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JAZZ INFLUENCE ON FRENCH TROMBONE MUSIC 1910-1960

This essay was originally presented as a lecture recital with performances of the
works discussed by James Campbell (trombone) and Sue Powell (piano)

From about 1917 (towards the end of the First World War) jazz became a strong
influence on French classical music. As one of the characteristic instruments of jazz,
this influence was something that particularly affected the way in which composers
wrote for the trombone. If I could establish the nature, source of inspiration and intent
of jazz influence in French music from 1917 to around 1960 this might be able to
inform performances of works from this period.

From 1940 there was also a renaissance in the prominence of the trombone as a
solo instrument. Often music from the period 1940 to 1960 (and onwards)
demonstrates strong jazz influences. By examining the history and nature of jazz
influence on trombone writing in France I hope to elucidate this important strand in
the wholistic development of the trombone as a solo instrument.

Throughout I will use "jazz" as an umbrella term for the range of musical styles also
referred to as "instrumental ragtime", "Tin Pan Alley songs", "foxtrot", "New Orleans",
"Dixieland", "swing band music", "big band music", "swing" etc. Essentially the term
will cover the more popular orientation of "jazz" up to the 1950’s.

Over the period from 1917 to 1960 I observed three essential stages to the approach
French composers took to including elements of jazz in their use of the trombone.
These stages occurred chronologically, the first being the use of the trombone in
chamber music imitations of ragtime ensembles, from 1917 to around 1924. The
second stage was the development of a jazz influenced solo style for the trombone
within the orchestra, from 1925 into the 1930’s. The third and final stage was the
introduction of jazz elements into solo compositions for trombone, from 1940
onwards.
Jazz first made its appearance in France in 1900, when the Sousa band brought
several arrangements of "cakewalks" (the predecessor of ragtime) as crowd-pleasing
encores for its tour of Europe. Right from this first introduction the Parisian public was
infatuated with the rhythm, exotic origin and sexual innuendo of jazz. From then on all
the shows and music hall productions involving jazz were massive successes and
jazz bands touring from America would perform to sell-out audiences and huge
ovations. By the time of the First World War jazz music had become a staple in the
diet of Parisian cafés, music halls, nightclubs and record collections. The cafes and
nightclubs were also the social milieu of the composers, artists and intellectuals of
Paris during the early part of the twentieth-century, thus these people were exposed
to the new sounds of jazz.

The 1910’s were a time of great rebellion against tradition in the interests and aims of
composers, artists and intellectuals and sounds of jazz provided a vehicle for many of
the new ideas. The highbrow intellectual aims of the nineteenth century were
suddenly seen as being rather self-indulgent and interest was placed in the music of
popular culture and in appealing to the average person rather than the intellectual
elite. As the music of cafes and music halls, jazz had great lure in this respect. Large
orchestras were replaced with small ensembles of soloists as a rebellion against
romantic excesses (which was rather a convenient ideology given the financial
constraints of the time). Here jazz was able to provide ideas about a new type of
small ensemble based around winds, brass and percussion rather than the "warm
caress" of strings. Blended, homogenous textures were similarly replaced by hard,
distinct polyphonies. Again jazz was an inspiration with, as Cocteau put it, its sounds
"stripped of the superfluous". Fascination with extending chromaticism was also
overshadowed by the immediacy of relentless rhythm, in which jazz was naturally
abundant. Thus in many respects jazz closely reflected the new aesthetics and
composers began drawing sounds and ideas from jazz into their own music. Writing
art-music that sounded like popular music was also a useful vehicle, as George Auric
pointed out, for shocking the Parisian public from their "Debussian slumber".

Imitating ragtime ensembles, the first stage in jazz influence on writing for the
trombone, was a fad that lasted from around 1917 into the early 1920’s. It involved
composers taking their impressions of jazz and using these to write "ragtimes" or
"foxtrots" in their own distinctive style. One of the first examples of this type is the
Ragtime in L’Histoire du Soldat by Igor Stravinsky written in 1917. While this, and
other pieces of its kind, take on the bouncy syncopated rhythms, catchy tunes and
straight forward harmonies of jazz at that time, it is the perception of instrumental
roles that provides the most interesting contributions. Stravinsky later, in his
conversations with Robert Craft, claimed that he drew the inspiration for the choice of
instruments in L’Histoire du Soldat (violin, double-bass, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet,
trombone and drums) from a jazz band, simply replacing a saxophone with a
bassoon for the purposes for balance. Whether this is an example of reasoning in
hindsight or not, he is able to use this ensemble with fairly accurate stylisation of
instrumental roles of jazz in the "Ragtime". In general the trombone in jazz from the
period fulfilled the role of bass line support, with some modulatory solo sections. One
distinctive feature of the way the trombone was used was, as Milhaud put it, the
"lyrical use of the trombone, gliding over quarter tones in crescendos of volume and
pitch, thus intensifying the feeling".Listening to the early bands of Louis Armstrong of
King Oliver will provide many examples of this type of trombone playing.

