Benny Golson Show

The Duplex Mystery Jazz Hour of 7.23.15 on WZBC.ORG, 90.3 featured Benny Golson, one of the most singular talents in jazz: tenor sax master, arranger and composer of some of the great jazz tunes: Stablemates, Whisper Not, I Remember Clifford...

Listen HERE.

PLAYLIST

Benny Golson Nonet "Whisper Not" from "Benny Golson's New York Scene" (Jazz, 1957) on Contemporary Records 

Benny Golson Quintet  "Something In B Flat" from "Benny Golson's New York Scene" (Jazz, 1957) on Contemporary Records 

Benny Golson Sextet "Step Lightly" from "The Modern Touch" (Jazz, 1957) on Riverside 

Benny Golson Sextet "Hymn To the Orient" from "The Modern Touch" (Jazz, 1957) on Riverside 

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers "Blues For Marcel" from "Des_Femmes_Disparaissent_(Soundtrack)" (Jazz, 1958) 

Benny Golson And The Philadelphians "Stablemates" from "Benny Golson And The Philadelphians" (Jazz, 1958) on United Artists 

Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers "Along Came Betty" from "Moanin'" (Jazz, 1958) on Blue Note 

Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet "Along came Betty" from "Another Git Together" (Jazz, 1962) on Mercury 

Benny Golson Quintet "A Bit of Heaven" from "Gone With Golson" (Jazz, 1959) on Prestige 

Benny Golson (solo) "You're My Thrill" from "Take A Number From 1 To 10" (Jazz, 1960) on ARGO 

Benny Golson (duo) "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" from "Take A Number From 1 To 10" (Jazz, 1960) on ARGO 

Benny Golson Quintet "Little Karin" from "Take A Number From 1 To 10" (Jazz, 1960) on ARGO 

The Jazztet "Farmer's Market" from "Jazztet at Birdhouse" (Jazz, 1961) on ARGO 

Annie Ross "Farmer's Market" from "Farmer" (1952) on Prestige 

The Jazztet and John Lewis "Milano" from "The Jazztet and John Lewis" (Jazz, 1961) on ARGO 

Benny Golson's Orchestra "You're Driving Me Crazy / Moten Swing" from "Pop+Jazz=Swing" (Jazz, 1962) on Audio Fidelity 

Benny Golson's Orchestra "Ornithology / How High The Moon" from "Pop+Jazz=Swing" (Jazz, 1962) on Audio Fidelity 

Art Farmer - Benny Golson Sextet "Killer Joe" from "Meet the Jazztet" (Jazz, 1960) on ARGO 

Manhattan Transfer "Killer Joe" from "Vocalese" (Jazz, 1985) on Atlantic 

Benny Golson Quartet "Mad About the Boy" from "Free" (Jazz, 1963) on ARGO 

Benny Golson And The International Jazz Orchestra "Stockholm Sojourn" from "Stockholm Sojourn" (Jazz, 1964) on Prestige 

Benny Golson Sextet "If I should Lose You" from "Just Jazz" (Jazz, 1962) on Audio Fidelity 

Jazz Bass Technique Evolution-Pt. 2

The question inspiring these bass posts is: Has the playing on this instrument progressed farther technically than on any other jazz instrument?

In Part One, we listened to foundational tuba and bass players from the 20's and 30's. We'll pick up now starting with Jimmy Blanton who, if not the first "modern" player, has as good a claim to that title as anyone.

Jimmy Blanton

Blanton's strong regional reputation led him to Duke Ellington's band in 1939, where he played until he died in 1942, at age 23, from TB.

Slam Stewart had the technique of the walking bass line down, but was also unique in his ability to bow solos and sing/hum along with them (see my previous post on arco-bowed-bass playing.

Jazz Bass Technique Evolution

Watching Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten led me to ask whether the technique used to play any instrument in jazz has evolved farther from its beginnings than the bass:
                                     

 

The role of the bass in early jazz was to keep time and harmony, a more limiting role than that taken by horn players, who were free to create and embellish melodies and counter-lines. So, you had Bechet, Armstrong, Morton, Hawkins, Dodds, etc., able to take all the technique they'd acquired and put it in service to the music. It's also relevant that until the early 1930's, in order to make a living, players had to learn to play both string bass and tuba, instruments requiring very different techniques.

Early bass and tuba players in jazz occasionally stepped out beyond their usual role, but going too far, too often, in a polyphonic and/or horn-dominated environment would have meant straying too far from the anchoring role the bass was expected to play. One does get a whiff of an untapped reservoir of technique from the occasional startling solo and the overall assurance of the playing.

Here's Bill Johnson, slapping and bowing. Interesting that it's in the "primitive" musical context of jug and comb-kazoo:


Here's Steve Brown, making sure he's audible by bowing his way through the tune and playing a tricky bowed-plucked solo: