Nothing sounds cooler in jazz than the limpid, bell-like chimes of a vibraphone as its notes cascade over a swinging groove. However jazz wasn’t on instrument maker Herman Winterhoff’s radar when he conceived the vibraphone in 1916 as a tool that mixed the resonance of a pipe organ with the assault of a marimba, a percussion instrument performed with mallets. His experiment resulted in a contraption that used metallic bars configured in a three-octave keyboard format on a body; however his main innovation was putting in a small motor (the sort used on report gamers of the time), whose pace decided the power of the vibrato impact that gave the instrument its title.
When the primary vibraphones (or vibraharps as they have been generally identified) got here off the manufacturing line eight years later, their otherworldly sound meant that they have been initially used on novelty recordings however in 1930, drummer Lionel Hampton, who additionally performed the xylophone, got here throughout one in NBC studios in New York throughout a recording session with Louis Armstrong. The New Orleans trumpeter was intrigued by its sound and allowed Hampton to play it on the music “Memories Of You.” Thus started the vibraphone’s lengthy affiliation with jazz. Hampton, after all, shortly realized the instrument’s expressive capabilities and deployed it as a frontline lead instrument. His virtuosic showmanship established the stylistic blueprint for vibraphone enjoying in jazz, and in his wake got here a raft of different proficient innovators who helped to take the music past swing to bebop, Latin jazz, and in the end free jazz.
Under is a countdown of the 25 finest jazz vibraphonists, starting from the nice trailblazers of the previous to right now’s technology of mallet maestros who’re holding the instrument alive and related within the twenty first century.
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25: Sasha Berliner
Beginning out enjoying drums at eight years outdated, San Francisco-born Berliner is a composer and educator who acquired hooked on jazz at an early age and switched to the vibes at 13. As her hanging 2019 debut album, the critically lauded Azalea confirmed, Berliner blends post-bop jazz stylings with components from totally different genres; she additionally usually makes use of the vibraphone as a textural instrument, creating environment by constructing layers of glinting shade. In 2020 she was named Downbeat‘s Rising Star of the vibraphone.
24: Mulatu Astatke
Africa’s premier vibes maestro, Astatke was born in Ethiopia, however his ardour for music took him to review in London, New York, and ultimately Boston, the place he received a scholarship to the Berklee Faculty of Music. Within the mid-’60s, Astatke’s curiosity in Latin music impressed a singular fusion of Ethiopian and Hispanic types which he dubbed “Afro-Latin Soul” and later, he created his personal sound, “Ethio Jazz,” outlined by Afro-Asian pentatonic scales blended with American jazz-funk syncopations and percolating Latin rhythms. Since 2010, Astatke’s profession has been rejuvenated by collaborations with The Heliocentrics and Black Jesus Expertise.
23: Christos Rafalides
A graduate of Boston’s Berklee Faculty Of Music, New York-based Rafalides initially hails from Greece. He began out as a classical pianist however switched to percussion as an adolescent and performed with a number of Greek orchestras earlier than his ardour for jazz took him to America. As a vibraphonist, he studied underneath Joe Locke (with whom he later made an album) and since 2002 has fronted a band known as Manhattan Vibes, whose trademark is mixing jazz with R&B, Latin, and world music.
22: Yuhan Su
Taiwan-born Su has been residing within the USA since 2008, when she moved to Boston to review on the metropolis’s prestigious Berklee Faculty of Music. She relocated to New York the place she made her debut recording for saxophonist Greg Osby’s Interior Circle label in 2013 and 5 years later launched her award-winning third album, Metropolis Animals; the identical 12 months, she was voted by Downbeat‘s critics as a Rising Star of the vibraphone. Composing and enjoying in a sophisticated post-bop type, Su balances her ferocious four-mallet method with a deep sense of emotional expression.
21: Joel Ross
One of the thrilling new vibraphonists on the block is that this Chicago-born musician, a protégé of Stefon Harris. Ross began out enjoying drums, then switched to the xylophone earlier than discovering his affinity for the vibes. As a sideman, he contributed to information by drummer Makaya McCraven and trumpeter Marquis Hill’s Blacktet earlier than signing a cope with Blue Word that produced the acclaimed albums Kingmaker (2019) and Who Are You? (2020). Stylistically, he’s very a lot from the Bobby Hutcherson college of vibes; tethered within the jazz custom but additionally progressive, pushing the music ahead and increasing his instrument’s vocabulary.
20: Warren Wolf
Initially from Baltimore, Wolf was a toddler music prodigy who discovered an array of devices (together with the vibes) at a younger age and ultimately studied on the Berklee Faculty of Music. He launched his personal recording profession in 2005, impressing with a sequence of rigorously conceived albums that demonstrated his compositional ability in addition to his adroit mastery of the vibraphone. Although his influences are vast and vary from Cannonball Adderley to Prince and Tupac, Wolf’s music is rooted within the jazz custom and gives a up to date replace of laborious bop.
