[Trombone-l] "bass" trombone from the 30's, 40's

[George Carr]

Great advice.  Until Bart Varsalona played a bass trombone with Kenton
right after the war, bass trombones just weren't used in jazz at all.
So if you're playing original Basie charts from before about 1950,
it's almost certainly written for four small- (or maybe medium-)bore
tenors.  After ca. 1950, with the New Testament band and Bill Hughes'
agreement to switch to bass trombone, there were quite a few charts
that used the bass range, and a bass trombone is appropriate for
performing them today.

George

On 8/30/07, Eric & Candice Swanson <swan325 at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Kelly Kudryk wrote:
> >What would be the modern 'correct' bass trombone size/style for a
> >classic (1930/40) "Basie" swing band sound?  Would it be a single
> >valve .547 or a full size bass bone?  The other instruments in the
> >section are a 3B a Conn 24H and a .509 Yamaha.
> >
> Kelly,
>
> The Basie band at that time probably had four tenor trombones and no
> bass.  Look at the book and see if there are any low notes.  If not,
> play whatever tenor you feel comfortable with.  If the 4th part goes
> down to low C or lower, then I'd play a real bass trombone, they
> probably aren't the original 1930s charts anyway.