An odd instrument in jazz: the violin
When talking about jazz, visions of trumpets, saxophones, trombones, clarinets, and, of course, drums arise in our minds. We do not usually associate the violin with jazz music, which is an instrument we consider reserved for the realm of classical music. It is true that the violin is an instrument whose path into the world of jazz has been far from simple and easy. Basically, we can identify two main reasons for this.
The first harks back to the early days of jazz, a time when it was common among Puritan mindsets, a mentality embodied by most African-American religious denominations, to consider the violin as the “devil’s instrument”. What was the root of this negative prescription? It may have been due to the seductive and sensual sounds that can be drawn from this instrument. What these narrow viewpoints were unable to foresee was that with some of the other instruments (saxophones and trumpets) would later be able to achieve sounds as much or even far more “sinful” than those achieved with the violin.
The second reason for the difficulties experienced by the violin in its path through the world of jazz, lies in the acoustic impediment that this delicate instrument had in making itself heard among the blasting of trumpets, trombones, drums, and other noisy artifacts that populated jazz orchestras. This was partly alleviated as of the mid-thirties, when instruments such as the violin and guitar began to be electronically amplified. Having overcome this difficulty, a handful of solo performers playing this instrument emerged who achieved great fame. Nevertheless, in terms of an important instrumental group within the orchestra, it was the exception rather than the rule. In extremely rare cases, it is true that the big bands, in the same way they had brass or saxophone sections, also had a violin section.
In the earliest period, in the days before electronic amplification, the great Eddie South stood out for his virtuoso talent, and his expressions of delicate and exquisite sensitivity. That same period also produced the white violinist, Joe Venuti, whose fame however, exceeded his quality as a jazzman.
With the dawn of the 30s, we see the rise of what has been perhaps the most important of jazz violinists, the fabulous Stuff Smith, who brought music with more swing and more bite out of the violin a music than any other. Around the same time in Europe, another great performer, a member of the Quintette du Hot Club de France alongside the great guitarist Django Reinhardt, rose to stardom: the French musician Stéphane Grappelli. Back in America, there are certain multi-instrumentalists who must be mentioned as well: clarinetist/violinist, Darnell Howard; alto-saxophonists and violinists, Juice Wilson and Edgar Sampson; guitarist/violinist, Claude Williams; and, a member of Duke Ellington’s orchestra, the magnificent trumpeter and violinist Ray Nance. As we can see, besides the violin, these musicians played another instrument, which goes to show the hardships suffered by this instrument in trying to make a place for itself in the history of jazz.
