jazz combo recordings

[sdloveless]

Hi folks!

I've been trying to track down some recordings of small combos playing jazz standards wherein the rhythm section bass instrument is a tuba instead of a double bass or electric bass. They seem to be thin on the ground...

There are quite a few recordings with tuba as part of the horn section, such as Birth of the Cool. I'm not really looking for that. I'm also not looking for Dixieland/New Orleans/Hot Jazz/NYC brass party bands, etc.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

[bloke]

From over four decades ago to this very day, I'm discouraged from playing real book jazz tunes on tuba.
Upright has fallen back into vogue since the mid-80s or so or maybe earlier as far as taking its place back from electric bass, but band leaders would still prefer electric bass over tuba when playing tunes out of the real book.
I can play all those tunes just fine on tuba personally, but I tend to wonder how many people - who don't double on tuba or whereby tuba is the weaker double - can cover those tunes well... or maybe it's more the look than anything. Visuals are between 60% and 95% of many things.

All I'm trying to say is that I think you're going to have a hard time finding much of that.

[UncleBeer]

Not strictly small group jazz, this is a fun band I get to play with. Plays a wide variety of genres.

[sdloveless]

From over four decades ago to this very day, I'm discouraged from playing real book jazz tunes on tuba.

...snip...

All I'm trying to say is that I think you're going to have a hard time finding much of that.

Oh, I'm definitely having a hard time finding very much of it at all.

A little background. A trombone playing acquaintance wants to put together a quartet. Drums, bass, trombone (of course), and either a guitar or piano. Maybe a vocalist. He asked if I'd be interested in playing bass. I said no, but I'd be interested in playing tuba. He actually liked the suggestion.

I've played electric bass for over 30 years, but I have an old left wrist injury and I just can't play for more than a few minutes anymore. So I decided I'd figure this all out on the tuba, which I will. I just thought a few examples would be nice. Fat chance, right?

Anyway, the quartet sounds fun and working through the Real Book has been fun.

[sdloveless]

Not strictly small group jazz, this is a fun band I get to play with. Plays a wide variety to genres.

That does look like fun! Thanks!

[UncleBeer]

Two great examples I've always found inspiring: Rich Matteson (on Phil Wilson's album):



And Bob Stewart:

[MikeS]

I’m not sure this qualifies as a jazz standard, but I think it’s pretty cool.

[UncleBeer]

I’m not sure this qualifies as a jazz standard, but I think it’s pretty cool.

It's a tune called "Slow Boat to China". Pretty standard.

[1 Ton Tommy]

Tuba bass fell out of favor in swing bands after electronic recording became common about 1930 and they could mic a string bass. Stand-up basses do have a wonderful, resonant sound like a 6/4 (1.5) BBb and you can stand up on stage with one. Try that with a bell front BBb. I not only need a chair but a stand too. As someone up-thread said, appearance counts on stage.

I don't have the endurance to do walking bass lines in bop or show-standard tunes. Maybe younger guys do. One finds two-beat bass lines in string band music of all sorts. I once got a job playing contra dances because the piano player was getting tendonitis in her left hand from banging out what amounted to stride piano. I believe the tubas in the examples are Eb and have a very different timbre than, say, what looks to be a 20J used by Tuba Skinny in their older recordings.

Then there's the issue of transport. When the Norwegian Ten Thing brass 10-piece arrived in Seattle for their performance at symphony hall, bandleader Tine Helseth announced that while they had all arrived safely from their last gig, the tuba had not. She gave a shout out to the Seattle Symphony tubist who had graciously lent his tuba. I asked the tubist after the show how that went on a strange horn. The performance was flawless and she said that both horns were CC and she had her mouthpiece in her carry-on bag. Whew! Her tuba arrived during the concert, she said. She plays a Swiss-made horn whose name I didn't recognize but that may have been language difficulties. She did have to turn the borrowed horn upside down several times and had a silver bucket to dump water into. She's buff but not very big. Their latest release is very jazz-like on some tunes and modernist (for want of a better term) on others. In each case the tuba is ever present, keeping the beat and much more. The young player is very good, as are they all.

Todd Burdick of Tuba Skinny now uses a susaphone when they are on the road or at least in the YouTube recordings from Europe in the past few years. I wonder it it's for stage effect or if maybe they have one stashed in Europe to use when they get there. I suppose the same transport issues obtain with a string bass but the odds of picking one up locally are much greater.

I've been playing my Martin Eb with a neighborhood cover band that does mostly rock. It gets attention and the bass gets heard but I don't think people take it seriously, more as a novelty. I haven't yet dipped my toe into fakebook standards but I may buttonhole a local standup bass player to see how the timbre of my Martin Mammoth compares with a doghouse bass in a real live situation. I Wonder if YouTube uses a compressor of some sort to reduce the frequency range. The tubas in the above posts seem harsh without the resonance I hear from my horn in live playing.

[sdloveless]

Todd Burdick of Tuba Skinny now uses a susaphone when they are on the road or at least in the YouTube recordings from Europe in the past few years.

I Wonder if YouTube uses a compressor of some sort to reduce the frequency range. The tubas in the above posts seem harsh without the resonance I hear from my horn in live playing.

I saw Tuba Skinny 2 or 3 years ago in Philly. Todd played a sousaphone for that show. There are some older, more than 10 years, videos on the youchubes in which he plays what appears to be a 1240/1241.

YouTube incorporates 2 types of compression. The first simply drops all the volume below an arbitrary threshold. It is not a dynamic range compression. I don't believe this can be turned off or adjusted. The other is a dynamic range compression, which is on by default but can be disabled by the video uploader.

[UncleBeer]

Also check out Bob Stewart's "Connections", much of which is available on YouTube.