Jazz bowing.

[Golemanjazz27]

I want to start taking more arco solos when I do jazz music. Is there a specific technique or way of using the bow in jazz. (I play French by the way) Is bowing in jazz similar to classical bowing or does it differ in technique. I noticed most instrumentalists must use different technique when playing jaza, such as sax players use more air on upbeats and a more legato tonguing to produce a swing feel. How do you produce an effective swing feel with a bow?

[Pat Harris]

There's a great thread about this under Lynn Seaton's form if you scroll down below.

[Eric Swanson]

Here are some clips of the best I've seen for fluidity and innovation. As far as I know, he has redefined jazz soloing by really doing arco with fluidity, freedom, and meaningful phrasing/articulation. Check them out sequentially; clip #1 first, then clip #2, then clip #3:

http://youtube.com/results?search_qu...&search=Search

If you listen to his other music (orchestral compositions, film scores, etc.:

www.terryplumeri.com

you will see/hear that he really is able to play anything he can sing. The ideas he plays in jazz are motives that appear in all of his compositions - he is expressing his musical mind, not just flopping his fingers around or playing "jazz licks."

First challenge is to know what you want to play. Next step is to sing it through your arm/hand into the board, tapping out the rhythms. Final challenge is to provide the "breath" in a continuous, uninterrupted manner. I'll let you folks know if I ever get it right...

[T-steve]

I would search You Tube for any Slam Stewart videos. He was an awesome arco soloist...

[Eric Swanson]

+1, if you like Mr. Stewart's sound/articulation. Some nice bop line shapes and symmetry.

[Marcus Johnson]

Great post and description, Eric.

You could also check out John Goldsby's book on jazz arco, if you wanted to see some specific techniques on phrasing and so on.

PS... I think I just became a Terry Plumeri fan.

[milomo]

Originally Posted by Eric Swanson

Ditto for Paul Chambers and George Mraz, but video clips of them are hard to come by...I don't know of any. Anyone else?

There are two well photographed PC bowed solos on THIS.

[MingusAmongUs]

Originally Posted by Eric Swanson

Ditto for Paul Chambers and George Mraz, but video clips of them are hard to come by...I don't know of any. Anyone else?

I came across a couple PC solos on youtube recently. Quality lacks a bit but...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hBwrv6RtvtA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TZ1zpZl7otE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CO6Dfjo6EoQ

there's more but you have to dig around.... I just put 'paul chambers' in the search box.... (no quotes). it's mostly coltrane stuff as you can see.

[MingusAmongUs]

Originally Posted by milomo

There are two well photographed PC bowed solos on THIS.

Nice Reggie Workman action on that video.

[Calebmundy]

I swear I was looking through the new threads being posted and saw one on "Jazz Bowling", I couldn't figure out if it was bowling to jazz music, or bowling with Jazz Basses.

[MingusAmongUs]

hehe
http://www.bowlersdream.com/columbiajazz.html
http://www.jazzbowling.lt/?en=start

[milomo]

Originally Posted by MingusAmongUs

Nice Reggie Workman action on that video.

I agree. There's a lot of bass playing on that DVD. P.C., Reggie and Jimmy Garrison, that makes for a pretty full day.

[Eric Swanson]

Thought about it last night as I was playing. Interesting (maybe only to me) conceptual issue re: articulation differences between folks bowing mostly one note/bow stroke and and Terry Plumeri's approach (mostly slurred and detache bowing, with single strokes for emphasis).

I think about breath and how horns do it, and the slurs/detache seems much more vocal and "hornlike" to me. Without realizing it (light dawns slowly on Marblehead), this was what has always sort of jarred me about some jazz arco I have heard. Although the lines may be the most impeccably bop-derived language, the articulations are not that vocal, to my ear.

Imagine how Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, et. al. lines would sound if they were played (or sung) one breath per note. Its almost hard to conceive of. Bup, bup, bup, bubup, bup, bup...

[BRIDGE]

The guy who plays with my dad's band (he will also be giving me instruction a few months from now) does arco solos all the time and he is really great at it. His name is Ron Kadish, and he plays in Bloomington Indiana with the Postmodern Jazz Quartet, Salaam and Sarah's Swing Set.

[Marcus Johnson]

Originally Posted by Eric Swanson

Thought about it last night as I was playing. Interesting (maybe only to me) conceptual issue re: articulation differences between folks bowing mostly one note/bow stroke and and Terry Plumeri's approach (mostly slurred and detache bowing, with single strokes for emphasis).

