Technology and the Stylistic Evolution of the Jazz Bass

Peter Dowdall

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9780367231873
• eBook ISBN:
  9781315301938
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

Technology and the Stylistic Evolution of the Jazz Bass traces the stylistic evolution of jazz from the bass player's perspective. Historical works to date have tended to pursue a 'top down' reading, one that emphasizes the influence of the treble instruments on the melodic and harmonic trajectory of jazz. This book augments that reading by examining the music's development from the bottom up. It re-contextualizes the bass and its role in the evolution of jazz (and by extension popular music in general) by situating it alongside emerging music technologies. The bass and its technological mediation are shown to have driven changes in jazz language and musical style, and even transformed creative hierarchies in ways that have been largely overlooked. The book's narrative is also informed by investigations into more commercial musical styles such as blues and rock, in order to assess how, and the degree to which, technological advances first deployed in these areas gradually became incorporated into general jazz praxis. Technology and the Jazz Bass reconciles technology more thoroughly into jazz historiography by detailing and evaluating those that are intrinsic to the instrument (including its eventual electrification) and those extrinsic to it (most notably evolving recording and digital technologies). The author illustrates how the implementation of these technologies has transformed the role of the bass in jazz, and with that, jazz music as an art form.

1 The bass and the early mechanical roots of jazz (1915–1930)

Much that is written about early bass players is speculation.¹ This is hardly surprising given their low standing in the early jazz ensembles. They were, as bassist George Duvivier lamented, ‘never mentioned’,² and represent a silent voice in the history of jazz overshadowed by more flamboyant frontmen such as Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and Jelly Roll Morton. By 1983 the situation remained unchanged according to Lee Jeske, who remarked:

Of all the instruments commonly used in a jazz band, none is taken more for granted than the acoustic bass. For example, of the 56 members of the DownBeat Hall of Fame only one – Charles Mingus – is a bassist; and it’s safe to say that Mingus was elected more for his composing and band-leading than his bass playing. Names like Blanton, Pettiford, LaFaro and Chambers are missing from that list.³

History of course tells us that by the early 1930s, the string bass had replaced the tuba as the preferred bass instrument. This chapter examines the circumstances behind that transition, and the part played by emerging technologies in it. It begins with a brief overview of early bass players in order to establish what factors gave rise to the need for technological mediation in the first place.

The tuba is a brass instrument of considerable acoustic power and portability. As jazz evolved in New Orleans, the tuba became an essential part of the standard jazz ensemble and remained the predominant bass instrument until the late 1920s.⁴ Its inclusion in the ensemble back-line provided the harmonic and rhythmic underpinning upon which the melodic instruments, the cornet, clarinet and trombone, could weave their collective improvisations.⁵ The tuba bass line was distilled from the left-hand part of the ragtime piano style, a style that Joachim Berendt suggested is the antecedent of jazz.⁶ Ted Gioia confirmed the pianistic derivation of the tuba part when he observed:

The left-hand structures of ragtime were equally influential [as the right-hand figures], with a whole generation of jazz pianists adopting the use of a resounding low bass note or octave (sometimes a fifth or tenth) on beats one and three, followed by a middle register chord on beats two and four.⁷

With the piano impractical in marching bands and, according to Pops Foster, non-existent in most venues, the tuba and banjo (or guitar) generally divided the pianist’s left-hand part between them.⁸ Alternatively in situations where the tuba accompanied the piano, it reinforced the keyboardist’s left hand, lending it a more authoritative weight. A preponderance of roots and fifths, occurring on the first and third beat of the measure at medium march-like tempos, allowed plenty of opportunity for the tuba player to draw a comfortable breath and discharge it in an unhurried, yet assertive manner.

The Edison phonograph recording of ‘Gully Low Blues’ by Louis Armstrong and the Hot 7 on the Okeh label contains a typical tuba bass part from the mid-1920s, performed in this case by Pete Briggs.⁹ Its notes are of short duration and staccato in articulation. The robust tuba tone contributes an imposing presence, providing an unambiguous, if rhythmically stiff, harmonic foundation. The use of the tuba in jazz was not exclusive, however. Photographs from the early 1900s confirm that many of the seminal New Orleans bass players, including John Lindsay and Pops Foster, doubled on tuba and string bass.¹⁰ The precedence for this doubling lies in the varied requirements of the many styles of music in which the bassists were engaged.¹¹ Social dancing was extremely popular in New Orleans, and small string bands consisting of violin, guitar, mandolin, string bass and piano in various combinations were often employed to provide dancing accompaniment.¹²

As jazz increasingly moved indoors the characteristics that had made the tuba so important became less so, and the requirements of the music itself hastened its obsolescence. At this historical juncture technology’s influence was purely within the mechanical realm. The string bass, however, enjoyed some mechanical advantages that were to become an essential driving force in the musical development of jazz. One such advantage was its ability to deliver greater rhythmic accuracy resulting in a rhythmic impulse that infused the music with a more satisfactory forward motion. Its propulsive drive was the result of factors intrinsic to the instrument and performance techniques developed by the early bassists, such as the jazz pizzicato.

Schuller has argued that the pizzicato string bass is the best instrument for imparting a jazz swing feel. This he attributed to the nature of a plucked bass string’s envelope – that is, the characteristics of each note’s attack and decay. The jazz pizzicato provides, in Schuller’s words ‘the essence of swing’, because the articulation of the note is more immediate, and its decay smoother, than that of a tuba. According to Schuller:

[The string bass] fulfills both the vertical and horizontal prerequisites of swing; vertical through precise impact, horizontal by sustaining into the next notes and thus providing a forward momentum.¹³

Its sharp attack lends no confusion as to the exact rhythmic disposition of the beat (see Figure 1.1).

