[Dixielandjazz] Ride cymbals

[Tony Orr]

The clip of the recording of Krupa at 
http://www.traditional-jazz.com/pge_krup.htm is quite different to the 
Red Nicholls and His Five Pennies 78 I have where Krupa switched from 
2/4 to 4/4 in one chorus which brings the whole thing to the boil.

Ride cymbal is great in the right place e.g a big band, modern jazz. As 
a banjo player I prefer not to be too close to a drummer who uses ride 
cymbal all the time as the constant high level of sound generated drives 
the level of the whole band up. Everyone in the band plays loud as a 
consequence. There are times when I can't hear my banjo or accoustic 
guitar so I have to get in close to a mic and get the foldback speaker 
cranked up to just below feedback level. I would rather play 
accoustically and, the banjo sounds much better when it is not thrashed. 
To me, at least.

I am lucky to have played with bands covering from New Orleans revival, 
classic King Oliver style through to mainstream/straight ahead. Like any 
instrumentalist including a banjo player, a good drummer locks into the 
style of the band or even the item they are playing and plays 
appropriately. Heavy use of cymbals is not evident in recordings of 
earlier OKOM. The drums integrated with the performance and Cymbals were 
used more for percussive effects rather than for laying out the rhythm 
as in swing and beyond. The high hat is another topic.

A cymbal is after all a flattened out bell and, each has its own 
resonant note. I sometines play with a drummer with 2 huge ride cymbals 
which are in use much of the time. The reed player and I have both 
noticed that our instruments sound out of tune while the cymbals are 
ringing. We have worked out that the left cymbal is 1/4 tone under Bb 
and the right one is 1/4 tone above Bb.

We call another guy "Ephraim Cymbalist Jr.".

Tony Orr
percussive banjo
Melbourne