The jazz flute

The jazz flute

By Cesar Peredo

Hubert Laws is a great flutist but it would be good to remember that the one who started a new way of playing the flute was Jerome Richardson in the fifties (Midnight oil 1958), then Frank Wess, Yusef Lateef and Bud Shank would come, all in the style of the Bop . Perhaps one of the most important characters in the development of the flute in jazz was Eric Dolphy in the 1950s. His cool ideas include everything that the flute means in jazz today. It could be said that there is a before and after Dolphy, all after him are influenced by his playing. In 1957 Herbie Mann appears who was king until 1970. In 1971 Hubert Laws appears with a classical sound and above all his adaptations of classical music to jazz made him famous although his solos rhythmically are not so rich. Other flutists I recommend listening to are Sahib Shihab, James Moody, Leo Wright, Sam Most, Buddy Collette, Paul Horn, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Charles Lloyd, Joe Farrel, James Spaulding, Eric Dixon, Sam Rivers, Chris Wood, Tom Scott, Gerry Niewood, Bobbi Humphrey, Douglas Ewart , Henry Threadgill, Oliver Lake, Prince Lasha, Ronald Snyders and Barbara Thompson. With a great sound and following Dolphy's school I can mention James Newton. Some of them saxophonists who played on the flute. Many flute players overspeed the flute but the master of this effect is Jeremy Steig. In the last decades new flute players appear who are no longer necessarily saxophonists, most of them exclusively study classical flute and in parallel jazz such as Steve Kujala, Nelson Rangell, George Adams, Stve Slagle, Robin Kenyatta, Joe Ford, Dwight Andrews , Jerry Dodgion, Ali Ryerson, Holly Hofmann, Jim Walker, Phillip Bent, Richard Worth and Lew Tabackin. In the field of Latin jazz, Arturo Webb, better known as Artie Webb, appears, who is perhaps one of the first to explore the virtuosity of the flute at another level, can be heard playing with the Ray Barreto orchestra, with the group Bongo Logic and in a spectacular album called Urban Oasis with the pianist Jorge Dalto. Then Dave Valentin who, having been the first timpani player, transports all the rhythm of the percussion to the flute, being perhaps the most prolific in that field, besides having an exquisite musicality. Then Nestor Torres also appears with a classical school but more commercially oriented, often abusing grounded rhythms and very tonal phrases. In the nineties, the Cuban Orlando Valle "Maraca" appeared, who continued the legacy of Jose Luis Cortez "El tosco" in an extremely virtuous way. It is worth mentioning Carlos Jimenez and Huascar Barradas who also leave a legacy within the Latin flute. In Spain we have the enormous contribution of Jorge Pardo and Domingo Patricio in flamenco jazz. In Venezuela, Huascar Barradas and Pedro Eustache. My name is Cesar Peredo and taking advantage of the situation of this article, I invite you to listen to my productions in genres such as Afro-Peruvian jazz and Latin jazz.