Segment 6: Master Class for Trombone (18:01)

For use in Lesson #14.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To go to a specific chapter, slide the elapsed time indicator in the video screen to the timing point shown for that chapter below.

Chapters:

1. Clinician introductions: Lucien Barbarin, Dan Barrett (0:00)

2. Trombone Mutes for Traditional Jazz (0:37)

3. Trombone Techniques (2:16)

4. Your Role (5:52)

5. Ensemble Trombone Playing: New Orleans Styles (6:20)

6. Ensemble Trombone Playing: San Francisco Style (8:07)

7. Ensemble Trombone Playing: Chicago/Swing/Mainstream Styles (9:29)

8. Soloing on Trombone: Classic New Orleans Style (10:24)

9. Soloing on Trombone: San Francisco Style (11:02)

10. Soloing on Trombone: Chicago/Swing/Mainstream Styles (11:47)

11. Other Trombonists to Listen To (13:11)

12. A Message From Lucien (14:31)

13. Clip of Jack Teagarden (14:56)

14. Clip of Cutty Cutshall (15:45)

15. Clip of Turk Murphy (16:28)

16. Clip of Kid Ory With Louis Armstrong (17:08)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A detailed description/transcription of this video segment follows for reference

Clinician Introductions: (left to right) Lucien Barbarin, Dan Barrett

Lucien: [plays a short solo] Hi, my name is Lucien Barbarin, and I’m from New Orleans, and we’re going to teach you a little bit about the trombone.

Dan: [plays a short solo] Hi, I’m Dan Barrett. And I’ve been playing traditional jazz and other jazz styles since I was in high school. We’re here to talk about the trombone today and its role in traditional jazz.

Trombone Mutes for Traditional Jazz

Lucien: I’ll give you a demonstration of the plunger sound. [demonstrates plunger] All right, that was the plunger sound. Now I’ll give you a demonstration of the pixie mute. Just the pixie mute, without the plunger. [demonstrates pixie mute] All right, that’s the pixie mute. Now I’ll give you an example how they sound with the pixie mute and plunger together. [demonstrates pixie mute with plunger]

Dan: There are different kinds of cup mutes; I kind of like this one. And cup mutes came into jazz along around the late 1920s/early 1930s, which is about when the swing era started, so you’ll hear soloists and even sections playing this kind of a mute. [demonstrates cup mute]

Trombone Techniques

Dan: Now let’s talk about the trombone slide for a minute. The slide of course is that part of the trombone that separates this instrument from all the other instruments in the orchestra or in a jazz band. And a trombone slide or glissando is kind of part and parcel with New Orleans jazz and many traditional jazz styles. It’s an inherent part of the music you might say. The slide or glissando can really add a lot of tension going up to a note. Instead of: [plays a lick], what about this: [plays a longer lick with long slides]

Lucien: When you’re playing New Orleans Style music, you need to slide into your notes, uptempo. [demonstrates] And also, when you’re playing a beautiful ballad, you want to play something really pretty for them. [plays a ballad phrase with slide vibrato] Okay, here’s the “tailgate” style of trombone. [demonstrates “tailgate” style] Now I’ll give you an example of a growl…how the trombone normally growls when you’re playing traditional jazz. [demonstrates upward and downward slides with growls] You use your tongue when you’re doing this growling. Rrrrrr, rrrrrr.

Dan: Now one thing about playing the trombone, in order to get around with any degree of facility, you have to become acquainted with alternate positions. So here’s D in the normal first position. [plays the note] Now here’s D in an alternate position. It’ll be just slightly south of fourth position. [plays the note, alternating positions] If I played it in true fourth position it would be sharp. Now, what that will help you do—for instance, look at this phrase: [plays a 7-note scale phrase three times] I’m playing D and F in their normal first position. But I can execute that phrase a whole lot faster if I play D in its alternate position, flat fourth, and F slightly sharp of fourth. [plays the phrase three times] See, I’m not using the slide nearly as much. [plays the phrase twice] And I think the articulation is more attractive.

Your Role

Dan: A good trombone player in a jazz ensemble can be a very exciting thing to hear.

Lucien: Remember that the front line always has to work together as a team. That’s the trombone, clarinet, and trumpet. So always remember, the front line, you have to really listen to one another.

Dan: So you’re playing like a swinging countermelody to what the trumpet player is doing. Try and fill out the harmony, try and fill in some of the holes, try and reinforce the bass line.

Ensemble Trombone Playing: New Orleans Styles

Lucien: I’d like to give you an example of how trombone is played in New Orleans Style jazz, when you’re playing traditional songs, more of a song like “Hindustan”, so… [plays “Hindustan”, ensemble counterpoint] All right. Here’s a little New Orleans playing. [plays “Bogalusa Strut”, ensemble counterpoint]

Ensemble Trombone Playing: San Francisco Style

Dan: Now there was an offshoot of New Orleans jazz that came along later, it’s been known as the San Francisco Style. And I’m very fortunate, I got to hear the main exponent of that style, a trombonist named Turk Murphy, when I was very young, up in San Francisco. Turk had a real aggressive, shouting kind of style that pretty much filled up the horn and took the horn to about the edge of overblowing. Also the San Francisco Style, unlike New Orleans Styles or Chicago, is predicated on a 2-beat feeling. So when Turk played, he always had a 2-beat kind of a feeling in mind. So I’ll try to play “Hindustan” as Turk might have approached it—the ensemble part that is, and we’ll assume the trumpet player is playing the melody, and the clarinet player is fulfilling his role in the ensemble. This is what a trombonist playing in the San Francisco Style might do. It’s a punchier, brassier, perhaps a little more aggressive style. Here’s “Hindustan”. [plays “Hindustan”, ensemble counterpoint]

