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Solo Concertina As The Whole Band?


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The opening contribution from Jody of Tommy Emmanuel playing Guitar Boogie is certainly an impressive example of solo virtuosity but I am not so sure that it is appropriate to compare it directly to the effect that might be achieved by a ' whole band ', (however we choose to define that expression). I am however pretty certain that we can never expect to hear a version of comparable complexity and speed performed on an Anglo concertina......or am I just a defeatist !

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Honourable mention has to go to Jaco Pastorius's "Portrait of Tracy" for solo electric bass -- a most extraordinary piece of playing, well beyond my technical capabilities on the instrument. It's a beautiful and sophisticated arrangement and makes mind-boggling use of harmonics on a fretless 4-string Fender Jazz Bass.

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When I hear "band", I think of a brass band, or military band, or jazz band (or even a string orchestra, which in Ireland used to be called a "string band") - a collection of instruments that can only play one note each at a time, the harmony or polyphony coming from the "concerted" efforts of all the instruments and their players.

 

In this respect, a piano or organ are "one-man bands", and so is the accordion (I've attended rural dances in Ireland where the "band" was a lone piano-accordionist). The duet concertinas definitely fall into this category by nature: melody right, chords left. Any limitations are imposed by the player's lack of virtuosity. The English-style Anglo is similar in this respect.

 

The links to guitarists playing melody, harmony and percussive rhythm are spectacular - but they merely push the guitar's envelope, they don't actually transcend it.

 

Looked at dispassionately, it should be easier for a concertinist (duet or Anglo, at least) to replace a band than for a guitarist. Wind players can't hope to get near that - except uillean pipers or perhaps blues-harp players!

 

Cheers,

John

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I love stride piano and Fats Waller is a master of the style, so understated and witty. I went hunting for a few examples of him playing solo and found a few. Many more out there, I’m sure. This is a style I take inspiration from in making my arrangements on the Anglo concertina.



Fats Waller - Stardust (1937)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPs4excR-ck




Fats Waller Plays "Handful of Keys."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIFoAwJPtm4


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Tony Hall, the melodeon player, has always been interesting in this regard for me. He adds in multiple melodies/harmonies on the treble side of his box that in the past have convinced people that he was mixing multiple recordings. Usually it involves playing a harmony line with his little finger in the upper octave. He also manages to get some percussion going just by his choice of playing clacky old Hohner boxes!

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Tony Hall, the melodeon player, has always been interesting in this regard for me. He adds in multiple melodies/harmonies on the treble side of his box that in the past have convinced people that he was mixing multiple recordings. Usually it involves playing a harmony line with his little finger in the upper octave. He also manages to get some percussion going just by his choice of playing clacky old Hohner boxes!

 

Good call Robert -- you're right, his playing is extraordinary.

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The name of the player escapes me but there is a spectacular tuba version of Coltrane's "Giant Steps" in which the entire opening is played in full chords using multiphonic techniques. It _is_ possible, just hard.

Is this what you are thinking of?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwBBFJ-3Xo0

 

 

That's the chap -- Dave Bargeron -- although the video is showing as unavailable for me at the moment.

 

I haven't heard it for a very long time but it made quite an impact on me as a younger tuba player!

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Tony Hall, the melodeon player, has always been interesting in this regard for me. He adds in multiple melodies/harmonies on the treble side of his box that in the past have convinced people that he was mixing multiple recordings. Usually it involves playing a harmony line with his little finger in the upper octave. He also manages to get some percussion going just by his choice of playing clacky old Hohner boxes!

 

Good call Robert -- you're right, his playing is extraordinary.

 

Of course it is, I strongly agree here!

 

But frankly, the subject of this thread has sort of puzzled me right from its very start. As yet my reluctance to criticise what people are willing to discuss has kept me from interfering, but the longer this discussion continues the more I see myself justified in this regard.

 

So, wouldn't the appropriate objective rather be playing as a soloist to, well, fully valid and satisfaying results, perhaps in a polyphonic or fully-fledged manner? One instrument doesn't constitute a band, and even a "one-man-band" with, say, guitar, voice, harp, bassdrum and cymbals needs this range of different instruments.

 

So a pianist or organist is anyhow meant to play so much more then a single note or just chords, guitar and concertina are capable of much of that too, fiddle and cello are restricted to arpeggios and double-stops, whereas flute and recorder can just aim for single line harmony in the JSB style... However, I wouldn't consider any of them as being or representing "the whole band" .

