Immediate recognition/instumentalists

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Roy · #1 Post by **Roy** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 12:03 am

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

Matthew · #2 Post by **Matthew** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 2:35 am

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.

falty411 · #3 Post by **falty411** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 8:06 am

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

Mike · #4 Post by **Mike** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 8:34 am

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

CafeSavoy · #5 Post by **CafeSavoy** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 1:30 pm

Benny Carter's alto

mark0tz · #6 Post by **mark0tz** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 3:38 pm

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

wheato · #7 Post by **wheato** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 5:48 pm

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

Charlie Christian on guitar.

Jim W

mark0tz · #8 Post by **mark0tz** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 10:31 pm

Harry James on trumpet too...

Interesting so many of the recognizeable voices are trumpets.

Ryan · #9 Post by **Ryan** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 11:12 pm

Sidney Bechet

julius · #10 Post by **julius** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 3:10 pm

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.

julius · #11 Post by **julius** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 3:11 pm

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.

Toon Town Dave · #12 Post by **Toon Town Dave** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 11:19 pm

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.

mark0tz · #13 Post by **mark0tz** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 7:24 am

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.

falty411 · #14 Post by **falty411** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 8:21 am

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

not too hard to pick out those soprano saxaphones

mark0tz · #15 Post by **mark0tz** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 2:59 pm

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.