You may want to try working with the Lennie Niehaus "Jazz Conception for the Saxophone" books. I've found them to be very helpful in developing the classic bop style of articulation. (Niehaus is a Parker devotee) Of course style is very personal, and there is no single 'right' way, as you've already discovered with your 2 teachers.

 

I've been studying with Arnie Krakowsky up here in Boston. During my last lesson we were playing "Scrapple From the Apple". He articulted the entire thing. It was a more legato articulation but it was there. He said, that if you don't articulate your not gonna have any sense of timing/rythum. He said all the greats articulated. So, I listened to some players after the lesson and sure enough if you listen close you can tell that most of the time their articulating every note. And when you listen to someone like Rollins, even on the incredibly fast passages, he articulates a lot of the notes if not all of them. It's been quite the revelation.

Also, on a side note about revelations. I was trying mouthpieces at Les Arbuckle's a few weeks ago and he told me to stop subtoning so much on the lower register. He said no one really subtones anymore. So, I listened to some recordings again. Specifically to players I thought were subtoners. Dexter Gordon for one. He does sometimes subtone but if you listen close most of his playing is straight. Those low soft notes are not subtoned.

 

Hey, thanks for the advice, I'll check out that book, and listen more closely, thanks!

-P.T. 8)

 

Hmmm, even a slur is "articulation" so if one articulates the whole thing, one is not necessarily tonguing every note!

Key jazz articulations tend to mix tongued and slurred notes with the defining key being slurring into the beat rather than always tonguing on the beat. Here are a couple patterns try. In a eighth-note phrase, tongue only on the off beat. Compare that to tounging the first two notes of each 4-note grouping and slurring the next two notes. Contrast both of those to a more classical phrasing of tonguing the first (or first and third) note of each four note group.

Enjoy.

 

Well, the general concept for bop articulation isn't tounging Every note, if not every other note. What the players do is that they toungue the Up-beat. For example, in 4/4 time, you toungue beat 2 and 4, but you only tongue that way when its in eight, sixteen and triplet notes. Heres an example(not me)

Listen towards the end, where plays what it sounds like:

But most importantly, do not tongue every beat!! It just won't swing

 

What the players do is that they toungue the Up-beat. For example, in 4/4 time, you toungue beat 2 and 4, but you only tongue that way when its in eight, sixteen and triplet notes.

But most importantly, do not tongue every beat!! It just won't swing

Wow, this thread got dredged up from 4 years ago. But just as relevant as ever.

Not to quibble, but there is a difference between tonguing the upbeats and tonguing beats 2 and 4. Beats 2 and 4 are 'off-beats' but are also downbeats, not upbeats. The upbeats are the "and" of each of the 4 downbeats (in 4/4 time).

 

> I wrote an article on "Speak jazz", regarding jazz articulation that has not yet published on site "www.jazzitalia.net". It's written in italian language. If you like, I can send you it through private e-mail. Ciao.
Paolo Mannelli