 

Best wishes - Wolf

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Wolf,

Your are of course correct that one instrument is not a whole band, but I don't really think that anybody is saying that it is.

 

The idea of the discussion is that solo playing which includes polyphony, harmony, rhythm elements sufficient to stand in for a band is distinctly different than other types of solo playing, and it is certainly different than playing as part of a band.

 

Certainly dancers feel the difference between someone playing a melodic line, vs someone playing the same melody with additional rhythmic detail to give the dance some drive. While it is true that the latter is really still a solo performance with a fuller arrangement, I think that the description "able to stand in for a band" is a quick yet useful way illustrate the difference.

 

Sorry no links to any specific examples. Just thinking of David Kaynor leading a Scandinavian dance workshop, both calling and playing fiddle (while dancing!) many years ago. The fiddle was probably not even very polyphonic really, but his playing style clearly showed the rhythm and emphasis of the dance movements in a way that suggested the playing of a whole band rather than just the melodic line.

Edited by Tradewinds Ted
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Ted, I can and do agree with all you're saying - it's just that I found the concept of making up a whole band sort of misleading. Should it be just me, o.k. - Anyway, it's not how much different things you can do simultaneously but if you achieve a certain punch, or compactness, or sweetness, that is (if you're doing more than just melody, or chords) if you're a really good player and musician I guess...

 

Best wishes - Wolf

 

(P.S.: As I came across some in recent years I'm much orientating myself in that direction as far as possible, thinking f.i. of Jody or Adrian, not a matter of a certain style as for me)

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So, wouldn't the appropriate objective rather be playing as a soloist to, well, fully valid and satisfaying results, perhaps in a polyphonic or fully-fledged manner? One instrument doesn't constitute a band, and even a "one-man-band" with, say, guitar, voice, harp, bassdrum and cymbals needs this range of different instruments.

That's a useful clarification. On the other hand, I can listen to a good baroque or Irish-style flute player (say) spin out unaccompanied solo melodies for hours without missing polyphony at all: to my ear the music is as fully-fledged and satisfying as I could want it. So perhaps "playing as a soloist" isn't quite right, either.

 

When Jody asked about emulating "a whole band," I suppose I understood that description in a relative sense. What's the baseline; how many distinct voices is one used to hearing at once from a particular instrument? As an Anglo player who started out playing Irish music, I still hear even simple English-style melody-and-chord arrangements as fairly band-like. On the other hand, the polyphony of Guy Van Duser and Leo Kottke, both of whom have been mentioned in this thread, actually strikes me as pretty normal fare, in the ragtime or Piedmont blues tradition, for the guitar; it's the exceptional creativity and expertise of the players that makes their music stand out. I chose the example of Evan Marshall on mandolin because he's accommodating (at least) two parts on an instrument that's typically allotted just one; James Hill's cover of "Billy Jean" works in a similar way.

 

I don't mean to put words in Jody's mouth, but that's how I think about it.

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

Edited by Bob Michel
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I love playing tunes with my buddy Marty on harmonica. He has a distinctive American style that he calls “slap tongue” which is delightfully self-accompanying, within the limits of a very limited instrument... the mouth harp. You can hear him playing Butchers Row solo here. Marty put this up on youtube at my request. Thank you Marty!

 

Butchers Row is a favorite of mine, a tune I have been playing for years with my various contra dance bands. What makes it such a great dance tune? For one, it's both bouncy and smooth at the same time and so it will be welcome for almost any dance. Also, there is such a pleasing and logical architecture of repeated phrases with their variations and endings. Then there is that lovely ascending line at the end of the B section. Could Mozart have written this?

 

I think that what Marty is doing has direct concertina cross-over technique possibilities. Perhaps more so than the other examples we have been enjoying on this thread. Do you hear how he is implying the band roles of guitar and banjo in his solo performance?

 

Wolf, does this help explain what I'm getting at? Marty is not sounding like a band exactly. Rather, he is letting the musical roles that are usually the provence of other instruments in a string band inform his solo playing on the harp.

 

WOW! This effect is subtle but clearly there to my ear. But how does he do it? A more interesting question might be... how could I do it on the box?

Edited by Jody Kruskal
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