The role of each instrument in a jazz ensemble has changed as the music has changed, but the most dramatic transformation has been the role of the bass. Initially, the string bass was a mere imitator of the tuba’s oom-pah, outlining the harmony and helping maintain the rhythm and pulse. But, for the last fifty or so years, it’s increasingly expected that bass players move between supporting roles as members of the rhythm section and equal participants in soloing.
Some of the key players who get credit for evolving the role of the bass are: Bill Johnson, Steve Brown, and Wellman Braud in the 1920’s, Jimmy Blanton in the late 1930’s and Oscar Pettiford and Paul Chambers in the 1940’s and 50’s. But there are two bass players who, although well known, are not fully appreciated for their importance in moving the bass to the front of the bandstand: Slam Stewart and Major Holley. They accomplished this largely because of their genius in using the bow-and for the ability to use their voices in tandem with their bowed solos.
The earliest work on “the bottom” in jazz was most often done by the more easily heard tuba or sousaphone. The best way for the string bass to imitate that sound was by using pizzicato-the plucked string. In the studio, the attack of a single note by a tuba or a plucked bass string was much easier to record in the era of acoustic recording, which cont
