Misplaced Pages

#74925

113-407: Beginning in the early 1950s, some jazz bass players began to use the electric bass guitar to replace the double bass. The electric bass guitar, which was easier to amplify to loud volumes onstage, gained particular prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s jazz subgenre which blended jazz with the powerfully amplified electric instruments of rock music , creating jazz fusion . Jaco Pastorius

226-464: A lute . John Starrett revived the idea in the late seventies on his innovative instrument, the Starrboard . Rickenbacker employed a slanted fret, but it was not multi scale, or fanned. Novax Guitars among others offers such guitars today. The appearance of angled frets on these modern instruments belies the antiquity of this technique. Scalloped fretboard : Scalloping involves removing some of

339-475: A preamplifier and then sent to a bass amplifier or a PA system . For silent practice in a hotel room or apartment, an EUB can also be connected to headphones . Preamplifiers and equalizers for acoustic instruments or double basses can also be used to " roll off " the treble frequencies or "notch out" the "scratchy-sounding" frequencies. Since the EUB typically does not have a hollow sound chamber, or only includes

452-626: A "special relationship to time defined as 'swing ' ". Jazz involves "a spontaneity and vitality of musical production in which improvisation plays a role" and contains a "sonority and manner of phrasing which mirror the individuality of the performing jazz musician". A broader definition that encompasses different eras of jazz has been proposed by Travis Jackson: "it is music that includes qualities such as swing, improvising, group interaction, developing an 'individual voice', and being open to different musical possibilities". Krin Gibbard argued that "jazz

565-456: A 1x12" combo amp to the gig. When a small jazz combo is playing in a small jazz club , the double bass player may use only a modest amount of amplification, so that the audience is hearing a mixture of the natural acoustic tone and the amplified sound; if that same band were to play on a huge jazz festival mainstage, all of the bass tone reaching the audience's ears will be from the sound reinforcement system . An unamplified acoustic bass' tone

678-439: A band with a bandleader , the leader may provide guidance on what tunes are best suited to each type of bass. Some bassists use both fretted and fretless basses in performances, according to the type of material they are performing. While fretless basses are often associated with jazz and jazz fusion , bassists from other genres use fretless basses, such as metal bassist Steve Di Giorgio . Bill Wyman takes credit for creating

791-470: A double bass, making touring and travelling easier, and its solid (or mostly solid) body enables bassists to play at a much higher volume with a bass amp without feedback . In jazz, since the 1950s, the double bass is usually played with amplification and it is mostly played with the fingers, pizzicato style, except during some solos, where players may use the bow. The pizzicato style varies between different players and genres. Some players perform with

904-473: A drum made by stretching skin over a flour-barrel. Lavish festivals with African-based dances to drums were organized on Sundays at Place Congo, or Congo Square, in New Orleans until 1843. There are historical accounts of other music and dance gatherings elsewhere in the southern United States. Robert Palmer said of percussive slave music: Usually such music was associated with annual festivals, when

1017-400: A few fret dressings can be performed on a guitar before it requires complete refretting. Tied gut frets, used on instruments such as the lute or viol , wear quickly, and must be replaced regularly. Fret buzz is one of the many undesirable phenomena that can occur on a guitar or similar stringed instrument . Fret buzz occurs when the vibrating part of one or more strings physically strikes

1130-456: A form of folk music which arose in part from the work songs and field hollers of African-American slaves on plantations. These work songs were commonly structured around a repetitive call-and-response pattern, but early blues was also improvisational. Classical music performance is evaluated more by its fidelity to the musical score , with less attention given to interpretation, ornamentation, and accompaniment. The classical performer's goal

1243-492: A jazz bassist is comping ( accompanying ) with a walking bassline or soloing, or playing on a double bass or a bass guitar, they usually aim to create a rhythmic drive and timefeel that creates a sense of swing and groove . Beginning around 1890, the African-American communities in early New Orleans used a jazz ensemble which played a mixture of marches, ragtime , and dixieland music. This ensemble

SECTION 10

#1732781104075

1356-403: A jazz guitarist may play basslines, a role that is especially feasible if the guitarist has a seven-string guitar with a low "B" string. In traditional Dixieland or New Orleans-style jazz groups, the basslines may be played by a tuba or other low brass instrument. Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans , Louisiana , in

1469-410: A limited melodic range, sounding like a field holler, and the guitar accompaniment was slapped rather than strummed, like a small drum which responded in syncopated accents, functioning as another "voice". Handy and his band members were formally trained African-American musicians who had not grown up with the blues, yet he was able to adapt the blues to a larger band instrument format and arrange them in

1582-419: A modified type of double bass called the electric upright bass (abbreviated EUB and sometimes also called stick bass ). The stick bass is also widely used in salsa , because its volume and tone are especially suited to that style of music, even in studio recording. It is an electronically amplified version of the double bass that has a minimal or 'skeleton' body, which greatly reduces the size and weight of

1695-573: A much lighter fretting hand than most guitarists can achieve, and often significantly heavier strings as well. Fat frets : on older guitars (especially the Fender Stratocaster ), frets were typically made out of thin wire, and some electric guitar players replaced that with thicker wire, for "fat frets" or "jumbo frets". Fat frets make bending easier, and they change the feel of the guitar. As well, large frets, offering more metal, remain playable much longer than thin frets. A side effect of

1808-460: A multi- strain ragtime march with four parts that feature recurring themes and a bass line with copious seventh chords . Its structure was the basis for many other rags, and the syncopations in the right hand, especially in the transition between the first and second strain, were novel at the time. The last four measures of Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899) are shown below. African-based rhythmic patterns such as tresillo and its variants,

1921-518: A pitch which he called a 'jazz ball' "because it wobbles and you simply can't do anything with it". The use of the word in a musical context was documented as early as 1915 in the Chicago Daily Tribune . Its first documented use in a musical context in New Orleans was in a November 14, 1916, Times-Picayune article about "jas bands". In an interview with National Public Radio , musician Eubie Blake offered his recollections of

2034-660: A popular music form. Handy wrote about his adopting of the blues: The primitive southern Negro, as he sang, was sure to bear down on the third and seventh tone of the scale, slurring between major and minor. Whether in the cotton field of the Delta or on the Levee up St. Louis way, it was always the same. Till then, however, I had never heard this slur used by a more sophisticated Negro, or by any white man. I tried to convey this effect ... by introducing flat thirds and sevenths (now called blue notes) into my song, although its prevailing key

2147-438: A rock-size venue, such as a large club or theatre, than a small jazz club. To provide a good bass sound, a fusion electric bass player will often use a powerful bass amplifier and a larger speaker cabinet than an upright player would use, such as a 4X10" cabinet, or even two 4X10" cabinets. In a jazz setting, the electric bass tends to have much a much more expansive solo role than in most popular styles. In most rock settings,

2260-433: A saxophonist. In some jazz fusion groups, the basslines may be played by a keyboard player on a bass synthesizer or other keyboard. As well, in some duos and other small groups, the basslines may be provided by a piano player; in a duo consisting of a jazz pianist and a jazz singer, the piano player plays a bassline with the left hand and chords in the right hand underneath the singer's voice. Similarly, in some duos or trios,

2373-409: A short scale bass guitar . The shorter scale can make it easier for bass guitarists to convert to the EUB. Solid bodied EUBs produce very little sound without electronic amplification . Hollow-bodied EUBs produce a quiet tone that is loud enough for individual practice. However, since hollow-bodied EUBs do not have a large resonant cavity like a double bass , they cannot reproduce the lowest notes of

SECTION 20

#1732781104075

2486-489: A small sound chamber, the EUB is less prone to audio feedback than the double bass when amplified. To use a bow with an EUB, both the bridge and fingerboard must be radiussed (given a curve). EUBs are much easier to transport to gigs, or fly with on tours than a large, fragile double bass. The electric bass is a relative newcomer to the world of jazz . Until the 1950s, the double bass was used to anchor jazz ensembles from small combos to huge big bands . The electric bass

2599-427: A special compensation on the saddle and nut. Every time a string is fretted it is also stretched, and as it stretches the string rises in pitch , making all fretted tones sound sharp. When the saddle is positioned properly, however, the fretted tones all sound sharp to the same degree as long as the distances between the frets are correct. With the right nut compensation, the pitch of the unfretted string can be raised by

2712-613: A thicker fret is a less precise note, since the string is held over a wider surface, causing a slight inaccuracy of pitch, which increases in significance as frets wear. It is also possible to find semi-fretted instruments; examples include the Malagasy kabosy and the Afghan Rubab . Semi-fretted versions of guitars and other fretted string instruments, however, are usually one-off, custom adaptations made for players who want to combine elements of both types of sound. One arrangement

2825-454: Is a construct" which designates "a number of musics with enough in common to be understood as part of a coherent tradition". Duke Ellington , one of jazz's most famous figures, said, "It's all music." Although jazz is considered difficult to define, in part because it contains many subgenres, improvisation is one of its defining elements. The centrality of improvisation is attributed to the influence of earlier forms of music such as blues ,

2938-693: Is a fundamental rhythmic figure heard in many different slave musics of the Caribbean, as well as the Afro-Caribbean folk dances performed in New Orleans Congo Square and Gottschalk's compositions (for example "Souvenirs From Havana" (1859)). Tresillo (shown below) is the most basic and most prevalent duple-pulse rhythmic cell in sub-Saharan African music traditions and the music of the African Diaspora . Tresillo

3051-558: Is a reminder of "an oppressive and racist society and restrictions on their artistic visions". Amiri Baraka argues that there is a "white jazz" genre that expresses whiteness . White jazz musicians appeared in the Midwest and in other areas throughout the U.S. Papa Jack Laine , who ran the Reliance band in New Orleans in the 1910s, was called "the father of white jazz". The Original Dixieland Jazz Band , whose members were white, were

3164-434: Is considered by many to be the finest exponent of jazz on the electric bass, via his work with Weather Report , Joni Mitchell , Pat Metheny and others. Most jazz bassists specialize in either the double bass or the bass guitar, although the ability to "double" (play both instruments) is common. A small number of players, such as Stanley Clarke and John Patitucci , have achieved virtuoso skill on both instruments. Whether

3277-408: Is evident in some famous recordings; an example is " Friends " by Led Zeppelin (although this example is undoubtedly caused by alternate open tunings that reduce string tension). In some songs, such as " My Last Serenade " by Killswitch Engage , the guitars are tuned to Dropped C and the low tension of the strings is used to create fret buzz by the bass player in order to create a dirty sound. It

3390-408: Is for the frets to extend only part of the way along the neck so that the higher notes can be played with the smooth expression possible with a fretless fingerboard. Another approach is the use of frets that extend only partway across the fretboard so that some courses of strings are fretted and others fretless, for example Ryszard Latecki's Latar . Instruments with straight frets like guitars require

3503-493: Is heard prominently in New Orleans second line music and in other forms of popular music from that city from the turn of the 20th century to present. "By and large the simpler African rhythmic patterns survived in jazz ... because they could be adapted more readily to European rhythmic conceptions," jazz historian Gunther Schuller observed. "Some survived, others were discarded as the Europeanization progressed." In

Jazz bass - Misplaced Pages Continue

3616-536: Is limited by the frequency responsiveness of the instrument's hollow body, which means that the very low pitches may not be as loud as the higher pitches. With an amplifier and equalization devices, a bass player can boost the low frequencies, which evens out the frequency response. As well, the use of an amplifier can increase the sustain of the instrument, which is particularly useful for accompaniment during ballads and for melodic solos with long held notes. Like other acoustic instruments used with amplification, such as

3729-578: Is not known when frets were first used. An early example from about the 3rd century C.E. was discovered in 1907 in the Niya ruins in Xinjiang , China, a broken lute's neck with two gut frets intact. The neck and pegbox of the lute are similar to the lute painted on the wall in the Dingjiazha Tomb No. 5 (384–441 A.D. ), which also has frets. Buddhist artworks from the 6th-10th centuries C.E. in

3842-437: Is to play the composition as it was written. In contrast, jazz is often characterized by the product of interaction and collaboration, placing less value on the contribution of the composer, if there is one, and more on the performer. The jazz performer interprets a tune in individual ways, never playing the same composition twice. Depending on the performer's mood, experience, and interaction with band members or audience members,

3955-625: The Atlantic slave trade had brought nearly 400,000 Africans to North America. The slaves came largely from West Africa and the greater Congo River basin and brought strong musical traditions with them. The African traditions primarily use a single-line melody and call-and-response pattern, and the rhythms have a counter-metric structure and reflect African speech patterns. An 1885 account says that they were making strange music (Creole) on an equally strange variety of 'instruments'—washboards, washtubs, jugs, boxes beaten with sticks or bones and

4068-617: The Dixieland jazz revival of the 1940s, Black musicians rejected it as being shallow nostalgia entertainment for white audiences. On the other hand, traditional jazz enthusiasts have dismissed bebop, free jazz, and jazz fusion as forms of debasement and betrayal. An alternative view is that jazz can absorb and transform diverse musical styles. By avoiding the creation of norms, jazz allows avant-garde styles to emerge. For some African Americans, jazz has drawn attention to African-American contributions to culture and history. For others, jazz

4181-448: The temperament defined by the fret positions. A player may still influence intonation , however, by pulling the string to the side to increase string tension and raise the pitch. This technique (commonly called " bending ") is often used by electric guitarists of all genres, and is an important part of sitar playing. On instruments with frets that are thicker off the fingerboard, string tension and pitch vary with finger pressure behind

4294-446: The " fusion " genre, players such as Jaco Pastorius began to develop a unique sound using the electric bass. Apart from jazz fusion and Latin-influenced jazz, the double bass is still widely used in jazz in the 2010s. The deep sound and woody tone of the plucked double bass is distinct from the sound of the fretted bass guitar . The bass guitar produces a different sound than the double bass, because its strings are usually stopped with

4407-712: The 12th fret plays exactly in tune . Many instruments' frets are not spaced according to the semitones of equal temperament , examples: Appalachian dulcimer (with frets in a diatonic scale ), the Turkish Saz (with frets spaced according to the Makam system of Turkish folk music ), the Arabic buzuq (with frets spaced according to the Arabic maqam system), and the Persian setar and tar (with frets spaced according to

4520-451: The 1950s, many women jazz instrumentalists were prominent, some sustaining long careers. Some of the most distinctive improvisers, composers, and bandleaders in jazz have been women. Trombonist Melba Liston is acknowledged as the first female horn player to work in major bands and to make a real impact on jazz, not only as a musician but also as a respected composer and arranger, particularly through her collaborations with Randy Weston from

4633-476: The 21st century, such as Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz . The origin of the word jazz has resulted in considerable research, and its history is well documented. It is believed to be related to jasm , a slang term dating back to 1860 meaning ' pep, energy ' . The earliest written record of the word is in a 1912 article in the Los Angeles Times in which a minor league baseball pitcher described

Jazz bass - Misplaced Pages Continue

4746-572: The Black middle-class. Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre, which originated in African-American communities of primarily the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from their spirituals , work songs , field hollers , shouts and chants and rhymed simple narrative ballads . The African use of pentatonic scales contributed to

4859-464: The Caribbean. African-based rhythmic patterns were retained in the United States in large part through "body rhythms" such as stomping, clapping, and patting juba dancing . In the opinion of jazz historian Ernest Borneman , what preceded New Orleans jazz before 1890 was "Afro-Latin music", similar to what was played in the Caribbean at the time. A three-stroke pattern known in Cuban music as tresillo

4972-623: The Persian Dastgah system), and the Turkish tanbur (with as many as 5 frets per semitone, to cover all of the commas of the Turkish Makam system). Fan frets (also fanned frets, slanted frets), or multi-scale : while frets are generally perpendicular to the instrument's neck centerline and parallel to each other, on a "fanned" fretboard, the frets are angled (spread like a fan) with only one center fret perpendicular to

5085-665: The Starlight Roof at the famed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel . He entertained audiences with a light elegant musical style which remained popular with audiences for nearly three decades from the 1930s until the late 1950s. Jazz originated in the late-19th to early-20th century. It developed out of many forms of music, including blues , ragtime , European harmony , African rhythmic rituals, spirituals , hymns , marches , vaudeville song, and dance music . It also incorporated interpretations of American and European classical music, entwined with African and slave folk songs and

5198-589: The U.S. Female jazz performers and composers have contributed to jazz throughout its history. Although Betty Carter , Ella Fitzgerald , Adelaide Hall , Billie Holiday , Peggy Lee , Abbey Lincoln , Anita O'Day , Dinah Washington , and Ethel Waters were recognized for their vocal talent, less familiar were bandleaders, composers, and instrumentalists such as pianist Lil Hardin Armstrong , trumpeter Valaida Snow , and songwriters Irene Higginbotham and Dorothy Fields . Women began playing instruments in jazz in

5311-409: The aid of metal frets . As well, bass guitars usually have a solid wood body, which means that the sound is produced by electronic amplification of the vibration of the strings. The solid body upright, also known as a "stick" bass or "EUB" variation is still widely used by bass players in salsa and timba bands, because its sound is so well suited to those styles. The EUB is smaller and lighter than

5424-408: The bass frequencies) while de-accentuating some frequencies (often the high frequencies, so that there is less finger noise). While jazz double bass players use amplification, they typically use much smaller, lower-powered bass amplifiers and smaller speaker cabinets than those used by an electric bass player playing in a jazz fusion show. An upright player performing at a small club may only bring

5537-427: The bass guitarist may only have a few short bass breaks or brief solos during a concert. During a jazz concert, a jazz bassist may have a number of lengthy improvised solos, which are called "blowing" in jazz parlance. Among those who have spearheaded the bass guitar in jazz are Jaco Pastorius , Victor Wooten , and Marcus Miller . One of the options for bass guitarists is whether to use an instrument with frets on

5650-552: The blues are undocumented, though they can be seen as the secular counterpart of the spirituals. However, as Gerhard Kubik points out, whereas the spirituals are homophonic , rural blues and early jazz "was largely based on concepts of heterophony ". During the early 19th century an increasing number of black musicians learned to play European instruments, particularly the violin, which they used to parody European dance music in their own cakewalk dances. In turn, European American minstrel show performers in blackface popularized

5763-399: The bridge. This is damped if the string were stopped with the soft fingertip on a fretless fingerboard. Frets make it much easier for a player to achieve an acceptable standard of intonation since the frets determine the positions for the correct notes. Furthermore, a fretted fingerboard makes it easier to play chords accurately. A disadvantage of frets is that they restrict pitches to

SECTION 50

#1732781104075

5876-555: The development of blue notes in blues and jazz. As Kubik explains: Many of the rural blues of the Deep South are stylistically an extension and merger of basically two broad accompanied song-style traditions in the west central Sudanic belt: W. C. Handy became interested in folk blues of the Deep South while traveling through the Mississippi Delta. In this folk blues form, the singer would improvise freely within

5989-410: The distances of two consecutive frets to the bridge is 2 12 {\displaystyle {\sqrt[{12}]{2}}} (the twelfth root of two) , or approximately 1.059463. Theoretically, the twelfth fret should divide the string in two exact halves . To compensate for the increase in string tension when the string is pressed against the frets, the bridge position is adjusted slightly so

6102-509: The early 1920s, drawing particular recognition on piano. When male jazz musicians were drafted during World War II, many all-female bands replaced them. The International Sweethearts of Rhythm , which was founded in 1937, was a popular band that became the first all-female integrated band in the U.S. and the first to travel with the USO , touring Europe in 1945. Women were members of the big bands of Woody Herman and Gerald Wilson . Beginning in

6215-480: The education of freed African Americans. Although strict segregation limited employment opportunities for most blacks, many were able to find work in entertainment. Black musicians were able to provide entertainment in dances, minstrel shows , and in vaudeville , during which time many marching bands were formed. Black pianists played in bars, clubs, and brothels, as ragtime developed. Ragtime appeared as sheet music, popularized by African-American musicians such as

6328-466: The electric bass may play challenging, fast-moving rhythmic figures in coordination with the drummer, or lay down a low, heavy groove. In a fusion band, electric bass players have to provide a solid, heavy bass foundation for the band while a drummer, electric guitarist (amplified through a guitar amp ) and synthesizer or electric piano player performing (amplified through a keyboard amp ) are all playing. As well, fusion bands are more likely to play

