[Dixielandjazz] Sidney's Vibrato

[Bert Brandsma]

Hello Stan,
That story is wrong. Literal all New Orleans horn players in the 1920's played with vibrato, most with quite a lot. The great players had a very personal interpretation and way of using it, be it Johnny Dodds, Louis Armstrong (just listen to all his increasing vibrato's, ending in shakes) or Bechet.Swing players on average used a bit more controlled way of vibrato, but still , just listen to Hawkins or the entire Ellington sax secton......
It is really the generation of Miles Davis and later that use little, till in the 1960's we suddenly were trained to play non vibrato ......
But Bechet simply fits his time, the intonation issue for soprano's has nothing to do with it.
Bert Brandsma


> Somewhere, a long time ago, an article explained Sidney Bechet's vibrato
> when he played the soprano sax was because the early sopranos were had
> difficulties staying in tune. As I aged, it was more difficult to accept
> that explanation. Now, I'm faced with an hour class lecture on Sidney Bechet
> for a friend's jazz class. Can someone confirm or deny the vibrato story?
> 
>