The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
Reply to Thread Bookmark Thread
Posts 1 to 13 of 13
  1. #1

    User Info Menu

    There are many moments in the album (below) where Ed Bickert's comping goes to high registers and overlap with Buddy Tate's solo without drowning out Buddy Tate's lines. It all plays like a great, deliberate arrangement. The reason seems to be that Ed Bickerts dynamics are very carefully adjusted to Buddy Tate's phrasing. I don't hear people talk about this much but Ed Bickert shows that you don't have to avoid high registers as long as you can control going between the foreground (when there is space) and the background( when the soloist starts a phrase) with your dynamics.

    Of course Buddy Tate is playing a tenor saxophone and often goes to low registers moreover the two instruments have very distinct timbres. But I don't think these are the reasons that this style of comping works here. I think it works because this is the style of comping Ed Bickert is a master at (which you can hear in his other albums).


  2.  

    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Tal_175
    There are many moments in the album (below) where Ed Bickert's comping goes to high registers and overlap with Buddy Tate's solo without drowning out Buddy Tate's lines.
    Ed's playing is far from stock. It's like an orchestral arrangement that he can instantly respond to. Yeah you're right to point out that the register is higher than the sax but that's never been a steadfast rule, listen to orchestral concertos. What is played is not so much a "comp chords while the sax player does his thing" dynamic but a duet, or partnership. Ed reads Buddy's use of space and he frames it with melodic chording. He's playing quietly and the effect is you listen harder to hear what HE's playing.
    Jim Hall often said to play with reserve so you have somewhere to go. When you're playing with a soloist, you have someone telling you where to go and they're very much playing as one. Ed's playing is spot on with time but he gives that assumption to the listener and finds the time sense of the soloist; enhances that.
    Some really nice playing. Thanks for posting that.

  4. #3

    User Info Menu

    Yea tal... you're on to one of the techniques of better guitar comping. But Ed's rhythmic playing, or I should say just his attack locations are why the examples above work so well. His articulations are somewhat muffled because of his tone and voicings.
    Obviously not a bad thing, it's his style and also just because of his choice of guitars etc... I love his comping and playing in general... thanks for posting.

    The articulation thing is a very useful tool when comping... one of the better ways to shape the form and organization of playing. You organize it just like Form, rhythm, harmony and development of changes etc...

    The organization repeats... and becomes another tool to develop. Just like adding chords, embellishments etc..

    Again thanks for posting.

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
    Ed's playing is far from stock. It's like an orchestral arrangement that he can instantly respond to. Yeah you're right to point out that the register is higher than the sax but that's never been a steadfast rule, listen to orchestral concertos.
    Yes, definitely Ed Bickert's comping is very interactive like an improvised orchestral arrangement. But in the context of jazz guitar comping you do hear "avoid the soloists' registers" as a steadfast rule often. I believe Ed Bickert's nuanced use of dynamics is an important part the freedom with which he is able to create counter melodies without getting in the way of the soloist. Of course another important part is the thematic connection he establishes with the soloist in the way he shapes these counter lines and times them.

  6. #5

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Tal_175
    Yes, definitely Ed Bickert's comping is very interactive like an improvised orchestral arrangement. But in the context of jazz guitar comping you do hear "avoid the soloists' registers" as a steadfast rule often..
    Yeah Tal 175, and we're the children of the things we're taught. But underlying those rules is an attitude that's rooted in providing grounding for a soloist. Things like where to put your beat, having a constant swing pulse, hitting the root to remind one of where you're supposed to be... all those things are good for a certain mind set. It's good for genres that want to identify with a certain sound, but Ed's playing is more like that of a pianist from the post 60's lineage. Pianists like Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea started to get away from the range restrictions of their more tightly rhythmic bebop predecessors. To do this, they had to change an essential attitude of what needs to be played as a comper to what might be played for the soloist's line.
    I think learning to play unaccompanied as a chord soloist really helps to prepare one to meet a soloist AS a soloist. If you learn the nuance of upper range content, you can offer that to a musical partner and meet them in their musical space.
    Some teachers that teach rules that provide solidity and proficiency within a genre, but there are always examples of those who chose not to observe the sonic soundscapes created by rules they chose to break. Listening to Ed Bikert and Keith Jarrett, Jim Hall and Bill Evans, Mick Goodrick and Fred Hersch, they were all players that rewrote the rules for me. I listened and loved their music and the rule book gained a whole new perspective.
    That's jazz, right?

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
    I think learning to play unaccompanied as a chord soloist really helps to prepare one to meet a soloist AS a soloist. If you learn the nuance of upper range content, you can offer that to a musical partner and meet them in their musical space.
    That's a great point. As many of the other points in your post.

  8. #7
    Although at times Ed Bickert is comping interactively with the soloist, other times it seems to me that his comping is informed by his knowledge of the tune and not by what the soloist is playing. Obviously the tune itself can be the thematic connection between the soloist and the rhythm section.
    Last edited by Tal_175; 10-28-2022 at 04:32 PM.

  9. #8

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Tal_175
    Although at times Ed Bickert is comping interactively with the soloist, other times it seems to me that his comping is informed by his knowledge of the tune and not by what the soloist is playing. Obviously the tune itself is can be the thematic connection between the soloist and the rhythm section.
    If you are a good player, the tune itself is a member of the band; to be respected, honored and not taken for granted. A good solo player plays the tune as a duo partner. In a duo, if you're not playing the tune with equality with the players, it can be argued that you're just running the changes.
    Of course that's not considered a crime by the vast majority, but for players like Ed Bikert, Paul Desmond, Lee Konitz and Lester Young, the tune is your constant companion. It's the member of the band that informs the shape of the music itself.

  10. #9

    User Info Menu

    thanks , I hadn’t heard this album

    Ed was a beautiful cat !

  11. #10

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by pingu
    thanks , I hadn’t heard this album

    Ed was a beautiful cat !
    I don't know the vintage of this record but Ed is in his prime playing with his own trio I believe, who also supported Paul Desmond when he played and recorded in Toronto.
    A really nice recording date. Great tunes.

  12. #11

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
    I don't know the vintage of this record but Ed is in his prime playing with his own trio I believe, who also supported Paul Desmond when he played and recorded in Toronto.
    A really nice recording date. Great tunes.
    they also recorded on Pure Desmond didn’t they?

  13. #12

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by AllanAllen
    they also recorded on Pure Desmond didn’t they?
    No, that was Ron Carter on bass and Connie Kay on drums, just as good though.

  14. #13

    User Info Menu

    They sound terrific together. In the parts I listened to I thought they made it work by (no particular order):

    1. Both play sparsely. Buddy plays phrases that breathe. Ed tends to go up higher and plays more in the moments when Buddy is silent.

    2. The instruments have such different sounds that the ear can more easily accept them being in the same register.

    3. The album is ballads. I love this style of comping on ballads.