Single Most Recognizable "Tone"

[Harold_Z]

Who do I almost always instantly recognize? These guys:

Armstrong, Bechet, Monk, Wild Bill, Hodges, Bud Freeman, Albert Nicholas, Pee Wee, Ayler, Trane, B.B. King, T-Bone Walker, Bird, Ben Webster, Max Kaminsky, Bobby Hackett, Jack Teagarden, King Curtis, Eric Gale, Cornell Dupree, Jack McDuff, Larry Young, Eldridge.... on and on.

A tenor player friend of mine used to refer to guys like this as "rugged individualists.

[Jim R]

I think it depends very much on the instrument - you need to hear pianists and drumers "speak" a few phrases before recognizing.

I tend to agree with this, although I know a lot of people can hear certain sounds better than others.

I think I'd go along with those who said Paul Desmond.

[Free For All]

Kid Thomas (that jabbing trumpet sound-unmistakable)

Well, I'm ashamed to say I have NO idea who "Kid Thomas" is. Call me an idiot and then please educate me.

[jazzbo]

Honest sometimes I can recognize Monk from the tone of one note! (I say that listening to cdr #33 of live Monk that I haven't found yet on commercially released cd, a nonet date).

Kid Thomas: wonderful New Orleans traditional jazz trumpeter. Check out this listing of cds:

http://www.louisianamusicfactory.com/shows...ring=Kid+Thomas

Edited August 12, 2004 by jazzbo

[Dave James]

Mark me up with the Paul Desmond crowd. Instantaneously recognizable. More so for me than anyone else.

Up over and out.

[tooter]

I am surprised that nobody has cited Art Pepper. Sticking strictly to the brief and provided he was playing alto and not the tenor he sometimes did, he had such a very individual sound that I think I would always recoginise him. Did so on a BFT not long ago anyway. Perhaps not quite so marked is the sound of Sonny Criss.

[LAL]

Kid Thomas (that jabbing trumpet sound-unmistakable)

Well, I'm ashamed to say I have NO idea who "Kid Thomas" is. Call me an idiot and then please educate me.

Kid Thomas Valentine (1896-1987) - Early New Orleans jazz musician, more well-known as a N.O revivalist, and not influenced even a little by Louis Armstrong throughout. He's trumpet playing may not be to many folks' liking but IMO fits in very well with the bands in which he played. There're currently dozens of discs released on which he's either the leader or sideman. Here's a short bio from AMG.

One of the more controversial of the New Orleans revivalist players of the 1960's, Kid Thomas Valentine was hailed by some partisans as one of the great interpreters of "the real jazz" while others could not get beyond his erratic intonation and his occasionally out-of-tune solos. The feeling was there but the technique tended to be uncertain. However allowances could be made for his advanced age since Kid Thomas was still playing when he was 91! Valentine (who was often simply known as Kid Thomas) began playing at the age of ten and when he was 14 he joined the Pickwick Brass Band; his professional career would last 77 years! He worked locally until 1922 when he moved to New Orleans, freelancing in a variety of brass and dance hall bands (including his own Algiers Stompers which he formed in 1926) throughout the next few decades. Valentine first appeared on records in 1951 and he was a regular at Preservation Hall starting in 1961, often playing with George Lewis.

Valentine participated in tours of the North that were organized by Big Bill Bissonnette and was one of the last original proponents of the pre-Louis Armstrong New Orleans trumpet style. He recorded fairly frequently after 1951 for such labels as American Music, MNO, Center, Mono, 77, Jazzology, Riverside, Jazz Crusade, Music of New Orleans, San Jacinto, Dixie, Jazz Macon Club, La Croix, Storyville etc.

This is Charlie DeVore's, a N.O-style jazz musician, summation of Kid Thomas' playing

Kid Thomas: Hot, searing tone. Pre-Armstrong vibrato reflecting earliest days of New Orleans jazz. Rhythmic approach to ensemble playing very effective and appealing.

