[Dixielandjazz] Banjo Whackin'

[Rick]

When I built my (now defunct) website coloradonighthawks.com, I spent a 
lot of time considering trad jazz, the revival, and the role of drums in 
the evolution from "trad" to swing. (And back, with Lu Watters, and 
Turk, etc.)
Probably the critical historical point is that the high hat cymbal 
wasn't invented until about 1930.  That was about the time that bands 
began to switch from Tuba to String Bass.   The beat began to switch 
from two-beat to four-beat.
So, when the revival came, Turk was trying to recapture that 2/4 back 
beat, and he REALLY wanted to hear it on the banjo.  (You can get with a 
rim-shot on the snare, but that's "country" not "trad.")

With the disappearance of two-beat from "Jazz", it appeared in Country 
Music (i.e. Country SWING) with Bob Wills.  Bob had two or three rhythm 
guitars playing what we called "sock" rhythm. -- very strong, very 
staccato back beat.  You had to do this with barre chords -- you 
couldn't do it with open guitar chords.  When I played open chords 
(electric guitar) in a Jam in Yuma, AZ in th 50's they said "Get off the 
stand if you're going to play that ringy shit!"   They wanted SOCK, and 
so I learned to play it.    Bluegrass bands get that sound now with the 
mandolin, which plays a very sharp back beat along with the bass one and 
three.  (get it.  I know it's not OKUM, but try...)  They don't call it 
Sock any more, they call it CHOP, and all good bluegrass bands get it. 

[Here's Rhonda Vincent and "Rage" with a good example -- she's playing 
CHOP so fast you can hardly see what she's doing. Bum-CHICK, Bum-CHICK, et.]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbqHnqh8Crg&feature=related

So, anyway... back to OKUM and trad banjo.  You can 
"chinka-chinka-chink" ... Eddie Peabody style, or you can play rhythm 
banjo.  I don't know if you "whack" the back beat, but it comes out 
stronger if you do it right. 

I play both, as the feel of the tune dictates.  Some trad ditties tend 
toward swing, so I play an even four over four.
Some tunes beg for a lot of two beat.  Here are two... think about Turk, 
or Bob Schulz, or whoever, doing them.
+ Trouble In Mind  ... four out of four traditional "plodding" blues
+ Everybody Loves my Baby  ... obviously (to me) rocking two-beat.  
Maybe pound on the bridge!

Anyway... thanks for listening!!

Rick
Lookin' for a trad band in Cochise County, AZ
Rick