Matthias Heyman
I work as a senior researcher and lecturer for the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel (Erasmushogeschool) and as guest lecturer of Music History for the LUCA School of Arts (Lemmens). Also, I am Assistent Professor in (Performing) Arts at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), allowing me to supervise PhDs in artistic research (in music).
In 2018, I obtained a Ph.D. of Arts at the University of Antwerp in affiliation with the AP University College (Royal Conservatoire Antwerp), which was funded by Research Foundation - Flanders (project no G003713N). My research centered on jazz bassist Jimmie Blanton (1918–42), best known for his two-year tenure with Duke Ellington and His Orchestra (1939–41). This project sheds new light on the bass playing of Blanton, his colleagues, and the evolution of jazz bass playing in the late 1930s to early 1940s. I am currently writing a monograph on Blanton's life, music, and legacy for Oxford University Press.
My current project examines creativity in the context of historically/culturally informed performances in jazz, focusing on (historical) recreations of/by Duke Ellington. From 2019 to 2021, I was postdoctoral fellow for the Research Foundation - Flanders (project no. 1208720N) working at the University of Antwerp (Media, Policy and Culture research group) with a project on cultural values in international jazz competitions.
I have a particular interest in the jazz history of Belgium, which is very rich but hardly researched. So far I have looked at:
- the role jazz contests (1932–39) played in Belgium's Interwar period;
- the 'struggle' of specific jazz promoters (e.g., Félix-Robert Faecq and Robert Goffin) to get the national media (specifically the radio, NIR-INR) to program jazz;
- the history of "Music" (1924–39), one of the first dedicated jazz magazines worldwide;
- how the formation of pre-war networks influenced the post-war Belgian jazz scene.
Finally, I work on a few other topics as well, such the relationship between the Beatles and humour, resulting in a co-edited volume for Bloomsbury (2023) titled The Beatles and Humour: Mockers, Funny Papers, and Other Play (with Katie Kapurch and Richard Mills).
In addition, I have a one-person freelance company, Jazzmatt Productions, hiring out my services a guest lecturer, reviewer, writer, advisor-expert, and double bassist (jazz and classical) to organizations such as Davidsfonds Academie, CEMPER (Mechelen), and the Royal Conservatory The Hague.
As a double bassist, I freelance for various orchestras and ensembles (jazz and classical), such as Frascati Symphonic, Symphony of Unity (Tomorrowland), and the Belgian National Orchestra.
In 2018, I obtained a Ph.D. of Arts at the University of Antwerp in affiliation with the AP University College (Royal Conservatoire Antwerp), which was funded by Research Foundation - Flanders (project no G003713N). My research centered on jazz bassist Jimmie Blanton (1918–42), best known for his two-year tenure with Duke Ellington and His Orchestra (1939–41). This project sheds new light on the bass playing of Blanton, his colleagues, and the evolution of jazz bass playing in the late 1930s to early 1940s. I am currently writing a monograph on Blanton's life, music, and legacy for Oxford University Press.
My current project examines creativity in the context of historically/culturally informed performances in jazz, focusing on (historical) recreations of/by Duke Ellington. From 2019 to 2021, I was postdoctoral fellow for the Research Foundation - Flanders (project no. 1208720N) working at the University of Antwerp (Media, Policy and Culture research group) with a project on cultural values in international jazz competitions.
I have a particular interest in the jazz history of Belgium, which is very rich but hardly researched. So far I have looked at:
- the role jazz contests (1932–39) played in Belgium's Interwar period;
- the 'struggle' of specific jazz promoters (e.g., Félix-Robert Faecq and Robert Goffin) to get the national media (specifically the radio, NIR-INR) to program jazz;
- the history of "Music" (1924–39), one of the first dedicated jazz magazines worldwide;
- how the formation of pre-war networks influenced the post-war Belgian jazz scene.
Finally, I work on a few other topics as well, such the relationship between the Beatles and humour, resulting in a co-edited volume for Bloomsbury (2023) titled The Beatles and Humour: Mockers, Funny Papers, and Other Play (with Katie Kapurch and Richard Mills).
In addition, I have a one-person freelance company, Jazzmatt Productions, hiring out my services a guest lecturer, reviewer, writer, advisor-expert, and double bassist (jazz and classical) to organizations such as Davidsfonds Academie, CEMPER (Mechelen), and the Royal Conservatory The Hague.
