(2/3) What influences the relationship between a Big Band’s horn- and rhythm section?
The Director’s Perspective:
How does a Big Band build relationships? And what is your role and responsibility in it as director?
Smith: You spend more time on the road than on stage. You absolutely have to get to know people off the stage. There is no single, clear-cut role for any band member. In a lot of professional Big Bands, that’s the case, too. They don’t practice the way they perform, and of course they know each other really well.
Smith: You perform pretty close to the way you practice. We work hard, and we have never had a disconnect on-stage between the two sections.
What is the role of the rhythm section in a Big Band?
Smith: If I am honest with you, I think the rhythm section is the Band’s backbone in any well-playing Big Band . The rhythm section determines — by how they play — whether life is easy for the horns or not. The rhythm section is really the foundation of any piece.
What happens to a performance when you add pitched percussion? And how do you see the role of pitched percussion within a Band?
Smith: Adding a pitched percussive instrument is interesting. It can, depending on how you use it, serve somewhat as a glue between the rhythm and the horns sections. We’ve used a vibraphone as part of the rhythm section a few years back — it definitely changes things and adds an additional layer. It’s most similar to the piano, I would say.
How do you let the audience’s response influence your performance style?
Smith: Sometimes I turn around and look back to the audience. Sometimes I get them to clap. But mostly, I feel it. Jazz is communal music, so I want to get the audience involved. And the players can get a lot of things from the audience. The players feel it, and if the audience responds well (which they usually do), it can act as an additional glue to the way a group performs. It’s really energetic!
What about disgruntlement coming from the audience?
Smith: You never allow that to happen. As a performer, as a listener or the director, you can’t let bad reactions happen. That attacks the morale of the group, and morale is everything. Everybody needs to show absolute commitment and energy, and belief in oneself and the group. Sometimes, the orchestra may mess up, but you got to keep on going.
If such a mess-up happens, what do you do?
Smith: Some times, things do happen. People miss queues, or there’s an improvisational mute moment. You have to shout out “Okay, we need to go to this place”. It does not take away from a performance, it adds. After all we’re human, the performance is high-pressure. As a performer as well as a band, it’s all about getting back up and overcoming challenges.
And it turns out that performance practice and style actually draw connections to the history of the genre, as Smith explained:
Smith: Funnily enough, this is exactly what jazz music, or big band music if you want, is about. The people that started jazz music, African American people, were alienated, told that they can’t embrace their own culture, discriminated against. But they stood up and started making beautiful music. It’s beauty for ashes. Beauty for ashes.
How do you position your musicians on-stage?
Smith: Well, one thing that makes us pretty unique is that we practice in a circle. A round circle where everybody can see each other, look at each other, and play with each other. Obviously that is not possible in a performance, but it really determines the group feeling of the Band. During a performance, the Rhythm section sits together, and the horns sit together, but by then they know each other really well because they’ve always practiced in a circle.
How does the presence of a vocalist impact a Big Band performance?
Smith: Great question! Vocalists make you most aware of balance and dynamics. You, as a band, need to accommodate not only the volume of a voice, but also the words. I like having multiple vocalists. And there’s something primal about it, too. I like starting off with a voice and a drum, like the voice and heart beat you hear when you’re still in your mother’s womb.
When pushing him on the effect a vocalist would have, he responded:
Smith: The vocalist, no matter how good the band is, is the focal point in any performance. The lime light is taken off the horns and rhythm section, and they become a supporting role for the vocalist.
The Player’s Perspective:
Jonathan Cheung says that as a Big Band performer, he has been placed on stage in pretty much the same way throughout his playing in different Big Bands. Jake Zaslav has had similar experiences.
Cheung: Obviously the exact stage placement depends on the context, i.e. the venue shape and size. But largely speaking, the Rhythm section has always been in the back of the stage, together, behind and to the side of the horns.
Zaslav: As a lead trumpeter in Big Bands, I usually sit second in the back. Sometimes, when you split the lead, you switch places, but usually the band directors prefer you to stay in the same place.
What in your opinion, is the purpose of a Big Band’s rhythm section? Does this vary from piece to piece?
Cheung: As a member of the rhythm group, I would say it is to accentuate and carry out the rhythmic elements of a piece. It definitely varies if you are playing a piece that solos a particular rhythm section instrument, though. In that case, you have melodic and virtuosic purpose, too.
Zaslav: It’s keeping the band together. The biggest responsibility is to “lock the groove”, so keep time and harmonic progressions.
And what, then, is the purpose of a Big Band’s horns section? Does this also vary from piece to piece?
Cheung: The horns are usually the lead character and determine the colour of the sound. In my experience, this hasn’t varied too much amongst the different bands I have played in, though.
Zaslav: Traditionally, horns play the melody. There are so many of us, and our timbre can really cut through.
How do you make sure that the horns are paying attention to the rhythm section?
Cheung: I would say that the most helpful advice is to listen to the timing in relation to hi hats or any easily-heard rhythmic beats coming from the rhythm section. This way, the horns can orientate themselves clearly along the rhythm section.