6441-556: The entertainer Ernest Hogan , whose hit songs appeared in 1895. Two years later, Vess Ossman recorded a medley of these songs as a banjo solo known as "Rag Time Medley". Also in 1897, the white composer William Krell published his " Mississippi Rag " as the first written piano instrumental ragtime piece, and Tom Turpin published his "Harlem Rag", the first rag published by an African-American. Classically trained pianist Scott Joplin produced his " Original Rags " in 1898 and, in 1899, had an international hit with " Maple Leaf Rag ",

6554-409: The fingerboard or not. On a fretted bass, metal frets divide the fingerboard into semitone divisions (as on a guitar). The original Fender basses had 20 frets, but modern basses may have 24 or more. Fretless basses have a distinct sound, because the absence of frets means that the string must be pressed down directly onto the wood of the fingerboard as with the double bass . The string buzzes against

6667-464: The first fretless bass guitar in 1961 when he converted an inexpensive Japanese fretted bass guitar by removing the frets. The first production fretless bass was the Ampeg AUB-1 introduced in 1966, and Fender introduced a fretless Precision Bass in 1970. In the early 1970s, fusion-jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius created his own fretless bass guitar by removing the frets from a Fender Jazz Bass, filling

6780-459: The first jazz group to record, and Bix Beiderbecke was one of the most prominent jazz soloists of the 1920s. The Chicago Style was developed by white musicians such as Eddie Condon , Bud Freeman , Jimmy McPartland , and Dave Tough . Others from Chicago such as Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa became leading members of swing during the 1930s. Many bands included both Black and white musicians. These musicians helped change attitudes toward race in

6893-415: The first written music which was rhythmically based on an African motif (1803). From the perspective of African-American music, the "habanera rhythm" (also known as "congo"), "tango-congo", or tango . can be thought of as a combination of tresillo and the backbeat . The habanera was the first of many Cuban music genres which enjoyed periods of popularity in the United States and reinforced and inspired

SECTION 60

#1732781104075

7006-403: The fret. Sometimes a player can pull the string toward the bridge or nut , thus lowering or raising the string tension and pitch. However, except for instruments that accommodate extensive string pulling, like the sitar, much less influence on intonation is possible than on unfretted instruments. Since the intonation of most modern western fretted instruments is equal tempered , the ratio of

7119-430: The fretless bass so that the metal string windings do not wear down the fingerboard . Some fretless basses have epoxy-coated fingerboards to increase durability, enhance sustain , and give a brighter tone. Though most fretless basses have four strings, five-string and six-string fretless basses are also available. Fretless basses with more than six strings are also available as "boutique" or custom-made instruments. While

7232-411: The frets that are higher than the fretted note (or open note). This causes a "buzzing" sound on the guitar that can range from a small annoyance, to severe enough to dampen the note and greatly reduce sustain . Sometimes, fret buzz can be so minimal that there is only a small change in the tone ( timbre ) of the note, without any noticeable buzzing. Fret buzz can be caused by different things: Fret buzz

7345-532: The habanera rhythm and cinquillo , are heard in the ragtime compositions of Joplin and Turpin. Joplin's " Solace " (1909) is generally considered to be in the habanera genre: both of the pianist's hands play in a syncopated fashion, completely abandoning any sense of a march rhythm. Ned Sublette postulates that the tresillo/habanera rhythm "found its way into ragtime and the cakewalk," whilst Roberts suggests that "the habanera influence may have been part of what freed black music from ragtime's European bass". In

7458-448: The harmony and provided a foundation for the tunes. Because an unamplified double bass is generally the quietest instrument in a jazz band, many players of the 1920s and 1930s used the slap style , slapping and pulling the strings to make a rhythmic slap sound against the fingerboard. The slap style cuts through the sound of a band better than simply plucking the strings, and make the bass more easily heard on early sound recordings, as

7571-469: The holes with wood putty, and coating the fretboard with epoxy resin. Pastorius used epoxy rather than varnish to obtain a glass-like finish suitable for the use of roundwound strings, which are otherwise much harder on the wood of the fingerboard. Some fretless basses have "fret line" markers inlaid in the fingerboard as a guide, while others only use guide marks on the side of the neck. Tapewound (double bass type) and flatwound strings are sometimes used with

7684-424: The influences of West African culture. Its composition and style have changed many times throughout the years with each performer's personal interpretation and improvisation, which is also one of the greatest appeals of the genre. By the 18th century, slaves in the New Orleans area gathered socially at a special market, in an area which later became known as Congo Square , famous for its African dances. By 1866,

7797-484: The instrument without an amplifier. To amplify the EUB, the string vibrations are sensed with a pickup . Early EUBs used magnetic pickups similar to those in electric guitars, or percussive magnetic diaghram pickups (e.g., the Ampeg "Baby Bass"). Many modern EUBs use piezoelectric pickups located in the bridge or a combination of pickup types. The signal from the pickup is usually preamplified and equalized with

7910-510: The instrument. The EUB retains enough of the features of the double bass so that double bass players are comfortable performing on it. While the EUB retains some of the tonal characteristics of the double bass, its electrically amplified nature also gives it its own unique sound. As well, an EUB is considerably easier to transport than its acoustic equivalent. The scale length of EUBs varies: some scales are 42", similar to most double basses , whilst other models have scale lengths of only 30" like

