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musical instruments in jazz: ix - the harmonica

 

An instrument consisting of a small casing containing free reeds, which are housed in channels leading to holes on the side of the instrument. It is played by inhalation and exhalation, with the player's tongue used to block the channels of reeds that are not intended to sound.

There are two main types of harmonica: the diatonic, upon which exhalation produces the notes of the tonic chord of the key in which the instrument is tuned and inhalation the other notes of the diatonic scale; and the chromatic, which consists of two sets of reeds tuned a semitone apart and a slide mechanism (operated by a small hand-lever) that enables the player to change from one set to the other. Both types of harmonica have a range of three octaves.

The harmonica would seem to have promise as a jazz instrument: it is a free-reed instrument capable of producing a wide range of voice-like timbres, and it is the most important reed instrument used in blues. In fact it has been of little importance in jazz, perhaps because of the inability of the diatonic instrument to play music that is harmonically complex, and the difficulty of achieving on the chromatic instrument a level of proficiency adequate to the technical demands of many jazz styles. There were no important harmonica players in early jazz, though the instrument was used occasionally in lesser-known jug bands and washboard bands that had repertories combining jazz and blues (such as the Dixie Jassers Washboard Band, which recorded in 1927). In later years there emerged two prominent jazz harmonica players: Larry Adler (whose work in jazz remains secondary to his work in classical and popular music) and Toots Thielemans; the latter's playing is well represented on his album Man Bites Harmonica (1957, Riv. 257). Other players of some importance have included Sonny Terry, who recorded with Chris Barber's band in 1958; Buddy Lucas, who toured and recorded as a guest soloist with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra in 1974; and Malachi Favors of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. 

 

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN JAZZ: VIII - THE TRUMPET

 


The trumpet is a brass instrument made in a range of pitches from sopranino to bass. 

1.      Technical aspects. 

The trumpet generally has three valves and tubing of a mainly cylindrical profile; the tubing is "folded" through several reversals, so that it lies parallel in a horizontal plane, with the bell pointing forwards. The mouthpiece of the modern trumpet is cup-shaped and relatively shallow. The written compass of the trumpet in B♭ (the principal member of the modern trumpet family) is f#-c'’' (sounding e-b♭''), though many players add a further octave to the upper limit of the range, and some another octave still. 

Jazz musicians almost all play the standard trumpet in B♭ Dizzy Gillespie adopted an instrument (first patented in 1866 by the Schreiber Cornet Manufacturing Company of New York) in which the familiar outline of the trumpet is modified so that the bell points upwards at an angle of 45°.  A few players have used other members of the trumpet family: those who have taken up the bass trumpet in B♭ include Cy Touff (as a soloist within Woody Herman's trombone section), Johnny Mandel (in several bands during the 1950s), and Ray Premru (in the 1960s in Kenny Baker's group); Don Cherry specializes in a pocket instrument, also in B♭; and Don Ellis, under the influence of the Czech player Jaromir Hnilicka, has played the four-valve "quarter-tone" trumpet. In the early 1970s Maynard Ferguson invented a combination valve and slide trumpet known as the Firebird; the slide mechanism, operated by the left hand, allows the player effortlessly to produce such effects as blue notes and glisses.  Ellis and Al Hirt occasionally used the instrument and Ferguson may be heard playing it on his album Hollywood (1982, Col. FC37713). 
2.  The importance of jazz trumpet playing.

The general approach to trumpet playing in the 20th century has been influenced significantly by jazz musicians.  In Western art music, while the trumpet was prominent as a concertante instrument in the Baroque era, for the following two centuries it held at best a secondary position within the orchestra. In the military tradition, although the trumpet was always considered the principal melodic instrument, the demands made by the music on players were not extreme.  From the late 19th century, however, with the ad hoc experimentation within brass bands in the southern USA (particularly those in New Orleans) and, later, with the evolution of jazz (and notably the innovations of Louis Armstrong), the concept of how the trumpet might be played was brought to a level far higher than had previously been imagined. 

Among the developments brought about by these musicians, all later carried over into other genres, were an extension of the upper range (to e♭); a potpourri of personal approaches to the use of vibrato (including Terminal vibrato) of varying amplitude and speed, produced by the chin, the diaphragm, or the motion of the right hand; the ability to execute smoothly various kinds of Gliss (including the rip, the doit, and the fall off); a number of manipulations of the embouchure and fingers to achieve such effects as the Growl, the Half-valve, and the Smear; the production of an airy tone by tightening the lips more than usual and blowing with force so that part of the lip tissue does not vibrate; the playing of Multiphonics by tightening or relaxing the lips unduly and blowing between the partials or by the act of simultaneously playing and singing, which results in various tones and beats being created (best workable in the low register); the invention of new mutes to achieve an array of new timbres; and the achievement of a technical facility previously unknown, not merely in scale passages, but also in the negotiation of difficult chromatic intervallic leaps which are not idiomatic to the instrument. 

3.  The trumpet in early jazz.

For historical and sociological reasons the soprano brass instrument in early jazz bands was the Cornet.  However, the word "cornet" was used in the USA in the 19th century to refer to any soprano brass instrument that played the melodic part, a usage that implied a somewhat interchangeable nature between trumpet and cornet; since many players who began on cornet later took up trumpet as well as or instead of the former, the history of the two instruments in jazz is best considered as a single continuous tradition.
 
In New Orleans the leader of brass and jazz bands, and of related groups, was most frequently a cornetist, who would take the most prominent role by playing the melody; as well as being the player with the most volume, he was generally the finest musician in the ensemble. There are numerous accounts among jazz brass players of musicians beginning in their youth as drummers and gradually working their way from the lower brass instruments to the higher, with the position of cornetist being the coveted goal.  Universally credited as being the first accomplished cornetist was the legendary Buddy Bolden, who was renowned for his authoritative style.  Among those influenced by Bolden were Manuel Perez, Buddy Petit, and, notably, Freddie Keppard; Keppard used his powerful tone over a much wider compass than hitherto, as may be heard on Stock Yards Strut (1926, Para. 12399), and exhibited a new delight in exploiting the instrument's technical possibilities.

The typically brusque melodic style and four-square rhythmic approach of New Orleans cornetists was characteristic of King Oliver's playing when he moved from that city to Chicago in 1918, yet his performance of blues numbers was distinctively vocal.  Oliver was a good leader and his bands were notable for their integrated teamwork.  He was also a considerable influence on other musicians - particularly Mutt Carey, a reliable lead player renowned (like Oliver) for his muted effects, and Tommy Ladnier, a fluent improviser whose relaxed yet controlling phrasing had implicit swing without explicit syncopation.  Oliver's Creole Jazz Band was augmented after only a month in Chicago by the arrival of Louis Armstrong, which brought into existence a team of two cornets.  This was the first of many such pairings: among Oliver's later partners were Bob Shoffner, Louis Metcalf, and Dave Nelson, while George Mitchell and Natty Dominique appeared together in recording bands led by Johnny Dodds, contributing to the distinctive sound heard, for example, on Come on and stomp, stomp, stomp (1927, Bruns. 3568). 

Armstrong first recorded on trumpet on 28 May 1926, and soon jettisoned many earlier attitudes, contributing a new approach not only to trumpet playing but also to the wider field of jazz. Using a technique that was basically conventional, his tone was remarkable for its clarity and often sheer beauty, particularly in the control of sustained notes and apposite use of vibrato. He developed a range of three octaves and was one of the first to include chords of the minor and diminished seventh in his improvisations.  Most importantly, he created the idea of the featured soloist within the integrated New Orleans sound.  His overall gift was that of communication, which he achieved through the exquisite simplicity of his ideas, his subtle use of syncopation and rubato, and the undisputed authority of his playing; a good example of a performance displaying these characteristics is Sweethearts on Parade (1930, Col. 2688D). 