19: Lem Winchester
From Wilmington, Delaware, Winchester was a rising vibraphone star when his profession met a tragically untimely finish in 1961 after he by accident shot himself whereas executing a gun trick. Up till 1960, he had been a policeman however his triumphant debut on the 1958 Newport Jazz Pageant had satisfied him that music was the place his future lay. Enjoying the vibes with a bluesy swagger, Winchester was closely influenced by Milt Jackson and went on to report albums with the Ramsey Lewis Trio, saxophonist Benny Golson, and arranger Oliver Nelson.
18: Emil Richards
A grasp percussionist from Hartford, Connecticut, Richards (born Emilio Radocchia) began out enjoying the xylophone as a toddler earlier than his curiosity within the music of Lionel Hampton prompted a swap to the vibes. His profession took off in New York in the course of the late 50s, the place he performed with George Shearing’s group. Relocation to the US West Coast noticed him be a part of saxophonist/flautist Paul Horn’s combo earlier than turning into an in-demand session participant who performed on myriad film and TV soundtracks. A supremely versatile and prolific vibes participant with a gorgeously translucent sound, Richards’ credit ranged from Frank Sinatra to Frank Zappa.
17: Mike Mainieri
This native New Yorker made his debut as knowledgeable musician aged 14, enjoying the vibes in a small combo led by legendary jazz bandleader Paul Whiteman earlier than becoming a member of drummer Buddy Wealthy’s band, the place he stayed between 1956 and 1963. After that, Mainieri started a solo profession, enjoying in a decidedly laborious bop vein, however by the late 60s, he was experimenting with jazz-rock whereas pioneering an electric-powered instrument known as a synth-vibe. In 1979, he shaped the favored all-star fusion band Steps, which later morphed into the long-running Steps Forward and remains to be going robust right now. A versatile musician, Manieri’s credit vary from jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery to Dire Straits and Paul McCartney.
16: Joe Locke
One of many main vibraphone specialists of the twenty first century, Palo Alto-born Locke started his recording profession as a teenage sideman with alto saxophonist John Spider Martin in 1977. After spells with pianist Kenny Barron and trumpeter Eddie Henderson within the 80s, Locke’s personal recording profession started in earnest in 1990 the place his amalgam of scintillating melodic traces with pastel-hued harmonies and swinging grooves shortly made him a rising vibraphone star of the post-bop jazz scene. Influenced by Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson, Locke’s capability to acknowledge the jazz custom whereas propelling the music ahead, has received him many admirers.
15: Marjorie Hyams
There’s little question that New York-born Hyams can be a better-known musician if she hadn’t retired prematurely; placing away her mallets when she married in 1950 on the age of 27. Her time within the highlight was a quick however spectacular one; apart from main her personal teams, she rose to fame enjoying with reed meister Woody Herman, saxophonist Flip Phillips, and pianist Mary Lou Williams, all within the Forties. Her final engagement was as a constitution member of the George Shearing Quartet between 1949 and 1950, when her sprightly vibes contributed to the group’s distinctive and influential mix of swing and bebop. Regardless of her early retirement, she stays one in all jazz’s vital feminine pioneers.
14: Gary McFarland
Born in Los Angeles, McFarland dabbled with the trumpet, trombone, and piano earlier than turning to the vibraphone in his early 20s. Within the Sixties, he grew to become an in-demand composer and arranger who was famous for his silky orchestrations and distinguished collaborations with the jazz heavyweights Stan Getz, Invoice Evans, and Gabor Szabo. Mixing jazz with Latin music, pop, simple listening, and psychedelia, he introduced a brand new post-bop sensibility to the vibraphone in a jazz setting.
13: Pink Norvo
Bearsville, Illinois was the birthplace of Kenneth Norville who as “Red Norvo,” a multi-talented percussionist (he additionally performed the marimba), helped to legitimize the vibraphone in jazz. Dubbed “Mr. Swing,” Norvo’s profession gained traction within the Nineteen Thirties in the course of the massive band period when he scored a number of chart-topping singles. Within the 50s he targeted extra on the vibes, enjoying bebop-inflected chamber jazz in smaller teams whose members included bassist Charles Mingus and guitarist Tal Farlow. Norvo’s stellar profession got here to a halt within the Nineteen Eighties after he was incapacitated by a stroke.
12: Dave Pike
Closely influenced by the bebop argot of Milt Jackson, Detroit-born Pike performed with a combination of flamboyant brio and nuanced sensitivity throughout a recording profession that spanned seven many years. A drummer-turned-vibraphonist, