[Dixielandjazz] Sop Sax Vibrato + Loud Music

[Steve barbone]

>From John Chilton's Biography of Sidney Bechet.

"Early Bb Sopranos were built in low pitch (where a was tuned to 435 Hz) and
high pitch (a =454 Hz). Jazz and dance band musicians favored the low pitch
version, but all of them (including Bechet) found that when the instrument's
mouthpiece was pushed in (so as to get in tune with a piano tuned to a =
44o), the whole upper register became extremely sharp. Strong lips and a
broad vibrato were needed to cloak this deficiency, and Bechet had both."

Chilton then goes on to say the Bechet also used vibrato because he wanted
to express himself that way. Enrico Caruso, one of Bechet's beloved opera
singers, (he loved listening to operatic tenors) often used a broad vibrato
and may have influenced Bechet's playing.

Bottom line, Bechet always sounded to me like he was in tune . . . on a horn
that was inherently quite out of tune. I tried to play an older Sop Sax when
I was a kid but without much vibrato in my bag of tricks, was horribly out
of tune so I put it back in the case.

I think Bechet chose Sop Sax because it is a "lead" instrument the way he
played it. He could express himself, be the center of attention. I also
think he widened his vibrato after hearing Caruso because it did two things.
It helped him play in tune, and it helped him become the center of attention
while showing off the intensity of his playing as it did, Caruso's singing.

Loud Music:

I play and love loud Dixieland, contrary to many on the list. Growing up
around the Condon Gang in NYC, I can't help it. Ask Jack Maheu about those
days at Condon's. As he tells Dick Sudhalter in "Lost Chords": page 298.

"If you could only have heard it back then" clarinetist Jack Maheu said,
wonder edging in his voice. "You'd open the door to some little club where
those guys-Eddie and some of his cronies -were playing. And that music would
hit you like a fist, a blast of superheated steam. It was powerful. . . I
mean lots of guys today play well. But back then there was something else -
in Pee Wee, Bud, Wild Bill, Teagarden, George Wettling."

"Take Wettling, for example. One of those breaks could just lift you off
your chair. They had a fire to them. The records? Yeah, some of them capture
it a bit, but you should have heard what it sounded like live. You wouldn't
have believed your ears. It was the most emotionally powerful kind of jazz
I've ever heard. But that's gone now."

Amen Jack, our mates on the list should have heard it live. LOUD, VISCERAL,
and FAR BETTER THAN TODAY'S SISSIFIED PSEUDO ARTSY DIXIELAND played around
the world for shrinking audiences of folks who also believed in "The
Emperor's New Clothes".

Cheers,
Steve Barbone