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Tommy Dorsey

J.J. Johnson

Barry Rogers

Slide Hampton

Edward "Kid" Ory

"Tricky" Sam Nanton

Frank Rosolino

Carl Fontana

Fred Wesley

Jack Teagarden

Developing a Diverse Sonic Toolbox:

An Approach for the Freelance Trombone Player

The following post comes from a companion document that I created for a masterclass I presented to the University of the Arts trombone studio in 2021. At the bottom of the page you will find listening examples of many of the players discussed below. There are links to other google doc resources in this post and feel free to use them for your own purposes by opening the doc in a new tab, then clicking "file" and then "make a copy".

Introduction

In our modern era of freelancing, it is rare that a trombone player has the chance to build a network of gigs specializing in playing just one type of music. Rather, in order to maximize opportunities (and financial benefit), a trombonist must be capable of producing a high quality musical product in many different styles on short notice, and with often changing demands.

Additionally, many band leaders have developed certain “expectations” of what a trombone player must be able to do in their ensemble. Sometimes they have a clear idea of what this is, and other times they just have a sound in their head but cannot articulate it, and sometimes they may use the wrong words to describe a style they want to hear. In these situations, it is up to you, the trombonist, to be the informed expert and deliver a stylistically appropriate performance that respects both the tradition of the music that you are playing and the vision of the band leader.

A short list of musical styles that a working trombone player will likely be expected to play often, as both a reading musician AND an improviser:

Traditional New Orleans Jazz

Big Band and Small Group Swing (Lead, Section, & Solo playing included!)

Bebop

Modern Jazz

Funk

Latin & Salsa

There are of course many more styles, and these genres alone are each filled with enough history and offshooting branches of musical content to sustain a lifetime of study to truly master, so how is an individual supposed to demonstrate an in depth knowledge of so many topics when there are only so many hours in a day? The last thing anybody wants is to lose potential opportunities because a band leader thinks that a player doesn’t “get” it or plays the “wrong” way for a particular style - whether this is a fair judgment of them or not.

From my own personal experience, I have come to find that even though it’s not possible to learn every single thing about many different styles of music, there is an approach that can guide you to developing authentic sounds in each style. For me, this has meant seeking out those individual players who can be considered “definitive” in a particular style or subgenre. These are individuals who either pioneered a particular way of playing trombone that no clear previous player had attempted (at least that we have recordings of), or those who had such a disproportionate impact in their respective musical arenas that it established a new standard that it has become impossible for any subsequent trombone players (or other instrumentalists or bandleaders) to musically develop without absorbing at least some of the qualities of that players style.

Modern trombonists have the advantage of access to generations of recorded music, live and studio performances that document these definitive players all at their fingertips. By identifying those sonic role models and then attempting to emulate elements of their playing to match a particular style of music, you can develop baseline of stylistic inflections that will surely convey to a bandleader or listener the idea that you are in fact a deeply informed practitioner of that given style of music - even if you only studied ONE player from that particular style! Hence why identifying the players who set the standard is so useful - one key role model is often all you need to start to figure out the “sound” of a particular style of music as a working trombonist.

I like to think of this process in three parts, absorption, imitation and ultimately, emulation of great players. It is a skill that I like to imagine is akin to an actor who plays many different parts. A great actor doesn’t need costumes or makeup to change their role, they skillfully alter their persona to achieve a new effect, and when done well this convincingly conveys to an audience that this is indeed a new and unique character, despite having seen the actor in a hundred other roles. As a trombone player filling many different musical roles, you are simply wearing a slightly different “persona” in different playing situations. You’re still YOU, but just filtered through a different musical lens. None of this means that you also shouldn’t also have a strong solo voice and sound that is unique to you alone, even when emulating the style of another player!

The Players

Here is my short list of definitive trombone players, corresponding to the list of musical styles above:

Player(s)

Style

Kid Ory, Jack Teagarden

Traditional New Orleans Jazz

Tricky Sam Nanton

Swing, Plunger Soloist

Tommy Dorsey

Big Band, Ballad Playing

Frank Rosolino, Carl Fontana

Bebop

JJ Johnson, Slide Hampton

*Modern Jazz

Fred Wesley

Funk

Barry Rogers

Latin/Salsa

*The term “modern” is a bit of misnomer, since JJ is a bebop player, however his approach and influence up to the present day has been so significant that it is nearly impossible to listen to many modern jazz trombonists without hearing his direct imprint, therefore in my own mind I find it important to distinguish him from his other contemporaries with his own category.

As this list is my own creation, it is a reflection of my own opinions and biases as to who I consider to be definitive. You may hold a different set of players to be your own examples of “definitive” trombonists and use these to inform your own playing. Whoever you put on your list, the act of analyzing other great musicians and integrating aspects of their styles into your own playing is what is important.

The Process

Once you have selected an artist or artists to study, a good first step would be to compile as complete of a discography as you can, to serve as a quick reference and to keep track of your listening. Here is an example of a discography of Curtis Fuller done by a student:

Curtis Fuller Deep Dive Discography Example

This student also keeps track of each album he listens to by taking notes on it including details such as personnel, label, and his thoughts on each tune, noting tunes featuring solos he might like to transcribe later on. I like to call this the Absorption Phase.