Stravinsky’s stylisation of this in the "Ragtime" from "L’Histoire" may seem a little
tame by comparison, but never-the-less makes use of the same ingredients.

Similar usage of the trombone and similar approach to jazz influence can be seen in
quite a number of works from 1917 to 1923. Basically the role of the trombone in
these works is to reinforce the bass line, provide small melodic solos and occasional
raucous glissandi to help create that naughty jazz atmosphere.

The only composer of the early 1920’s to really pursue jazz influence beyond casual
impressions of music heard in cafes and curious perusal of jazz scores, was Darius
Milhaud. In 1922 he jumped at the opportunity to visit the United States, really
intending (he claims in his autobiography) to use the trip as a chance to do
"research" into jazz in the night-clubs of Harlem. The result was the 1923
composition, "La Creation du Monde" for eighteen solo instruments. Here Milhaud
was taking his now very informed knowledge of jazz and blues and attempting to
write a composition with the structural clarity and formal techniques of a classical
work and the expressive dynamism and compulsiveness of jazz language. The
composition of the instrumental group was exactly that that he had seen in Harlem
and the use of the instruments was intended to be identical also. While the trombone
keeps the same role as in previous jazz inspired works it is here much more
prominent and more "authentic" in its gutsy representation of the instrument. Many
classical recordings of this piece choose a clean cut interpretation, particularly of the
trombone’s role, however the background to the piece and Milhaud’s own 1932
recording support the idea of raucous sound, rough glissandi and a generally
irreverent style of performance.

By the early 1920’s Americana was so much the norm in Paris that composers were
discovering the need for a distinctly French identity. The new idea of neoclassicism
was also dominating the musical scene of the time. It was no longer either shocking
to the Parisian public or fashionable with the Parisian artistic community to write
music that was meant to sound like jazz and most composers in Paris stopped writing
music of this kind, ending the first stage in jazz influence on French music. This first
stage did, however, have a lasting impact on the composers involved. Stravinsky and
Milhaud, for instance, had noted a distinct relationship between the polyphonic
textures and rhythmic momentum of jazz and those of baroque music. Many of the
instrumental ideas and sounds discovered while composers examined jazz, found
their way into the orchestrations for neoclassical works. For example the neoclassical
works of Stravinsky, most particularly Pulcinella and the Octet for Winds, continue to
use the trombone with the same sort of carefree raucous glissandos and small
melodic solos that he had used to evoke a jazzy atmosphere.

The most influential change in jazz trombone playing in the 1920’s was the
development of a solistic, lyrical style by performers such as Miff Mole and ‘Tricky’
Sam Nanton. This style was later perfected and popularised by the likes of Tommy
Dorsey, Glen Miller and Jack Teagarden. These performers revolutionised the
trombone both technically and expressively, expanding the standard range of the
instrument upwards by about a fifth, developing the habit of playing in a lyrical style
consistently right at the top of this range, perfecting the use of slide movement as the
source of vibrato and refining the use of glissandi so that they could be used as a
subtle colouration rather than as a grotesque effect. All these elements can be heard
in recordings of Tommy Dorsey playing.

While some would say that Gunther Schuller was engaging in polemics by claiming
"Tricky Sam Nanton, Tommy Dorsey and Jack Teagarden could perform on their
trombones feats of dexterity and agility, endurance and expressive versatility that no
trombonist in the New York or Berlin Philharmonics could even imagine, yet alone
duplicate", he is actually not all that far off the mark.

