Did Amplification Ruin Jazz?
Well it seems as though many of you enjoyed my last newsletter entry so I figured why not write something this week in a similar vein. Recently, I’ve been putting together an extensive resource on how to be a good band leader and get the most out of a rehearsal which has led me to revisit the role of amplification in jazz. There seems to be two distinct mindsets about it, one where we need to uphold the traditional values of jazz, which means replicating the acoustic sounds of bands prior to amplification, and the other not seeing any issue with amplification at all. As a bassist, I have constantly found myself stretched between these two viewpoints and have found that it seems to be quite the controversial topic, especially in the big band world.
As I grew up in the 90s and 00s, I never knew a world where playing jazz bass meant playing acoustically. Of course all of my teachers would mention it but in reality no one ever expected that from me. I got used to the feeling of my bass being amplified and that was that. However, as I started pursuing other avenues of jazz, namely conducting big bands as well trying to replicate earlier eras of jazz authentically in the present, immediately I started to realize that amplification may actually pose an issue in jazz settings. That’s because amplification, specifically for instruments such as the guitar, bass, and keyboard, changes the sonic nature of an ensemble.
Another way of thinking about this is that amplification starts increasing the lowest possible dynamic that can be played, and often this happens accidentally as players turn their amps up to try and hear themselves over other instruments. As a result, bands play louder and the nuance of a performance is compromised. By growing up in rehearsals where this was the norm, I didn’t see any issues with it, but one day in 2019 I decided to play a big band concert completely acoustically and it drastically changed my view on how jazz could be felt in a live setting. By removing all amplification, the band now had to anchor themselves dynamically to me, the acoustic bass player. What this meant in reality was that the band got considerably softer and we had a much wider range of dynamics. Yes the shout sections still roared and the bass was lost for those few bars, but the blend and balance of the ensemble improved drastically with the simple removal of amplification.
Over the coming years I made the move to play all of my concerts acoustically, no matter what the venue was or size of ensemble. Surprisingly, it worked and the only difficult part was getting the band to shift their mindset to balancing their volume with the acoustic bass. One of the stand out moments that I will always remember is a solo section when trumpeter Mat Jodrell decided to play as softly as possible. For a moment it got down to just the bass and trumpet and was one of those moments where you could hear a pin drop. It was extremely intense and the entire audience was right there with us. Then, only a matter of bars later, the dynamics were cranked up and the band was roaring. That sort of drastic change and intimacy was only possible without amplification and to this day that memory is up there as one of my favorite musical moments. However, does this mean that we should simply get rid of our amplifiers and embrace acoustic music? Of course not.
The reason all of these experiences worked was because the music that was being played came from a time where amplifiers didn’t exist. It didn’t require the bass or guitar to be amplified to work, and removing electronic amplification simply reverted the band back to how big bands operated decades ago. But we now live in a world where there has been a considerable amount of music created that requires amplification to sound authentic. For example, if you want to play funk it would be pretty hard to imagine that style without all of the electric instruments, not to mention even more so when you think about modern day pop music or styles like rock’n’roll. In these contexts there is a natural place for amplification and as the modern day jazz setting represents more than just the mindset of pre 1950s music, there is definitely a place for amplification to be used and for it to feel appropriate.
With that being said, my approach to playing amplified music is considerably different from earlier in my life. Now that I understand how amplification impacts the overall balance and dynamic level of a band, I am far more conscious of the volume level on my amplifier when I use it, as well as of the general volume of amplified instruments when I’m out front conducting. Going back to the question posed at the start of this newsletter entry, amplification didn’t ruin jazz by any means but it did change the playing field. Amplified music is just different from acoustic music, both are acceptable. If you are wanting to replicate pre 1950s jazz authentically, then maybe lean on the side of no amplification, otherwise just make sure you’re aware of the potential ways amplification can negatively affect an ensemble and adjust accordingly.
And just like that we have come to the end of another newsletter entry. It’s been nice to branch into more thought provoking areas of discussion and if it’s something you’d like to see more of, let me know. I’m unsure how long I’ll sit out on this thread before returning to more arranging specific topics so you’ll just have to wait and see what happens next week.
Until then,
Toshi