connoisseur series500 Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 Are there any musical instruments that you don't care to hear in jazz? I can't personally think of any, but I do have a healthy dislike for muted trumpets. Apologies to Miles and all that, but the muted trumpet irritates my inner ear and I react as I would to someone dragging their finger nails across a blackboard. I do love the trumpet very much, and it's even one of my favorite instruments; but get that plunger out of the bell! Quote
doubleM Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 Conn, which mutes rub you wrong? Miles rarely used a "plunger" mute, but he used a harmon. I don't take offense, but an across-the-board dismissal of trumpet mutes will surely invite the need for some clarification, given the amount of mutes that exist and variety of tonal characteristics that they bring. Playing the trumpet myself, I'd like to hear about this distaste!!! ... Quote
connoisseur series500 Posted February 11, 2004 Author Report Posted February 11, 2004 Gack! I cannot! I don't know anything about this stuff. Any object stuck into the bell which then makes it give out the awful screeeeching sound! I often have to rush to my sound volume and turn the music down. Quote
BFrank Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 I think I could do without jazz violin, myself. Nothing against the musicians themselves, but the tone just doesn't do anything for me. Quote
Jazzmoose Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 Well, if Paul is going to start right off insulting Miles, can I do less than insult Shorter and Coltrane? I really could do without the soprano sax. That is the most irritating, nasal sounding thing I've ever heard. Reminds me of a cross between a sitar and a kazoo... Quote
EKE BBB Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 Electric piano Don´t you all jump on me, fusion lovers! Quote
Jim R Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 Any object stuck into the bell which then makes it give out the awful screeeeching sound! I often have to rush to my sound volume and turn the music down. Hmm... one of my least favorite sounds in jazz is a "screeching" trumpet, but I don't associate that with the use of mutes. I'll have to confess my general ignorance on the subject of who screeched (and who did it the loudest and held their notes the longest, etc) and when, because I always turn that stuff off (whether it's Cootie, or Maynard, or Faddis, or whoever it might be). Ouch. I don't dig it. Quote
Dan Gould Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 I can't stand organ. Neither can I. Quote
king ubu Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 Electric piano EKE, you know of course that also EKE played electric piano... There's no instrument I really dislike - it's more the use of an instrument that can get on my nerves. Synthesizer, then would be the most obvious thing, in my case. (I once read an interview with Joe Zawinul, where he showed himself very astonished that such great musicians as Herbie Hancock would loose the last bit of taste when playing synths...) Uh, I like the flute, I like vibes, I like organs (though Glenn Hardman on that date with Lester Young... as I said the use of can bother me), also I like the violin, the accordion... and the soprano sax - I cannot listen to Shorter on soprano all the time. Trane's alright with me, as is Steve Lacy (most often). ubu Quote
vibes Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 I really could do without the soprano sax. That is the most irritating, nasal sounding thing I've ever heard. Ditto. Curtis Amy's soprano is the most listenable I've heard, but I still don't like the instrument. Violin doesn't do much for me either. Quote
Peter Johnson Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 Really don't like the flute in a solo jazz context (sorry Herbie, R.I.P.); but I do love it in an ensemble, treated the way Gil did (to bring out its texture, often including alto and bass flutes in the mix (see also Belden'd Black Dahlia))! Quote
Dan Gould Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 Put me down for the usual suspects: flute; soprano, violin (though there are exceptions to each). Quote
Man with the Golden Arm Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 The Varitone! Think of all those great Stitt's etc if only that thing were never invented!! Quote
BeBop Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 Trombone. (No accounting for taste, eh?) Quote
Peter Johnson Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 Oh, vocalese too--think of New Perspective, I'm Trying to get Home and Lift Every Voice without the choir!!! Quote
Peter Johnson Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 the goddamn oboe. The ill wind that nobody blows good! Quote
ghost of miles Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 Trombone. (No accounting for taste, eh?) White Lightning will see you now. B) Quote
Uncle Skid Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 (edited) Clarinet, and flute. But Howard Johnson's bass clarinet on Andrew Hill's Passing Ships just blows me away, and there's also some flute playing on various Cedar Walton recordings that I enjoy, too. So what the hell do I know? Edited February 11, 2004 by Uncle Skid Quote
king ubu Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 The Varitone! Think of all those great Stitt's etc if only that thing were never invented!! Think of Eddie who without it! ubu Quote
king ubu Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 the goddamn oboe. The ill wind that nobody blows good! O c'mon! There's some pretty good Lateef things on oboe! Check out his See See Rider with Zawinul/Sam Jones/Louis Hayes on Cannonball in Europe (the Adderleys lay out on that track), or his playing on "Brother John" on Cannonball's Nippon Soul... I wouldn't be without that! ubu Quote
king ubu Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 Clarinet, and flute. But Howard Johnson's bass clarinet on Andrew Hill's Passing Ships just blows me away, and there's also some flute playing on various Cedar Walton recordings that I enjoy, too. So what the hell do I know? I guess having problems with the clarinet is the perspective of a listener of bebop and later styles. I myself have nothing against the clarinet, there are several musicians I really like - Jimmy Giuffre being the first one that comes to mind. Then all the older guys, Jimmy Hamilton, Barney Bigard, Edmond Hall, some musicians not usually thought of as clarinet players like Harry Carney (also on bass clarinet, on his strings album), or Lester Young. Then there's Pee Wee Russell... I listened to some Jelly Roll this morning, and Omer Simeon sure is a great musician! And these are just the players that come to mind instantly. On the other hand, musicians like Tony Scott or Buddy DeFranco (who sure had lots of technique at their disposal, and that is something, on the clarinet - a very hard instrument to master!) may sound shrill every now and again. DeFranco certainly was no perfect match for the Basie small group, for instance (his replacement Marshall Royal fits in a lot better, I think), and Scott was too outgoing at moments, I think (for instance on some tracks of the otherwise real good quartet albums with Bill Evans). Now this has not much to do with the instrument at hand (there's some terrible tenor players, too), but rather with the way it is played, it is approached. The recordings Giuffre and Russell made together, for instance, are far from being shrill, and belong to my favorite clarinet recordings. I guess to get to like the clarinet, there's two or three ways: if you like avant garde, get the Giuffre/Bley/Swallow early sixties records (a 2CD set on ECM reissuing two Verve LPs, as well as Giuffre's masterpiece "Free Fall" on Columbia/Sony/Legacy). If you like west coast jazz, try some Giuffre Atlantic stuff. And if you like early jazz, well, you like the clarinet. Rather: the third way (in case you're not into early jazz that much), check out some of the musicians I mentioned (sure, there are many more, Sidney Bechet, Albert Nicholas...), and maybe this will start a new love affair between you and the clarinet, and you and early jazz... ubu Quote
connoisseur series500 Posted February 11, 2004 Author Report Posted February 11, 2004 Oh, vocalese too--think of New Perspective, I'm Trying to get Home and Lift Every Voice without the choir!!! Good one Peter! Forgot to mention vocalese. Could definitely do without it in jazz. I don't mind the soprano sax at all. Don't you like Coltrane's "My Favorite Things," Moose? The more contemporary Joe Ford plays decent soprano. Someone also mentioned the use of flute for solo purposes. That's very perceptive. I share that opinion. Flutes are fine in general but don't lend themselves well in jazz solos. Quote
connoisseur series500 Posted February 11, 2004 Author Report Posted February 11, 2004 I should also add that I love Miles Davis. There are some songs (which I can't name off right away) where he comes out with the annoying screetching sound, but I dig the guy's music for sure. Quote
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