[Dixielandjazz] Swinging - are rhythm sections needed?

[Gary Lawrence Murphy]

in our situation with the Eighth Street Orchestra, we often don't know
who we will have at any given session and so the core family members
stay flexible to fill in gaps.  We find that we do quite nicely
without piano or guitar although that then constrains the drums to
just the basics. I think it was Thelonious Monk who said that you need
both melody and the bass line to render any tune, and I'd agree with
that, even if the bass has to be carried by a sax, the music benefits
from being grounded.  It was also Monk who said you don't need to be
the drummer to be keeping time, it is the responsibility of *every*
musician.  So given all that I'd say you can dispense with everyone
except the bass and the soloist, or as Bucky Fuller used to say,
"Unity is plural, at minimum two" :)

(notice, in Bach's solo flute works, how the flutist bounces between
the melody and the bass line ;) )

On 3/19/14, Marek Boym <marekboym at gmail.com> wrote:
> No, don't take me wrong: I do not recommend immediate disposal of the
> rhythm sections.  However, some musicians swing like hell by themselves.
>
> I have just listened to my recordings from the "Duo Special" concert at the
> 2005 Breda Jazz FEstival, by just a soprano sax and a trumpet (or cornet),
> and it took me a while to realize that there were just the two of them.
> Not that it is unprecedented: I commented on it in the Mississippi Rag
> after my first Breda Festival (1990), and, of course, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn
> recorded an unaccompanied duet number with terriffic swing! I can see
> lismates aking "what is this guy doing on this list!? (the way I feel when
> I read references to the the "playing" of John Coltrane, for example).  I
> have no good answer, except that after their "cool jazz" (a contradiction
> in terms) period Zoot and Al saw the light and returned to playing hot,
> like in their big band days.
> Cheers
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