Tricky Sam Nanton
Tricky Sam Nanton | |
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Nanton performing in 1943 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Joseph Irish Nanton |
Born | (1904-02-01)February 1, 1904 New York City, NY, U.S. |
Died | July 20, 1946(1946-07-20) (aged 42) San Francisco, CA, U.S. |
Genres | Jazz, swing |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instrument(s) | Trombone |
Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton (February 1, 1904 – July 20, 1946)[1] was an American trombonist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. A pioneer of the plunger mute, Nanton is notable for his use of the distinctive wah-wah effect.
Early life
He was born Joseph Irish Nanton in New York City, United States.[1] His parents were John Barzly Nanton and Emily Irish, both immigrants from the British West Indies.[2]
Nanton began playing professionally in Washington, D.C., with bands led by Cliff Jackson and banjoist Elmer Snowden.[1]
From 1923 to 1924, Nanton worked with Frazier's Harmony Five. A year later, he performed with Snowden. At the age of 22, Nanton found his niche in Duke Ellington's Orchestra, when he reluctantly took the place of his friend Charlie Irvis in 1926, and remained with Ellington until his early death in 1946.[1] Nanton, along with Lawrence Brown, anchored the trombone section.
The wah-wah sound
Nanton was one of the great pioneers of the plunger mute. In 1921, he heard Johnny Dunn playing the trumpet with a plunger, which Nanton realized could be used to similar effect on the trombone.[3] Together with Ellington's trumpeter Bubber Miley, Nanton is largely responsible for creating the characteristic wah-wah, or wa-wa, effect. Their highly expressive growl and plunger sounds were the main ingredient in the band's early "jungle" sound, that evolved during the band's late 1920s engagement at Harlem's Cotton Club.[1] According to Barney Bigard, Nanton "grabbed his plunger. He could use that thing, too. It talked to you. I was sitting there, looking up at him, and every time he'd say 'wa-wa,' I was saying 'wa-wa' with my mouth, following him all the way through."[3] Sensing Nanton's impressive manual dexterity, the jovial alto saxophonist Otto Hardwick, ever inclined to tag friends with fitting nicknames, dubbed Nanton "Tricky Sam": "anything to save himself trouble—he was tricky that way."[3]
From his early days with the Ellington band, Nanton was featured regularly. But he and Miley worked especially well in combination, often playing in harmony or "playing off each other" (embellishing and developing the musical theme of the preceding soloist into one's own new musical idea). Nanton and Miley successfully incorporated plunger skills into their playing to evoke moods, people, or images.
The celebrated brass growl effect was vividly described by Duke Ellington's son, Mercer Ellington:
There are three basic elements in the growl: the sound of the horn, a guttural gargling in the throat, and the actual note that is hummed. The mouth has to be shaped to make the different vowel sounds, and above the singing from the throat, manipulation of the plunger adds the wa-wa accents that give the horn a language. I should add that in the Ellington tradition a straight mute is used in the horn besides a plunger outside, and this results in more pressure. Some players use only the plunger, and then the sound is usually coarser, less piercing, and not as well articulated.[3]
Nanton and Miley gave the Ellington Orchestra the reputation of being one of the "dirtiest" jazz groups. Many listeners were excited by the raunchy, earthy sounds of their growls and mutes. Among the best examples of their style are "East St. Louis Toodle-oo", "The Blues I Love to Sing", "Black and Tan Fantasy", "Goin' to Town", and "Doin' the Voom-Voom". After Miley's premature departure in 1929, Nanton taught Cootie Williams, Miley's successor, some of the growl and plunger techniques that Miley had used. Williams became a plunger virtuoso in his own right and helped the band retain its distinctive sound. The sounds they created were copied by many brass soloists in the swing era.
While other brass players became adept at growl and plunger techniques, Nanton's sound was all his own. He developed, in addition to other tricks in his bag, a "ya-ya" effect with a plunger, in combination with a Magosy & Buscher nonpareil trumpet straight mute. He kept the details of his technique a secret, even from his band mates, until his premature death.
