Down in the shed I've been practising my flute much more of late - and listening to flautists who play jass, after Ian posted about Nicole Mitchell a while back.
But the flute is bloody hard to play, much more so than the tenor, I think. Partly that's because I haven't put in the hours on the flute that I have on the saxophone, though I think also that intrinsically it's a much less forgiving instrument. For one thing, it has fewer keys on which you can change the register - if you want to change the octave on a note, you have to do it by breath control. In fact, breath control is where it's at on the flute because it's bottom end is very weak and quiet, and its top end is very loud and shrill, unless you can control the airstream at both ends - not to mention the middle range - by blowing a column of air over the embouchure hole which must be adjusted for every note played in terms of air pressure, cross-section and direction over the hole.
At the moment I'm practising exercises from a beginner's book because I sound like an eight year old (albeit one who can play an F# major scale). I have a flute tutorial book by Don Rendell which has some pieces written specially by Barbara Thompson but it will be a while yet before I feel ready to play those. However the flute seems to offer a new dimension to the music which is probably why it is played as a double by so many saxophonists. Most jazzers who play the flute are saxophonists who double on it; there really aren't that many who specialise in the flute which is odd considering the technical challenges involved. I think this is explained partly by the audience's expectations: they want to hear saxophone, trumpet, or piano solos; they're not expecting a flute or a cello for that matter. In the days before amplification I could see why the flute couldn't cut it in the old jazz ensembles over the brass. Others will be able to point to flutes in Paul Whiteman's orchestra, for example, but my guess is that it was considered prissy, too white and European, and not jazz-worthy (to use John Litweiler's expression).
So I started looking for some examples of jazz flute. Many exist of course...so here are some fine examples...
Let's begin with the guvnor - despite Brian Morton being rather sniffy regarding his strengths as a flautist on Jazz Library, there's no denying that Dolphy is a major voice on this instrument, which considering it was his voice #3 is all the more remarkable. Just think of what he might have achieved if he hadn't dissipated his effort across three disparate woodwinds, though the trouble is, which one does he give up?
But the flute is bloody hard to play, much more so than the tenor, I think. Partly that's because I haven't put in the hours on the flute that I have on the saxophone, though I think also that intrinsically it's a much less forgiving instrument. For one thing, it has fewer keys on which you can change the register - if you want to change the octave on a note, you have to do it by breath control. In fact, breath control is where it's at on the flute because it's bottom end is very weak and quiet, and its top end is very loud and shrill, unless you can control the airstream at both ends - not to mention the middle range - by blowing a column of air over the embouchure hole which must be adjusted for every note played in terms of air pressure, cross-section and direction over the hole.
At the moment I'm practising exercises from a beginner's book because I sound like an eight year old (albeit one who can play an F# major scale). I have a flute tutorial book by Don Rendell which has some pieces written specially by Barbara Thompson but it will be a while yet before I feel ready to play those. However the flute seems to offer a new dimension to the music which is probably why it is played as a double by so many saxophonists. Most jazzers who play the flute are saxophonists who double on it; there really aren't that many who specialise in the flute which is odd considering the technical challenges involved. I think this is explained partly by the audience's expectations: they want to hear saxophone, trumpet, or piano solos; they're not expecting a flute or a cello for that matter. In the days before amplification I could see why the flute couldn't cut it in the old jazz ensembles over the brass. Others will be able to point to flutes in Paul Whiteman's orchestra, for example, but my guess is that it was considered prissy, too white and European, and not jazz-worthy (to use John Litweiler's expression).
So I started looking for some examples of jazz flute. Many exist of course...so here are some fine examples...
Let's begin with the guvnor - despite Brian Morton being rather sniffy regarding his strengths as a flautist on Jazz Library, there's no denying that Dolphy is a major voice on this instrument, which considering it was his voice #3 is all the more remarkable. Just think of what he might have achieved if he hadn't dissipated his effort across three disparate woodwinds, though the trouble is, which one does he give up?
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