Jazz pianists who make weird humming noises during their improvisations

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This is very widespread isn't it? Who started this egregious affectation? Keith Jarrett?

― moley (moley), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 02:28 (twenty years ago)

http://katynka.com/odin/chronicles/images/liberace.jpg

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 02:34 (twenty years ago)

I think it's just a by-product of improvising, but with Jarrett it became a lot more pronounced.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 02:34 (twenty years ago)

how does glenn gould fit in all this?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 02:43 (twenty years ago)

Glenn Gould doesn't fit into anything ever.

― Masked Gazza, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 02:44 (twenty years ago)

Except teh folder marked 'yawn'

― Masked Gazza, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 02:45 (twenty years ago)

Wasn't Monk was doing this (as well as clapping and singing and dancing along) long before Jarrett?

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 02:45 (twenty years ago)

and Bud Powell. Herbie Nicholls, maybe.

― Beta (abeta), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 03:06 (twenty years ago)

Speckled Red!

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 03:06 (twenty years ago)

i thought keith jarrett made weird noises because of some 'disorder.'?

― Grell (Grell), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 03:39 (twenty years ago)

I have a live Coltrane CD from '63 and there is an odd, high pitched 'weee-weee-weee-weee' humming sound coming from one of the players, I'm pretty sure it's McCoy Tyner.

― mzui (mzui), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 04:05 (twenty years ago)

Cecil Taylor vocalizes fairly loudly during his performances.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 05:10 (twenty years ago)

Wasn't Monk was doing this (as well as clapping and singing and dancing along) long before Jarrett?

-- Matos-Webster Dictionary (michaelangelomato...), July 5th, 2005.

Yeah, a lot of guys did this before Jarrett, but Jarrett's is more pronounced. Anyway, my impression is that it's just this sort of "I'm thinking about what I'm playing" noise.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 05:11 (twenty years ago)

I have a live Coltrane CD from '63 and there is an odd, high pitched 'weee-weee-weee-weee' humming sound coming from one of the players, I'm pretty sure it's McCoy Tyner.

-- mzui (mzu...), July 5th, 2005.

Are you talking about that awesome sounding "WOO WOO WOO WOO WOO"? Because I think whoever it is does it on some other live recordings too. It's a really important part of the music for me now.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 05:13 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, Bud Powell definitely did this long before a lot of folks.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 05:18 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, Bud Powell specialized in that stuff. And Cecil Taylor did it too, in the only film footage I've ever seen of him. (Never seen him in person either - maybe some day.) But I've never heard him do it on any of his recordings, so maybe he was just showing off for the camera.

Makes me wonder: Are ALL jazz pianists kinda flakey, or just the ones on this thread? (OK, McCoy Tyner's fairly sobersided.)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 05:27 (twenty years ago)

xpost

OK, Cecil Taylor confirmed. (thx Walter.)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 05:31 (twenty years ago)

There was a classical pianist who taught at my college who did this!

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 05:32 (twenty years ago)

I wonder if every jazz musician actually does this but the solo pianist is the only one you can hear. The horn players have something in their mouth and the drums drown out the drummer's vocal outbursts. I'm not sure how the bass player fits into this theory though. Maybe he just mumbles quietly to himself.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 05:42 (twenty years ago)

you can sometimes hear bass players vocalize, but it has to be a lot quieter on the recording.

― Josh (Josh), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 05:44 (twenty years ago)

unless you're mingus!

art tatum was a hummer, too

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 06:03 (twenty years ago)

I bet producers and recording engineers find this REALLY endearing!

― Soukesian, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 06:11 (twenty years ago)

hmmm the times i saw him live cecil t didn't do this except when he was actually also SINGING - ie a deliberate part of the music, not an unconcious noise made bcz being deep in the music

isn't it a bit like the faces some old-skool guitarists pull? "lost in music" faces?

it is an artefact of recording and esp.of close-miking: beethoven used to bellow deafly along to his legendary improvs but no one could hear so never commented

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 06:41 (twenty years ago)

Jimmy Smith (jazz organist) did that (hum / growl / whine) on his live records, dating back to the fifties.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 07:12 (twenty years ago)

i once saw beresford humming "there's a ghost in my house" while improvising on piano but i think that was deliberate try-it-ism.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 07:19 (twenty years ago)

Damn, I thought this was a Bennie Maupin thread. Where is the love for the electric kazoo?

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 07:22 (twenty years ago)

"footsee" by wigan's chosen few to thread

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 07:25 (twenty years ago)

Oh, I just noticed the word "pianist" in the thread title. Oops!

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 07:31 (twenty years ago)

the drums drown out the drummer's vocal outbursts

You can hear Elvin Jones making grunting sounds, shouts, etc. on some recordings. I think on Unity it's pretty noticable. Art Blakey too.

― Keith C (kcraw916), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 12:10 (twenty years ago)

Like Hurting, I've come to like some of this groaning and grunting. The interesting think is you would think Elvin would be grunting in time like, say, James Brown- but maybe he is grunting in time, I'm just not deep enough to hear it!

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 12:26 (twenty years ago)

Keith Jarrett is actually humming his lines as he plays them, usually. It's still distracting.

(Elvin's grunts are awesome tho)

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 12:57 (twenty years ago)

Mungo Jerry!

