[Dixielandjazz] Plunger

[Marek Boym]

Not quite, Stan,
Even if they have  not reached the high level of Bubber Miley, Tricky Sam
or Cootie Williams, there still are soloist who put the mute to a very good
effect.  I don't know about the current US scene, but there are quite a few
in Europe.  Only last Sunday I heard one - Herbert Christ.  Our own Avram
Felder is no slouch with the mute, either, nor is his trombonist, even
though the latter seems to be reading his solos rather than improvising.
And Steve Barbone has posted links to some good muted work by Wycliff
Gordon.

Be the way, I heard Cootie Williams in Nice in either 1976 or 1977.  He had
to be lifted on stage - he could not walk, but, at least to my ears, his
playing sounded great.  The enthusiastic applause he received seemed like
an indication that others shared my opinion.
Cheers

On 3 April 2012 20:38, Stan Brager <sbrager at verizon.net> wrote:

> Thanks for the wealth of information, Robert. The mute sounds created by
> Bubber Miley, Joe Nanton and others seems to have died out in post WW2
> brass
> playing with the advent of bebop and "modern" jazz by Dizzy, Bird and Monk.
> That said, one still hears the plunger used to perfection by brass sections
> in today's jazz bands - the soloists have disappeared for the most part.
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> Stan
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> Stan Brager
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> I probably mentioned this before, but for some years I was sure there was
> something not enormously wrong but not quite right about the later plunger
> work of Cootie Williams --  though I heard him with the 1967 Ellington band
> and whereas reviews of other gigs on the tour were unenthusiastic he was on
> amazing form in Glasgow, as was Cat Anderson at the other end of the
> trumpet
> section.
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