That Jazz - Monkey Max Music and File Download

110
Part II: Jazz Greats and Great Jazz: An Evolutionary Riff
Figure 6-4:
Lester
Young was
innovative
for varying
the length of
the phrases
in his music.
©William P. Gottlieb, www.jazzphotos.com
The rhythm players: Drummers and bassists
Drummers and bassists who kept the rhythm included the following people:
� Jimmy Blanton (1918–1942): was a member of Ellington’s big band and
who reinvented the role of the bass by combining arco (bowed) and
pizzicato (plucked) techniques to fill a range of musical roles. He carried
melodies and improvised phenomenally, and his duos with Ellington on
piano (such as “Pitter, Patter, Panther”) are considered revelations of the
modern era.
� Jo Jones (1911–1985): Jones made his name in Walter Page’s Blue
Devils, but while in Count Basie’s band, he elevated drumming to new
levels of sophistication. His subtle work on cymbals and use of complex
polyrhythms showed how a drummer could weave his sounds throughout
the music’s textures, instead of merely driving the beat.
� Gene Krupa (1909–1973): Krupa was the catalyst in Benny Goodman’s
big band. He became well known for his wild hair and bass drum bombs.
Krupa and Jo Jones transformed drumming from the basic function performed
in New Orleans and Chicago to the complex modern interplay
with a big band’s overlapping rhythms and harmonies found in New York.