8023-460: The instruments of jazz: brass, drums, and reeds tuned in the European 12-tone scale. Small bands contained a combination of self-taught and formally educated musicians, many from the funeral procession tradition. These bands traveled in black communities in the deep south. Beginning in 1914, Louisiana Creole and African-American musicians played in vaudeville shows which carried jazz to cities in

8136-467: The jazz violin, a double bass is often plugged into a preamplifier , impedance-matching device, and/or a Direct Injection (DI box) box before it is routed to the PA system , electronic effects, or the bass instrument amplifier . In traditional jazz and swing it is sometimes played in the slap style . This is a vigorous version of pizzicato where the strings are "slapped" against the fingerboard between

8249-578: The late 1950s into the 1990s. Jewish Americans played a significant role in jazz. As jazz spread, it developed to encompass many different cultures, and the work of Jewish composers in Tin Pan Alley helped shape the many different sounds that jazz came to incorporate. Jewish Americans were able to thrive in Jazz because of the probationary whiteness that they were allotted at the time. George Bornstein wrote that African Americans were sympathetic to

8362-539: The late 1950s, using the mode , or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation, as did free jazz , which explored playing without regular meter, beat and formal structures. Jazz-rock fusion appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining jazz improvisation with rock music 's rhythms, electric instruments, and highly amplified stage sound. In the early 1980s, a commercial form of jazz fusion called smooth jazz became successful, garnering significant radio airplay. Other styles and genres abound in

8475-478: The late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues , ragtime , European harmony , African rhythmic rituals, spirituals , hymns , marches , vaudeville song, and dance music . Since the 1920s Jazz Age , it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music . Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes , complex chords , call and response vocals , polyrhythms and improvisation . As jazz spread around

8588-561: The main notes of the bass line, producing a snare drum -like percussive sound. The main notes are either played normally or by pulling the string away from the fingerboard and releasing it so that it bounces off the fingerboard, producing a distinctive percussive attack in addition to the expected pitch. Notable slap style bass players, whose use of the technique was often highly syncopated and virtuosic, sometimes interpolate two, or even three more slaps in between notes of their bass line. In both jazz and jazz fusion bands, some jazz bassists use

8701-407: The majority of jazz and jazz fusion recordings and live performances use either the double bass (or a related instrument such as an electric upright bass ) or the electric bass to supply the "low end", there are some exceptions. In jazz organ trios , a Hammond organ player, such as Joey de Francesco , performs the basslines using the bass pedalboard or their lower manual, along with a drummer and

8814-955: The many top players he employed, such as George Brunies , Sharkey Bonano , and future members of the Original Dixieland Jass Band . During the early 1900s, jazz was mostly performed in African-American and mulatto communities due to segregation laws. Storyville brought jazz to a wider audience through tourists who visited the port city of New Orleans. Many jazz musicians from African-American communities were hired to perform in bars and brothels. These included Buddy Bolden and Jelly Roll Morton in addition to those from other communities, such as Lorenzo Tio and Alcide Nunez . Louis Armstrong started his career in Storyville and found success in Chicago. Storyville

8927-413: The melody was stated briefly at the beginning and most of the piece was improvised. Modal jazz abandoned chord progressions to allow musicians to improvise even more. In many forms of jazz, a soloist is supported by a rhythm section of one or more chordal instruments (piano, guitar), double bass, and drums. The rhythm section plays chords and rhythms that outline the composition structure and complement

9040-697: The music internationally, combining syncopation with European harmonic accompaniment. In the mid-1800s the white New Orleans composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk adapted slave rhythms and melodies from Cuba and other Caribbean islands into piano salon music. New Orleans was the main nexus between the Afro-Caribbean and African American cultures. The Black Codes outlawed drumming by slaves, which meant that African drumming traditions were not preserved in North America, unlike in Cuba, Haiti, and elsewhere in

9153-583: The music of New Orleans with the music of Cuba, Wynton Marsalis observes that tresillo is the New Orleans "clavé", a Spanish word meaning "code" or "key", as in the key to a puzzle, or mystery. Although the pattern is only half a clave , Marsalis makes the point that the single-celled figure is the guide-pattern of New Orleans music. Jelly Roll Morton called the rhythmic figure the Spanish tinge and considered it an essential ingredient of jazz. The abolition of slavery in 1865 led to new opportunities for

9266-409: The neck's centerline. This gives the lower-pitched strings more length and the higher strings shorter length (comparable to a piano or a harp where heavier strings have different lengths). The idea is to give more accurate tuning and deeper bass . Some think that fanned frets might be more ergonomic . Fanned frets first appeared on the 16th-century Orpharion , a variant of the cittern , tuned like

9379-467: The northeastern United States, a "hot" style of playing ragtime had developed, notably James Reese Europe 's symphonic Clef Club orchestra in New York City, which played a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall in 1912. The Baltimore rag style of Eubie Blake influenced James P. Johnson 's development of stride piano playing, in which the right hand plays the melody, while the left hand provides

9492-618: The northern and western parts of the U.S. Jazz became international in 1914, when the Creole Band with cornettist Freddie Keppard performed the first ever jazz concert outside the United States, at the Pantages Playhouse Theatre in Winnipeg , Canada. In New Orleans, a white bandleader named Papa Jack Laine integrated blacks and whites in his marching band. He was known as "the father of white jazz" because of