The second stage in the evolution of jazz influence on French trombone writing came
when certain composers recognised the importance of this shift in the approach to
the trombone and began using the "new" style of trombone playing in their
compositions. Ravel is the ideal example of this. We have a unique insight into how
Ravel meant his trombone parts from the 1920’s to be performed through scripts of
conversations with Leo Arnaud-Vauchant. In 1924 Ravel heard Vauchant performing
jazz trombone at the popular Parisian nightclub Le Boeuf sur le Toit and was
fascinated by the "shadings of pitch" that Vauchant was able to achieve on the
trombone. Always interested in the exotic and unusual, he invited Vauchant to his
home in Montfort-Lamaury, in order to find out more about this style of playing. For
the next four years the two would cook and discuss music almost every Friday night.
Ravel’s main orchestral output from 1924 onwards, L’Enfant et les Sortileges, Bolero,
the Concerto for Piano Left Hand and the Piano Concerto in G minor, all have lyrical
trombone solos of some kind and aspects of distinct jazz influence, whereas none of
Ravel’s music before this does. Vauchant is able to give us a unique insight into how
Ravel intended his trombone solos to sound as he performed them for Ravel before
anyone else did. The most apt example is the solo in Bolero.

Vauchant performed the Bolero solo for Ravel privately and also in the preview
performance of the ballet with the Monte Carlo Symphony and the Ballets Russes in
1929 for a small invited audience. Descriptions of his performance (no recordings
were made) indicate that he played it with a lot of vibrato, no articulation when this
was possible, with no glissandi and with some mordents where he felt it was
appropriate. He said that Ravel wanted the solo to be in the style of "a gypsy woman
singing bare-chested as she puts out the laundry". Vauchant also reports that Ravel
was fascinated by the way that the solo begins using the first two slide positions, then
adds a third, then a fourth, fifth and finally the sixth. When Vauchant pointed out that
it did not use the seventh position, Ravel retorted "(expletive deleted) the seventh
position".
The orchestral premiere of Bolero and two original recordings from January 1930 with
Ravel conducting featured Andre Lafosse, principal trombone of the Paris Opera and
future Professor of the Paris Conservatoire as the trombone soloist. At initial
rehearsals Ravel was unhappy with Lafosse’s rigidity in the trombone solo and told
him to "do like Arnaud, do a little jazz". The only way that Lafosse could think of to
impart a jazz style was to include some glissandi, which, according to Lafosse, hadn’t
been intended by Ravel. The placement of glissandi by Lafosse is the same in both
recordings, but is significantly different from those used nowadays. We also have a
good idea of the slide positions used by Lafosse from Jean Douay, current principal
of the French National Orchestra, who claims that his interpretation is correct as he
learnt it from Lafosse.

In preparing the final version of the score for Bolero, Ravel added some glissandi to
the trombone solo, possibly to aid orchestral players in achieving the jazz-coloured
style he intended. These glissandi have become entrenched in the modern
performance of the piece. In general nowadays a Tommy Dorsey-like style, sound
and legato are acknowledged as being important for the character of Bolero
everywhere outside France, where "correct" performance is considered to be the
Andre Lafosse style. The improvisatory freedom to add turns, use extreme vibrato
and add glissandi etc. at will are, quite understandably, seen as being inappropriate,
despite the fact that Ravel was partial to these in his original conception of the solo. A
prominent American trombone player reports that after first hearing from Vauchant
how the solo was originally conceived, he played the solo "a la Vauchant" and the
conductor "stopped the orchestra and said ‘No, that’s not the way that it goes, can’t
you read the music?"

There are many examples of orchestral music from the second half of the 1920’s and
the 1930’s that contain similar treatment of the trombone as a solo instrument.
Perhaps pieces by other composers were written without Ravel’s keen insider’s
knowledge of jazz or the trombone, but the intention for the sound and style is
undoubtably the same, even if it is less well informed. Quite a number of French
composers who began using jazz-coloured lyrical trombone solos. In works by these
composers it should be borne in mind that jazz-style performance was only a colour
and should only be attempted when it is obvious that this was the intention. It should
also be noted that jazz influence in these works meant a refined solistic style, as
opposed to the boisterousness of earlier jazz influence. When these composers are
clearly attempting a soloistic jazzy sound, however, a performer can do as Ravel
himself suggested, "do like Arnaud, do a little jazz".

