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Hugo Ramsey

Technological similarities and differences of set jazz piecesDuring the 23 years from 1927 when Louis Armstrong recorded “Hotter than that” to 1950 with

Miles Davies’ “Bopicity” music broadcasting, recording and amplification technologies evolved a

great deal which would have a great impact on the music itself. Technology was so critical to the

musicians that it would become partially responsible for the changes of the genre itself moving early

 jazz into the swing era, into bebop and finally cool jazz.

The technology available to Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five was extremely primitive. Although RCA

ribbon which could be used to make microphones had been invented two years earlier in 1925, most

record companies including OKeh Records still would have used a recording horn. This is a large

metal horn that collects sound and then mechanically moves a needle which scratches information

into a wax disc. The sounds quality produced using this method was much lower than any modern

microphone meaning that subtle sounds could not be recorded and there would be a limited range

of pitch and dynamics.

Another impact of the recording horn was that it caused a hierarchical system of recording. As there

would be only one horn and everything was recorded in a single take all the musicians had to crowd

round the end of the horn. As recordings were also often done in cramped conditions, such as the

back of a lorry known as “tailgating”, the positioning would become increasingly difficult. This meant

that the band leader, in this case Louis Armstrong, would decide how important each instrument

was and position them accordingly which often left the kit at the back with the soloists at the front.

Louder instruments were also often forced to record from further away and it is thought that Louis

Armstrong had do record his trumpet from a different room to maintain balance.

On top of the limiting factors of the recording horn the discs were created of shellac which would

have lowered the quality of his recording further as it was a rough, brittle material that would easily

scratch and jump during playback. They were also very expensive to produce and as a result meant

that it was difficult for most Americans to afford collecting their own records after purchasing an

expensive gramophone. This meant that during the early era of jazz radio broadcasting was very

commonly used to spread jazz into people’s homes and musicians would even volunteer to play live

on stations as a way to spread their music.

By 1940 when Duke Ellington recorded “Koko” the sing era was in full swing and larger orchestras,

such as Ellington’s made up of 15 musicians, had replaced the smaller bands of early New Orleans jazz. This was a result of the large amounts of money that was suddenly available to jazz artists due

to the improvement and would also lead to rapid improvements in the technology. Although at the

time shellac discs were still being used and therefore limiting the quality of the recordings,

microphones were now being used more widely. This lead to a slightly more intricate sound however

whilst shellac was still being used the main advantage was increased control over balance as

multiple microphones could pick up sounds from different sections or even individual instruments.

Shellac was being used to produce ammunition for WWII and so the price dramatically increased and

its use in record production was eventually banned. This meant that the price of records

dramatically increased making it even harder for ordinary people to be able to afford to buy themfor their own use. As a result radio was continuing to grow in popularity started replacing recorded

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Hugo Ramsey

material as it seemed pointless to people to spend money on something when they could listen to

the same music free over the radio. As live amplification was still impractical the large orchestras

with many instruments in the different sections were needed to ensure they could be heard. This

meant that it was very expensive to put on live performances and so musicians were still happy to

have their music broadcast over the radio as a way of advertising.

For Miles Davies’ recoding of Boplicity in 1950 Vinyl had replaced shellac as the material for which

records were produced. Vinyl was a far more suitable material to use as a record as it gave a

smoother playback and gave a far better recording quality allowing all intricate sounds to be heard.

This meant that artists could be more adventurous with the sounds they produced and they would

still be heard on the record. As vinyl was not in such high demand as shellac it also meant that

records could be produced cheaper allowing more people to begin keeping records themselves.

Although new record speeds were being used such as 33rpm and 45rpm Boplicity was still produced

as a single at 78rpm however rereleased on the compilation album “Birth of the Cool” in 1958  on a

33rpm LP.

The other main technological advance that would have had an enormous impact on Miles Davies

was the availability of tape recorders. These meant that recordings no longer had to be produced in

a single tape but could be post edited allowing musicians greater flexibility. Again this lead to better

quality recordings as instruments could be recorded separately by multi tracking, each time the

recording studio being optimised for the sound of the instrument. This was a more advanced way of

balancing sounds than the hierarchical system.

The main differences that had an effect on the three recordings: “Hotter Than That”, “Koko” and

“Boplicity”, was microphones replacing the recording horn by the time “Koko” was recorded and

Vinyl replacing shellac and the introduction of tape recorders by the time “Boplicity” was recorded.

Throughout the era in which all these were recorded radio remained very important in publicising

the music and changed little other than the increased quality which came about through the other

technologies.