[Dixielandjazz] Swinging

[Jim Kashishian]

One of the hardest recorded sessions I ever played on (& I did sessions, in
all styles, for 25 yrs!) was surprisingly enough on a jazz record!  There
were only a handful of jazz musicians on the sessions, so the arranger wrote
the swing into the arrangements.
 
No! No! No!  Never!!!  They were the blackest scores I have ever seen.  He
must have used a ton of ink writing all those 64th, 32nd, 16th, & 8th notes
in there.  It was one of the least "swinging" experiences of my life, and I
found it impossible to read.
 
The stock session musician were doing all this "tucketa tucketa tucketa"
sub-division noises with their mouths trying work out what comes natural to
many of us.  It was just terrible.  Surprisingly enough, the recording is
actually quite nice, but it was hell for me.
 
In contrast, I played Henry Mancinin scores with Henry Mancini directing for
a live tv show once.  None of that black stuff written before the notes.
Just play it with "anticipation", and the swing is there!  They were the
easiest scores I've ever read.
Mancini had swing just standing there!
 
Nope, it's not written, swing.  It's felt.  And, it's there, or it's not
there.
 
Jim