9605-470: The performer may change melodies, harmonies, and time signatures. In early Dixieland , a.k.a. New Orleans jazz, performers took turns playing melodies and improvising countermelodies . In the swing era of the 1920s–40s, big bands relied more on arrangements which were written or learned by ear and memorized. Soloists improvised within these arrangements. In the bebop era of the 1940s, big bands gave way to small groups and minimal arrangements in which

9718-500: The period 1820–1850. Some of the earliest [Mississippi] Delta settlers came from the vicinity of New Orleans, where drumming was never actively discouraged for very long and homemade drums were used to accompany public dancing until the outbreak of the Civil War. Another influence came from the harmonic style of hymns of the church, which black slaves had learned and incorporated into their own music as spirituals . The origins of

9831-458: The perspective of other musical traditions, such as European music history or African music. But critic Joachim-Ernst Berendt argues that its terms of reference and its definition should be broader, defining jazz as a "form of art music which originated in the United States through the confrontation of the Negro with European music" and arguing that it differs from European music in that jazz has

9944-494: The plight of the Jewish American and vice versa. As disenfranchised minorities themselves, Jewish composers of popular music saw themselves as natural allies with African Americans. The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson is one example of how Jewish Americans were able to bring jazz, music that African Americans developed, into popular culture. Benny Goodman was a vital Jewish American to the progression of Jazz. Goodman

10057-459: The post-Civil War period (after 1865), African Americans were able to obtain surplus military bass drums, snare drums and fifes, and an original African-American drum and fife music emerged, featuring tresillo and related syncopated rhythmic figures. This was a drumming tradition that was distinct from its Caribbean counterparts, expressing a uniquely African-American sensibility. "The snare and bass drummers played syncopated cross-rhythms ," observed

10170-676: The pre-jazz era and contributed to the codification of jazz through the publication of some of the first jazz sheet music. The music of New Orleans , Louisiana had a profound effect on the creation of early jazz. In New Orleans, slaves could practice elements of their culture such as voodoo and playing drums. Many early jazz musicians played in the bars and brothels of the red-light district around Basin Street called Storyville . In addition to dance bands, there were marching bands which played at lavish funerals (later called jazz funerals ). The instruments used by marching bands and dance bands became

10283-537: The prominent styles. Bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music toward a more challenging "musician's music" which was played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. Cool jazz developed near the end of the 1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, linear melodic lines. The mid-1950s saw the emergence of hard bop , which introduced influences from rhythm and blues , gospel , and blues to small groups and particularly to saxophone and piano. Modal jazz developed in

10396-603: The recording equipment of that time did not capture low frequencies well. For more about the slap style, see "Playing styles," below. Double bass players who have contributed to the evolution of jazz include the Swing era player Jimmy Blanton , who played with Duke Ellington , and Oscar Pettiford , who pioneered the instrument's soloistic use in Bebop . The "cool" style of jazz was influenced by players such as Scott LaFaro and Percy Heath , whose solos were very melodic. Free jazz

10509-410: The rhythm and bassline. In Ohio and elsewhere in the mid-west the major influence was ragtime, until about 1919. Around 1912, when the four-string banjo and saxophone came in, musicians began to improvise the melody line, but the harmony and rhythm remained unchanged. A contemporary account states that blues could only be heard in jazz in the gut-bucket cabarets, which were generally looked down upon by

10622-514: The same amount. As a result, when the tension of the strings is lowered, the pitches of all notes, both fretted and unfretted, become correct. On instruments equipped with steel strings, such as folk guitars and electric guitars , frets are eventually bound to wear down as the strings cut grooves into them. When this happens, the instrument may need refretting (the frets are removed and replaced) or, in less severe cases, "fret dressing" (the frets are leveled, polished, and possibly recrowned). Often,

10735-469: The sides of one, two, or three fingers, especially for walking basslines and slow tempo ballads, because this is purported to create a stronger and more solid tone. Some players use the more nimble tips of the fingers to play fast-moving solo passages or to pluck lightly for quiet tunes. Using amplification gives the player more control over the tone of the instrument, because amplifiers have equalization controls that can accentuate certain frequencies (often

10848-556: The slang connotations of the term, saying: "When Broadway picked it up, they called it 'J-A-Z-Z'. It wasn't called that. It was spelled 'J-A-S-S'. That was dirty, and if you knew what it was, you wouldn't say it in front of ladies." The American Dialect Society named it the Word of the 20th Century . Jazz is difficult to define because it encompasses a wide range of music spanning a period of over 100 years, from ragtime to rock -infused fusion . Attempts have been made to define jazz from

10961-444: The soloist. In avant-garde and free jazz , the separation of soloist and band is reduced, and there is license, or even a requirement, for the abandoning of chords, scales, and meters. Since the emergence of bebop, forms of jazz that are commercially oriented or influenced by popular music have been criticized. According to Bruce Johnson, there has always been a "tension between jazz as a commercial music and an art form". Regarding

11074-507: The sound of the double bass. The electric bass player can play all of the same types of bass lines played by her upright bass cousin. However, due to the design of the electric bass as a guitar -family instrument, it is possible to play rapid bass lines that would be impossible on an upright bass. For example, an electric bassist in a fusion or Latin band can play a bassline composed entirely of rapid, syncopated sixteenth notes. For Latin or salsa tunes and rock-infused jazz fusion tunes,