In the late 1920s most cornet players found it advisable to take up trumpet.  A notable exception was Bix Beiderbecke, who nevertheless had a considerable influence over the course of jazz trumpet development.  His restrained, elegant, and sensitive playing, improvising close to the melody, indicated the possibilities of the "cool" approach 20 years before its time. Unlike Armstrong, who modified his tone as the situation seemed to demand, Beiderbecke rarely altered his, which was for the most part straight, with only a slight vibrato at the end of certain notes and phrases. 

The matter of tone assumed increasing importance during the 1920s.  Bubber Miley, the foremost soloist in Duke Ellington's orchestra from 1923 to 1929, had a great melodic gift, but is remembered more for establishing the band's "jungle" sound, typified on East St. Louis Toodle-oo (1927, Vic. 21703).  Miley was influenced by Oliver's use of mutes, and his growl and wa-wa techniques were subsequently adopted by other sidemen in Ellington's band - Cootie Williams, Rex Stewart, Ray Nance, and Clark Terry. 
Big bands began to emerge from the mid-1920s, and consequently trumpeters began to work in trumpet sections or, more generally, with trombonists in brass sections.  The size of trumpet sections gradually increased, from Oliver's two instruments in 1922 to Fletcher Henderson's three in 1924.  Paul Whiteman foreshadowed a development of the 1930s by including a section of four players in his band in 1928, and by 1951 the trumpets in Stan Kenton's orchestra numbered five; four, however, remained the norm. 

4.  The swing era. 

By the late 1920s the primacy of the soprano brass instrument - now generally the trumpet rather than the cornet - was being challenged by the saxophone, and aspects of saxophone performance began to affect the way in which trumpeters played.  Armstrong's influence, which extended far beyond other trumpeters, was felt especially in the playing of such leading figures as Jabbo Smith and Henry "Red" Allen, but his emphasis on relaxed melody was beginning to give way to an exploration of dexterity.  Smith, who in 1928 succeeded Armstrong in Carroll Dickerson's band, introduced the fast fingering techniques and frequent use of the high register that later became characteristic of bop trumpeters.  He also suffered the major drawback of such a style: a thin tone, resulting from the speed of the air through the instrument not allowing full resonance.  This may be clearly heard on Jazz Battle (1929, Bruns, 4244).  There was an even closer approach to bop in Allen's inclination to obscure the joins between phrases.  He too included fast-moving passages as an integral part of his style, but unlike Smith, who showed considerable skill in obtaining high notes, Allen tended to use force, often introducing smears and rips into his playing. His vibrato, however, was generally more restricted than was usual for the time. 

Of those influenced by Allen, Roy Eldridge was arguably the most important, yet his playing in the high register perhaps owed more to Smith's control than Allen's force.  His rhythmic drive has been compared with that of Armstrong, and his virtuoso technique allowed him to use saxophone-like phrasing, as may be heard on Chu Berry's Forty-six West Fifty-two (1938, Com. 516). 

A smoother and more gentle trumpeter than Eldridge, Buck Clayton employed a wider vibrato, often resorting to the use of a cup mute and showing a preference for traditional harmonies.  Charlie Shavers also owed a debt to Allen.  He had a strong technique and a remarkable range that allowed him to obtain extreme high and low notes in close proximity; while his style was often very syncopated; his playing at slower tempos is sometimes considered sentimental. 

A wider use of the trumpet's high register, possibly stemming from Armstrong's inclination to build up to a climax literally through increasingly higher notes, became noticeable during the 1930s and 1940s.  Cat Anderson was the most celebrated high-note specialist in Ellington's orchestra, but Maynard Ferguson, in Kenton's bands of the 1940s and later in his own groups, was most consistently impressive in the high tessitura up to and including e♭''''; a good example of his playing may be heard on Mac Arthur Park on the album M. F. Horn (1970, Col. C30466). 
 
