How to swing in jazz...
28th September 2023
"If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know!" was supposedly said by the great Louis Armstrong. Actually, I think the question is legitimate as jazz is America's music and can stand up to careful analysis: it is a hybrid folk music that has evolved from a variety of cultures flavoured by the essence of blues and swing. I am reading Wynton Marsalis' excellent book "Moving to Higher Ground (How Jazz Can Change Your Life)" in which he describes his introduction to playing jazz (at the age of 8) and creating 'swing'. Danny Barker (1909-1994) played guitar and banjo for Cab Calloway and Benny Carter in the 30s but in later life could be found, full of fire and stories well told, teaching jazz to children including Wynton and his brother, Branford.
"Mr Barker started with the drums," wrote Marsalis, "the bass drum and the cymbal are the key to the whole thing. We play in four. One, two, three, four. The bass drum plays on one and three and the cymbal on two and four. It's ike they answer each other. So when the bass drum goes bummp, you answer with the cymbal - chhh.
1 2 3 4
bummp chhh bummp chhh
1 2 3 4
bummp chhh bah-bummp bummp
chhh
"Now on the second fourth, the cymbal and the bass drum agree with each other. And when you hit them two at the same time, now, that's jazz.
You see, you gotta bounce around with your parts and you gotta skip the rhythm, just like you're dancing...you gotta play with feeling."
The old banjo master described the role each band member took. "Everything he wanted us to do he sang first. So we played the song with everyone else and it sounded like noise. Yeah, it definitely sounded terrible, but it seemed like it might eventually be some kind of fun."
"Mr Barker said, 'That's jazz! Now, let's hear clarinets and trumpets on the melody. But when y'all play together, you got to talk to one another. The clarinet has to fill when the trumpet leaves space...' So we tried to play together. The clarinet played up the octave, adding some fast notes but still squeaking and squawking. Terrible. Then Mr Barker said, 'let's put it all together.' It was the most cacophonous, disjointed thing you ever heard in your life.
'Gentlemen,' he enthusiastically concluded, 'now, that's jazz.'
The jazz scene today in New Orleans contains some of the musicians, including the great drummer Herlin Riley, who grew up in Danny Barker's young bands. Marsalis describes how Danny Barker saw and heard their potential. 'You are creative, whoever you are. "Respect your own creativity and respect the creativity and creative space of other people."
In the video you can see how Marsalis describes how the rhythm section is put together and how when they start swinging, you just have to join in!
Now, that's jazz!
