The Cheerful Little Earful
If you're interested in Fats Waller (and if you read this blog then you probably are) I recommend my latest read, Alyn Shipton's book: Fats Waller: The Cheerful Little Earful
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Audio 101 for Musicians, Dancers, DJ’s, and Venue Promoters
Hi Jazz Fans, When you go to a dance, whether the music is live or DJed, I think we can all agree that you enjoy the music a lot more when it sounds: 1. Clear2. Like the artist intends/intended If the first is lacking, you can't really tell what you're listening to, and if the second is lacking then you're not really getting the full experience of what the artist wants to convey with his or her music. Let's take a look at some of the problems that make jazz music, both live and DJed, less authentic and less enjoyable for us to dance to! Back in the 1930's, when the music that we love to dance to was first created, musicians didn't have access to the kinds of audio equipment we have today and most bands had 1 mic out in front of the group and that was it. After WW2, more advanced audio equipment was available to performers that allowed them to mic all of the individual instruments in a band. Would musicians in the 1930's have used this technology to them had it been available? ABSOLUTELY!!! (Bet you never thought you'd hear me say that.) Many musicians would have
Ride Cymbal Be Damned!
Dear Jazz Fans, The sound that put an end to swing music:Kenny Clarke Kenny Clark was considered to be the first "bop" drummer. His claim to fame was taking the beat from the hi-hat and snare drum to the ride cymbal thus taking away from the drums' role as a time keeping instrument. Modern Harmonies, Modern Rhythms, sure Diz and Bird we can deal with that, but you take away the pulse of the music and you don't have swing anymore. Encourage your local drummer to pawn his ride cymbal! Or better still to melt it down into 2 splashes. cheers,Glenn www.bluerhythmband.netband.to/syncopators
Red Hot Syncopators….?
Hi Jazz Fans,
To my surprise I'm apparently not the first to have a band called the Red Hot Syncopators in Seattle (we've shortened the name to just Syncopators now, but interesting none the less).
Earl Whaley was an alto-saxophone player and bandleader from the San Francisco Bay Area. He moved to Seattle and led one of the first swing bands on the West Coast, The Red Hot Syncopators, who started performing successfully around Seattle at the Broadway and Finnish Halls in 1932. The band never grew beyond playing in small combination performances, or “combo additions,” unlike most swing bands on the West Coast, largely because the black population in Seattle in the 1930s was extremely small as was the local talent pool. There simply weren’t enough black musicians to form the giant swing bands seen in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other major cities during the 1930s. It should also be noted that because of segregation by the white union Local No. 76, black musicians were forbidden from forming bands with white musicians.
Read the rest of the story here:http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aaw/earl-whaley-band
Cheers,Glenn
www.bluerhythmband.netband.to/syncopators
April Kisses
Hi Jazz Fans,
Something's put me in a good mood, and since April Kisses is a favorite number of mine and a generally "good mood" kinda song, I thought I'd share it with everyone else.
It's available on this record: The Quintessential Eddie Lang 1925-1932
30′s Novelty Tunes
There's something about a good novelty tune that always makes me smile. This one may be my favorite.
Wish I could tell you where to get this one on amazon, but it's not available. There's some more Harry Roy if you dig it though:
Swinging With The Tigers
In Search of Buddy Bolden
There are a lot of legends, myths, and stories around the origins of jazz music and the first king of jazz, Buddy Bolden. Bolden was born in New Orleans in 1877. Bolden took up the cornet as a young man and began performing with marching bands and dance bands around town, his own band forming around 1895. Though the New Orleans music community was very segregated at that time (colored bands and Creole bands didn't mix much), Bolden gained a following beyond his caste. He was known particularly for the power of his playing and he brought the cornet into its position as the lead instrument in dance music.
The dance music at that time included blues, waltzes, quadrilles, and other folk dances. Bolden’s band played a wealth of venues around town including the Union Sons Hall dubbed "Funky Butt Hall" after the song "Buddy Bolden Blues," by Bolden's first trombonist Willie Cornish.
The rumors around Bolden's life are plentiful to the point that it's often unclear what is myth and what is fact. Bolden always had a harem of women following him around and sitting at the foot of the band stand. Stories of fights between the girls, Bolden's
The Guitar
Dear Jazz Fans, Being a guitar player, I could write a book on this subject, but here are the basics. It doesn't take a brilliant guitar soloist to make a band swing. In fact guys who are good solo players often don't really swing very well because they haven't absorbed that part of the music. Freddie Green took very few solos in his entire career but he was the swingingest guitarist ever. It goes back to what I was saying in the first post about finding "it." "It's" an essential for guitarists. Guitarists are the time keepers in swing music, they drive the band forward by playing an even 1-2-3-4. If a band is balanced correctly (preferably with no mics or one mic on the whole rhythm section) then you probably won't hear the guitar unless you are really listening for it. Good guitar playing knits the fabric of the rhythm section together and doesn't stand out. But, if you see a big band or a combo without a guitar you notice. There's suddenly something missing in the middle. There's nothing pushing the band forward, no time keeper. I think a lot of guitarists don't really realize the importance of rhythm playing. They look
#3 Slap that Bass!
#3 Slap that Bass The double bass has a huge history (fitting for it's size). Here are some key highlights. -Probably invented sometime in the 1500's. -The double bass probably originated as a member of the viol family, not the violin family. Viols have a different shape and are fretted. The double bass eventually lost its frets. -The double bass is called the "double" bass, because for many years its role was exclusively to double the cello part down an octave. -The bass started to become a more important instrument during the 1900's and its lines slowly became emancipated from the cello lines in the orchestra. -The first sting bass virtuoso was Domenico Dragonetti, a contemporary of Beethoven's. -The double bass varied greatly in size, shape, tuning, and number of strings until the 19th century when the 3 string double bass became the standard. The fourth string started to come in toward the end of the 1800's. In swing music the bass is in the rhythm section for a reason, because it's played percussively. Bassists pluck the strings on every beat - 4-notes to the bar - and those notes are short and accented in swing music. When bop music became prevalent, there was more a focus on independent
#2 The Drum Set
#2 The Drum Set
Here's a history of the jazz drum set.
History Before the Civil War
The Snare Drum - derived from the Medieval European "tabor" drum which was a drum with a string tightened across the head.
Note the small string across the head, not the large rope which is a shoulder strap.
The tabor gradually developed into the field drum which is a large snare drum (think big revolutionary war snare drums). And these were still the prevalent drum around the time of the Civil War.
Bass Drum - The large 2 headed bass drum dates back to ancient Sumaria! It was introduced to European society through Turkish mehterân, which are the oldest form of Marching Band, used to accompany Ottoman forces into battle. The bass drum was gradually introduced into European classical music through composers like Haydn and Mozart who found the sound of the Turkish military music fascinating. Through out the 19th century the bass drum gradually became a more standard part of Western Music.
Cymbals - There are two basic types of cymbals used in a swing drum kit: Turkish and Chinese. These cymbals vary in shape from one another and thus have a