I think about breath and how horns do it, and the slurs/detache seems much more vocal and "hornlike" to me. Without realizing it (light dawns slowly on Marblehead), this was what has always sort of jarred me about some jazz arco I have heard. Although the lines may be the most impeccably bop-derived language, the articulations are not that vocal, to my ear.

Imagine how Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, et. al. lines would sound if they were played (or sung) one breath per note. Its almost hard to conceive of. Bup, bup, bup, bubup, bup, bup...

I really agree with this, and by extension, I think it applies to pizz jazz soloing as well. I've always tried to emulate saxophonists and singers more than bassists during solos.

Another great post, Eric.... maybe you should write a book. You have a good way of expressing these concepts with a lot of clarity.

[greitzer]

Originally Posted by Eric Swanson

Here are some clips of the best I've seen for fluidity and freedom:

http://youtube.com/results?search_qu...&search=Search

I studied with Terry for a few years. Here are some of the things he had me do/some of his concepts (not mine!).

The 8th note swing is accomplished by tapping out the rhythms with the left hand, using slurred strokes with the bow. Essentially, just like a sax does with the keys/air. Think of bow strokes as breaths. Practice trills with the left hand, open string crossing exercises with the right arm (a la Zimmerman).

Interesting clip, thanks for the link. I notice he seems to use a pretty short bow, and he holds it forward of the frog. Perhaps he feels this gives him more control? Just a thought.

[goodgig]

Thank you for your post. Interesting technique.

As a trombone doubler I thought I’d throw my 2 cents in.

If you were to play a slurred passage with one dynamic level on sax or trumpet, often times all you need to do is press keys and freely buzz/blow into the horn. However, articulation on wind instruments is not solely accomplished just by pressing keys with a constant air stream. Expressive qualities result from a combo of many factors. For example, changes in dynamic levels require increases or decreases in air volume. So for the sax player to make the slurred passage swing, she might give the accented upbeats a bit more air than the downbeats.

Also as important in jazz articulation for brass players is the tongue. It functions in briefly stopping/restricting the air stream and can change the softness/hardness of the attack based upon placement in the mouth. I’m sure you’ve heard of “double tonguing” (i.e. ta-ka-ta-ka). Many of the great jazz horn players have adopted a legato style of articulation. This involves mouthing “du-gu-du-gu” as you play, say 4 eighth notes, with the du on the downbeat and the gu on the upbeat. As the name implies, legato style has a steady stream of air with the tongue – not articulating with the “keys” alone. There is also “doodle” tonguing, ala Bill Watrous.

What you’ve brought to my attention was that the left hand can also have a role in articulating notes, similar to a soft tongue legato style on a horn.

[Eric Swanson]

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

Eric.... maybe you should write a book. You have a good way of expressing these concepts with a lot of clarity.

Marcus, thank you for the compliment. False modesty aside, the only book I could write would be titled something like, "Powerful concepts from Terry Plumeri and others." These are his ideas and his accomplishments...they are not mine to share or take credit for. He has spent a lifetime on this stuff.

The only thing that comes from me, personally, is some humility and seriousness that comes from studying with, being around, and playing with some great musicians. The value of good company that we can all carry with us.

Goodgig, great subsequent post on tonguing articulations! Thanks for sharing those helpful insights. As string players, the closer we can get the singers and wind players, the better we sound. As Marcus so aptly puts it, pizz or arco!

All we can do is detache strokes, sort of like tonguing. Again, Terry's clips, especially the clip #1 show different detache patterns for different phrases. Also noticing that he starts many phrases upbow here...

In my own playing, I have refocused my attention on clearly tapping out rhythms I want to play with my left hand - it makes the string start vibrating so that the bow isn't doing all all the work. A basic string technique that I needed to remind myself of. Watching these clips reminded me of that.

[charlespf]

I play arco solos all the time...
I think it's really the same thing as classical arco, technique-wise.
I think really the only big difference is that instead of being familliar with a peice, and working on bowings, slurs, etc, you have to be able to 'intuite' where to use these different bowing techniques to match the articulation you want to hear.

[Don Higdon]

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

I really agree with this, and by extension, I think it applies to pizz jazz soloing as well. I've always tried to emulate saxophonists ...more than bassists during solos.

You mean you play 15 choruses?