― Peter Stringbender (PJ Miller), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 13:00 (twenty years ago)

My favorite FZ album title: MAKE A JAZZ NOISE HERE

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 13:02 (twenty years ago)

The best is when Roland Kirk does this - sometimes actually shouting words and stuff - while he's playing the flute.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 13:05 (twenty years ago)

ha. i do this. i've never noticed in others, but i haven't heard many jazz records. i play bass in a rock band, and when i get really into it, i often realize i have been humming along for a while. sometimes it's my part, sometimes it's other parts. it also happens when i am improvising.

― the leglo (the leglo), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 15:23 (twenty years ago)

The one guy who does annoy me with this is Martin Belmont of the Rumour, who does it while playing rhythm guitar.

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 15:28 (twenty years ago)

Les McCann did this

Did Duke Ellington do this or am I thinking of his unrelated scat solos?

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 16:28 (twenty years ago)

Oscar Peterson is another one.
I really really can't stand this shit.

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:01 (twenty years ago)

Keith Jarrett sounds are distracting as hell, as he sounds like some high pitched eight year old kid humming along to the music.

― earlnash, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I hate when musicians do this. Granted, many of them are geniuses, but it's still distracting.

Art Tatum had a bass player for a long time who actually incorporated humming into his playing. It's weird at first listen, but is really interesting. Can't remember his name though....

― PB, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

I unconsciously do it at the drums sometimes, usually during a loud intense part when I'm really "into it" and also can't hear myself doing it.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 20:43 (twenty years ago)

I can't bear it when Keith Jarrett does it - mainly because visions of David Helfgott come flooding into my mind, and I just think: you're a bit f**ked up really.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 08:12 (twenty years ago)

I saw KJ once at Wembley where he not only hummed, but stopped the show and virtually demanded that the venue be evicted because people had started taking photos of him. Visions of John McEnroe came more readily to my mind.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 08:15 (twenty years ago)

ten months pass...

I've heard oscar doing it a couple of times but at least he's singing what he's playing... Keith Jarrett sounds like he's disabled or he's Quagmire from Family Guy "Giggidy giggidy".

― Chris Cowley, Tuesday, 23 May 2006 21:50 (nineteen years ago)

I knew some jazz guitarists that would do this. Not singing along at all, just sort of humming/mumbling while they played. It was off-putting if you were close enough to hear it.

― Steve Goldberg (Steve Goldberg), Tuesday, 23 May 2006 22:40 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

Art Tatum had a bass player for a long time who actually incorporated humming into his playing. It's weird at first listen, but is really interesting. Can't remember his name though....

-- PB, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 18:05 (2 years ago) Link

Slam Stewart? He did a lot of nasal humming with his bowed solos,

― factcheckr, Friday, 26 October 2007 21:51 (eighteen years ago)

The Cecil Taylor recording with the most prominent vocalizing (while he's playing, not his poetry recitations) is the solo works on Akisakila, Vol. 2 (live in Japan, 1973). And that's not McCoy Tyner humming on Coltrane records, it's bassist Jimmy Garrison -- it's most obvious when Jimmy's soloing.

― Sara Sara Sara, Friday, 26 October 2007 22:18 (eighteen years ago)

Errol Garner makes all kinds of strange guttural noises on Concert by the Sea

― iago g., Friday, 26 October 2007 22:42 (eighteen years ago)

Everytime I've caught Medeski do this he was totally right on tune with what he was playing, impressive and hilarious at the same time.

― nickalicious, Saturday, 27 October 2007 00:45 (eighteen years ago)

Slam Stewart was also known as "Singin' Slam"

― Hurting 2, Saturday, 27 October 2007 03:37 (eighteen years ago)

Haha. Because "Slam" is just not a colorful enough nickname on its own.

― Oilyrags, Saturday, 27 October 2007 04:27 (eighteen years ago)

PERFECT time to revive this thread - I was listening to Cecil Taylor do that stuff mere hours ago. Student Studies the album, which I hadn't yet heard at the time of my post upthread.

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Saturday, 27 October 2007 14:06 (eighteen years ago)

I wonder if any jazz ppl have been asked about this? As in, do they realize, and if it isn't unconscious, why do they do this?

― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 27 October 2007 14:13 (eighteen years ago)

chick corea!

― negotiable, Saturday, 27 October 2007 16:49 (eighteen years ago)

"As in, do they realize, and if it isn't unconscious, why do they do this?"

I'm a jazz pianist and I've noticed that when I sing when I play, it changes my playing a lot. Hearing myself sing what I play while I play it somehow externalizes the music more than just playing it; when I sing something it usually comes out closer to the way I mentally intended it than it would on piano, so that helps me keep the direction of the solo and decide on the next thing to play. Basically I think it's a way of getting closer to my subconscious.

― bstep, Sunday, 28 October 2007 00:44 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

Before you ask: Yes, Jarrett does that distracting uvular thing of his here and there, especially noisily at one juncture on "Body and Soul." Yet this tic of his isn't as annoying this time, maybe on account of the intimate (almost private) nature of these dialogues—it doesn't seem to bother Haden, so why should it bother us? Jarrett is infamous for demanding abject silence from audiences in live performance, and even though I applaud him for so, the irony is that once he starts "singing" along with himself, it's him you wish you could shush.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-08-18/music/keith-jarrett-cecil-taylor/

― The Redd, The Blecch & Other Things (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 18 August 2010 19:15 (fifteen years ago)

four years pass...

Better weird humming than inaccurate foot tapping.

― Bredda Dadaismus (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 20 June 2015 16:32 (ten years ago)

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