Jazz baritone saxophone

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The term jazz baritone saxophone denotes the role of baritone saxophone playing in jazz .

The origins and lines of tradition of the jazz baritone saxophone

The first notable baritone saxophonist is Harry Carney (1910–1974), who played in the Duke Ellington Orchestra for a long time and was closely connected to its history and sound. “He blew his instrument with all the strength and roughness it contained,” wrote Joachim-Ernst Berendt ; In his opinion, his style is essentially nothing more than the transfer of the Coleman Hawkins / Don Byas style to the baritone saxophone.

With the bebop some baritone saxophonists came onto the scene; it was initially Serge Chaloff (1923–1957) who was the first to create an independent baritone style. “Chaloff is considered the real harmonist among the modern baritone saxophonists”, wrote Berendt in the first edition of his jazz book in 1953, “the rhythmist is Leo Parker (1925–1962), the melodist is Cecil Payne (1922–2007)”. Leo Parker brought Harlem's rhythmic and vital tradition , Payne played the frenzied and nervous phrases of bebop on the complicated instrument.

The baritone saxophonist of cool jazz is Gerry Mulligan (1927–1996); According to Brian Priestley, it represents one of the high points in the history of the instrument. Compared to Chaloff, Parker, and Payne, Mulligan always sounded like a product of the swing era ; he also refers to the phrasing of the bass saxophonist Adrian Rollini . "His rhythmic and melodic skills make him the Zoot Sims of the baritone saxophone" (Priestley).

The real baritone saxophonist of West Coast Jazz is the late Bob Gordon (1928–1955); the albums he made with tenor saxophonist and arranger Jack Montrose in his quintet are, in Berendt's opinion, the most remarkable combo recordings in West Coast jazz. Other baritone saxophonists of this style were Bud Shank and Jimmy Giuffre ; for them, however, it was always a secondary instrument. Giuffre blew one of his most impressive solos on the baritone, "I Only Have Eyes for You". Sahib Shihab (1925–1989) worked on the east coast - and later in Denmark .

Pepper Adams (1920–1974) is considered to be the most influential baritone saxophonist for the next generation . Its “sawing sound” was style-forming; he emerged from the Kenton Orchestra in 1957 , where he was called "The Knife" because of his unusual style. Mel Lewis recalls: "He stabbed and punched, and before he was done he had everything cut into pieces" Adams was a role model for subsequent musicians such as Ronnie Cuber , Charles Davis , Bruce Johnstone , Jack Nimitz and Nick Brignola .

In the 1970s, mainly dominated Rockjazz -Baritonsaxophonisten as Ian Underwood and Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood in Zappa's Mothers of Invention the scene. After all, the Englishman John Surman (* 1944) was the most important baritone saxophonist in Europe in the 1970s; however, the soprano saxophone later became his main instrument. He expanded the previously (apparently) limited pitch range of the instrument into the overblown regions of tenor-like playing and beyond. Other musicians of the 1970s and 1980s who also used the baritone saxophone were Henry Threadgill , Mwata Bowden , Fred Houn , John Oslawski and the German Bernd Konrad .

Hamiet Bluiett (* 1940), who emerged from the Black Artists Group, is one of the outstanding baritone saxophonists on the US scene . According to Berendt, he has “the most powerful baritone tone since Harry Carney. He blows his horn with that vibrating vehemence and that volume that is usually associated with big band baritone players. ”In his“ neoclassical ”playing, which can also be heard in the World Saxophone Quartet from 1976 , he combines many styles, free and blues , Bop and Swing, Dixie and Soul .

The baritone saxophone is also played by Julian Argüelles , Céline Bonacina , Peter Brötzmann , Ernie Caceres , Claire Daly , Bruce Grant , Lars Gullin , George Haslam , Günter Kronberg , Stephen Kupka , Scott Robinson , Ronnie Ross , Steffen Schorn , Gary Smulyan and Joachim Zoepf .

Important albums of the jazz baritone saxophone in the LP and CD era

  • Pepper Adams: Encounter! (OJC, 1968)
  • Pepper Adams: Conjuration (Reservoir, 1983)
  • Hamiet Bluiett: Birthright (India navigation, 1977) solo
  • Hamiet Bluiett: Live at Knitting Factory (Knitting Factory Rec., 1997)
  • Harry Carney / Duke Ellington: Such Sweet Thunder , (Columbia, 1959)
  • Serge Chaloff: Serge Chaloff Memorial (Cool & Blue, 1946–1949)
  • Serge Chaloff: Blue Serge (Capitol, 1956)
  • Bob Gordon: Bob Gordon Memorial with Jack Montrose, Herbie Harper , Jimmy Rowles (Fresh Sound, 1953/54)
  • Gerry Mulligan / Chet Baker : The Original Quartet (Blue Note, 1952/1953)
  • Gerry Mulligan: Mulligan Meets Monk (OJC, 1957)
  • Gerry Mulligan / Art Farmer : What Is There to Say? (Columbia, 1958/1959)
  • Cecil Payne: Patterns of Jazz (Savoy, 1956)
  • Leo Parker: Rollin´ with Leo (Blue Note, 1961)
  • Sahib Shihab :; Jazz Shihab ( Savoy , 1957)
  • John Surman: Upon Reflection (ECM, 1979), The Amazing Adventures of Simon Simon (ECM, 1981)
  • World Saxophone Quartet: WSQ ( Black Saint , 1980)
  • John Williams : Baritone Band (Spotlite 2000, with John Surman, Chris Biscoe , Alan Barnes , Andy Panayi , Alan Wakeman )
  • Tini Thomsen The Long Ride (339 Records, 2017)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. cf. Car, Priestley, Fairweather, p. 461.
  2. cf. Berendt 1976, p. 226
  3. cit. according to Berendt, 1976, p. 227.
  4. a b quot. after Berendt, Huesmann, p. 337.
  5. The selection of the albums was based on Cook, Morton: The Penguin Guide to Jazz and Ian Carr and others. a .: Jazz - Rough Guide