As a double bassist, I freelance for various orchestras and ensembles (jazz and classical), such as Frascati Symphonic, Symphony of Unity (Tomorrowland), and the Belgian National Orchestra.
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Papers by Matthias Heyman
Their approach bears parallels to historically informed performance (HIP), a common practice in Early Music, yet it operates within an entirely different framework. Informed by sound recordings, the Analogues deconstruct and re-record the Beatles’ music to construct their own performance, in the process conceiving a modern technology-based type of HIP. This article begins by establishing a typology of Beatles tributes before examining the process of staging an Analogues performance. It argues that the Analogues’ approach to historical recreation allows them to transcend criticism typically aimed at tributes and, paradoxically, lay claim to an “authentic” performance of what is inherently inauthentic, a live imitation of a recording. Overall, this article demonstrates how HIP can be used effectively outside of its mainstream classical context as a tool for popular music researchers and performers.
This essay is organized in three parts, starting with an examination of how Duke used his earliest bassists, most notably Wellman Braud (1891-1966). Next, it focuses on the bass duos he employed between 1935 and 1939, in particular the pairing of Billy Taylor (1906-1986) and Hayes Alvis (1907-1972). The final part will be dedicated to Jimmie Blanton (1918-1942), generally seen as one of the most influential bassists in jazz history. Yet, Ellington's compositional role in establishing him as a major jazz figure remains strangely overlooked. Overall, this article will demonstrate the extensive impact Ellington's innovative and influential composing had on the string bass, its performers, and its approach by other composers and arrangers from the 1920s to the 1940s.
Conference Presentations by Matthias Heyman
Whiplash centres on the abusive relationship between student-drummer Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) and teacher-bandleader Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), as they both strive for musical perfection, whatever the emotional and physical cost.
While much attention has been devoted to the film’s (mis)representation of jazz pedagogy, I focus on the framing of jazz competitions. Critical moments in the protagonists’ relationship coincide with three fictional contests. Neiman wins the coveted seat of core drummer in the first competition, only to lose it again in the second one, even abandoning music altogether. The film’s climax, where Neiman confronts Fletcher, is not an actual contest but is presented as an audition of sorts before an industry-connected audience.
After sketching the history of collegiate jazz competitions, I examine how Whiplash’s competitions compare to their non-filmic counterparts. I highlight particular aspects such as gender and race, and consider these in the real-life context of competitions such as Essentially Ellington (US) or Generations
in Jazz (AU). Overall, I argue that the representation of contests is more nuanced than that of education; some elements are rooted in reality, whereas others are exaggerated or simplified for the narrative’s sake. Nevertheless, the net result remains: the audience’s understanding of jazz pedagogy and competitions is equally flawed.
Worldwide, there are over 600 (semi-)professional Beatles tribute bands, but most focus on a core repertoire that is easily reproducible on stage (Inglis 121). Therefore, many key Beatles compositions are never performed live, in particular those of the post-1966 albums. This is not surprising given that the complex combination of instrumentation, orchestration, and arrangement, often painstakingly constructed track by track in the studio over several weeks’ time, is unattainable to reconstruct live for most tributes.
“Within You Without You,” a Harrison composition from Sgt. Pepper (1967) is an excellent case in point. Due to its rhythmic complexities and its hybrid instrumentation, including various Indian instruments and an 11-part string section, it is rarely covered by Beatles tributes. Yet, The Bootleg Beatles, The Fab Faux, and The Analogues, three top-tier tribute acts, have performed this song in concert.
In this presentation, I undertake an in-depth auditory comparison of these three bands’ versions, not to favour one over the other but to reveal the similarities and differences in their recreations of this particularly challenging work. In the process, I discuss their respective approaches, illustrating the potential that historical recreation has for The Beatles’ music.
In this presentation, we review this project’s process and procedures, particularly focusing on the transformation of the physical discography into a virtual (in a Deleuzian sense) collection that allowed extensive assessment by an expert committee using certain parameters such as historical value or educational purpose. A number of opportunities and challenges that arose from this assignment, ranging from the more philosophical (why does such heritage needs to be valued?) to the more practical (how can this book be made accessible again?), are discussed as well. Overall, this case study addresses some fundamental issues relating to jazz, in particularly in the ways it can be valued, preserved, and documented.
