Title: The Role of Trombones in "Black, Brown and Beige"
Abstract: Mercer Ellington has stated that trombones were always Pop's favorite section in the (Ellington with Dance 1978, 28). By the time of the Black, Brown and Beige premiere in January 1943, Ellington's section had been functioning as a unit for over ten years. Collectively, Joe Sam Nanton, Juan Tizol, and Lawrence Brown had spent forty years of service with Ellington. The first of these to join was Nanton. After replacing Charlie Irvis with the Washingtonians in 1926, Nanton served as Ellington's only trombonist for several years. His sound was an essential part of virtually every record that the Ellington band made until the mid-1940s. Often heard in the early days as a convincing soloist on open horn, Nanton became perhaps the most expressive practitioner of what would be known as the jungle style. Building upon the legacy of the plungermuted style established by Irvis and trumpeter Bubber Miley, he is generally acknowledged to have brought the style to its peak. Saxophonist Johnny Hodges, Nanton's bandmate of many years and perhaps Ellington's greatest soloist, said, No one has ever come completely up to Tricky in that kind of trombone (Dance [1970] 1981, 97-98). And trumpeter Ray Nance, who continued the Ellington plunger tradition from 1940 into the 1960s, referred to Nanton simply as master (Dance [1970] 1981, 132). Valve trombonist Juan Tizol joined Ellington in 1929, becoming an integral part of the Ellington palette on the strength of his dependability in a variety of ensemble roles and his distinctiveness as a melodic solo-
Publication Year: 1993
Publication Date: 1993-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 20
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