Advice Wanted on Playing Dixieland

[bassdblr]

I have the opportunity to play some Dixieland this weekend. There are going to be charts, and I have played in several big bands and jazz quartets. I'm thinking its like playing old jazz with a lot of two feel and just swinging. I couldn't find any play alongs for reference and am going to download some tunes from the set list, but can anyway give some quick suggestions on playing this style right? Thanks!

[bejoyous]

Uh, I think playing the root and fifth of the chord on beat 1 and 3 will cover most of it.

[Zachmozach]

Originally the bass function was filled by the tuba, in most bands. Just play roots and fifths and push. I used to play banjo in a dixieland group. It was tons of fun, but the drummer playing on the wood blocks for his solos were the best.

[bassdblr]

That was kind of easy and fun. Roots and fifths, driving the band. That's the simple advice I needed. Thanks. Sometimes a chart, sometimes just winging it, sometimes got a little fancy and just did some walking bass lines on the tunes that I identified as Real Book tunes. Got to do a lot of solos too. Great way to use my ear and meet new players who also play other types of music.

[Dave Speranza]

Originally Posted by Zachmozach

Originally the bass function was filled by the tuba, in most bands.

I think this is a common misconception. Tubas were used in the early brass and marching bands but much of jazz from its earliest days used the double bass. We think of the tuba as being the original bass instrument in jazz because, when the earliest recordings were made, the tuba was a much easier instrument to record. As recording technology got better the string bass regained prominence in the music. There were some 20 years of jazz and its ancestors before any records were made! IIRC Pops Foster started playing in 1899 or so!

To the OP:
Roots and fifths on 1 and 3 are good, yes, but dont forget to pay careful attention to the note length. And remember, you won't learn much about authentic playing without doing a whole lot of listening. Go find some records!

[Damon Rondeau]

...but a lot of your early jazz bassists were doublers. Even a guy as late as Walter Page, for example, doubled on tuba.

Plus, "early brass and marching bands" were some of the prime breeding grounds for the jazz virus.

I've done a few acoustic gigs where I wished I had a tuba. Honestly.

[Dave Speranza]

Agreed. I didn't mean to discount the importance of the brass and marching bands and the role they played in development of this music.

Although i have yet to play a gig where i wished for a tuba! I guess I'm not gigging enough!

[bassdblr]

I spent a couple of days at a dixieland jazz festival that continuously had bands playing from morning to evening. It seemed that the more traditional bands that played the older material utilized tuba players, often sousaphones. The bands that also did some dixieland, but also played more relatively recent music, probably later in time than dixieland had the double bass players, who played more of a quarter note beat, or the bass player doubled on tuba. This crowd seemed to want that tuba sound for the really old tunes.

I sat in and played bass for some jam sessions then, and they loved the bass playing, but all the other players who signed up were tuba players, young and old. So, it seems tuba is very alive and well.

This was definitely an older crowd and tubas were often used, I would say in over half of the performing bands. But some dixieland bands have this kind of more modern sound, or they are playing more tunes from the jazz Real Books, have a vocalist vs. the traditional dixieland material. In those bands, double bass was used, and often the bass of choice was some kind of electric upright bass. The EUB players tends to play straight quarter note walking lines. I got the impression there is room for both tuba and bass in this genre of music.

[hdiddy]

All this talk about Dixieland makes me wanna go watch Pops Foster on Youtube.

[billyfalconer]

Originally Posted by hdiddy

All this talk about Dixieland makes me wanna go watch Pops Foster on Youtube.

His autobiography is a great read. He talks about New Orleans when most traffic was horse-drawn or water-borne. One of his stories is about a mule going under a house to die, then swelling up so much the house rose up.

I recommend that book to non-bassists and non-musicians just because it has so many good stories.

[WillBuckingham]

Good advice here. I'm a dixieland/trad. beginner too, but in my experience a lot of guys are happier with straight 4 than a two feel. I'd ask the drummer what the bassist usually does in that band, or just ask the leader if he wants four or two.

[jakeyramone]

I've played in a dixieland band for almost a year now...I just realized it has been about a year come February....wow.

I'm a senior in a high school and one of the only classically trained double bassists in my town. If anything I learned about dixieland is to keep it simple. We don't have a drummer in our band so I typically play alot of slap that goes along with our banjo player. Alot of simplification of your lines will be needed especially if you play alot of avant garde style jazz or get into alot of 9's and stuff. Dixieland doesn't have all that fancy stuff.

1-5-1 can be pretty boring after a while but I'd suggest "slap like no tomorrow" when you can get away with it. For example, there's a drum solo in one of our banjo player's old charts. He moved here from California where he was in a dixieland band and we use the same arrangements we did. Well there's a drum solo in there and since there isn't one I drum on my fingerboard/bass. Dixieland band can either kill your soul or be the most fun ever in my opinion.

[ryco]

Maybe try and find some tuba scores to see what these guys were doing. Dixie is pretty much root-fifth, but you can put in some eight and sixteenth note runs to break it up or lead into chord changes.

Simplicity and taste

Didn't see how old this thread was! Hope you're show went well!