, ...

. The five movements are: *"Fantasia" – orchestra with solo piano interludes by Keith Emerson *"Second Bridge" – trio without orchestra *"Chorale" – Lee Jackson's vocals with orchestra, alternating with piano trio interludes *"High Level Fugue" – piano with accompanying cymbals *"Finale" – a restating of the ''Second Bridge'' with additional jazz

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

players. Emerson used

Walter Piston Walter Hamor Piston, Jr. (January 20, 1894 – November 12, 1976), was an American composer of classical music, music theorist, and professor of music at Harvard University. Life Piston was born in Rockland, Maine at 15 Ocean Street to Walter Ha ...

's well-known textbook on orchestration for the work. Emerson credits

Friedrich Gulda Friedrich Gulda (16 May 1930 – 27 January 2000) was an Austrian pianist and composer who worked in both the classical and jazz fields. Biography Early life and career Born in Vienna the son of a teacher, Gulda began learning to play the piano ...

for inspiring the High Level Fugue, which uses jazz figures in the strict classical form. Also included on the ''Five Bridges'' album were live performances from the same Fairfield Hall concert of the

Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

Intermezzo In music, an intermezzo (, , plural form: intermezzi), in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work. In music history, the term ha ...

and a movement from

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

's '' Pathetique'' Symphony. Both involved the orchestra playing the "straight" music juxtaposed with the trio's interpretations. Newly discovered material from this concert was later issued as part of a 3-CD set entitled ''Here Come The Nice''. The ''Five Bridges'' album also included a blending of

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

's "Country Pie" with

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...

's " Brandenburg Concerto No. 6" (with a quote of

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...

' jazz line "Rifftide" as well) and a studio recording of the original "One of Those People".

Reception

Paul Stump's 1997 ''History of Progressive Rock'' called the album "ill-conceived", commenting that the orchestrated pieces are poorly meshed, with the rock band and orchestra playing either separately (as on the first few movements of "The Five Bridges Suite") or such that "The textures of neither genre are properly utilized; it is like listening to two transistor radios simultaneously playing ..." However, he cited the final two tracks as among the Nice's best works, elaborating that " One of Those People'perhaps illustrates the Nice's real gift: to reduce pop forms to their constituent parts, alter their horizontal profile by cutting down paragraphs and overturning expected progression of chords and rhythm, which gives Emerson just as much of a chance to display his considerable technique without recourse to braggadocio." Mike DeGagne's retrospective review for ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

'', in contrast, argued that "Intermezzo" and "Pathetique" "are marvelous examples of classical and rock commingling" and that throughout the album, "Each example of genre merging is pristine and fluid, making the actual overlapping of multiple styles completely transparent."

Track listing

Side one

#"The Five Bridges Suite" (Keith Emerson, Lee Jackson) – 18:06 ::*"Fantasia 1st Bridge" ::*"2nd Bridge" ::*"Chorale 3rd Bridge" ::*"High Level Fugue 4th Bridge" ::*"Finale 5th Bridge"

Side two

"Intermezzo 'Karelia Suite'" (

, Arr. Emerson, Joseph Eger) – 9:01 #"Pathetique (Symphony No. 6, 3rd Movement)" (

, Arr. Emerson, Joseph Eger) – 9:23 #"Country Pie/Brandenburg Concerto No. 6" (

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

) – 5:40 #"One of Those People" (Emerson, Jackson) – 3:08

Charts

Personnel

;The Nice * Brian Davison – drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

* Keith Emerson – keyboards * Lee Jackson –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

with: *

Joe Harriott Joseph Arthurlin Harriott (15 July 1928 – 2 January 1973) was a Jamaican jazz musician and composer, whose principal instrument was the alto saxophone. Initially a bebopper, he became a pioneer of free-form jazz. Born in Kingston, Harriott ...

–

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

* Peter King – saxophone * Chris Pyne –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

* Alan Skidmore – saxophone * John Warren *

Kenny Wheeler Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards. Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was also active i ...

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, flugelhorn * The Sinfonia Of London orchestra conducted by

Joseph Eger Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

References

{{Authority control 1970 albums Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis Albums with cover art by Storm Thorgerson The Nice albums Charisma Records albums Mercury Records albums Philips Records albums Albums produced by Brian Davison (drummer) Albums produced by Keith Emerson Albums produced by Lee Jackson (bassist) Suites (music)