Some ingredients in Nanton's unique "ya-ya" sound, however, are known: inserting a trumpet straight mute into the bell, using a large plumber's plunger outside the bell, and "speaking" into the instrument while playing. This sort of speaking involved changing the cavity of the mouth while silently reproducing different vowel sounds without actually vibrating the vocal cords. His palette of near-vocal sounds was radical for its time and helped produce the unique voicings in Ellington compositions, such as "The Mooche" "Black and Tan Fantasy", and "Mood Indigo".
Death
Nanton died from a stroke[4] in San Francisco, California, on July 20, 1946, while on tour with the Ellington Orchestra. His death was an enormous loss for the Ellington Orchestra. While later trombonists, including Tyree Glenn and Quentin Jackson, tried to duplicate Tricky Sam's plunger techniques, no one was able to completely replicate his sound. Nanton had a wide variety of expressions, and his intricate techniques were not well documented.
References
- ^ a b c d e Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 300. ISBN 0-85112-580-8.
- ^ Nanton's original name is listed on his WWII Draft Registration Card, available on Ancestry.com. The draft card lists his birthdate as January 31, 1904, rather than February 1, 1904. Information on his parents is gathered from various public documents also available on Ancestry.com.
- ^ a b c d Joe 'Tricky Sam' Nanton on All About Jazz.
- ^ Henry Martin, Keith Waters (2006), Jazz: the first 100 years, Thompson/Schirmer, 3rd edition, p. 160.
External links
- Vintage Mutes: VintageMutes.com - Virtual museum of historical Wind Mutes
- Tricky Sam Nanton recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings
- v
- t
- e
- Harlem Jazz, 1930
- Ellingtonia, Vol. One
- Ellingtonia, Vol. Two
- Braggin' in Brass: The Immortal 1938 Year
- The Blanton–Webster Band
- Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band
- Smoke Rings
- Liberian Suite
- Great Times!
- Masterpieces by Ellington
- Ellington Uptown
- The Duke Plays Ellington
- Ellington '55
- Dance to the Duke!
- Ellington Showcase
- Historically Speaking
- Duke Ellington Presents...
- The Complete Porgy and Bess
- A Drum Is a Woman
- Studio Sessions, Chicago 1956
- Such Sweet Thunder
- Studio Sessions 1957 & 1962
- Ellington Indigos
- Black, Brown and Beige
- Duke Ellington at the Bal Masque
- The Cosmic Scene
- Happy Reunion
- Jazz Party
- Anatomy of a Murder
- Festival Session
- Blues in Orbit
- The Nutcracker Suite
- Piano in the Background
- Swinging Suites by Edward E. and Edward G.
- Unknown Session
- Piano in the Foreground
- Paris Blues
- Featuring Paul Gonsalves
- Midnight in Paris
- Studio Sessions, New York 1962
- Afro-Bossa
- The Symphonic Ellington
- Duke Ellington's Jazz Violin Session
- Studio Sessions New York 1963
- My People
- Ellington '65
- Duke Ellington Plays Mary Poppins
- Ellington '66
- Concert in the Virgin Islands
- The Popular Duke Ellington
- Far East Suite
- The Jaywalker
- Studio Sessions, 1957, 1965, 1966, 1967, San Francisco, Chicago, New York
- ...And His Mother Called Him Bill
- Second Sacred Concert
- Studio Sessions New York, 1968
- Latin American Suite
- The Pianist
- New Orleans Suite
- Orchestral Works
- The Suites, New York 1968 & 1970
- The Intimacy of the Blues
- The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse
- Studio Sessions New York & Chicago, 1965, 1966 & 1971
- The Intimate Ellington
- The Ellington Suites
- This One's for Blanton!
