[Dixielandjazz] Oh Dem Bones
Robert S. Ringwald
robert at ringwald.com
Thu Mar 8 22:37:53 PST 2007
Geez,
I am not even a trombone player but I can sure tell you that this guy is all
wet.
--Bob Ringwald
----- Original Message -----
From: <LRG4003 at aol.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 10:27 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Oh Dem Bones
>
> WARNING. A LONG POST WITH A LOT OF OPINIONS ABOUT TROMBONISTS.. DELETE
> NOW
> OR DON'T BLAME ME LATER....
>
> Yesterday, i passed along some Trombone comments from a trombone playing
> non-list member and saw a number of interesting responses on DJML which I
> passed
> back to him. I am, again sending you more of his thoughts (since I can't
> get him to suck up and join DJM himself). I think he has some
> interesting
> things to say and would like to hear from any of you who have the same
> passion
> for the instrument and the people who play it. (Obviously his tenor sax
> comment is completely out of line). K. C. Clarinet
>
>
>
> First of all, there are two completely different issues that need to be
> explicitly separated. The first issue is the one I addressed (and will
> comment
> on again below) and has to do with what standards should be held up as
> the
> very best in jazz trombone playing and the realization that such
> standards are
> attainable, even if they are not actually attained by all professional
> jazz
> trombonists. The second issue is the enjoyment factor of any and all
> that love
> playing the trombone. You don't have to be a Christian Lindberg to get
> enjoyment from playing, thank heavens!!! These two issues should NEVER
> be
> confused or mixed.
>
> As far as the whole jazz trombone standard of excellence issue goes, it
> really boils down to the definition people use as to what really great
> playing
> is. I have heard of most of the players mentioned below in the notes
> that you
> forwarded to me, and some of them are part of what I previously referred
> to
> as the "some players that most people have not heard of". For instance, I
> have
> some of Andy Martin's recordings, and his is a fine player with a mature
> technique and solid improvising ability.
>
> There are some others also. I mentioned Herb Bruce. I noticed that no
> one
> else mentioned him. They should have! Herb can hold court with the best
> of
> them. Every trombonist should have copies of his last two CD's
> "Herbicide"
> and "Heaven and Earth". For goodness sake, go to _www.herbbruce.com_
> (http://www.herbbruce.com/) and buy them! (No, I do not get a cut!)
> There are
> other unknown great players. One fellow who lives in a small town in
> Arkansas
> and has cut at least one CD of jazz versions of Christian hymns (I have
> it) is
> also a monster, but I would bet money that the total number of people in
> this country that have heard of him would not even populate a typical
> small U.S.
> town. And yes, Ron Wilkins is a good player too.
>
> So, you see, I have heard of these players. Also, back in the mid to
> late
> 1990's a wonderful trombone group "Spiritual To The Bone" cut about five
> CD's
> that are just great. Herb Bruce was one of the featured soloists on
> these
> CD's. So, yes there are some great players out there, and some of them
> are
> great jazz players as well. But, what I was referring to in my earlier
> note was
> great JAZZ players as opposed to great studio players (not always the
> same
> thing by any stretch of the imagination). There are some fantastic
> studio
> trombonists in the L.A. area who have banded together over the last 40
> years in
> an informal organization called "Bohanan's Garage" (The reason for that
> name takes too long to explain). Some of the members of that
> organization have
> put together a great CD called "All My Concertos". This is a large
> trombone
> ensemble that recorded all the written compositions of the late studio
> trombonist/composer Tommy Pederson. While this is excellent playing and
> wonderful
> compositions, it is for the most part not jazz in the truest sense of the
> word. This is not a devaluation of the work by any means, simply a
> statement
> that not all great playing is jazz.
>
> The Tommy Pederson works are a very interesting and VERY musically
> satisfying blend of what I would call jazz and neo-impressionist/romantic
> classical
> music. The trombonists playing in this CD are excellent players who have
> developed a very high level of competency on their instrument. (For the
> person who
> mentioned Alan Kaplan, he is one of these trombonists. Alan also has a
> relatively new solo CD out that is mostly ballad stuff and very well
> played.)
> And there are players like that in all the really big U.S. cities.
> However,
> most of these people are not great jazz players of the category of an 'in
> their
> prime" Rosolino or Fontana. And that is what I meant in my earlier
> note.
> If you really want to know what the trombone is capable of these days,
> please
> listen to recordings of Joseph Alessi (principal with NY Phil), Ian
> Bousfield (principal with Vienna Phil), Nick Hudson (a true poet of the
> trombone and
> principal with William Fairey Brass Band in England), and of course
> Christian
> Lindberg (with more than 50 CD's to his name now!). The point of my
> first
> soap box was that the standard for technical excellence in jazz MUST keep
> up
> with what exists in the classical world. Again, I am not saying that the
> LEVEL of jazz trombone playing must for all players keep up with the
> highest
> level of playing in the classical world, only that the STANDARD needs to
> keep up.
>
>
> Frankly, I am tired of people explicitly or (what is more common)
> implicitly
> trying to either dumb down the technical standard of jazz trombone
> playing
> or justifying its lower standard (relative to today's classical playing).
