[Dixielandjazz] Plunger, Tricky Sam Nanton

[Bert Brandsma]

Hi Tim,
I'm pretty sure Steve didn't mean the handkerchief/valve literal.He meant it as an example as a musician not wanting to show the world his tricks.Things like that are not uncommon in Ellington's world, like Cat Anderson never wanting to show other trumpetters his mouthpiece, and Hodges grumbling that other sax players should stay out of his kitchen.That last remark one also should not read literal!
Kind regards,
Bert Brandsma


> From: Tim.Shaw at mh.org.au
> To: mister_bertje at hotmail.com
> CC: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2012 19:43:05 +1000
> Subject: RE: [Dixielandjazz] Plunger, Tricky Sam Nanton
> 
> 
> Steve et al.,
> Considering that Joe Nanton was a slide trombonist,  "having a handkerchief over the valves so that others couldn't copy his playing"  ain't an option.
> -& I think it was Freddie Keppard - (more paranoid and ostentatious than the much more sober and circumspect Oliver), who initiated the handkerchief thing.
> 
> A close friend (Tim Harding) who is an excellent trombonist, once claimed that he'd worked out how Tricky Sam managed to bring off  his "tricks" and demonstrated it to my satisfaction as well - He moved the slide and mute in "contrary motion" - as the slide went out, the plunger went "in"  and vice versa, so he could pitch notes much more accurately than others who just used growl & plunger techniques for tone colour. The contray movement is counter-intuitive and  quite hard to do this unconsciously without heaps of practice (Tim can confirm if he still subscribes to the list).
> 
> 
> I think Oliver - at least on early recordings - used a small pear-shaped "pixie" mut,e which he held in his right hand, moving it in and out of the bell of his cornet to get the" wa wa" and talking effects that he was famous for ( and to his eternal credit had the good taste to use sparingly).  I think you can hear himusing the small mute like that on some of best of his  Dixie Syncopators recordings  - "Wa Wa Wa",  Somedy Sweetheart and "Every Tub" are 3 examples.
> Best Regards,
> Tim S
> 
> 
> 
> From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com [dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] On Behalf Of Bert Brandsma [mister_bertje at hotmail.com]
> Sent: 08 April 2012 15:40
> To: Shaw, Tim
> Cc: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Plunger, Tricky Sam Nanton
> 
> That is not unlikely, since Nanton treated it like a secret.
> He only taught the tricks to Cootie Williams, who late in life did teach it to Bob Hunt.Bob told me that they were not eager at all to share, but on the other hand wanted the tradition to go on as they felt it should be done.There is much more to it than just using two mutes simultaniously.
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Bert Brandsma
> 
> 
> 
> > Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2012 22:03:32 +0100
> > From: stevevoce at virginmedia.com
> > Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Plunger, Tricky Sam Nanton
> > CC: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> > To: mister_bertje at hotmail.com
> >
> > I was always interested in the fact that one could confirm that the
> > Ellington band was miming to a 1940s Soundie (I think it was C Jam Blues)
> > by the fact that Nanton was audibly doing the two-mute growl, but on
> > screen was using simply the plunger with no mute inside the bell.
> > Maybe Tricky was emulating King Oliver's technique of having a
> > handerchief over the valves so that people would find it more difficult
> > to copy his playing?
> > Steve Voce
> >
> >
> > On 07/04/2012 21:50, Bert Brandsma wrote:
> > > Albeit a short one, a very fine Tricky Sam solo is behind Billie Holiday in this 1935 short movie. Around 4 min. 50 sec.
> > > http://youtu.be/QTT9Su1d-VE
> > >
> > > You can see very clearly that Nanton makes big moves with the plunger to reach the desired sounds.
> > >
> > > Kind regards,
> > > Bert Brandsma
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
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