SwingDJs

I'm curioius which swing/Blues instumentalists can you immediatly recoginize 100% of the time based on their style. I say instumentalists only because most of us can recognize all the top vocalists.

For me I can alway recognize every time:
Count Basie's Piano
Cootie Williams
Louis Armstong
Johnnie Johnson
Gene Harris
Johnny Hodges
Charlie Chritian

I'm not sure that I can recognize it 100% of the time, but Teddy Wilson's playing is relatively easy for me to recognize.

Stephane Grappelli's Violin
Ben Webster's tenor Sax
Lester Young's tenor Sax
Chick Webb's drums
Artie Shaw's clarinet
Django Reinhardt's guitar
Lionel Hampton's vibes

i think these guys are pretty easy to pick out

I want to say Duke Ellington's piano, but Billy Strayhorn could play almost exactly like him. It is really difficult to distinguish between the two, even though the style is extremely distictive. There are a couple of tracks, I think on the RCA Centennial box, where the producers of the set can't identify which one is at the piano.

Other than that, and many of the aforementioned:

Ray Nance's violin
Paul Gonsalves' tenor
Oscar Peterson's piano
Erroll Garner's piano
Russell Procope's whispering whistle

Benny Carter's alto

There are a bunch...

Other than the aforementioned,

Miles Davis's Trumpet,
Clark Terry's Trumpet/Flugelhorn (and voice),
Billy Taylor's Piano,
Trummy Young's Trombone,
Jack Teagarden's Trombone

.. gotta run

I can generally recognize Roy Eldridge's trumpet. It usually leaves my ears ringing.

Charlie Christian on guitar.

Jim W

Harry James on trumpet too...

Interesting so many of the recognizeable voices are trumpets.

Sidney Bechet

I find it hard to distinguish OP from Monty Alexander sometimes (yeah, I know, you're horrified).

Gene Harris is identifiable to me because he uses this certain riff I have in mind on bluesy songs a LOT. But I don't think I could do him 100%.

Basie, because his style is so distinctive, but that's almost a gimme.

Bechet, because of his incredibly fat tone. Maybe Hawkins ditto, but not nearly as accurately.

Lester Young sounds distinctive, but I don't know if I'd be able to pick him out of his clones. If I get around to listening to my Verve box set of him, I would probably be able to pick him out.

Louis, maybe, but again, he has a lot of imitators.

Art Blakey, but only if he does his trademark buzz roll. That thing is mindboggling.

Miles, because he's got the worst tone of any trumpet player ever, haha. Okay just kidding.

Gene Krupa, depending on the era. He also uses trademark riffs. Unfortunately recording quality varies so much it's hard to pin down a trademark sound for him, for me.

And believe it or not I think Diana Krall has an interesting, distinctive left hand on piano. I don't know if I could accurately pick it out, but it doesn't remind me of anybody else.

Mike what differentiates Artie from Benny for you?

I find both to be ultra-precise technicians and it's hard for me to pick something out.

Good question, I think I've always been able to tell the two. I don't really know how. Generally I like Goodman's sound a little better, I think it just sounds a little smoother. Not being a musician, I don't think I can quite pinpoint it. Just listening to a few right now I think maybe Shaw plays notes a little shorter on average than Goodman or maybe it's a differeence in how each note trails off. Then again, it could be just something in the rest of the arrangement.

julius wrote:Mike what differentiates Artie from Benny for you?

I find both to be ultra-precise technicians and it's hard for me to pick something out.

Artie Shaw's music is much more straight to me than Benny Goodman. Goodman has soul where Shaw feels more calculated. Not saying I can identify them 100 times out of 100, but that's the difference I notice.

julius wrote:Bechet, because of his incredibly fat tone.

not too hard to pick out those soprano saxaphones

Interesting.. Just listened to a Charlie Shavers track off of this cd:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ... 3zefyk7gf6

where he impersonates Armstrong, Ziggy Elman, Dizzy Gillespie, Harry James, and Cootie Williams.

Hm, Louis (Lou-EE), Harry , Ziggy, Dizzy, Cootie, Charlie -- alliteration?

S'nice CD. All of the music is enjoyable. Moten Swing, Flow Gently Sweet Rythm, and Rose Room (the latter especially) are great for dancing. The stuff with Maxine is a bit lackluster.