Plungers- Not Just for Toilets

This is my third installment on sound altering items used to morph the sound of instruments into something unique.  This week, we will discuss the plunger mute.  Yes, you read that right, and no, it isn't a metaphor.  It is literally the head of a plunger, ideally unused.  They are mainly used by trumpets and trombones.  Trumpets should get a smaller sink plunger that fits their smaller bell where as trombones need a full sized toilet plunger.

The plunger itself doesn't have an inventor, but it started popping up between 1850 and 1900, when rubber became more common place in the home.  Trumpets and trombones have been using mutes since the 1600s.  During the Jazzy era in the 1920s, musicians were constantly looking for that new sound that would get them the edge needed to be the next big thing.  The hat mute, essentially just a bowler hat held in front of the bell, was made popular by King Oliver in the early 1920s.  This was the predecessor to the plunger mute.  All the factors were in place, it just needed a brave soul to used the rubber suction cup meant for the toilet and put it on the end of their bell.

There may have been brave souls before trombonist Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton, but he's definitely the one who hit it big.  Being part of Duke Ellington's Orchestra helped as well.  He joined the group in 1926 and along with trumpet Bubber Miley, revolutionized swing music.  When Miley left in 1929, Tricky Sam trained his successor, Cootie Williams, the growl and plunger techniques he and Miley had used, and Cootie became a plunger master himself.  Together, they took the plunger to a whole new level.

The timbre created by the plunger mute is described as buzzy when closed against the bell, and if opened while playing, gives a distinctive "wah" sound that Nanton was so good at. Some musicians poke holes in their plungers to give it a slightly different timbre.  If played by a skilled player it could even sound almost human-like.

As heard in the video on the left, that wah wah sound is remenisent of a human saying wah.  And the growl that he does is done with just rolling the tongue like for Spanish r's but into a plunger, and it makes a real jungly sound.  This sound and style was big in swing music.

Plungers have definitely made their way into Jazz and into Jazz Musicians hearts.  It is a style and feel unlike most other mutes.  Its got a heart of its own. And if push came to shove, its handy around a clogged toilet...

Listening 2-Zoot Suit Riot

One of the most iconic and most well known swing songs in existence, Zoot Suit Riot by the Cherry Poppin' Daddies (CPD) took America by storm during the swing revival in the 1997.  Even though it was written in the late 90s, the style is of 1940's jump swing, the type of song that almost compels one to get up and dance.  CPD was a ska-band, so a regular jazz group with lots of walking brass.  This is a fast paced song so a lot more could be fit into a small amount of time.  The form is as follows:
8bar Drum Intro
8bar instrumental I'll refer to as the theme (T)
8bar T again
8bar A (vocals start)
8bar B
8bar C (Refrain)
8bar C
8bar T
8bar A
8bar B
8bar C
16bar Bridge (a lot of falls from instruments and then a build as the vocals say the title)
4bar shout-out to Drum Intro
16bar scat (drum intro in background while instruments echo the vocal's calls)
8bar B (skips A)
8bar C
8bar C
16bar Bridge again (great part to let loose the dance moves)
6bar recall of the drum intro
Tag to finish it out

The instruments used were a drum set, bass (most likely string-), trumpet, saxes, piano, and the music video on the left shows a guitar.  The beat is uptempo and bright (around 190 bpm) and is ideal for swing dancing.  Being a ska band, the brass instruments are mainly for background hits and for echoes to the vocal calls.  The scat section is a style of music in and of itself.  Scat is essentially soloing with ones voice, using nonsense syllables.  It accents the time period this song is shooting for fairly well.

The lyrics and music style weave a tale of the mid 40s, during WWII.  The government was asking people to conserve the uses of basic materials that could be used for the war effort. Zoot suits were made with very baggy sleeves and legs using a lot of unnecessary cloth, and happened to be popular among the Mexican-American community.  American military/navy men saw this as unpatriotic during war times, and well, conflict ensued.  The lyrics don't really root for either side, but just talk about happenings in the mid 1940s.

This is one of my favorite songs, probably because I love swing jazz and probably because I love to swing dance.  If you've never heard it, I recommend it.  If you have heard it, try dancing to it.  If you are looking for a funny parody, check out "Grapefruit Diet" by Weird Al Yankovich.

Capo(tasto)

Now for another segment of sound altering items.  This week we are looking at probably the most widely used and most well known for guitar players, the capo.  Capo is short for capotasto, which is Italian for "head of fretboard."  According to the Oxford Music Encyclopedia, the first recorded use of the capo was in 1640 by G.B. Doni in his piece, Annotazioni, but it was probably used before that.  The point of a capo is to effectively shorten the length of the strings on a guitar, banjo, or mandolin so the pitch is raised, allowing the musician to play in a higher key with different fingerings.  It is placed on the neck and using some form of a clamp, presses all the strings down, shortening the neck.

Capos come in many shapes and sizes.  It comprises of two major component, the part that applies pressure to the fret and the mechanism that mounts it on to the neck.  The capo on the right, for example, utilizes rubber to evenly distribute pressure across the whole neck while a spring pushes a curve arm against the bottom of the neck, creating a vice so it stays put.  This is very common and mostly used for quick changes from key to key between songs.  Other mounting-mechanisms include lock with key for long lasting grip and rope ties for secure grips.  The fret pressure can be provided by rubber like the one on the right or by metal, depending on what sound you are looking for.  Rubber capos are most common since they seem to last longer than metal or plastic ones, and they have a smaller chance of breaking the strings.  Either way, it has to be rectangular so it presses equally over all the frets. (ehow.com)

The capo has a very special relationship with stringed instruments like the guitar.  Whatever genre the guitar goes, the capo follows.  When the guitar entered the jazz scene, the capo was close behind.  Now as Jazz became more defined as a genre, the capo tended to fade into the background and stick around mainly in blues and folk.  In blues, the music usually incorporates many flatted notes, to give a sad feeling.  The capo saved guitarist from some awkward hand cramping fingerings.

The capo isn't only used to take up the key signature. It also can procure some interesting chords using a partial capo, a capo that only applies pressure to a couple strings, giving the guitar a new, unique sound.

Listening 1 - Watermelon Man

For my first intense listening of Jazz, I listened to one of my favorites to play in middle school, Watermelon Man.  The version I listened to was by Mongo Santamaria, but it was originally written by the great Herbie Hancock, the composer of other great songs like Cantaloupe Island and Chameleon.  I chose this one because it was familiar, an easy way to get my foot in the door.

The instruments heard in Watermelon Man by Mongo were trumpet and sax leads, and a rhythm section in the background (including what sounded like congas and a guiro), and a piano.  Upon some research, the piano was actually played by Herbie, who was filling in with the band.  There is a little bit of vocals, but mainly just shouts during quieter parts of the peace, and the phrase "watermelon man" is introduced during the lulls in part A of the main lick after the solo.  This is made for a jazz combo setting with solos in-between the main sections

The format of the song, made only to be under 3 min for radio, is as follows:
Intro for 4 bars
A for 8 bars
B for 8 bars
2 bars of vamp before solo
trumpet solo
2 bars of vamp with slight percussion  lead in to...
A for 8 bars
B for 8 bars
My version then fades into nothingness, but that is surely an after production affect
The main lick is AB, which last 16bars, making it 16 bar blues

The feel of the rhythm section is "cha-cha"-esque with a with a jazzy, soul feeling.  If I'm not mistaken, I believe this song is on an F blues scale, which really gives into that feel.