I will begin this presentation with a historical overview of jazz competitions, discussing some of the various functions these have fulfilled, for example by providing budding musicians much-needed access to a network of professionals, critics, and fans. Next, I focus on two of the oldest on-going jazz contests worldwide: the B-Jazz International Contest (Belgium, 1979) and the Herbie Hancock International Jazz Competition (U.S., 1987),
Employing semi-structured interviews with the contest organisers and judges, thematic analysis of recent promotional texts, and non-participant observation, I examine how both tournaments explicitly or implicitly mediate certain cultural meanings and values, in particular relating to authenticity and ownership. In the process, I demonstrate how these competitions aid to the global circulation of jazz through their international ‘cast’ of contenders and adjudicators. Overall, this paper reveals how contests offer a fruitful field for further enquiry, not only on the level of cultural mediation, but also relating to education, tourism, and economy.
By contrast, the Dutch band The Analogues approach such re-enactment quite differently. They focus on the music created after 1966, which relied heavily on intricate studio techniques and elaborate arrangements that due to productional and economic constraints are difficult to recreate live. Just like their American counterparts, The Fab Faux, The Analogues disregard all mimetic visual effects. However, while the former resort mainly to digital synthesizers to achieve the more complex sonic textures and timbres, the latter strive for complete aural accurateness by using the exact same analogue instrumentation as The Beatles did, including rare vintage instruments such as the Lowry Heritage Deluxe, the Mellotron MK11, the dilruba, and not in the least the blacksmith’s anvil. In doing so, they offer their audiences a different commodity: the possibility to finally hear the six last studio albums performed live in their exactitude.
This presentation will consider The Analogues’ rendition of Abbey Road to explore how historically informed performance practice (HIPP) is used in an experimental manner outside of its more traditional realm of Classical music. While the band employs certain methods similar to those used in mainstream HIPP contexts, such as iconographical analysis, it operates within an entirely different framework, foregrounding recorded rather than notated music. The Analogues deconstruct and re-record The Beatles’ music in order to construct their performance ‘from scratch.’ Guided by their own experience as pop/rock musicians, they rely primarily on music software such as Pro Tools in order to (re)create the various parts, in notated or oral form. Informed by semi-structured interview with the band members and non-participant observations of their rehearsals, this presentation will focus on Abbey Road, unravelling The Analogues’ entire recreation process with special attention for the album’s unique features, such as the sophisticated vocal harmony and the early experimentation with the Moog synthesizer.
In this presentation I discuss how The Bootleg Beatles and The Analogues each construct a distinct narrative to reanimate the nostalgic past in an ‘authentic’ manner. In doing so, both offer Beatle fans much-desired yet different commodities: The Bootleg Beatles to first-hand ‘witness’ a Beatles show, The Analogues to finally hear the six last studio albums performed live ‘for the first time’. Overall, this presentation aims to demonstrate how tribute bands employ narrative elements to construct a brand identity and attract a wide following.
Their approach bears parallels to historically informed performance (HIP), a common practice in Early Music, yet it operates within an entirely different framework. Informed by sound recordings, the Analogues deconstruct and re-record the Beatles’ music to construct their own performance, in the process conceiving a modern technology-based type of HIP. This article begins by establishing a typology of Beatles tributes before examining the process of staging an Analogues performance. It argues that the Analogues’ approach to historical recreation allows them to transcend criticism typically aimed at tributes and, paradoxically, lay claim to an “authentic” performance of what is inherently inauthentic, a live imitation of a recording. Overall, this article demonstrates how HIP can be used effectively outside of its mainstream classical context as a tool for popular music researchers and performers.
This essay is organized in three parts, starting with an examination of how Duke used his earliest bassists, most notably Wellman Braud (1891-1966). Next, it focuses on the bass duos he employed between 1935 and 1939, in particular the pairing of Billy Taylor (1906-1986) and Hayes Alvis (1907-1972). The final part will be dedicated to Jimmie Blanton (1918-1942), generally seen as one of the most influential bassists in jazz history. Yet, Ellington's compositional role in establishing him as a major jazz figure remains strangely overlooked. Overall, this article will demonstrate the extensive impact Ellington's innovative and influential composing had on the string bass, its performers, and its approach by other composers and arrangers from the 1920s to the 1940s.
Whiplash centres on the abusive relationship between student-drummer Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) and teacher-bandleader Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), as they both strive for musical perfection, whatever the emotional and physical cost.
While much attention has been devoted to the film’s (mis)representation of jazz pedagogy, I focus on the framing of jazz competitions. Critical moments in the protagonists’ relationship coincide with three fictional contests. Neiman wins the coveted seat of core drummer in the first competition, only to lose it again in the second one, even abandoning music altogether. The film’s climax, where Neiman confronts Fletcher, is not an actual contest but is presented as an audition of sorts before an industry-connected audience.
