[Dixielandjazz] Trumpet Player Cool Styles

[Rick Campbell]

Relative to Larry Walton's comment:
"I don't think so but something else bugs me in that every trumpet  
player
around here sounds the same with a few notable exceptions.  No  
inflections,
no feeling, no style, just straight trumpet."

I have found that most college-trained trumpet players in the Pacific  
Northwest are very focused on Miles Davis, that is a cool style, and  
truly are not very good at other styles, especially hot. By that I  
mean, they can't play Harry James with the big tone and vibrato; they  
can't or won't play in the manner of Louis Armstrong or Bix or even  
Ziggy Elman. Throw them a hot solo space and they don't know what to do.

This is problematic, because you can't hire them for an early jazz job  
because, 1) they can't play it convincingly, and 2) they generally  
disdain it.

In big bands, these cats play the most detached, unemotional solos  
imaginable, often muted like Miles. Lots of notes, lots of runs, but  
almost deliberately avoiding emotional contact.

To me, jazz demands that emotional inflection.

Is it possible that Kenny G learned from these guys?

Rick Campbell
Milneburg Social Aid and Pleasure Society Jazz Band
Portland, Oregon USA
503-701-7356
ricksax at comcast.net