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The evolution of jazz trumpet playing
The art of jazz trumpet playing has developed from the early funeral bands of
New Orleans to the performance halls of today all around the world. No musician
develops without some kind of influence, and the chronological line of jazz trumpeters is
no exception.
To understand the music of early jazz trumpet players, it is necessary to
understand some of the music that was present at the time the trumpet emerged in New
Orleans. Although it is likely for a musician to find influence in another musician of the
same craft, the first jazz trumpet players found their influence in the early songs of
African Americans and the blues, which were based directly from the European diatonic
and chromatic scale systems. (Tanner 24) Prior to the Civil War, African American
music was accompanied by clapping, stomping and beating on anything available.
(Tanner 36) After the Civil War, a surplus of instruments from military bands was
present in New Orleans, due to the many military bands in the French settlements in that
area. (Tanner 36) Therefore, in the early 1900’s instruments were finally available in
pawnshops, so African Americans could afford them for the first time. Soon after this,
marching bands, funeral bands, brass bands and parade bands began to emerge. The
typical instrumentation of one of these type groups would consist of a cornet, trombone,
clarinet, tuba, banjo and drums. (Tanner 37) Each member of the band took a certain in
role in these type groups. The cornet played the melody and led the group, the trombone
played arppegiations, the clarinet played a higher, counter melody to the trumpet, the tuba
played the bass line, the banjo strummed the chords in quarter notes and the drums kept a
beat. (Tirro 121) It is difficult to pinpoint what exact combination of musical cultures
directly influenced these groups, but it is apparent that many of the musical traditions of
the African American slave culture are present in this music. Although brass bands,
funeral bands and other bands with this type of instrumentation emerged in Oklahoma
and throughout the Southwest, New Orleans was the dominant area in the development of
early jazz. In New Orleans, the songs or spirituals of the church would often be the
music the parade and funeral bands played, except the melody was played by each
melody instrument in turn, with each player embellishing the tune as they wished.
Sometimes the embellished melody would become a new melody of its own, and this
occurrence was one of the first jazz improvisations. Another type of music that led to a
medium for jazz improvisation on the trumpet and other instruments was the blues. The
first form of blues included lyrics and was in a twelve-measure form, but by the early
1920’s the twelve-bar blues became the basis for many instrumental compositions in jazz.
(tirro 84) In retrospect, the blues has more jazz compositions based on it than any other
musical form.
The person credited for the beginning of jazz and jazz trumpet playing is the
barber by trade from New Orleans named Charles “Buddy” Bolden. (Tirro 114) Bolden
was born in 1868 in New Orleans and died there in 1931. No audio recordings exist of
him whatsoever, so the only information that is available about him is written personal
accounts. Willie “Bunk” Johnson, who was one of Bolden’s apprentices, explains the
legend of Buddy Bolden. “Bolden was one of the world’s loudest cornet players, and his
sound was said to carry to a distance of one to five miles.”(Tirro 115) Some early
recording equipment was available at the time that Bolden was alive and playing, but he
would not allow himself to be recorded because he did not want any musicians to steal
his concept. Bolden led many early jazz bands, and his most regular working band was
the Buddy Bolden band. Inevitability, Bolden was the leader and therefore a huge
influence on the personnel in his band, including the Dixieland trumpet players, Freddie
Keppard and Bunk Johnson, and was an early influence on the father of jazz
improvisation, Louis Armstrong.
Another one of Buddy Bolden’s apprentices was Joe “King” Oliver, who was an
important trumpet player that came between Buddy Bolden and Louis Armstrong. (Tirro
122) Oliver led his own early jazz band, named the “Creole Jazz band” whose personnel
included his apprentice, Louis Armstrong playing second trumpet. The Creole jazz band
was a huge landmark in the history of jazz music because it produced the “most authentic
classic jazz recordings we have available to us today.” (Tirro 122) The Creole band was
one of the first bands to play a blues form that was strictly instrumental rather than vocal.
One such composition, “Dippermouth Blues” was recorded in 1923 and contains a solo
by Oliver that is a classic example of the developing jazz trumpet solo and is a good
example of Oliver’s influence in the line of jazz trumpet players. The characteristics of
the solo that make it an outstanding cornet solo of the 1920’s is its structural integrity,
rhythmic patterns off the beat of the accompaniment and the use of inflections on the
trumpet. (Tirro 86) Oliver also employs the use of the lowered third against a dominant
seventh chord, unofficially known as one of the “blue” notes in jazz, and in this particular
solo occurs as a pitch of Db concert against a Bb dominant seventh chord. (Tirro 84) This
musical characteristic is a direct influence from the blues tradition. Oliver’s influence on
the development of jazz is evident, but his greatest contribution to jazz trumpet playing
could very well be providing Louis Armstrong with an opportunity to break into the
music field.