After sketching the history of collegiate jazz competitions, I examine how Whiplash’s competitions compare to their non-filmic counterparts. I highlight particular aspects such as gender and race, and consider these in the real-life context of competitions such as Essentially Ellington (US) or Generations
in Jazz (AU). Overall, I argue that the representation of contests is more nuanced than that of education; some elements are rooted in reality, whereas others are exaggerated or simplified for the narrative’s sake. Nevertheless, the net result remains: the audience’s understanding of jazz pedagogy and competitions is equally flawed.
Worldwide, there are over 600 (semi-)professional Beatles tribute bands, but most focus on a core repertoire that is easily reproducible on stage (Inglis 121). Therefore, many key Beatles compositions are never performed live, in particular those of the post-1966 albums. This is not surprising given that the complex combination of instrumentation, orchestration, and arrangement, often painstakingly constructed track by track in the studio over several weeks’ time, is unattainable to reconstruct live for most tributes.
“Within You Without You,” a Harrison composition from Sgt. Pepper (1967) is an excellent case in point. Due to its rhythmic complexities and its hybrid instrumentation, including various Indian instruments and an 11-part string section, it is rarely covered by Beatles tributes. Yet, The Bootleg Beatles, The Fab Faux, and The Analogues, three top-tier tribute acts, have performed this song in concert.
In this presentation, I undertake an in-depth auditory comparison of these three bands’ versions, not to favour one over the other but to reveal the similarities and differences in their recreations of this particularly challenging work. In the process, I discuss their respective approaches, illustrating the potential that historical recreation has for The Beatles’ music.
In this presentation, we review this project’s process and procedures, particularly focusing on the transformation of the physical discography into a virtual (in a Deleuzian sense) collection that allowed extensive assessment by an expert committee using certain parameters such as historical value or educational purpose. A number of opportunities and challenges that arose from this assignment, ranging from the more philosophical (why does such heritage needs to be valued?) to the more practical (how can this book be made accessible again?), are discussed as well. Overall, this case study addresses some fundamental issues relating to jazz, in particularly in the ways it can be valued, preserved, and documented.
I will begin this presentation with a historical overview of jazz competitions, discussing some of the various functions these have fulfilled, for example by providing budding musicians much-needed access to a network of professionals, critics, and fans. Next, I focus on two of the oldest on-going jazz contests worldwide: the B-Jazz International Contest (Belgium, 1979) and the Herbie Hancock International Jazz Competition (U.S., 1987),
Employing semi-structured interviews with the contest organisers and judges, thematic analysis of recent promotional texts, and non-participant observation, I examine how both tournaments explicitly or implicitly mediate certain cultural meanings and values, in particular relating to authenticity and ownership. In the process, I demonstrate how these competitions aid to the global circulation of jazz through their international ‘cast’ of contenders and adjudicators. Overall, this paper reveals how contests offer a fruitful field for further enquiry, not only on the level of cultural mediation, but also relating to education, tourism, and economy.
By contrast, the Dutch band The Analogues approach such re-enactment quite differently. They focus on the music created after 1966, which relied heavily on intricate studio techniques and elaborate arrangements that due to productional and economic constraints are difficult to recreate live. Just like their American counterparts, The Fab Faux, The Analogues disregard all mimetic visual effects. However, while the former resort mainly to digital synthesizers to achieve the more complex sonic textures and timbres, the latter strive for complete aural accurateness by using the exact same analogue instrumentation as The Beatles did, including rare vintage instruments such as the Lowry Heritage Deluxe, the Mellotron MK11, the dilruba, and not in the least the blacksmith’s anvil. In doing so, they offer their audiences a different commodity: the possibility to finally hear the six last studio albums performed live in their exactitude.
This presentation will consider The Analogues’ rendition of Abbey Road to explore how historically informed performance practice (HIPP) is used in an experimental manner outside of its more traditional realm of Classical music. While the band employs certain methods similar to those used in mainstream HIPP contexts, such as iconographical analysis, it operates within an entirely different framework, foregrounding recorded rather than notated music. The Analogues deconstruct and re-record The Beatles’ music in order to construct their performance ‘from scratch.’ Guided by their own experience as pop/rock musicians, they rely primarily on music software such as Pro Tools in order to (re)create the various parts, in notated or oral form. Informed by semi-structured interview with the band members and non-participant observations of their rehearsals, this presentation will focus on Abbey Road, unravelling The Analogues’ entire recreation process with special attention for the album’s unique features, such as the sophisticated vocal harmony and the early experimentation with the Moog synthesizer.