Jazz influence had been one of the large factors in introducing and defining the role
of the trombone in chamber ensembles towards the end of the First World War, then
again in creating a solo style for the trombone in orchestral music during the 1920’s
and 1930’s. Thus it would seem logical that elements of jazz would infuse solo works
for the trombone also during this period. In France, however, solo music for wind
instruments was very heavily associated with the conservatoires (most importantly
the Paris Conservatoire) as these were vehicles for the performance and
commissioning of solo works. These bastions of tradition were not at all receptive to
the notion of having "dance" music influencing serious compositions. Andre Lafosse,
who was trombone professor at the Paris Conservatoire from 1948 until 1960 was
quite clear in his view of jazz, saying in his treatise "Methode Complete de la
Trombone", "without denying the interesting contributions of jazz, it must
nevertheless be put into its place. It is to music what caricature is to painting. Comical
effects of tone and production joined to rhythms as curious as they are irresistible
make of it a very special art, of which the main object is, for the listener, the
relaxation of the mind and dancing………Its style is a very special one, and it can not
be too strongly recommended that it should be greeted with great reserve."

The French composers of the 1930’s and 1940’s had also started grouping around
Olivier Messiaen in the search for music of very serious content and the popular
association of jazz did not at all suit this aesthetic. Thus there was an impasse and
the French solo works of the 1930’s and early 1940’s show no definite signs of jazz
influence at all.

The solution to this impasse was the "Ballade for Trombone and Piano" by the Swiss
composer Frank Martin. The Martin "Ballade" was very influential, particularly in
France, as it opened up completely new ideas on how the trombone could be used
as a solo instrument. Most importantly, the "Ballade" demonstrated how the jazz
language could be used to great dramatic effect in music of a "serious" nature.

There is actually a curious link between Martin and the origin of jazz influence in
France in the Swiss conductor Ernst Ansermet. Ansermet was one of the first
classical musicians to promote the virtues of jazz in Europe, particularly in the group
of Stravinsky, Milhaud and Auric and also through many articles proclaiming the
importance of jazz. He had actually given Stravinsky a pile of written jazz music
which Stravinsky used in composing the "Ragtime" in L’Histoire du Soldat and the
Ragtime for Eleven Instruments. Ansermet’s influence similarly affected Martin, who
had used jazz elements in several works. Thus when Martin, was commissioned to
write the set piece for the 1940 "Concours d’execution Musicale" in Geneva, it is
hardly surprising that he sought an opportunity to use his familiarity with jazz in the
unfamiliar idiom of solo trombone music. In the "Ballade for Trombone and Piano"
Martin for tackled the issue of combining the latest classical compositional ideas,
particularly a novel approach to twelve-tone writing and serial thematic development
with a variety of musical styles. The jazz influence is heard the middle section of the
work, with highly syncopated passages, runs against the slide (an effect developed in
jazz) and in crooning lyrical phrases that lend themselves beautifully to jazz styling

The "Ballade" by Frank Martin was the direct inspiration for a work of the same name
by Eugene Bozza. Bozza’s "Ballade for Trombone and Piano" of 1944 was the first of
several compositions by this composer, including "New Orleans" (bass trombone and
piano) and "Quartet for Trombones" to feature the trombone as a solo instrument and
to contain distinct jazz influence. In general Bozza applies jazz influence to the slow,
lyrical sections, often with blues-like colourings, strong glissandi and, in this case,
elements very reminiscent of Ravel’s"Bolero".

The use of blues-like sounds in slow movements of trombone works became


something of a fashion during the 1940’s and 1950’s to the extent that it was
considered self-explanatory to entitle whole sections "tempo di blues" in both the
1946 "Capriccio" by Paul Bonneau and the second movement of the 1956 "Concerto
for Trombone" by Henri Tomasi. Even Milhaud, who had moved away from jazz
influence entirely immediately after writing "Creation du Monde", used blues effects in
the second movement of his "Concerto d’Hiver" of 1953 for trombone and string
orchestra.

I finish the chronology of jazz influence in French trombone music in the 1950's for
several reasons. Most importantly because it was during this period that music that
used jazz influence did so freely and with the clear intention of sounding jazz-like.
Examples of this type of writing include the last movement of the "Concerto for
Trombone" by Tomasi, the 1958 "Sonatine for Trombone and Piano" by Casterede
that began this recital and the 1954 "Deux Danses" by Jean Michel Defaye. The
1950's was also the start of a more complex relationship between classical music
and jazz, as jazz began to be recognised by classical musicians as a serious art form
in its own right, making the issue of influence between the two quite a different
matter. The 1950's was also the time respect for and knowledge of jazz-style
performance began to be recognised in the French classical trombone world.

From the above information, however, it should be clear that when approaching
performing French music from this era, we can do as Ravel himself suggested and
"do a little jazz".

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