Daniel “Satchmo” Louis Armstrong was born in 1901 and is the most important
jazz soloist in the history of jazz and is also therefore the most important and influential
trumpet soloist. Armstrong was the first jazz soloist to have extended jazz improvisations
in his performances. (opinions by Jon Faddis, see cited sources) The author of the book,
Jazz: A History by Frank Tirro refers to Armstrong as “a legend in his own time, and
some would say even the single greatest figure in the jazz hall of fame.” Armstrong is
revered as the fountainhead of jazz improvisation and one of his greatest
accomplishments is his small Dixieland jazz groups, called the “Hot Five” and “Hot
Seven”. These groups provided the vehicle in which Armstrong played his greatest solos,
one of which is the trumpet feature entitled “Cornet Chop Suey”. The solo required such
facility and virtuosity on the instrument that no other jazz soloist on any of the wind
instruments at the time could rival him. (Tirro 175) This solo set the precedent for jazz
trumpet players to gain agility and facility to achieve performances of the same stature.
Armstrong’s solos on “Struttin with some Barbecue”, “Potato Head Blues”, “Hotter that
That” and “West End Blues” are more examples of classic Louis Armstrong artistry and
the development of his musical language. Armstrong tended play consecutive accented
quarter notes and “swing” eighth notes, which are eighth notes where the first eighth note
receives the length of the first two parts of an eighth note triplet, and the second swing
eighth note receives the length of the third part of a eighth note triplet. (
)
Armstrong also used fast vibrato and quick lip slurs, also known as “shakes” on the
trumpet. His solos were developmental, had great rhythmic and melodic integrity and
were compositional in nature rather than the riff-like solos of his predecessors. Louis
Armstrong has influenced every jazz improviser because he is considered the beginning
of jazz improvisation.
Some great jazz soloists emerged as disciples from the influence of Louis
Armstrong, like Bix Beiderbecke, but one of the most important players after Armstrong
in the chronological order of the development of jazz trumpet playing was Roy Eldrige.
After Dixieland jazz, the next major movement of the jazz ensemble was the swing and
big band jazz music. However, the next major movement of an ensemble for jazz
improvisation was the bebop movement. Roy Eldrige is a critical figure because he was a
student of Louis Armstrong’s music, but also an early influence of musicians both in the
big band setting and in the small bebop jazz ensemble setting. Eldrige functions as a
transitional figure between Louis Armstrong and Dixieland music, and the types of jazz
that followed afterwards. Eldrige was born in 1911 and began studying the music and
style of Louis Armstrong in 1932. Eldrige played in both big bands and small groups and
is considered the leading trumpeter of the swing period and a direct successor to
Armstrong. (Groves, vol 1 692) Eldrige was also greatly influenced by the saxophone
players, Benny Carter and Coleman Hawkins, and in order to play like the saxophone
players, he was forced to gain almost unlimited facility in the upper register of the
trumpet and had a very intense, focused sound. Some jazz historians credit him as the
biggest influence on the emergence of bebop jazz, partly due to his apparent influence on
Dizzy Gillespie, who was the co-founder of bebop jazz and freely admitted to the help of
his mentor. Jon Faddis, a current trumpet player and historian tells a story of a blindfold
test with Gillespie and Eldrige. The two trumpeters played together to the point that
neither of them could hear a recording and recall which of the two players it was. Faddis
explains that a recording of Gillespie was played for Eldrige, who was blindfolded, and
when the recording was over Eldrige thought he had heard a recording of himself. Many
of Gillespie’s trademark riffs, or short excerpts of jazz language, are in fact ideas he
heard from Eldrige.