[Tom Storer]

I think I'd have to go with Desmond, too, but I hesitate between him and Konitz, who is also in the instant-recognition category for me.

For Miles and Coltrane, the waters are muddied because there are so many excellent mimics!

Not many bassists have been mentioned. Ron Carter, Ray Brown, Buster Williams, Dave Holland, Eddie Gomez... Steve Swallow on bass guitar. Scofield and Metheny on guitar, and Jim Hall. Kenny Garrett also has a very distinctive tone.

[ADR]

Jackie Mclean is VERY recognizable for me.

I'll second the vote for Jackie Mac. I can't think of anybody else that has as distinctive a tone as he does.

Some of the others with distinctive tones like Trane and Miles are victims of their own success in that they tones have have been incorporated into a host of well known successors. With Jakcie Mac - I can't think of any other well known alto players who have tried to directly emulate his tone.

[BruceH]

McLean!

[MartyJazz]

I am surprised that nobody has cited Art Pepper. Sticking strictly to the brief and provided he was playing alto and not the tenor he sometimes did, he had such a very individual sound that I think I would always recoginise him. Did so on a BFT not long ago anyway. Perhaps not quite so marked is the sound of Sonny Criss.

I find Lennie Niehaus at least, if not more recognizable than Pepper.

[BERIGAN]

Rex Stewart!

[Free For All]

Buddy Bolden!

[Alon Marcus]

I will surely recognize one pianist from a single sound he makes and he is

Keith Jarrett

...because of the sounds he produces to accompany the note.

No hard feelings Keith fans, I'm a fan myself.

[reg]

for me it has to be stan the man

surprised hank mobley hasn't been mention much.

others monk, silver, grant green, clark terry, mclean, morgan, diz and dexter gordan.

what about lester bowie and also malachi favors?

[blue-note-ojc]

For me, tenor saxophone players are the easiet to distinguish by tone. Is it because of the different reeds?

Thus I would say: EDDIE LOCKJAW DAVIS

BENNY GOLSON

Tom

[connoisseur series500]

Didn't notice this thread until it stretched to three pages. The first person who came to mind was Jackie Mac, as Wesbed first stated.

I think Stanley T is instantly recognizable as well.

Everyone can recognize Blakey on drums.

How about Pepper Adams on bari? I think he's pretty recognizable.

Jim Hall is easily recognizable on guitar as is John Patton on organ.

Lester Young...of course!

Wayne Shorter on tenor (when he doesn't sound like Trane!)

[GA Russell]

On the basis of one note, I would vote for Stan Getz first, and Paul Desmond second (although the new Contemporary Records Story box has a Lenny Niehaus track which sounds like Desmond circa 1954).

For a group sound, one note, I would vote for the George Shearing Quintet.

[marcoliv]

Dexter & Monk for me

MCO

[mailman]

Louis Armstrong. Hands down no contest.

Edited August 14, 2004 by mailman

[mikeweil]

I hesitate to point out that I asked for "single most recognizable tone".

Who is the absolute schitt for you when it comes to recognizable tone?

I think one single tone - I suppose you are talking about one note, musically - is not enough - it's the phrasing, the connecting of notes that makes them distinctive, and that is inseparable from the personal sound.

It would be fairly easy to find some single tone and edit it out and take it for one of the players mentioned, but back in context you would doubt it is the player you just guessed. I doubt that if any tenor saxist would hit the same note in the studio under exactly the same recording conditions, that we would get them all. But if they played one identical phrase, that's a chance.

[mikeweil]

But if I really had to pick one, it would be Monk.

But remember how few recognized him when a piano solo popped up on a BFT?

[Miles251]

Free For All.... Ha, you and Wynton!

[LAL]

Another vote for Wes Montgomery. Add also Dizzy Gillespie.

[Tony Pusey]

John Cipollina on guitar!