 

5.  Bop and traditional jazz.

By the 1940s the saxophone was the most important instrument in jazz, and as a result the most significant development in brass playing (first for the trumpet and later for the trombone, french horn, and tuba) was the acquisition of a nonidiomatic technical facility that would enable players to rival the facility of bop saxophonists.  This was achieved first by Dizzy Gillespie, the most innovative trumpeter after Armstrong. Gillespie's contribution, like Armstrong's, marked a stylistic turning point.  Through a remarkable technique he was able to give full vent to his fluent skill for improvisation, utilizing a harmonic rather than a melodic basis.  He had scant use for vibrato, but for the most part the notes came so fast that tone was of little importance.  In 1947, with Cubana Be/Cubana Bop (Vic. 203145) and Manteca (Vic. 203023), he introduced a new element: Afro-Cuban jazz. Fats Navarro and Clifford Brown were virtuoso players and remarkable improvisers, playing difficult and sophisticated bop solos, yet maintaining a warm, beautiful, velvety tone.  They were the precursors of the hard-bop trumpeters that emerged during the 1950s, such as Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, and, later, Woody Shaw.

Unable and unwilling to play so high, so fast, or with such precision as Gillespie, Navarro, and Brown, Miles Davis became a strong influence on trumpet players of the 1950s.  His introverted, cool style involved even less vibrato than Gillespie's, and at times his notes seemed to be implied rather than stated.  While over three decades he led his groups through several landmarks in the evolution of jazz styles, Davis's own playing changed little, though he took up the stemless harmon mute in 1954 to produce a brooding sound so striking that subsequent users of the effect may be said to be only imitating Davis. 

Concurrent with developments in bop and related styles was a renewed interest in early cornet and trumpet playing, beginning with the rediscovery in New Orleans of Bunk Johnson and leading to the widespread popularity of traditional jazz and trad bands.  While this movement had no great consequences for the development of trumpet styles, it did allow the instrument, among a wide circle of musicians, to re-establish its principal role within the jazz ensemble. 

6.  Free jazz, jazz-rock, and the continuation of established styles.

There have been only a small number of important trumpeters in free jazz - notably Don Cherry (playing a pocket instrument), Bill Dixon, Don Ellis, Lester Bowie, Mike Mantler, and Leo Smith - and fewer in jazz-rock, the most important being Davis, Ferguson, and Chuck Mangione (who later took up flugelhorn).  Significant developments in the 1960s and 1970s in the role and capabilities of the trumpet are rare, contrasting sharply with the changes affecting, for example, the saxophone and the instruments of the rhythm section.  Dixon and Bowie differentiated themselves from others not by developing new effects, but by bringing heavy emphasis to the special effects that had been developed in early jazz and swing.  Ellis's work with the quarter-tone trumpet has had little influence. Ferguson adapted his playing to jazz-rock with no change whatsoever in his high-pitched melodic style.  Ellis and Davis both explored electronic devices, Ellis working, for example, with a ring modulator, Davis with a fuzz box and a wa-wa pedal (as may be heard on his album Live-Evil, 1970, Col. G30954), but their experiments had more to do with synthesized sound than with trumpet playing; in Davis's case it served only to make the instrument sound more like a cheap electric guitar than a trumpet. 

Thus, after the unprecedented early achievements of jazz trumpeters in mainstream and bop styles, the trumpet seems to have reached a halt in its development.  Perhaps the emergence of musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, classically trained and equally at home performing a trumpet concerto with a symphony orchestra or working with Art Blakey and Herbie Hancock, and Roy Hargrove, may give some clue as to the part to be played by a straight, clear tone, faultless technique, and lively imagination.
 
