Sidney Bechet. DAVE

 

You have to narrow it down to whether you are playing soprano, alto, tenor or bari. Generally, soprano is tighter & faster, bari is slower and wider. It's not the same on each instrument.

 

It depends on the voice (e.g., SATB), but I'm generally in the "less is more" school.

I don't listen to players specifically for their vibrato though, so it's hard to separate it out from other elements.

You can't go wrong with Dexter. However, there's a lot of modern players (e.g. Seamus Blake, Walter Smith III, Joshua Redman) who play vibrato the way I like: slow, subtle vibrato on extended notes, along with some terminal vibrato.

 

Johnny Hodges

 

Coltrane - because his use of vibrato covers the entire gamut of possibilities from his early days mastering bebop through his Ballads and Hartman albums, to the final Expression, Sun Ship and Interstellar Space sessions.

One of the toughest things I'm grappling with... coming back to Soprano and Tenor after a relatively long break... is being completely in control of vibrato. i.e. only using it deliberately. It becomes such a natural part of playing that I worry I'm not fully conscious of it. I also note that the more unsure of a note (approach/intonation/timbre) I am, the more likely I'll use vibrato. So it's got me thinking it may be a bit of a crutch.

Can we play a ballad and use no vibrato if we chose to? Just a thought.

 

Can we play a ballad and use no vibrato if we chose to? Just a thought.

 

I don’t listen for vibrato. When I’m playing along with people I match theirs, but I never think about it when I’m playing. I’ve never had a need or desire to practice it, but I definitely use it sometimes because I hear it on playback. The only place I hear it in my playing is on the end of long notes. It sounds hokey as **** and really unnatural when even good players use a lot of it.

 

I usually use shallow vibrato medium speed.
Wider on flute.

 

Some great ones listed already so I'll only add new ones.

Albert Ayler
Pharoah Sanders
Steve Lacy
Lee Konitz

 

Steve Lacy put some thought into it. I recall an interview with him where he expressed the idea that the Soprano was less suited to vibrato. Something to do with its emotive, vocal qualities?

 

Ike Quebec, Johnny Griffin, Ben Webster and Dexter Gordon (especially in ballads).

IQ:

JG:

BW:

DG:

 

Very cool topic. I almost replied "none", as I feel vibrato has to be dealt with with some caution.
Sorry for the sidestep, but THE horn player who made me aware of how to move from the "built-in" permanent vibrato, to something more related to a part of the articulation was Miles Davis, specially when he played "old" standards. JJ Johnson was in the same spirit. Brass players seem to have another history with vibrato.

Among saxes, Phil Woods comes to my mind. He alternates straight notes and phrases with quite accentuated vibrato "shots".

Dexter, Sonny Rollins and Benny Golson are ongoing modells for me.

 

Steve Lacy in a 1999 interview with Andrew Ford: “I think it was technical demands, because the main problem on the instrument at least back in the '50s was intonation, the control of the pitch. And in order to really focus on the pitch, I had to eliminate the vibrato so as to expose the contradictions in the beast itself. Also I was playing with Cecil Taylor in those years, '53 to '59 I was with Cecil, and his music really demanded another approach. Also playing with Gil Evans and his band, I couldn't use that kind of a wobble. It was also inimical to my nature also, I wanted a more scientific approach.”

 

Oh man, what a monster 😍
VH can then. I can’t. Not enough control yet…but I’m working on it.

 

Vincent does use just a touch here & there...but overall, it's that "no vibrato" thing for sure. Lots of Coltrane & Miles is like that, & many more tenor players who came after, as if it were a post-bop requirement. I dig it. Just riffing here, but I have noticed over the years how lots of very popular vocalists employ a "quick" vibrato (Aretha comes to mind, as does Nina Simone...maybe rooted in gospel to a degree, I dunno)...it seems a central aspect of their sound, the thing that seems to attract audiences to their voice. Lots of great early jazz players used a quick vibrato all the time (someone mentioned Bechet, perfect example). You can make a case that for more pop-oriented music, one benefits by a personal vibrato. Sanborn sure uses it w/ great effect. It's not easy to execute w/ conviction & musicality. On the other end of the spectrum, most opera singers use far too wide of a vibrato for my tastes. I can't even tell what the pitch is supposed to be lots of times. But it's a stylistic thing for opera it seems. Comes off as pompous to me though. Sorry if I'm rambling, but it's really an interesting topic, & I've thought a lot about it for a long time. I sort of concluded a while back that it may be a natural part of one's playing. It just comes out as if it were genetic. You have to work hard to change your natural tendency.

 

Vibrato is interesting. It creates an apparent pitch in the middle of the oscillations. So if one dips below the intended pitch and doesn't goe above the average will be flat. The wider the less distinct the pitch since it is a smaller part of the warble, hence the opera effect.

 

Only on long tones, starting slow and shallow, like Dexter. That fast, quavering thing sounds to me like a beginner who doesn't have control of their instrument.

 

Someone compared it to a bleating lamb. Baaaaa. I struggle with it. I should hire a teacher to listen and tell me how it should sound.

 

Interesting responses. The "quick" vibrato at the of phrases, such as Dexter and many of the old timers use, is what I had in mind. Anything more can be overbearing and/or comical. Curiously, I've found that my vibrato has developed rather automatically and organically on flute, as my breathing technique improved, but on sax it requires much more conscious practice, given that the mouth and jaws are involved.

 

Curiously, I've found that my vibrato has developed rather automatically and organically on flute, as my breathing technique improved, but on sax it requires much more conscious practice, given that the mouth and jaws are involved.

Did you start on flute?

I started on saxophone (but have been playing flute as well for more than a quarter century) and my experience has been exactly the opposite: I've never expressly practiced or worked at my vibrato on saxophone, but found that I had to work on it quite deliberately on flute to keep my "vibrato" from simply sounding like poor/shaky breath support.

 

Stanley Turrentine stands out as his vibrato is unique. Also; Cannonball.

 

Yes! Eddie Harris too stands out to my ears.

 

Dexter all the way for me.

 

Fred McMurray

 

Oh my . . . Bechet and Hodges. Amazing stuff. DAVE

 

sanborn

 

This came to mind when I saw the thread title:

Now that I listen back, I kind of hate his vibrato on its own, taken out of context, but it so completely suits his style (grounded in a bunch of different traditions and eras, referring to all of them as he plays) that I remember it as exceptional (i.e. because his style left this impression of being so fully formed and deep and varied and complete and just...on).

Maybe that is really what vibrato is about: congruency with the person, connectedness to the core of the specific person, somehow. Like, Johnny Hodges' alto vibrato translated to Dexter on tenor? The thought is kind of grotesque.

(I'm sure lots here have hit Emmet Cohen's channel already...the players are phenomenal...way off the chain, IMO -- if you haven't and/or don't check it out, you're missing out. Every player is SUPER BAD)

 

As a string player as well, double bass, I do progressive vibrato, no vibrato and easing into it, I think many people over do vibrato. I am in the Coltrane - Chris Potter camp although I also like Dave S Ware but even he doesn't quaver that much.

 

Ok, so here on this melodic phrase he sort of alternates between no vibrato or a very subtle vibrato. Then in the middle of a pick up line to the melody, at approx 1:04, he uses a heavy vibrato on one note in the middle of a phrase.