Jass Flute

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

SA, ckd out Koller Jnr on R3, as I shall call him from now on, as you say v.fine...then my net connection went down, well it is Wales in the wind, and punching it in again got Hans Snr from the 60s playing lovely overdubed funky tenor with himself! "Worra amazing top talent non family", as Cilla would say...if she lived in Saltzburg and ate rum cake on the ski slopes. Ah, the memories.

BN.

[Tenor Freak]

Next up...Jimmy Galway! He has an interesting approach to jazz, as you may see:

[Tenor Freak]

One of my favourites, and who was taught by Buddy Collette, James Newton:

[Serial_Apologist]

Eddie Parker, ex Loose Tubes, nice Steigish flute(s) alongside Mike Pickering (d) Steve Watts (bg) and ... Kit Downes, no less, down my local just now. That band, with the late Pete Saberton, made a couple of lovely CDs for FMR back in the mid-90s. Eddie's got some stuff with another sadly departed pianist, the S African Bheki Mseleku, coming out shortly, and there's a couple of previously unissued Loose Tubes in the pipeline, with any luck and money, and Eddie says if you look there's some downloadable stuff under his name too. Might check out tomorrow.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Its interesting to me how and why a lot of saxophone players went from doubling flute in the 50s to doubling soprano in the 60s.

The Coltrane effect? Did the soprano sound blacker? More authentic and in tune with the times\events?


Fingering or Sociology?


BN.

[Tenor Freak]

Its interesting to me how and why a lot of saxophone players went from doubling flute in the 50s to doubling soprano in the 60s.

The Coltrane effect? Did the soprano sound blacker? More authentic and in tune with the times\events?


Fingering or Sociology?


BN.

Fingering: the keys on all saxophones are exactly the same, so it's much easier to double on soprano rather than clarinet or flute.

[Jazzrook]

Robert Dick shouldn't be forgotten:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVP5ffxX5Kg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTIvjxEkmnY

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Bruce, I'm sure thats right as a player but the flute is tres subject to fashion. A comeback in the 70s with fusion and Hurbert Laws? And awful suits with big lapels flapping in the breeeeeeeeeeeze.

Bud Shank said it was "an absurd instrument to even try to play jazz on"...but what did he know.

[Quarky]

Its interesting to me how and why a lot of saxophone players went from doubling flute in the 50s to doubling soprano in the 60s.

The Coltrane effect? Did the soprano sound blacker? More authentic and in tune with the times\events?


Fingering or Sociology?


BN.

Just to be awkward:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_j0LON3AlQ

Or not to be?
Does the Blue Train "sound" translate to flute?

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Ben Ratliff's "Coltrane" suggests that Trane toyed with the flute at the end as a result of his cancer and a loss of power. I suspect not only as he was still playing extended tenor solos. So maybe the flute for a different colour or texture? Alice's influence? I think Joe Henderson later played some flute with her.

(Trane's flute was Dolphy's flute btw.)

BN.

[Ian Thumwood]

Bruce, I'm sure thats right as a player but the flute is tres subject to fashion. A comeback in the 70s with fusion and Hurbert Laws? And awful suits with big lapels flapping in the breeeeeeeeeeeze.

Bud Shank said it was "an absurd instrument to even try to play jazz on"...but what did he know.

If anything I think the flute probably was utilised more in the 1960's and something like Herbie Hancock's "Speak like a child" is probably more indicative of a particular sound being fashionable. Ditto Roland Kirk. You often hear flutes cropping up in charts of that era by Quincy Jones and Thad Jones. I'm not quite sure about it being modish from a solo perspective whereas every generation seems to have at least one player who is useful on this instrument.

I seem to remeber reading a Mike Zwerin article about Eric Dolphy's attempt to master the instrument. For me, there are plenty of good players on this instrument ranging from Frank Wess through to Henry Threadgill but (perhaps with the exception of Steve Kujala and James Newton whose music is pretty unknown to me) I think Nicole Mitchell has totally nailed this instrument. I enjoyed the Coltrane clip posted above (the Lochrane track was sensational, in my opinion!!) but when I played a Youtube clip of Nicole Mitchell she seems poles apart in her ability. I can't think of any musician who has quite made the flute so convincing as a jazz instrument and I think she is also blessed with her abilities as a composer too. "Awkening" is a sensational album and puts the flute in a context of a fine working band which pretty much defines what I feel represents everything great jazz should be. As insteresting as the other suggestions have been (can't see Yusef Lateef mentioned here either) Nicole Mitchell has changes the flute from being a piece of interesting exotica to a very credible jazz voice.

[Tenor Freak]

still playing extended tenor solos. So maybe the flute for a different colour or texture? Alice's influence? I think Joe Henderson later played some flute with her.

(Trane's flute was Dolphy's flute btw.)

BN.

Yes, definitely for colour...the flute would blend well with Alice's harp...though on that Trane track from "Expression" it's almost like Trane and Pharoah's saxophones have shrunk in the wash.

Joe Henderson played flute but wasn't enamoured with it. He plays on his album "Multiple" which is the one everyone forgets about. He plays alto flute on Herbie's "I Have a Dream" and has a hard time controlling it especially at the reprise where he's just finished his tenor solo and has to swap back to the flute...anyway:

BTW Ian I mentioned Yusef Lateef already, on page 1 or 2 of this thread

[Dave2002]

Nicole Mitchell's 'Awakening' was recommended to me by Ian Thumwood and is one of the best flute albums I've heard in a long while:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXjaoss_LiA

There's also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klDuSbA3nuk and Renegades (Spotify) - http://open.spotify.com/album/2c892DnUTXE11LhJHd72CP

I'm not sure how much I like the music in some cases, though. I did try (inadvertently) listening to all of these simultaneously - much wilder!

Actually Black Unstoppable is rather good - http://open.spotify.com/album/6U2dgGP6p8zzFT2TQn054r there's also a DVD, though I really like that Paris concert.

Video may go here - when I find out how to do it ..... http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...ips-into-posts


Et Voila!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

No one's mentioned the HIP James Moody? A tenor\flute wizz with Dizz. And the sad Les Spann who doubled la flute et le guitar\but didn't go far.

BN..

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

BTW, this thread seems a great success, even creating comment from the Bartok mess\boards.

Time for a R3 jazz flute toot series? Cmon down Geoff Smith...

BN.