11187-405: The standard western system, in which one octave is divided into twelve semitones. Fret is often used as a verb, meaning simply "to press down the string behind a fret". Fretting often refers to the frets and/or their system of placement. Pressing the string against the fret reduces the vibrating length of the string to that between the bridge and the next fret between the fretting finger and

11300-487: The thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument . Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical instruments and non-European instruments, frets are made of pieces of string tied around the neck. Frets divide the neck into fixed segments at intervals related to a musical framework. On instruments such as guitars , each fret represents one semitone in

11413-500: The twice-daily ferry between both cities to perform, and the habanera quickly took root in the musically fertile Crescent City. John Storm Roberts states that the musical genre habanera "reached the U.S. twenty years before the first rag was published." For the more than quarter-century in which the cakewalk , ragtime , and proto-jazz were forming and developing, the habanera was a consistent part of African-American popular music. Habaneras were widely available as sheet music and were

11526-575: The use of tresillo-based rhythms in African-American music. New Orleans native Louis Moreau Gottschalk 's piano piece "Ojos Criollos (Danse Cubaine)" (1860) was influenced by the composer's studies in Cuba: the habanera rhythm is clearly heard in the left hand. In Gottschalk's symphonic work "A Night in the Tropics" (1859), the tresillo variant cinquillo appears extensively. The figure was later used by Scott Joplin and other ragtime composers. Comparing

11639-403: The wood and is somewhat muted because the sounding portion of the string is in direct contact with the flesh of the player's finger. The fretless bass allows players to use the expressive devices of glissando , vibrato and microtonal intonations such as quarter tones and just intonation . In a small combo, the bass player may alone determine which type of bass to use and for which tunes. In

11752-485: The wood between some or all of the fret. This is intended to allow a lighter touch for more precise fingering, while easing bends or vibratos (since there's no contact between the fingertips and the wooden surface of the fingerboard). It has some popularity with musicians playing heavy metal music , although the concept can also be seen in ancient instruments such as the sitar . Scalloped fretboards have not found widespread popularity because tonally accurate play requires

11865-569: The world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, French quadrilles , biguine , ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation . However, jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. In the 1930s, arranged dance-oriented swing big bands , Kansas City jazz (a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisational style), and gypsy jazz (a style that emphasized musette waltzes) were

11978-498: The writer Robert Palmer, speculating that "this tradition must have dated back to the latter half of the nineteenth century, and it could have not have developed in the first place if there hadn't been a reservoir of polyrhythmic sophistication in the culture it nurtured." African-American music began incorporating Afro-Cuban rhythmic motifs in the 19th century when the habanera (Cuban contradanza ) gained international popularity. Musicians from Havana and New Orleans would take

12091-500: The year's crop was harvested and several days were set aside for celebration. As late as 1861, a traveler in North Carolina saw dancers dressed in costumes that included horned headdresses and cow tails and heard music provided by a sheepskin-covered "gumbo box", apparently a frame drum; triangles and jawbones furnished the auxiliary percussion. There are quite a few [accounts] from the southeastern states and Louisiana dating from

12204-407: Was influenced by the composer/bassist Charles Mingus (who also contributed to hard bop ) and Charlie Haden , best known for his work with Ornette Coleman . In the 1950s, some big band bandleaders began to ask their upright players to use the then-newly available Fender bass , the first widely available electric bass . In the 1970s, as jazz and rock music were blended by performers to create

12317-441: Was initially a marching band with sousaphone (or occasionally bass saxophone ) supplying the bass line. As the music moved from playing for funerals on the street and into bars and brothels , the double bass gradually replaced these wind instruments. Many early bassists doubled on both the brass bass and string bass, as the instruments were then often referred to. Bassists played walking basslines—scale-based lines that outlined

12430-464: Was introduced in the early 1950s when Roy Johnson (and later Monk Montgomery ) first used the instrument in Lionel Hampton 's big band . When the electric bass is used in jazz , it has both an accompaniment and a soloing role. When the bass is used to accompany, it may be used to perform walking basslines for traditional tunes and jazz standards , in smooth quarter note lines that imitate

12543-433: Was major ... , and I carried this device into my melody as well. The publication of his " Memphis Blues " sheet music in 1912 introduced the 12-bar blues to the world (although Gunther Schuller argues that it is not really a blues, but "more like a cakewalk"). This composition, as well as his later " St. Louis Blues " and others, included the habanera rhythm, and would become jazz standards . Handy's music career began in

12656-404: Was shut down by the U.S. government in 1917. Cornetist Buddy Bolden played in New Orleans from 1895 to 1906. No recordings by him exist. His band is credited with creating the big four: the first syncopated bass drum pattern to deviate from the standard on-the-beat march. As the example below shows, the second half of the big four pattern is the habanera rhythm. Fret A fret is any of

12769-536: Was the leader of a racially integrated band named King of Swing. His jazz concert in the Carnegie Hall in 1938 was the first ever to be played there. The concert was described by Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history". Shep Fields also helped to popularize "Sweet" Jazz music through his appearances and Big band remote broadcasts from such landmark venues as Chicago's Palmer House , Broadway's Paramount Theater and

#74925