Most of this echoes what I heard from my workshop instructors in non-GJ swing playing decades ago. Or a lot of non-jazz ensemble playing, for that matter, particularly the notion that if you can't hear the soloist or vocalist over your own playing, you're playing too loud.
Yes, there are definitely many common denominators with many other styles. I'd say in my experience in gypsy jazz the concept of the frequency generated by the chords is particularly important and overlooked, something most people I run into are completely unaware of
That's the irony of gypsy jazz, it's so deceptively "simple" and actually most people will never get it quite right and most don't even know what they don't know:)
I notice some players "lift" their left hand to dampen slightly after every beat, whereas others do that only on beats 1 and 3, actually leaving the hand slightly damped through beats 2 and 4.
Comments
Most of this echoes what I heard from my workshop instructors in non-GJ swing playing decades ago. Or a lot of non-jazz ensemble playing, for that matter, particularly the notion that if you can't hear the soloist or vocalist over your own playing, you're playing too loud.
It's funny how something seemingly so simple can take years to get right.
Yes, there are definitely many common denominators with many other styles. I'd say in my experience in gypsy jazz the concept of the frequency generated by the chords is particularly important and overlooked, something most people I run into are completely unaware of
That's the irony of gypsy jazz, it's so deceptively "simple" and actually most people will never get it quite right and most don't even know what they don't know:)
I notice some players "lift" their left hand to dampen slightly after every beat, whereas others do that only on beats 1 and 3, actually leaving the hand slightly damped through beats 2 and 4.
Yes, I'd say those can be slight preferences, what I believe is important is to never lose touch completely with the strings.
Releasing is one thing, releasing unnecessarily (where I lose contact with the strings) in another and is not ideal in my opinion