Roy Eldrige’s influence on big band soloists was apparent in the work of Eugene
“Snooky” Young who is famous for his works with the Jimmy Lunceford orchestra, the
Count Basie orchestra, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis orchestra and in his later years as a
“Tonight Show” band member. Because big band music was popular, many of the jazz
musicians throughout the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s played in big bands for the income,
whether their main interest was small group jazz or not. However, a few influential
trumpet soloists were primarily big band lead players and soloists. Young’s solo work is
partly a direct influence of Eldrige, because the vibrato that Young employs in his
playing is apparently a characteristic he heard from Eldrige. Young also performed solos
with a cup mute, using the cup mute as a plunger mute by using his left hand to push the
cup further or closer to the bell of his trumpet while playing a solo to create a “wa wa”
sound. Another big band soloist who was an innovator in the field of jazz trumpet
playing in big bands was Charles “Cootie” Williams. Williams is best known for his
performances with the Duke Ellington orchestra, although he did some small group
playing. His foremost characteristic was his use of the plunger mute and the growl.
While playing the trumpet, Williams would “flutter tongue” to cause the note he was
playing to distort in a way that somewhat resembled a growl sound. Finally, another
landmark big band soloist was Rex Stewart, who employed the half-valve in his solos.
On any given note, Stewart placed one of the valves of the trumpet only half way down,
causing the given note to sound muted. The classic repertoire of a big band today would
consist of some charts composed by Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Therefore, the
influence of Young, Williams and Stewart is still apparent in the current performances of
the big bands today.
Inevitably, trumpet players playing with musicians other than trumpet players will
find their influence in them as much or more as anyone else. The most famous of this
type of musician is the saxophonist, Charlie Parker, who co-founded the art of bebop jazz
along with Dizzy Gillespie. Although there are many instances in which non-trumpet
players influence trumpet players, Parker is considered the father of modern jazz and is
therefore a necessity to the discussion of the evolution of jazz improvisation on the
trumpet. One of Parker’s innovations was the abandonment of the rhythmic feel of a 12/8
meter like the feel of the eighth notes of the swing and big band eras. Parker’s approach
was more like eighth note lines with the notes being more evenly spaced, but with the
primary amount of accents on the notes occurring on the upbeats. (McNeil 6) Although it
may have seemed that Parker’s rhythmic innovation came with no influences, it is
probable that his preceding pioneer was none other than Louis Armstrong. Armstrong
was the among the first jazz musicians to give swing a 12/8 feel, but due to his facility on
the trumpet, he could play lines with wide intervals that when executed, sounded evenly
spaced. It is a fact that Parker did quote Armstrong’s solos frequently in his own
improvisations, even to the point of quoting an entire blues chorus with an excerpt from
the Armstrong solo on “West End Blues”. (McNeil 7) Parker did however, use a greater
amount of passing tones, while Armstrong mostly used only chord tones, and frequently
resolved extensions of the chord, like 9ths, 11ths and 13ths. Along with Dizzy Gillespie,
the two musicians began a music called bebop, where the primary emphasis of the music
was on the elaborate improvisations of the instrumentalists rather than the composition
itself.
At this point in the history of jazz, the setting of jazz improvisation as a whole
does not vary too much. Therefore, the line of jazz trumpet influences is best to trace
through sound and articulation. (McNeil 7) Most of the characteristics available for a
trumpet player to employ have already been explored at this point, like growls and
shakes, and although the harmonic content of the solos is important, other
instrumentalists have just as much influence as the trumpet players. Dizzy Gillespie’s
approach to the fast paced bebop of Charlie Parker basically influenced two lines of jazz
trumpet playing from the 1940’s to the present. (McNeil 8) The first line began with Fats
Navarro, who is considered the first “pure” bebop trumpet player he because is known as
the player who owed little to the swing era. Although Gillespie’s music is considered
bebop, his approach to the eighth note feel was closer to the 12/8 tradition of the swing
era music. Although the construction of Navarro’s solos were greatly influenced by
Gillespie, his placement of accents on the upbeats and even eighth note lines was a direct
copy of Charlie Parker’s concept. Navarro’s sound contained more harmonics than
Gillespie’s, whose sound was focused and intense. Charlie Shavers, a trumpet player in
the swing era was a relative of Navarro’s. Shavers, although not an extremely critical
figure, was the person that Navarro modeled his sound after, using a broad, warm and full
tone rather than a narrow, piercing tone. Since the music of the bebop era and the music
directly succeeding the bebop era, known as post-bop, included the rapid of change of
tonal centers, it was also important for a trumpet player to have clean articulation and
valve technique. All these characteristics combined make Fats Navarro known as the
leading figure for one line of jazz trumpet players.