> I
> guess my standards for jazz playing are annoyingly high. They certainly
> have
> gone up over the last 30 years. For instance, I first heard Watrous on a
> late 1960's promotional LP called "The Straight Life" (pretty ironic
> title for
> Bill during that period of time!). He also did an almost unknown solo
> ballad LP called "William Russell Watrous" that had nothing but sweet
> ballads
> backed by strings. Watrous was an unknown quantity back then, and did
> not really
> become well known until the mid 70's with his Manhattan Wildlife Refuge
> recordings. I admit that I was blown over by his playing on his Straight
> Life LP
> and even more so in the mid 70's with his Refuge recordings and his set
> of
> small ensemble LP's that followed that. Today, I still listen to
> Watrous, and
> I still buy his recordings when they come out. However, I am not
> completely
> blown over by his playing any more. After listening to today's top
> symphonic players, I have raised my standards for jazz playing. My
> standard for
> jazz players is that they have a full, harmonics-rich, well-centered tone
> that
> does not thin out even a little when going up to high F's! It can be
> done.
> (I really cannot stand hearing the term "velvety tone" which is just a
> nice
> way of saying the tone is not full and rich, especially when you get
> above high
> C.) Listen to Alessi's recording of a Carmen Suite on his
> "Trombonastics"
> CD to understand what upper register trombone tone should sound like.
> And
> please do not give me that tired old saw about there being different
> tones for
> trombone. Rubbish! The same tone that makes for a top classical
> trombonist
> should be the tone for a jazz trombonist. There can be minor tonal
> shadings
> used for both classical and jazz trombone playing, depending on what you
> are
> doing. However, the same basic tone should be accomplished. My
> standard
> for jazz players includes fast technical playing that is up to the level
> of a
> Christian Lindberg when playing the Winter Concerto from Vivaldi's Fours
> Seasons. (Yes, I know that he recorded that on alto trombone, but we are
> talking
> fast technique now!) My standard for jazz trombone playing now includes
> lip
> flexibility that allows for perfectly controlled and clean lip trilling
> (not
> shakes!!!) at the same level as those classical players that I listed.
> And
> by the way, Jack Teagarden proved that this was do-able in his 1944
> beautiful
> solo version of Sophisticated Lady. (After all, the standard of lip
> flexibility in jazz set by Jack more than 60 years ago still stands, or
> at least it
> should.) Don't misunderstand me. I do not want jazz transmutated into a
> classical wannabe style. (Ugh, that would be worse than all those
> horrible
> recordings by opera divas singing pop ballads!) I just want the same
> standard of
> playing in jazz to be commonly held up that now exists in the classical
> arena. There are some that are doing it, but not as many as some might
> imagine
> if they would take the time to really, really listen to the great
> classical
> players. For instance, how many jazz trombone enthusiasts today have
> actually
> heard Ian Bousfield's CD "The Versatile Virtuoso"? It should be required
> listening for ANYONE who wants to claim to be knowledgeable in trombone
> playing,
> whether jazz, classical, or otherwise. Bousfield's recording of
> "Rhapsody
> For Trombone and Brass Band" is one of the finest and emotionally
> satisfying
> trombone recordings of any genre that I have ever heard. (It also is a
> heavily jazz-tinged piece with an extended improvised section.) Now, to
> another
> issue raised by someone. Is it necessary for all professional (or
> non-professional) jazz trombonists to play with this level of technical
> accomplishment?
> OF COURSE NOT!!! To even insinuate that is just plain stupid. However,
> this IS the level of accomplishment that should unswervingly be held up
> as the
> standard by which trombone playing should be measured. And I do not
> think
> that is being done in the jazz trombone community today, at least to the
> extent
> that it should be. If a jazz trombonist does not play at the highest
> level
> of performance possible, should people no longer enjoy his playing? Of
> course not. As I mentioned, I still listen to Watrous (and many, many
> others) and
> I still enjoy his playing even if I am no longer knocked over with
> scorched
> eyebrows. But we need to always hold up the very highest standards as
> the
> target for everyone to shoot at. And if we do not know what that target
> is,
> how can we hold it up? How many jazz trombone enthusiasts actually buy
> and
> listen to recordings by the really great non-jazz trombonists that I
> mentioned
> earlier in this note? (And those names I gave were only a partial list.
> I did
> not mention Ronald Barron, Ralph Sauer, Jay Freidman, etc, etc.)
> Certainly
> some do, but my experience tells me that it is not a large percentage.
> The
> condensation of what I am saying is simple: I am absolutely convinced
> that
> one of the reasons that the trombone is becoming less and less used in
> jazz
> groups as anything other than back up sound, is the continued idiotic
> notion
> that the trombone is a clumsy instrument that cannot do what tenor saxes
> can
> do. There is absolutely no reason for that notion, and all those who
> continue
> to think that way should be strapped to a chair and required to listen to
> all
> 50+ of Christian Lindberg's CDs, going back to his first one cut in about
> 1982! And if they still don't get the message, then move on to the CD's
> of
> other great trombonists. And if they start to cry and beg you to stop
> force
> feeding them classical trombone music, then put on Herb Bruce's "Heaven
> and
> Earth" CD and play his cut of the Tommy Dorsey masterpiece
> "Trombonology". Does
> it sound like I am sick and tired of hearing one shrill, honking tenor
> sax
> solo after another? Yes I am.
>
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