- Up in Duke's Workshop
- Duke's Big 4
- Mood Ellington
- Duke Ellington at Fargo, 1940 Live
- Black, Brown, and Beige
- The Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1943
- The Carnegie Hall Concerts: December 1944
- The Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1946
- The Carnegie Hall Concerts: December 1947
- Ellington at Newport
- Dance Concerts, California 1958
- Dance Dates, California 1958
- Newport 1958
- Jazz at the Plaza Vol. II
- Duke Ellington at the Alhambra
- Live at the Blue Note
- Hot Summer Dance
- The Great Paris Concert
- A Concert of Sacred Music
- In the Uncommon Market
- Soul Call
- Yale Concert
- 70th Birthday Concert
- Togo Brava Suite
- Live at the Whitney
- Third Sacred Concert
- Eastbourne Performance
- Blue Rose
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book
- Side by Side
- Back to Back
- The Great Summit
- First Time! The Count Meets the Duke
- Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins
- Money Jungle
- Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
- Serenade to Sweden
- Ella at Duke's Place
- The Stockholm Concert, 1966
- Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur
- Francis A. & Edward K.
- It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing
- "African Flower"
- "All Too Soon"
- "Azure"
- "Black and Tan Fantasy"
- "Black, Brown and Beige"
- "C Jam Blues"
- "Come Sunday"
- "Cotton Tail"
- "Creole Love Call"
- "Day Dream"
- "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue"
- "Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me"
- "Don't Get Around Much Anymore"
- "Drop Me Off in Harlem"
- "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo"
- "Echoes of Harlem"
- "Everything but You"
- "I Ain't Got Nothin' but the Blues"
- "I Didn't Know About You"
- "I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)"
- "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart"
- "I'm Beginning to See the Light"
- "I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So"
- "In a Mellow Tone"
- "In a Sentimental Mood"
- "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)"
- "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'"
- "Just Squeeze Me (But Please Don't Tease Me)"
- "The Mooche"
- "Mood Indigo"
- " Prelude to a Kiss"
- "Rocks in My Bed"
- "(In My) Solitude"
- "Sophisticated Lady"
- Queenie Pie (unfinished opera)
by Billy Strayhorn |
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by Juan Tizol |
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members
- Hayes Alvis
- Cat Anderson
- Ivie Anderson
- Harold Ashby
- Alice Babs
- Shorty Baker
- Butch Ballard
- Art Baron
- Aaron Bell
- Louie Bellson
- Joe Benjamin
- Barney Bigard
- Lou Blackburn
- Jimmy Blanton
- Wellman Braud
- Lawrence Brown
- Harry Carney
- Johnny Coles
- Willie Cook
- Buster Cooper
- Kay Davis
- Wild Bill Davis
- Wilbur de Paris
- Bobby Durham
- Mercer Ellington
- Rolf Ericson
- Jimmy Forrest
- Victor Gaskin
- Peter Giger
- Tyree Glenn
- Paul Gonsalves
- Sonny Greer
- Fred Guy
- Jimmy Hamilton
- Otto Hardwick
- Shelton Hemphill
- Rick Henderson
- Al Hibbler
- Johnny Hodges
- Major Holley
- Charlie Irvis
- Quentin Jackson
- Hilton Jefferson
- Herb Jeffries
- Freddie Jenkins
- Money Johnson
- Herbie Jones
- Wallace Jones
- Taft Jordan
- Al Killian
- Queen Esther Marrow
- Wendell Marshall
- Murray McEachern
- Louis Metcalf
- James "Bubber" Miley
- Harold "Geezil" Minerve
- Ray Nance
- Tricky Sam Nanton
- Oscar Pettiford
- Eddie Preston
- Russell Procope
- Junior Raglin
- Betty Roché
- Ernie Royal
- Al Sears
- Joya Sherrill
- Willie Smith
- Elmer Snowden
- Rex Stewart
- Billy Strayhorn
- Billy Taylor
- Clark Terry
- Juan Tizol
- Norris Turney
- Ben Webster
- Arthur Whetsel
- Cootie Williams
- Nelson Williams
- Skippy Williams
- Booty Wood
- Jimmy Woode
- Britt Woodman
- Sam Woodyard