In contrast, the tuba has a sonic signature that is relatively slow in its attack phase. In the example shown in Figure 1.2, peak amplitude is attained at 25 milliseconds, five times longer than that of the string bass, a characteristic which renders the note’s rhythmic placement less distinct. The tuba’s sound also stops abruptly as soon as the player ceases blowing, reducing the forward momentum of the music (see Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.1 Waveform produced in Pro Tools illustrating the characteristics of the string bass’ acoustic envelope. Pitch is C2 (65.41Hz). The X-axis represents the time domain (0–0.85 second scale), the Y-axis the amplitude of the waveform. Note the rapid attainment of peak amplitude at 5 milliseconds. (This diagram and those hereafter were produced by the author, unless otherwise indicated.)

Figure 1.2 A waveform illustrating the characteristics of the tuba’s acoustic envelope. Pitch is C2 (65.41Hz). The X-axis represents the time domain (0–5 second scale), the Y-axis the amplitude of the waveform. Note the slower attainment of peak amplitude at 25 milliseconds (five times longer than the string bass) and rapid decay once blowing ceases.

Although Schuller focuses exclusively on the right hand, performance techniques peculiar to jazz were not limited to it. Foster related how the classical left-hand fingering method was in his view totally inappropriate to the performance of jazz on the string bass.

The teachers always want to tell you to finger the strings with the tip ends of your fingers. You can’t finger for tin-can music like that – it’s too delicate. You’ve got to grip those babies to get a tone. All your tone is in the left hand. If you half muffle the string you don’t get no tone; it’s like playing with a mute on a horn.¹⁴

As Turetzky points out, in most photographs of Foster performing, his left-hand thumb is clearly visible wrapped around the neck of the bass in a vice-like grip. In Turetzky’s opinion:

Pops, however, grasped one of the most significant elements of left-hand technique, which is the necessity of depressing the string against the fingerboard with enough weight to get the fundamental overtone to dominate the sound. This gives the tone a center … and greater projection. Another important aspect of this technique is its relation to the ‘attack and decay’ pattern. The securely depressed string produces … a long decay time.¹⁵

Clearly the priorities of the classical and jazz bassist differed. Whereas the German classical technique privileged efficiency and facility, Foster’s ‘fisticuff’ technique produced a deeper, more authoritative tone.¹⁶ Consequently his unschooled method required a great deal more position shifting than traditional approaches. In order to produce the requisite tone and volume on the string bass within a jazz context, sacrifices were made in terms of facility on the instrument. The effort the lone bassist in the jazz ensemble had to expend in order to underpin the music effectively with a sustaining, fundamental-rich tone made soloing like a saxophone or clarinet player an unlikely ambition. Panassié notes that

the New Orleans musicians who played bass had a distinctly different style from the later string bassists. Theirs was a simple and extremely conscientious style, which limited itself to furnishing impeccable and fundamental bass notes … a part, which corresponds to the part furnished by the pianist with his left hand.¹⁷

This simple style proved convenient for both tuba and string bass players because it minimized the amount of technical facility they required. As a result, the melodic aspect of bass parts was secondary to their harmonic, textural and rhythmic functions.

The ability of the string bass to produce a strong, fundamental-rich tone reflects another advantage it had over the tuba, namely superior textural integration within the ensemble. Although plucking or slapping the string produced significant upper partials, these were transient in nature and rapidly diminished. Once the initial attack had subsided, the sustaining portion of the string sound, with its less pronounced overtones, provided a smooth, less intrusive harmonic foundation. In contrast the tuba, particularly when played forcefully, unleashed a super abundance of upper partials that could interfere with the blend of instruments further up the sonic spectrum, particularly on recordings. These characteristics are displayed in the following spectrum diagrams:

Figure 1.3 Frequency analysis. 1 second window showing harmonic spectrum of a C2 (65.41Hz) as played on a string bass using a jazz pizzicato stroke. X-axis is time (0–1 second). Y-axis is frequency (0–850Hz).

Figure 1.3 reveals the reason why the plucked string bass was able to provide superior textural integration within the ensemble. Its tone is relatively pure with only the first harmonic (at 134Hz in this example) powerful enough to register on the sonogram. In comparison the overtones of the tuba are considerably stronger than its fundamental at that pitch (see Figure 1.4).

The string bass was also capable of greater expressive potential than the valved tuba. The absence of frets on its fingerboard rendered it better able to mimic and/or support vocal inflections integral to the sonority of jazz. This feature would become more important as technological advances permitted the bass to develop its soloing potential in the following decades.

The need to shadow the left hand of the pianist left little opportunity for the bassist to improvise. This constriction is indicative of a musical conception that hierarchically divided the ensemble into two – the soloists, collectively improvising above, on the one hand, and a more tightly structured and sublimated rhythm section, providing the rhythmic and harmonic tableaux, on the other. Gradually, due to stylistic developments, the roles of th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• Series editor’s preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 The bass and the early mechanical roots of jazz (1915–1930)
• 2 The bass, technology and the development of the rhythm section (1930–1945)
• 3 The spoils of war and the jazz bass: tape recorders and editing (1945–1960)
• 4 The electrification of the bass: behold the illegitimate cousin (1954–1970)
• 5 The jazz bass, multi-track recording technology and fusion (1969–1976)
• 6 Jaco Pastorius: the electric jazz bass attains respectability (1976–1985)
• 7 The Young Lions and the technological backlash (1980–1990)
• 8 Pro Tools, computers and the bass (1990–2005)
• 9 The future of the jazz bassist
• Conclusion
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Index