On the other hand, the trumpet is a preponderant instrument inside the Afro-Cuban Jazz. Players as Arturo Sandoval and Arturo O'Farril, are some of the most valuable exponents among the trumpeters of this gender.
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY

R. Blesh: Shining Trumpets: a History of Jazz (New York, 1946, rev. and enlarged 2/1958/R1975). 

I. Lang: Jazz in Perspective: the Background of the Blues (London and elsewhere, 1947/R1976). 

R. Harris: Jazz (London, 1952, 5/1957). 

J.-E. Berendt: Das Jazzbuch: Entwicklung und Bedeutung der Jazzmusik (Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 1953, rev. 2/1959 as Das neue Jazzbuch: Entwicklung und Bedeutung, It. trans., Florence, Italy, 1959, Eng. trans., New York, 1962, Sp. trans., Mexico City, cl962; rev. and enlarged 5/1981 as Das grosse Jazzbuch: von New Orleans bis Jazz Rock, Eng. trans, as The Jazz Book: from New Orleans to Fusion and Beyond, Westport, CT, 1982) O. Keepnews and B. Grauer, Jr.: A Pictorial History of Jazz: People and Places from New Orleans to Modern Jazz (New York, 1956, rev. 2/1966/R1981). 

L. Feather: The Book of Jazz: a Guide to the Entire Field (New York, 1957, 2/ 1965 as The Book of Jazz from Then till Now: a Guide to the Entire Field) B. Ulanov: A Handbook of Jazz (New York, n.d. [?1957]/R1975) N. Hentoff and A. J. McCarthy, eds.: Jazz: New Perspectives on the History of Jazz by Twelve of the World's Foremost Jazz Critics and Scholars (New York and Toronto, 1959/R1974) J. Goldberg: Jazz Masters of the Fifties (New York and London, 1965/R1980) G. Schuller: Early Jazz: its Roots and Musical Development (New York, 1968) M. Williams: The Jazz Tradition (New York, 1970, rev. 2/1983) G. Collier: Inside Jazz (London, 1973). 

A. J. Smith: "Maynard Ferguson: Conquistador of Double High C," DB, xliv/16 (1977), 14.

M. Laplace: "La trompette et le cornet dans le jazz et la musique populaire," Brass Bulletin, nos.42-4 (1983); nos.45-7 (1984).

 

MUSICAL SAMPLES

Enjoy the next musical selection, with the performance of the harmonica player Toots Thielemans:


Encuentra más música como ésta en Noches de Jazz

 

SELECTED RECORDINGS

If you want you know which recordings should have in your disco, for its quality and representativeness, I recommend the following ones:

 

“Live”. Toots Thielemans, Jun. 1974. Polydor 831694 CD. Thielemans; Wim Overgaauw, Joop Scholten (g); Rob Franken (electric p); Victor Kaihatu, Rob Langereis (b); Bruno Castellucci (d); Cees Schrama (perc).

 

 

“Do Not Leave Me”. Toots Thielemans, Jun. 1986. Stash ST CD 12 CD. Thielemans; Fred Hersch (p); Marc Johnson (b); Joey Baron (d).

 

 

“Only Trust Your Heart”. Toots Thielemans, Apr. - May. 1988. Concord CCD 4355 CD. Thielemans; Fred Hersch (p); Marc Johnson (b); Harvie Swartz (d). 

 

 

"The Birdland Dreamband". Maynard Ferguson, Sep. 1956. Bluebird ND 86455 CD. Ferguson; Al Derisi, Joe Ferrante, Jimmy Nottingham, Ernie Royal Al Stewart, Nick Travis (t); Eddie Bert, Jimmy Cleveland, Sonny Russo (tb); Herb Geller (as); Al Cohn, Budd Johnson, Frank Socolow (ts); Ernie Wilkins (bs); Hank Jones (p); Arnold Fishkin, Milt Hinton (b); Jimmy Campbell, Osie Johnson, Don Lamond (d); collective personnel.