Sunday, February 28, 2016
You don’t see [hear?] front lines in Jazz combos made up of two of the same instruments very often.
The quintet headed-up by trombonists J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding was an exception as were the quintets led tenor saxophonists Al Cohn and Zoot Sims and Ronnie Scott and Tubby Hayes.
I seem to recall the Candoli Brothers, trumpeters Pete and Conte, teaming up for the occasional record outing as did Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan on The Night of the Cookers, one of Blue Note’s rare “Live” recordings, but most Jazz groups preferred different sonorities in their lead horns.
To my ears, I always thought that the key to the success of same instrumentation front lines lay with the arrangements, particularly those that emphasized harmonies that made the texture of the two horns sound richer and fuller.
Arrangers who have a background in orchestrating for big bands usually have a good idea as to what devices to use to keep things interesting between two of the same horns.
Of course, things become even more interesting when two are doubled into four because the harmonic possibilities expand exponentially and the pairing of lead horns becomes a full blown trumpet, trombone or saxophone “section.”
With four trumpets, four trombones or, as is often the case, five saxophones to work with the scale and the scope of blended sound that can be voiced for same instruments is quite astounding.
Once again, trombonists J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding were among the earliest to explore the possibilities of expanding the sound of a chorus or section of the same instruments on the recordings they made with eight trombones which consisted of two groups of four trombones, each having three tenor trombones and one bass trombone.
A trombone quartet [sometimes expanded to a quintet with the addition of a second bass trombone], backed by a swinging piano-bass-drum rhythm section performing arrangements that explore the full range of the instrument’s sonority is one of my favorite Jazz sounds.
I guess if two of something is good four or five must be better?
Over the years, I’ve scouted out trombone quartets and quintets such as Super Trombone made up of Jim Pugh, Eijiro Nakagawa, Dave Taylor and Dave Bergeron and Canada’s The Brass Connection which features Ian McDougall, Doug Hamilton, Jerry Johnson, Bob Livingston and John Capon.
A later find was The Capitol Bones headed up by Matt Niess which resulted from a heads-up from Danny Beher at Sea Breeze Records.
Jerry Amoury wrote the following detailed insert notes The Capitol Bones’ Epistrophy (Sea Breeze Jazz® SB-3042) CD. The background information about how the group achieves its distinctive sound and the annotation of each track serves to underscore how instruments with the same sonority can create such a wide range of textures.
After Jerry’s notes you’ll find a video and an audio-only digital file that will provide you with a chance to sample The Capitol Bones’ renderings of Monk’s Epistrophy and I Mean You.
“To the general listening audience the trombone is a pleasant instrument to hear from time to time. Trombonists, on the other hand, are obsessed with all aspects of the instrument. The sound of the solo trombone, the lush blend of trombones playing together, the ringing of the overtones when the pitch is just right; these are the things that compel trombonists to seek out others of their ilk who share that love. Many times, this obsession leads to the formation of trombone ensembles.
No other type of group can provide the pure-cane blend of five trombones playing music created specifically for them with that sonority in mind. It's a glorious sound that draws trombone players together like a moth is drawn toward a flame.
In order to elevate a good group of players to a great ensemble you need some very important ingredients: strong leadership, boundless energy, chops across the board, and charts that give the players the opportunity to display their wares. The Capitol Bones is an ensemble that has combined all of these elements in near perfect balance.
read more: http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com.br/2016/02/matt-niess-and-capitol-bones.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+JazzProfiles+(Jazz+Profiles)
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