John Cooper

One of the early influential clarinetists in the New Orleans tradition was Sydney Bechet.  He was from a middle class family raised in New Orleans in the early decades of the 20th century.  Several of his immediate family members were musicians which helped form and shape his interest in music.  Sydney's career spanned several decades and continents.  He had a powerful sound and sometime liked to dominate the musical texture.  

Bechet's musical upbringing in New Orleans included stints with Freddie Keppard, King Oliver, and Bunk Johnson.  In 1925, he moved to Paris and performed there and throughout Europe before returning to the United states.  It was in Paris where he latched onto the soprano saxophone seen here in this picture.  He was one of the earliest jazz musicians to develop a distinctive sound and approach to the instrument.

After WWII, Bechet relocated to Paris again in 1951 and lived the rest of his life there dying in 1959.  Listen below the the powerful vibrato and lyrical clarinet playing on this famous blues: Blue Horizon.

In the earliest days of jazz, a musical texture emerged that utilized the creative prowess of jazz pioneers to improvise an arrangement of a song.  This texture is known as collective improvisation.  In this musical setting, the three wind instruments, Cornet (or trumpet), Clarinet, and Trombone improvise their parts together to create an improvised arrangement with nothing written down for the players to read.  

In this texture, there are roles that the horn players fulfill.  The cornetist interprets the melody.  The clarinetist improvises a melodic counterpoint to the melody utilizing the harmony of the composition.  Finally, the trombonist improvises their part based on the roots of the harmony, or if there is a bass player, the lower structures of the harmony.  Together, these elements fuse to create a rich full musical texture.  The greatest performers in this tradition know how to create their part and leave space for the other musicians so that the texture does not become too crowded or cacophonic.

Here is a short video that explains the essence of collective improvisation.  It features a friend of mine who has made his life performing this style of music, Jon Erik Kellso on cornet.  When we were in college together in Detroit Michigan, Jon worked so much performing Trad Jazz that we nicknamed him “Johnny Gig.”

Please enjoy!

One of the most important resources for all Trad Lovers is a good set of the recordings Louis Armstrong made near the beginning of his career under his band called The Hot Five and Hot Seven.  Recorded between 1925 and 1928, these recording formed the foundation for jazz and are so historically relevant that most serious musicians use them as a learning tool even today.  

The process of recording them however was not standardized and the actual set of recordings were often sped up to make them sound more exciting, or to fit the constraint of the recording medium of the day.  Three minutes is all that would fit on a recording.  

Some years ago a famous German company, Deutche Gramaphon released a boxed set of these recordings that have been speed corrected and remastered so they sound exactly as they did in the recording studio.  If you are interested in collecting these recordings, this boxed set is the one I recommend to everyone and can be easily obtained from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Hot-Fives-Sevens-Louis-Armstrong/dp/B00001ZWLP/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=louis+armstrong+hot+fives+and+hot+sevens&qid=1689962337&sr=8-3

If you are a musician trying to play with the recordings, like me, this set is indispensable because they will all be in tune instead of a ¼ step sharp like other released recordings of this collection.  I hope you enjoy these and happy listening!