Artists immediately identifiable by their sound

[connoisseur series500]

Name some jazz players who are instantly recognizable by their sound.

To me, John Coltrane is instantly recognizable. So is Andrew Hill. Grant Green, as Soul Stream mentioned on his thread. Jackie Mclean has his own very identifiable sound. Louis Armstrong. Gene Harris is very recognizable.

Let's hear some other names.

[J Larsen]

McCoy Tyner. Jimmy Smith. Larry Young. Albert Ayler. Miles Davis. Chet Baker. Ornette Coleman (especially when he's playing a plastic horn!).

I guess it wouldn't be fair to name vocalists.

Edited August 7, 2003 by J Larsen

[Rooster_Ties]

Joe Henderson!!!

[Dmitry]

Rahsaan

[brownie]

All the jazz greats have their signature. Listen to a quick sample of Armstrong, Parker, Prez, Hawkins, Webster Coltrane, Monk or Miles, and you know instantly who's playing.

Same goes for Lee Morgan, McLean, Hill, Pepper, Ayler, CT.

And how about Mingus? LaFaro? Wilbur Ware? Paul Chambers? When you hear them,

you know instantly who's on bass.

[J Larsen]

I agree Brownie, and I'm surprised that Ben Webster hadn't been mentioned yet! Talk about "instantly recognizable"!

[Soul Stream]

Jackie McLean is a real distinctive voice. I ALWAYS know him, whereas I get lost on with some other famous altos.

Also, I'm usually very good at identifying Philly Joe and Sonny Clark, as well as Paul Chambers. Richard Davis is another bassist who has a certain way of playing I identify.

Stanley Turrentine is one of the most identifyable Tenor sounds ever.

Max Roach too for drummers.

[Cali]

Did anyone mention Bu?

Gary Bartz is someone I recognize instantly. Same with Wayne and Rollins.

[Dan Gould]

Sweets Edison. Ben Webster. Gene Harris.

[Ed S]

Dexter Gordon

[vibes]

Tony Williams is extremely recognizable to me. I'm not familiar with his work outside of the 60's, but his 60's work is very easy to spot.

[ralphie_boy]

No mistaking Ike Quebec. I can always pick-out Sam Rivers and Woody Shaw also.

[Brad]

For me, it's Jackie. The way he plays his horn is just unique. Second, would be Bird, no one has that delicious sound on the alto like Bird (Sonny might be close).

[jlhoots]

Don't know if Brownie meant Art Pepper or Pepper Adams, but they're both instantly

identifiable to me.

Another Art is Tatum.

[brownie]

Well I was wondering if I should add (Art and Adams) to the Pepper name, but didn't!

Their sound is instant recognition.

[John L]

I agree with Brownie as well. Part of being a "great" jazz musician means having a unique and recognizable voice.

One distinction between great jazz musicans might be how quickly they can be recognized, i.e. part of the greatness of some musicians is that they can be identified right away, only after one or a few notes. It could be a unique tone, a unique approach to bending notes, or phrasing so distinctive it is always immediately apparent. In this category, we have people like Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Thelonious Monk, Gene Ammons, Lockjaw Davis, Jackie McLean. I tend to love a lot of musicians who give their calling card right away.

Then there are other great musicians who, while maybe not having as individual a tone or delivery of a single note, are always recognizable after a few bars on the basis of their approach to music and improvization. Charlie Parker is a good example.

Edited August 7, 2003 by John L

[Soul Stream]

Monk. How could I have forgotten his sound. Perhaps his is THE most recognizable voice in jazz. And that's not even on a wind instrumnet. He was a really amazing STYLIST.

[RainyDay]

Miles, Monk, Coltrane, and Kenny Garrett. Sometimes Tyner and Pharoah Sanders (who I'm going to see tonight).

[king ubu]

Bubber Miley

Quentin Jackson

Clark Terry

Django

John Lewis

Doug Watkins

Teagarden

Steve Lacy

ubu

[SEK]

Billy Harper

Booker Ervin

Johnny Hodges

Eric Dolphy

[mikeweil]

All of those already mentioned. Dexter Gordon was the first that came to my mind. Some more that I instantly recognize:

Eddie Harris

Von Freeman

Clark Terry

Duke Ellington (at the piano, not to mention his writing)

Charlie Rouse

Earl Hines

James Spaulding

Jane Ira Bloom

Thad Jones

James Carter

Milt Jackson

Kenny Burrell

Lucky Thompson

That list would be longer than we all expected!

[Kari S]

In addition to Monk and McCoy Tyner, one of the most easibly recognisable pianists is definitely Corea. Only one second of his solo gives it away... Another one - Herbie Hancock (of course...). Although with all the pianists that base their style on Hancock's playing, it sometimes takes a while - like two seconds...

[michel devos]

Art Blakey, Erroll Garner, Jimmy Smith

[BruceH]

Prez...Webster...Hodges...Miles...Desmond----just some names that come immediately to mind.

I agree that the greatest stylists in jazz almost always had instantly or very quickly identifiable sounds. Bird, Rollins, Monk, Hawkins, the list goes on and on.

[tonym]

Man Alive!!!!

Forgive me if i'm wrong, but no-one has mentioned Getz....

he was pure sound.....ahhh.