[Dixielandjazz] Modern trombone and Bechet vibrato

[ROBERT R. CALDER]

Two topics, the point about trombonists being that no matter how many notes a trombonist can play, and no matter what range of phrasing and expression he (or she!) might have at command, it's a matter of putting the right notes in the right places at the right times (swinging as well as the other things) and the opportunities had to appear. In the  19th century  Verdi  had problems  with  trombone sections  who used valve trombones and had problems pitching accurately. The instrument (slide or valve) needed its pioneers before for instance Teagarden became possible.
Trombonists also had to leave behind a notion of where their place was which identified it with Ory or Jim Robinson. As  far as I  can make out,  none of the  great  early trombonists  came from  New Orleans, and the usual verdict on some capable (sub-Tea) white trombonists recorded in the later 1920s is that they had improved considerably on their early work. They had taken a little time before they got the hang of jazz.  The Oliver tradition was by and large like an oral or ear tradition, it needed schooled musicians to provide maps.  
So far as I'm aware, Teagarden and Harrison worked with Coleman Hawkins,  a  very capable  string player  (boy wonder of the cello)  and  pianist  with a considerable technical understanding of Harmony (as well as father of the tenor saxophone -- Lester Young and John Coltrane were alto players who transposed down). He'd also heard David Jones, who played tenor modelled on his other instrument, the French Horn.    
I don't suppose there was any first trombonist to play in a non-Ory manner, there were just a number of gifted trombonists who found their way in jazz by learning the language and having a background in musical technique and music theory. Of course in Higgy's native Georgia there are actually trombone choirs associated with churches.  

VIBRATO
Of course background -- and regional background as well as environing musical culture -- has to be borne in mind, but 
I can't really associate Bechet with specifically Caruso in terms of saxophone vibrato, the only very great singer I know of with a Bechet vibrato was Conchita Supervia. Singing vibrato is not something put on but rather something which happens naturally and has to be restrained or suppressed, a kind of disconnection of air-production from the normal muscular vibration of the diaphragm. Something similar to Bechet can also be heard in the singing of Vanni Marcoux, when that great baritone-timbre bass makes a big noise. 
Of course Bechet learned a lot from singers of the dramatic, Caruso variety, the distinctive vibrato -- which I have seen produced by a Bechet-follower who held the saxophone as loosely as possible -- was a result of integrating expression with the production or projection of air. Of course as Louis Armstrong and Henry Allen both remembered, Bechet was also a cornet player not exactly below their elevated standard. 




MO it is not enough to listen to the original jazz players. To be  
complete, one should listen to the people they listened to. To get  
into their minds as to why they did what they did. In Armstrong's  
case, listening to conetist Herbert  Clarke, will give us some insight  
about one of Armstrong's roots. (Especially the West End Blues  
Cadenza) Or in Bechet's case, listing to Enrico Caruso (ah that  
vibrato) and in Mole's case listening to Herbert Clarke's brother, a  
trombonist and teacher in NYC and also a member of Sousa's Band in  
1915-16. Other famed New Yorkers who were changing the way trombone  
       
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