What do you like most? Jazz or Classic?

Out of all the jazz violinists "Ray Nance" is my favorite; unfortunately, his best is not on "youtube".


              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr1hFdvh1lk


The most individualistic is "Billy Bangs"; he was a tunnel rat in "Nam".


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jke3UaOP8Rw


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVJMOpIHBgc


Jean Luc Ponty is best known for his fusion, which is fantastic;


        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTC-OjgwLxg


Regina Carter is another jazz violinist I enjoy a lot;


        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nXruQXWx50&list=PLGeaJNBad89fXfRzGi4L3VQLzoaz5dV3A





             

Jazz. I love Trios, Quartets, Quintets, Sextets, and Big Bands. I prefer Swing, Bebop, Hard Bop, and West Coast styles. Not a fan of Free Form or Avant Garde - I need to be able to tap my foot to the rhythm. I can listen for hours to a piano, drums, and bass trio.

Not one of the choices, but good fiddle, think Vassar Clements, does it for me.

I really don’t like the way violin lends itself to the type of jazz I enjoy the most, which is swing, bop, hard bop, soul jazz, and free jazz. None of the classic jazz ensembles of the 50s and 60s every really incorporated violin into their sessions to any large degree. I’m not even sure there is a BlueNote album prominently featuring a violin but I could be wrong. Maybe Nigel Kennedy tried this? Even an album like Mingus’ ambitious orchestration "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" didn’t feature a violin to my knowledge. I just don’t think of jazz and violin unless it’s the early stuff like Grapelli with Django or more fusion stuff like Ponty. Nothing falls into the sub-genres of jazz genre I like but that’s just me.

I hesitate to post this, as it may make me appear to be self-aggrandizing, but I've been drinking bourbon all day, so what the hell. I did a gig (at The Continental Club in L.A.) in the late 90’s with violinist Don "Sugarcane" Harris (the Don of Specialty Records’ Don & Dewey, and a member of Frank Zappa’s band in the 70’s and 80’s), and he was a real trip. Stoned out-of-his mind, he nonetheless played superbly. Took him quite a while to get his electric violin plugged in to his Fender Dual Showman amp, however ;-) . Rest in peace, brother.