From: "Jonathan R. Ross" <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Rob-bit wrote:
>J.R. sez that "people want to hear JAZZ INSTRUMENTs"
>
>Sax, Trumpet and Piano were invented as JAZZ instruments???? or BECAME
>instruments of JAZZ................by the players
Indeed, and how many new instruments have been added to the jazz
mainstream since 1950? Hammond? Synthesizer? The former is generally
accepted, the later scorned by many. People gravitate to certain genres
and expect certain sounds from it. These may not have started life as
"jazz instruments", but they are the instruments people expect to hear
when they listen to jazz because that's what the music was created on.
The harmonica wasn't one of these. Could it become as mainstream as the
guitar has? The Hammond? Perhaps, but so far no go. Toots has been
around since before Jimmy Smith and the Hammond came to the fore in the
late fifties and early sixties, but there are a lot more Hammond players
out there than chromatic players. And the Hammond is still pretty much
a side-bar to most of jazz.
Who knows, maybe generations of jazz harmonica players (on whatever type
harmonica) will change that. But I doubt it. Right now there seem to
be hordes of jazz violinists out there, but they still are a small
subset compared to horn players, keyboardists, guitarists, bassists and
drummers. Will there come a time when the leading jazz musician is a
violinist? Maybe, but I doubt it. Does that mean there aren't great
jazz violinists? Does that mean they aren't making music worthy of
hearing? No. But it tends to show my theory that people expect certain
sounds in certain genres. Last I checked there weren't many people
playing accordion in death-metal. There's a reason for that, and it's
not that the accordion can't be played fast and loud.