Downbeat delays are a key component of swing in jazz
nature.com
nature.com
This is great!
I can't really dance, but if I try to twitch or spasm in my seat in time with the music I find that I'm most conformable doing one movement per quarter note. The tempo is fast enough that I can't really keep up if I try to do a movement per eighth note.
With the swing ratio set to 1 I find it easy to get out of phase in those sections where it has a bunch of consecutive eighth notes. The tempo is fast enough that I can't dance and count reliably at the same time, so if I get out of phase I'm stuck that way until it hits a section with longer notes.
There's no way to tell if a given eighth note is the downbeat or not just from its relation to the preceding or following notes so I can't reorient myself.
With higher swing ratios the downbeat note and the preceding note are grouped, and the gap between these groups is larger than the gap in the group. I can't get lost in that.
If the tempo was slower, I could either count while dancing or dance to eight notes and would be fine with a swing ratio of 1.
I set it to 0.7 and listened, and now my brain hurts a lot.
(I like bass solos)
A lot depends on the band. I'm not a pro, so I've played with bands at varying levels over the years. There are bands where everybody is instantly lost, the moment that I start my solo. They either lose the tempo or the "form", so they have no idea when to come back in. These tend to be bands that haven't completely mastered jazz playing.
Then on the other end of the scale, there are bands where it seems like the time is just magically "there" through nobody's effort.
I adapt. If the band needs time during my solo, I play a more chunky rhythmic solo. If the time is "there" then I can take more liberties.
I have some personal rules that the band doesn't always obey, such as no bass solo when people are dancing. Playing for dancers is its own beast. If I'm given a solo while people are dancing, I usually play a slightly more fancy version of the regular bass line, and keep it short.
But beyond the nusoul / nujazz world. I can also sense this in Copeland drumming. But in a nearly invisible feel.
And recently I stumbled upon Taylor McFerrin+ thundercat collab. Their drummer was having fun laying crazy shifted patterns, but not on the bottom level. It was different.
So I would say this feeling goes away with practise. The less you have to think about the timing the less weird it feels when you stretch it.
Once I left school, it quickly became apparent that each band has their own preference for who they should follow. But, that pressure on me really gave me a strong sense of time and rhythm that I tremendously appreciate to this day.
The bassist is playing incredibly steady quarter notes throughout, except for some liberties during his own solos. The drummer is free to set accents as he sees fit. And if you were to take your time from the piano… may God have mercy on your soul!
but its also about where you sit in the beat, and how you push and pull. i think ethan iverson said something like "a mans eighth notes are between him and god". ultimately trying to explain swing is like trying to say why a face is pretty... theres some basic ideas, but they only account for part of it
Also, while we’re on the subject, check out J Dilla’s body of work. A true maestro gone too soon. RIP.
The author goes into a lot of detail about what swing is, its origins in African music (polyrhythms) and the racial tensions that came from these rhythms, and how it eventually made its way into modern music.
Actually this subtlety with the downbeats could be one of the differences between "smooth jazz" and the real thing. Smooth Jazz tunes use pop beats. There may be swing, but the downbeat in that musical format is typically mechanically steady.