Matthias Heyman

Jimmie Blanton/ Duke Ellington - Pitter Panther Patter

Recorded: 1940

Jimmie Blanton - bass
Duke Ellington - piano

(Jimmie was his preferred spelling of his name & how he signed his name, although often misspelled as Jimmy. Poor guy passed away at 23 in 1942, who knows what he would have done)

YouTube video by johnnystaccata Pitter Panther Patter (take 1) - Duke Ellington / Jimmy Blanton

Tune of the day…Jimmie Blanton/ Duke Ellington - Pitter Panther Patter. I put Blanton’s name 1st because it’s clear he’s doing something that hadn’t been done in jazz before with his virtuosity and tone. Duke knew it and offered him a job, the 1st night he heard him. #jazzsky youtu.be/xTA7-U-fjoU

"Oh, he just changed it. From black to white. That big a change. He was different. I mean he had the best sound you ever heard. He played the best lines. He played the best solos. He did everything! And everybody was into Jimmy Blanton." - Ray Brown

Happy Birthday Jimmy Blanton
born October 5, 1918

"Well, the piano has always helped me in music. The bass helps you hear the chord, but the piano then spells it out for you, in case you don't know what the other notes are. The piano plays all the notes. So between the bass and the piano you have everything."

Ray Brown
13 Oct 1926 - 2 Jul 2002

The Brussels Jazz Orchestra in 2015 with a bassist (little old me) re-enacting and recording the music of Duke Ellington as part of a research experiment.

My article discusses how I re-enacted the music of Duke Ellington in order to better understand how the unamplified double bass of Jimmie Blanton was (being perceived as) louder than other swing bassists.

Fun to write, even more fun to play! 🎶🎻🎙️ (2/2)

Publication alert! 🛎️📝

Really pleased to be part of the inaugural issue of ARJAZZ, a brand-new journal—and the first worldwide—on artistic research in jazz: www.researchcatalogue.net/view/2607404... (1/2)

The Brussels Jazz Orchestra in 2015 with a bassist (little old me) re-enacting and recording the music of Duke Ellington as part of a research experiment.

My article discusses how I re-enacted the music of Duke Ellington in order to better understand how the unamplified double bass of Jimmie Blanton was (being perceived as) louder than other swing bassists.

Fun to write, even more fun to play! 🎶🎻🎙️ (2/2)

Publication alert! 🛎️📝

Really pleased to be part of the inaugural issue of ARJAZZ, a brand-new journal—and the first worldwide—on artistic research in jazz: www.researchcatalogue.net/view/2607404... (1/2)

Klopt, het gebeurt nog wel al eens. Ik heb ook al Sarah Vaughan aangekondigd zien staan als Bessie. Om nog maar te zwijgen van die keer dat een gerenommeerde krant bij een andere zangeres (denk dat het Holiday was) een foto plaatste van de actrice (Diana Ross?) die haar in een biopic speelde.

Absoluut waar wat Smith betreft maar de foto toont een andere grote dame, zij het dan van jazz. Dat is immers Ella Fitzgerald, ergens einde jaren dertig, toen ze nog zong in de band van Chick Webb (de drummer in deze foto). Hun carrières overlapten maar kort…

Thank you, much appreciated! Only bits and snippets on Blanton so far but a book is in the making. If only I found time to finish it.

Also, too bad I missed your recent gig in Belgium. I had to teach. Sadly, “going to a gig” didn’t count as a proper sub for teaching, as per my school admin… 🤷‍♂️

Thanks for the great post! I studied with Piet Verbist around the time he discovered Wilbur Ware. We had such fun checking out Ware on Rollins’ Night@Village Vanguard.

I got so hooked that Piet warned me to not become a Ware clone!

So I moved on to Ben Street. Not sure if that helped me to declone

Every publication is worth a celebration! 👏

Belgische jazzmuzikant Kris Defoort componeert verplicht werk voor Koningin Elisabethwedstrijd

Belgische jazzmuzikant Kris Defoort componeert verplicht werk
voor Koningin Elisabethwedstrijd vrtnws.be/p.KKYKNN0nb?t=174... @vrtnws.be

Jimmie Blanton: Photo & Recordings BEFORE Ellington! Guest Post by Matthias Heyman, 1 of 2 (+Bonus Article) (Dear Paying Subscribers, at the end you’ll find a rare interview with a friend of Blanton that gives a rare impression of what the bassist was like as a person.

Great research on Jimmy Blanton:

open.substack.com/pub/lewispor...

There’s this muppet on TikTok who transcribes and then scats incredibly difficult jazz solos so well and I could not possibly love a thing more

Really enjoying this classic Sesame Street segment, two minutes of freestyle jazz riffing on saxophone factory footage