Why can't "modern" compers play like Freddie Green?

[BickertRules]

Strange. So nobody plays guitar in high school jazz band anymore?

Nope.

1. Budget cuts in the arts (STEM is the future!)

2. Transformation away from traditional high school band, jazz band and chorus towards more “relevant” and “creative” approaches - i.e. making beats and writing hip-hop “lyrics” - learning to strum and sing Beatles songs is about as historical as you can hope for.

[pcjazz]

Barry Harris had some very interesting things to say in yesterday’s Zoom class about the virtues of straight 4/4 rhythm as exemplified by Efferge Ware accompanying the young Charlie Parker on My Heart Tells Me and by Bud Powell behind Bird and Diz on the Massey Hall version of ATTYA (along with some highly critical comments about Mingus on the latter). He was disagreeing with a guitarist who found it too “old-fashioned,” pointing out the rhythmic freedom it affords the soloist when done properly.

[BickertRules]

Barry Harris had some very interesting things to say in yesterday’s Zoom class...

Just stop and read that opening clause. Barry Harris, who played alongside major boppers in the 1950s, is teaching Bebop on Zoom(!) in 2020, 65 years after the death of Bird. Talk about keeper of the flame - God bless him - in England, he would be knighted by now.

[Rhythm-a-Ning]

Yep, I was there too and according to him “nobody plays like that anymore”. As compers it’s my opinion that we should be practicing both modern and 4/4 comping

[steve burchfield]

Check out Will Matthews with the modern Count Basie Big Band. He fills those large shoes nicely!!! He is based in Kansas City,Mo.and has some YT material.