Combo Alto

Jazz is an American art form whose origins date back to the mid-19th century slave songs and chants. The early 20th century saw the art form blossom as instrumental music in the southern United States, principally along the Mississippi river and specifically New Orleans, Louisiana.

Early instrumental jazz combos of New Orleans varied in instrumentation.  More many times than not, these early jazz groups in general consisted of trumpet, clarinet, trombone, tuba and drums.  This instrumentation became what is known as the “dixieland” combo, making it is way up the Mississippi river to Chicago where the music became extrapolated by jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong.

Dixieland combos may be thought of as groups that play “polyphonic” improvisational music.  Each instrument is independent of each other instrument, with each player creating distinguished musical improvisations based on known melodies, or “tunes” of the day.

The players of these early jazz combos each had a discerned role within the group.  The trumpet player was depended upon to state the melody of the song, while the clarinet would improvise complex lines above him.  The trombonists role was to improvise or “fill in” the middle register with lines and notes that were necessary to the chord changes of the song itself.  The tuba player (or bass player) in general laid down root notes (and 5ths) of each chord on beats 1 and 3 of each measure.  The tuba served as the harmonic anchor for the group. Lastly, it was the drummers role to keep everyone together by keeping a steady beat allround the entirety of the song.

As jazz music produced all around the 1940s and 1950s, jazz combo instrumentation started out to become more standardized.  The jazz “quintet” and “sextet” became very general for the duration of this time.  The quintet consisted of trumpet and alto (or tenor) sax as the main melodic instruments while the rhythm section (piano, bass and drums) took care of rhythm and harmony. 

The sextet added a trombone to form what fundamentally was a three horn front line, with rhythm section accompaniment.  The extra melodic instrument of the sextet made it possible for the horns to add more harmonic depth to the sound of the group.  Each instrument had a role not only as a melodic voice, but likewise as an integral element of the harmonic structure as well.

Modern jazz combos consist of a assortment of instrumentation – 4, 5 horn combos are mutual place.  As the group grows in size however, the name “combo” is substituted by “band” or “little big band”. 

The jazz combo has provided a musical and originative outlet for innumerable musicians over the last 100 years.  The jazz combo proceeds to provide jazz musicians the probability to work together to make music not only as a group but likewise to construct their own voice as person jazz improvisers.  It is, and in all likelihood always will be, the perfective vehicle for learning the art of jazz improvisation.

Combo Alto Image

Combo Alto Photo

Combo Alto Image

Combo Alto Photo