The most direct successor to the Fats Navarro school of sound was Clifford
Brown, who was close friends with Navarro. Brown’s trumpet playing was
“characterized by a rich, broad tone and a percussive attack, unusually long yet carefully
shaped phrases, exceptional virtuosity and a seemingly unending flow of logically
developed musical ideas.” (Groves vol.1 319) Brown could play at very fast tempos with
precision and could execute ideas well; the list of trumpet players that directly modeled
their playing after his is too long to list. Two exceptional successors were Lee Morgan
and Freddie Hubbard. Lee Morgan was an extremely diverse jazz trumpeter,
incorporating all kinds of half-valves, multiple tonguing, different articulations, most of
the time all in the same solo. Morgan was like Brown in the use of well executed, fast
paced soloing, but he tended to play so loud that his sound would come close to
distorting. He did not achieve an absolute high level of virtuosity because as he grew
older his range diminished, which was probably due to the extreme volume. His solos,
however, are wonderfully exciting because he builds to climaxes very well and leaves the
listener feeling satisfied. Another successor of Clifford Brown was Freddie Hubbard and
unlike Morgan, Hubbard had unlimited virtuosity. He is acclaimed as the top technician
ever to play the trumpet and was the most imitated trumpet player from the time of
emergence in the 1960’s until around the mid 1980’s. (McNeil 16) Although some of
his solos are not the necessarily the best jazz construction, they would include techniques
on the trumpet that had never been accomplished before and have not been rivaled since.
For instance, Hubbard might decided to spend several choruses of a solo running
chromatically through his full range and then sustaining very high pitches. (McNeil 17)
For a trumpet player, Freddie’s Hubbard’s technique allowed him to have no limitations
and was enabled to play anything he wanted, whether the audience enjoyed it or not.
Many other trumpet players descended from the sound of Fats Navarro, the
originator of one of the two lines of trumpet players succeeding Dizzy Gillespie. A few
of them include Blue Mitchell, Booker Little, Louis Smith, Donald Byrd and Woody
Shaw. The other line of trumpet playing that stemmed from Gillespie began with Miles
Davis and his more subtle, relaxed approach to jazz improvisation. Miles Davis most
trademark characteristic is his use of no vibrato whatsoever. His sound was also dark and
mellow, partly due to the fact that he used a trumpet mouthpiece that was shaped like a
french horn mouthpiece’s cup, which is in the shape of a “v” rather that a bowl shape. In
his beginning soloing career, Davis was largely impacted by Gillespie’s bebop lines, but
after replacing Gillespie in Charlie Parker’s jazz quintet and touring with this group,
Davis began to form his own music and sound concept. Davis is known as one of the
most innovative jazz musicians in history because he created his own, changing musical
concepts for almost fifty years. His musical life span included bebop jazz, cool jazz,
modal jazz, musicals in jazz arrangements, and fusion jazz to name a few. His playing
was often subtle and he was the first to employ the use of a harmon mute with no stem as
a trademark. Some of the trumpet players that were directly influenced by him were
Thad Jones, Chet Baker, Nat Adderley and in the mid 80’s, Wynton Marsalis, who is
widely known today as one of the best trumpet virtuosos in the world. Davis died in
1991 and recorded music throughout his entire life span, making him influential to many
of the current trumpet players today.
Due to recordings of jazz music enveloping about 85 years, modern day jazz
trumpet players have the challenge and privilege of studying almost a century’s
production of jazz trumpet music. Although many talented trumpeters have risen since
the early 1990’s, it is difficult to ascertain the influence of musicians on one another in
this time span without a couple of more decades passing by.
Haley Kitts
Music History II research paper
The evolution of jazz trumpet playing
April 18, 2005
Bibliography
1.Faddis Jon, Faddis presented a clinic on the chronological order of jazz trumpet solos
at the 2005 IAJE regional conference in Waco, Texas on Saturday, April 16th. Some of
the opinions in the paper reflect opinions that he vocalized during his discussion.
2.Groves dictionary of jazz, vol.1, vol.2, vol.3 (New York: Oxford University Press,
2005), vol.1 319, vol.1 692,
3.McNeil John, The art of jazz trumpet, (New York: Gerard and Sarzin, 1999), 6, 7, 8,
16, 17
4.Tanner Paul, Jazz, (Boston: McGraw Hill, 1917), 24, 36, 37
5.Tirro Frank, Jazz a History, (New York: W.W. Norton, Inc., 1977), 84, 86, 114, 115,
122, 175