Zaslav: By listening. Listening is the most important thing in Big Band, even in Jazz music generally. But you also look at them, especially for queues. Often, you decide what you do on the fly, and sometimes that backfires. Then, visual or even physical queues like holding up your hands helps immensely.
How do you, as a musician in the big band, witness the audience response to what is being played in the same moment?
Cheung: Personally, I like to take quick glances at the audience, particularly during convenient rests. This, of course, depends on the piece. You don’t even need to look, I think any experienced performer can usually gauge the audience’s reception just in the atmosphere that a performance is having.
Zaslav: I don’t really. In a Big Band setting, it’s often difficult to see what the audience is doing compared to smaller, more intimate Jazz settings. Either I look at the music, or at the director. When I look at the audience, I look at it as a whole rather than at individuals.
When pushing Jonathan on this point to find out exactly how that would manifest itself, he added:
Cheung: Well, see, a Big Band performance is not a classical performance. The audience gets vocal, which means that they often whistle, clap, even shout out when they hear something they like. This happens usually in the solo section of any piece, and it then is focussed on the player that is soloing, regardless of whether he’s rhythm or horns.
“A Big Band Performance is not a classical performance — the audience makes noise when they hear something they like”
How would you adjust your performance to how the audience is reacting?
Cheung: In previous concerts I have. Sometimes I carry on with similar improvisational idea if I hear that there is a verbal utterance of approval from audience. It’s difficult to adjust to the audience when you play set-in-stone sheet music obviously, but it’s certainly doable. It’s a nice feeling to hear the audience appreciate your solo, so you want to develop that idea to see how far you can push it.
Zaslav: In a solo, yes. But apart from that you can’t really, because you have to play what’s written down.
Do you ever value individual instrumental skills over group-dynamic skills?I.e. would you drop a skilled player that does not know how to find his place in a group of musicians?
Cheung: That really depends, but I’m inclined on saying no. I’ve never been in a situation where I could tell someone to leave the group, but usually skilled players find their place in the group exactly because they are skilled.
Do you encourage on-stage communication between musicians? If so, how would members of both groups communicate with each other? Verbally? Visually?
Cheung: As a rhythm player, I usually communicate visually. You can do that through eye contact with other players, or through body movements that aim to playing on the same beat. Sometimes I also communicate verbally. It’s a luxury to have that, because as a rhythm player our mouths are free.
Zaslav: First of all, if you like the players that you are with, if you respect them, playing together will come naturally. There’s really nothing better in playing together than feeling the mutual respect and willingness to push boundaries within a group. I would say the main communication is done musically.
When asking Zaslav to explain what he understood as musical communication, he said:
Zaslav: Take this example: if I was playing a solo in Swing, and I play 8ths, that would be a hint to the rhythm section for playing something more straight. If I then go back to a dotted rhythm, I want to move back into swing. It’s a constant signal and response situation. Ideally, your band knows each other so well that you don’t need verbal or physical communication.
How do you build a relationship with your band members?
Cheung: Well, you spend a lot of time rehearsing together. And rehearsals aren’t always strict music rehearsals, so a lot of conversation, goofing around and talking happens. You have experiences with your band members that will automatically result in some level of friendship. And the longer you play together — especially in the case of school/university Big Bands — the better you get to know each other!
The Listener’s Perspective:
If you go to a performance, how do you listen to it? What would you say to a novice Big Band audience member?
Smith: Why don’t you start with enjoying it? Then see what you surprises you, try to see things that you didn’t know — when are there mutes used, who improvises when? When do they become prominent, when are they not important at all?
Pennington: I listen to what type of Big Band it is. I am interested in knowing what style the Band emulates; if it is danceable, or not.
Do the visuals impact your impression of a performance?
Smith: They do. But it is how they hold their bodies, instruments, and how they use that to connect with the audience. Body language speaks volumes. Big Band concerts are shows.
Pennington: Seeing is not as important as knowing what you hear. If it is an artsy Big Band performance, I judge them on their costumes and presentation, so that I can orientate myself toward what experience they want me to have.
When pushing Pennington on this point, he said:
Pennington: It’s important for me to orientate myself toward a performance so that I can adjust my expectations. If they’re not going for a dance band situation, then I don’t want to sit there hoping to be able to dance.
Art Blakey: “They see you before they hear you”
When you go to a Big Band performance, do you listen more with your ears, or with your eyes?
Smith: Interesting question — ears I would say, but it’s tough. Art Blakey said something legendary. He said, before every single show he ever played: “They see you before they hear you”. Look good, don’t be greasy, smile.
As a listener, do you ever voice your unhappiness with a performance?
Pennington: No, my unhappiness usually concerns itself with the Band not doing well what they market themselves of doing well. If they say they are a swing band, but they don’t swing, then I’ll voice that disgruntlement not during the performance, but afterward.
Smith: Absolutely not. Performers always give their best for shows, and if someone messes up, that’s just human! I would never do anything to lower morale; I also have never been to a performance where that has happened.
You can read the conclusion here.