After becoming familiarized with the sound and style of a player through listening to an album or a handful of albums, it’s then a good time to start your process of dissecting specific components of that player’s particular sound. Many would begin with a transcription of a solo or melody. Transcribing is most often utilized to develop harmonic language, and this is an important element of any player's sound, but consider the following elements that additionally contribute to a player's overall sonic identity on the horn. When listening to any particular player, consider the following and how it might affect that players sound if any of these elements were changed:

Articulation: Hard or soft articulation? Single Tongue? Double Tongue? Doodle Tongue? No Tongue?
Note Endings: Tongue stops? Letting the air alone stop the note?
Time feel/Type of Swing: Do they play heavy triplet swing? Easy swing? Straight 8ths? Do they lay back or push the beat, or play in the middle of the pocket?
Ornamentations: Such as glisses, turns, trills etc.
Vibrato: Slide, Jaw, Breath, or Straight tone?
Other Distinguishing Features: Do they use a particular mute or mutes, for example, Tommy Dorsey and the Cleartone mute, or Tricky Sam Nanton and the muted plunger.

Here is an example of a chart to log your thoughts on each component as you listen:

Example: Trombone Player Styles and Analysis Note Chart

And here is a blank template for the same chart:

Blank Template

These elements paired with a healthy diet of harmonic content sourced from a player’s improvised solos are all very tangible elements that can be practiced individually or together, though I always found it helpful to isolate each individual component on it’s own to ensure I am doing my best to understand all of it together as a whole.

There are lots of ways to practice this:

Play a simple scale, and each time focus on one individual component: Play a B flat scale in quarter notes, but try to articulate and end your notes like JJ might, for example. Or change up your swing feel to match the style of Carl Fontana while playing it in 8th notes.

Play a familiar etude while utilizing each component, like you did with the scale

Pick a standard you know well, ideally one you have memorized, and play the melody in the style of your chosen trombonist. If you feel that you can’t nail all of the different components together the first time, just try incorporating one or two key ones, like articulation and swing feel. Add in the others as you get comfortable with each. RECORD YOURSELF doing this and listen back later on and try to be objective about how closely you can get yourself sounding to the real thing.

It’s important to note that all of these strategies are simply a precursor to improvising in the style of a player, as improvising requires more of your focus to ensure quality and consistency. For this reason, I consider all of this to be part of the Imitation Phase.

Once you feel you have developed a strong sense of your abilities to imitate the player with exercises, etudes, and melodies, then comes the final stage of the process which is where you start to take what you’ve learned and start to apply it to new creative endeavors with an eye towards paying homage to the player in a way that would be clear to a listener familiar with them, while still maintaining your own unique identity as a player. This will necessarily include improvisation, but there is also than one way to approach this:

Improvise along with the recording: Challenge yourself to play along to a recording of the players improvisation, either attempting to trade and fill holes where they may rest, or play a duet with them by attempting to improvise a contrasting but supportive counter melody to their solo.

Compose a tune that utilizes one or more of the signature sounds or devices of the player: This could be a fragment from a solo, a contrafact on an original composition of theirs, or a melody that clearly features one or more of the components, such as a ballad with lots of high tones encouraging fast slide vibrato in the style of Tommy Dorsey, as one example.

Employ your newfound expertise at a jam session with friends: Just like with playing a melody in the style of the player from the imitation phase, this expands this concept by then playing standard tunes you know well in the style, but also then improvising a solo over multiple choruses and tunes and trying to be as consistent as you can in maintaining the stylistic components. See if the other musicians can figure out who you are sourcing your concept from. As with the previous phase, RECORD THIS and listen back later!

This is the final phase of the process before I usually feel comfortable enough to confidently employ these devices on real world gigs where appropriate and necessary. I call this the emulation phase, as at this point you are no longer simply copying another musician, you have blended elements of their artistry and musicianship with your own, creating a new unique color to the shared history of our instrument.

To conclude this topic, I feel it is important to stress again that there is never a single correct approach to any topic in such a diverse field like ours, and that this approach may not work for everyone, or they just may not like it. There are plenty of examples of musicians who don’t wish to emulate any other player, ever, even when playing the music of historically significant American musicians and bands like Duke Ellington or Louis Armstrong. There is nothing wrong with this approach either, as jazz especially has always been a music built off of innovation. However, there are also certainly band leaders that will exclude such a musician for refusing to accommodate a historically informed approach or tribute. The goal of this approach is not to imply that you should be a carbon copy of famous trombonists; rather by employing thoughtful reflection on the past, you are unlocking new approaches and avenues for your own creativity and success by not only exposing you to new sounds and ideas, but also opening yourself for more opportunity economically by simply being more employable in the eyes of other people.

Lastly, this approach is just a starting point - not the end all be all. As you go through the process of absorption, imitation, and ultimately emulation for different players, you will get faster at recognizing and adding their individual components to your toolbag. And for each style as you listen more and more, you will discover more and more players that are subsequently influenced by the definitive giants of the genre, opening up your ears to even more of the history and increasing your knowledge of the genre until you know longer have to “fake it” on the gig, and you become the expert just like the band leader may be. And where you may have started with just one or two role models for each genre of music you play, as you keep progressing and repeating the process, you will likely find yourself with a much deeper bench of players to source from.

Here’s a more comprehensive list of players that I consider to be “definitive” based on my own experience and preferences:

Sean McCusker's "Definitive" List