In this presentation I discuss how The Bootleg Beatles and The Analogues each construct a distinct narrative to reanimate the nostalgic past in an ‘authentic’ manner. In doing so, both offer Beatle fans much-desired yet different commodities: The Bootleg Beatles to first-hand ‘witness’ a Beatles show, The Analogues to finally hear the six last studio albums performed live ‘for the first time’. Overall, this presentation aims to demonstrate how tribute bands employ narrative elements to construct a brand identity and attract a wide following.
I will begin this presentation with a historical overview of jazz competitions, discussing some of the various functions these have fulfilled, for example by providing budding musicians much-needed access to a network of professionals, critics, and fans. Next, I focus on two of the oldest on-going jazz contests worldwide: the B-Jazz International Contest (Belgium, 1979) and the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Contest (U.S., 1987).
Employing semi-structured interviews with the contest organisers and critical discourse analysis of recent promotional texts, I examine how both tournaments explicitly or implicitly mediate certain cultural meanings and values, in particular relating to authenticity and ownership. In the process, I demonstrate how these competitions aid to the global circulation of jazz through their international ‘cast’ of contenders and adjudicators. Overall, this paper reveals how contests offer a fruitful field for further enquiry, not only on the level of cultural mediation, but also relating to education, tourism, and economy.
In this paper, I will discuss a recording session by the Brussels Jazz Orchestra and myself on bass in which we recreated the circumstances of an Ellington performance in the 1930s and 1940s, both live and in the studio, in a historically informed way, for example by using a historically appropriate instrumentation, repertoire, location, recording set-up, and performance practice. The outcome revealed that certain changes in the orchestra’s seating plan were key to Blanton’s perceived superior tone. I will review the preparation, recording process, and results, drawing on a combination of visual analysis of historical photographs, complete participant observation, comparative auditory analysis, and formal and informal (semi-structured) interviews with a number of the participants. Overall, I will demonstrate that the concept of historically informed performance practice is a useful, yet underused research tool in the field of jazz and popular music studies.
In this paper, I explore one of the oldest on-going jazz contests worldwide, the B-Jazz International Contest (formerly: Jazz Hoeilaart), which was first organised in Belgium in 1979. By addressing various material and non-material texts, such as contest regulations and performance context, it becomes possible to gain an insight into how such values as authenticity, identity, ownership, and high/low culture are mediated and propagated through this competition. Employing critical discourse analysis and non-participant observation as the main methods, I survey several modes and assorted texts on a written, visual and auditory level, and reveal how these help to (re)produce certain values about jazz, not only on a regional level, but also internationally. Overall, this paper demonstrates the importance of jazz contests in documenting music cultures.
Focusing on this and other re-imaginations of Kind of Blue, I will explore some of the tensions that arise from historical recreation in jazz, drawing on a reception study of Blue and related records, and personal experiences with an experimental recording session of the music of Duke Ellington, using a historically informed approach. Overall, this paper will offer an understanding of how aspects of (fictive) identity, authenticity, and canon-making manifest themselves in popular music and its critical/popular reception.
In this presentation I take The Bootleg Beatles and The Analogues as comparative case studies, discussing how they aim to reanimate the nostalgic past in an ‘authentic’ manner using very different means to an end. While the former places much emphasis on the visual (or context), the latter foregrounds the aural (or content). In doing so, both offer their audiences much-desired yet different commodities: The Bootleg Beatles to first-hand ‘witness’ a Beatles show, The Analogues to finally hear the six last studio albums performed live ‘for the first time.’ In the process, I reveal some of the tensions that arise from such historical recreations, in particular relating to authenticity, heritage, and liveliness. Overall, this presentation aims to demonstrate the importance of tribute bands to The Beatles’ legacy, a topic not often tackled in Beatles Studies (notable exceptions being Inglis 2006, Gregory 2012, Haanstad 2015, and Meyers 2015).
In this paper, I will discuss a recording session by the Brussels Jazz Orchestra and myself on bass in which we recreated the circumstances of an Ellington performance in the 1930s–1940s, both live and in the studio, in a historically informed way, for example by using a historically appropriate instrumentation, repertoire, location, recording set-up, and performance practice. The outcome revealed that certain changes in the orchestra’s seating plan were key to Blanton’s perceived superior tone. I will review the preparation, recording process, and results, drawing on a combination of iconographical analysis of historical photographs, complete participant observation, comparative auditory analysis, and formal and informal (semi-structured) interviews with a number of the participants. Overall, I will demonstrate that the concept of historically informed performance practice is a useful, yet underused research tool in the field of jazz studies.
