Accents Bebop and Swing

[sgcim]

Where in that volume is that statement about Joe Pass? I can't find it at least in Vol. 20. Nothing in there about Joe Pass "straightening out" Charlie Parker, though I've heard that quote... but never actually seen it firsthand.

I never saw some replies to my post from two months ago (one of the features this forum should have is notifications of replies to your post, rather than just 'likes'), but that statement about Pass was not in that volume. It was from either an interview with Raney I can't recall, or a private communication I had with his son.

[sgcim]

Btw we’ve had a long running thread about the nature of upbeat placement etc.

What I hear from Raney is even 8ths placed on the swing upbeat. His placement of the beat is somewhat relaxed - he’s a classic straight and late player from that point of view.

In terms of the accents I’m going to have a careful listen to Raney and Pass today with that in mind.

BTW one I feel is often very lacking in modern jazz players today is a concept of how to deal with medium tempo single time swing. Many younger players double the time for fear of being corny. It is my belief that practicing with a metronome on the 2 & 4 and being conscious of synching with the click will naturally lead to a corny dotted mid tempo feel, or a straightened out implied double time. If you aim instead to make the click swing, it'll work out better. But we are in the age of the DAW.

EDIT: here is a really nice medium-up example of what I love about Raney's swing feel. It's interesting rhythms, triplets in the line, laid back 8ths with cool accents, all of that. It's easy to see why Barry Harris likes him so much. I can definitely hear what he's talking about.

Here's Joe Pass playing medium swing with a rhythm section (not the easiest Pass to find lol.)

I think you'd have to be completely mental to say this doesn't swing magnificently, and most of us can only aspire to this level of feel... But, I can see the aesthetic difference that Raney is talking about. It's certainly more evenly articulated and I'd like to hear an example of how Jimmy would play at this exact tempo.

I love JR. I think he was a very forthright gentleman haha... Had strong ideas about how he wanted to play music, a real vision. Players now be like 'I play like this cos that's what my teacher said.'

I'm in the middle of renovations so can't dig out my copy of the Aebersold to check out the exact wording of what Jimmy said. What did he specifically say about the 'organ players'?

I can't find my Aebersold either, due to similar reasons, but JR was referring to the movement in the 60s when black players were emphasizing the more blues/funky rhythmic aspects of jazz, rather than Parker's approach to jazz.