Ensemble Trombone Playing: Chicago/Swing/Mainstream Styles

Dan: In Chicago Style jazz, you might find yourself playing with more of a triplet feeling, and that style reflects more of the swing era influence in jazz. Three trombonists who come to mind who exemplify that style are the great trombonist from Texas, Jack Teagarden, who did his share of Chicago playing; Cutty Cutshall; and another great trombonist, Lou McGarity. Any one of them might have approached the same song, “Hindustan”, in this kind of a style. [plays “Hindustan”, ensemble counterpoint] A little bit different than the New Orleans players.

Soloing on Trombone: Classic New Orleans Style

Dan: Let’s talk about soloing in various traditional jazz styles. Going back to the Classic New Orleans Style, and that pioneer of New Orleans trombone Kid Ory, Mr. Ory might have played something like this for a solo, on “Hindustan”. [plays a solo on “Hindustan”]

Soloing on Trombone: San Francisco Style

Dan: Now I’ll play you a short solo as though I were playing in a San Francisco jazz ensemble. And I’ll be thinking about Turk Murphy and other great trombonists from the San Francisco Style. Here’s “Hindustan”. [plays a solo on “Hindustan”] It’s a very percussive, very edgy, brassy kind of playing, and it can be very exciting in a San Francisco ensemble.

Soloing on Trombone: Chicago/Swing/Mainstream Styles

Dan: Now I’ll play a solo, in fact I’ll play you a full 32 bars, as might be played by one of the Chicago, or swing, or even mainstream trombone players. Here’s “Hindustan” again in the key of Bb. [plays a solo on “Hindustan”]

Lucien: The Chicago Style playing, the same song. [plays a solo on “Hindustan”] A little Chicago style.

Other Trombonists to Listen To

Dan: Brilliant New York trombone player, Miff Mole, made a lot of records that are still available on CD. He starts one of his solos like this. [plays an exciting ascending phrase] I’ll do that again. [repeats] Kind of wild for 1929 or whenever he recorded it. One of my particular favorites is a man named J.C. Higginbotham, who played in Harlem from the 1920s, and played on into the 1960s in New York; and a contemporary of his, Trummy Young. They both played in a very brash, kind of a shouting style. Mr. Young played with Louis Armstrong in the 1950s, and also recorded extensively with Jimmie Lunceford’s big band, a real swinging big band from the 1930s and 40s. So here’s an idea, somewhere between J.C. Higginbotham and Trummy Young. [improvises a la Higginbotham/Young]

A Message From Lucien

Lucien: This music has always been part of my life, and I enjoy playing this New Orleans jazz, and I’ll continue to play it; I’ve been playing it since I was very young. New Orleans music is a very spiritual music. This is a great, great music; it inspires me and it will inspire you also. Take this music to another level. Let’s just keep New Orleans music going.

Clip of Jack Teagarden

Lucien: Here’s one of the all-time greats, Jack Teagarden.

Jack Teagarden plays “Basin Street Blues” with his group

Clip of Cutty Cutshall

Lucien: Now give a listen to one of the great trombonists, Chicago Style trombonists, Mr. Cutty Cutshall.

Cutty Cutshall plays “Little Ben Blues” with Eddie Condon’s group

Clip of Turk Murphy

Turk Murphy plays “Doctor Jazz” with his San Francisco Jazz Band

Clip of Kid Ory with Louis Armstrong

Dan: Here’s a film clip of the great New Orleans pioneer trombonist, Kid Ory.

Kid Ory and Louis Armstrong play “Muskrat Ramble” with the Young Men From New Orleans

 

Performance Clip Details

Ch. 13: Jack Teagarden, “Basin Street Blues”, 1951: Charlie Teagarden trumpet, Don Bonnee clarinet, Heinie Beau alto saxophone, Pud Brown tenor saxophone, Jack Teagarden trombone, Marvin Ash piano, Ray Leatherwood bass, Ray Bauduc drums

Ch. 14: Eddie Condon, “Little Ben Blues”, 1962: Cutty Cutshall trombone, Johnny Varro piano, Eddie Condon guitar, Joe Williams bass, Buzzy Drootin drums

Ch. 15: Turk Murphy and His San Francisco Jazz Band, “Doctor Jazz”, 1962: Bob Neighbor trumpet, Bob Helm clarinet, Turk Murphy trombone, Pete Clute piano, Harold Johnson tuba, Lloyd Byassee drums

Ch. 16: Louis Armstrong and Kid Ory with the Young Men From New Orleans, “Muskrat Ramble”, 1962: Louis Armstrong trumpet, Mike DeLay trumpet, Paul Barnes clarinet, Kid Ory trombone, Harvey Brooks piano, Johnny St. Cyr banjo, Alton Redd drums

Music heard under the “A Message From…” chapters is performed by the Capital Focus Jazz Band youth group of Washington, DC.