The Lick
{{Short description|Musical phrase regarded as a jazz cliché}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2021}}
{{About|the musical lick|the TV series|The Lick with Trevor Nelson|other uses|Lick (disambiguation)}}
File:The Lick E Minor (tabs).png (top) and tablature (bottom)|266x266px]]
File:The Lick on electric guitar (E minor).ogg on the first and fifth note]]
"The Lick" is a lick (a stock musical phrase) that has been used in numerous jazz and pop songs and part of several classical compositions to the point that it has been described as "the most famous jazz cliché ever".{{Cite book |last=McGee |first=M.B. |title=The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2022 |isbn=978-3-030-90912-3 |editor-last=Glăveanu |editor-first=V.P. |pages=823–828 |chapter=Jazz |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-90913-0_117}} In recent years, it has become an internet meme and is often used for comedic effect.{{cite web |last=Golding |first=Dan |date=2018 |title=How a jazz lick took over the music world |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZMDFdmCv-A |access-date=23 May 2022 |website=YouTube |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |language=en |type=video}}{{Cite journal |last=Galloway |first=Kate |date=2023-12-01 |title=Jazz Cats and Horse Licks: Animal Memes, Participatory Digital Culture, and Representing Jazz Online |url=https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/jac/article/6/2/64/383578/Jazz-Cats-and-Horse-Licks-Animal-Memes |journal=Jazz and Culture |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=64–91 |doi=10.5406/25784773.6.2.04}}
Musical structure
"The Lick" consists of seven notes, using five steps on a diatonic scale. The interval pattern is 1 (unison) – 2 (major second) – {{music|b}}3 (minor third) – 4 (perfect fourth) – 2 (major second) – {{music|b}}7 (lower seventh) – 1 (unison). In jazz, it is played swung, sometimes including a glissando or grace note before the fifth note.{{cite magazine |last1=Goldsby |first1=John |date=November 2012 |title="The Lick," Part 2 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1152192579 |magazine=Bass Player |pages=72–73 |volume=23 |issue=11|id={{ProQuest|1152192579}} }}
History
The term "The Lick" was coined by an eponymous Facebook group in the 2010s and popularized by a YouTube video assembled from clips from the group by professor Alex Heitlinger in 2011.{{cite book |last1=Durkin |first1=Andrew |url=https://archive.org/details/decompositionmus0000durk/page/256/mode/2up |title=Decomposition: A Music Manifesto |publisher=Knopf Doubleday |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-307911-76-6 |edition=First |pages=256 |oclc=1240167147}} "The Lick" was not first seen in jazz, as examples of classical music, such as The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky, include tonal sequences similar to "The Lick". However, it is primarily known as a jazz lick for the attention it has received from being commonly used in jazz improvisation.{{Cite journal |last=Judd |first=Hannah |date=October 2022 |title=Virals, Memes, and the Lick's Circulation through Online Jazz Communities |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1478572222000263/type/journal_article |journal=Twentieth-Century Music |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=393–410 |doi=10.1017/S1478572222000263}}
In 2019, composer David Bruce used "The Lick" as a basis for a string quartet titled The Lick Quartet.{{Cite web |last=Bruce |first=David |author-link=David Bruce (composer) |date=November 21, 2019 |title=Taking The Licc Seriously - Converting a Meme for String Quartet |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO2LniLClp4 |website=YouTube |type=video}}{{cite news |last=Cantrell |first=Scott |date=23 October 2019 |title=Dallas Chamber Symphony and Dover Quartet open two concert series |url=https://archive.today/20220804182256/https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/performing-arts/2019/10/23/dallas-chamber-symphony-and-dover-quartet-open-two-concert-series/ |access-date=4 August 2022 |work=Dallas News}}