In this paper, I will discuss a recording session by the Brussels Jazz Orchestra and myself on bass in which we recreated the circumstances of an Ellington performance in the 1930s and 1940s, both live and in the studio, in a historically informed way, for example by using a historically appropriate instrumentation, repertoire, location, recording setup , and performance practice. The outcome revealed that certain technical manipulations, such as the microphone positions, are key to understanding how Ellington, his bassists in these decades, and the recording engineers made use of technological mediation (Verbeek 2015, 28) to achieve certain effects that benefitted the string bass, in the process contributing to the evolution of jazz bass playing and the way it was perceived by other bassists, jazz composers, and fans. I will review the preparation, recording process, and results of this session, drawing on a combination of visual analysis of historical photographs, complete participant observation, comparative auditory analysis, and formal and informal (semi-structured) interviews.
In this paper, I will discuss a recording session by the Brussels Jazz Orchestra and myself on bass in which we recreated the circumstances of a 1930s–1940s Ellington performance, both live and in the studio, in a historically informed way, for example by using a historically appropriate instrumentation, repertoire, location, recording set-up, and performance practice. The outcome revealed that certain changes in the orchestra’s seating plan were key to Blanton’s perceived superior tone. I will review the preparation, recording process, and results, drawing on a combination of iconographical analysis of historical photographs, complete participant observation, comparative auditory analysis, and formal and informal (semi-structured) interviews with a number of the participants. In broad terms, I will demonstrate that the concept of historically informed performance practice (or HIPP) is a useful, yet underused research tool in the field of jazz studies.
In this paper I look beyond the mythology and dispel the myths by surveying the music of early jazz’s most important bassists from a historical and technical perspective. Furthermore, I demonstrate how their performance practice can still be relevant today, even in a modern idiom.
It’s no coincidence that Bill Johnson, Pops Foster and Wellman Braud, to name but a few of the most influential early jazz bass men, all hailed from New Orleans. It has been suggested that their stylistic approach and performance techniques originated in NOLA’s cross-cultural melting pot, with influences from visiting Afro-Cuban orquestas típica and local klezmer kapelyes. The result was an original, sophisticated style that incorporated a wide variety of techniques and timbres: slap- and snap-style, arco, two-beat, walking, eight-note lines, solo, often all used within the same tune.
Informed by a methodological approach combining oral history, transcription, analysis and performance, this multimedia presentation yields valuable insights into the historical role of the bass in the first decades of jazz history, which, given the central place of tradition in jazz education, is not just relevant for bassists and music historians, but for every jazz educator.
While Ellington is credited for giving him (inter)national exposure, his compositional role in establishing Blanton as a major jazz figure remains strangely overlooked. It could even be argued that although Duke did not play the string bass, he was instrumental to its development. This paper discusses the compositional devices and strategies Ellington used to explore new approaches to the bass function, and reveals how he in the process helped define its role in jazz.
I will begin by surveying how Ellington wrote for his first bassists, most notably Wellman Braud and Billy Taylor, and how these early experiments already pushed the boundaries of bass playing. With the arrival of Blanton in 1939, Ellington began writing pieces that extensively spotlighted his playing, such as Sepia Panorama (1940). I will detail Duke’s innovative compositional techniques, while also considering more practical strategies that were used to enhance the bass, such as putting Blanton in the orchestra’s front line. Finally, I will discuss how Blanton’s legacy endured, not only through his direct followers such as Junior Raglin and Oscar Pettiford, but also in Ellington’s composing from the 1940s to 1974.
Overall, this paper will demonstrate that jazz bass’s “revolution” shouldn’t be attributed solely to Blanton, but rather was a collaborative effort drawing on the skills of both Blanton and Ellington. As a bonus, this multimedia presentation is illustrated with rare audiovisual material, including an exclusive viewing of the only existing footage of Blanton performing
The Beatles and Humour offers innovative takes on the serious art of Beatle fun, an instrument of social, political, and economic critique. Chapters also situate the band alongside British and non-British predecessors and collaborators, such as Billy Preston and Yoko Ono, uncovering diverse components and unexpected effects of the Beatles' output.