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The Trombone |
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three valves, simplifies the playing of fast, multi-note passages that might otherwise be physically impossible because o£ the placement of the notes in relationship to the seven different slide positions. The first valve trombonist of front-rank importance established in jazz was Juan Tizol of the Duke Ellington orchestra, best known for Caravan, which he composed and recorded with Duke in 1936. Bill Harris, Jay Jay Johnson and others have occasionally doubled on valve trombone; Billy Eckstine, during his career as a singing bandleader, made it his medium of instrumental expression, playing adequately in the bop style.
A number of trumpet players have doubled on valve trombone with some success, notably Maynard Ferguson. In recent years the valve trombone has earned considerable impetus in popularity from the work of Bobby Brookmeyer, whose solos with Stan Getz in 1953, and with Gerry Mulligan off and on since 1954, as well as with numerous small combos of his own on records, earned him consistent critical acclaim. Brookmeyers style, though influenced by bop, might be classified as mainstream jazz, sometimes resembling a valve trombone equivalent of a modernized Bill Harris, especially on medium-tempo numbers. Bob Enevoldsen, a versatile West Coast musician also well known for his work on bass, has lent his valve trombone sound to the jazz works of Shorty Rogers, Bill Holman, Jimmy Giuffre and others.
Several other instruments akin to the trombone have been featured in jazz in recent years. Among them are the bass trumpet, best known through the solo work of the former Woody Herman sideman Cy Touff; the trombonium, a newly-invented contraption introduced by Johnson and Winding; the alto horn, played by Dick Gary with Bobby Hackett's band; the tenor horn, used by Tom Stewart on his ABC-Paramount LP; and the baritone horn, on Fantasy, played by Gus Mancuso. The French horn and mellophone will be dealt with in a later chapter. |
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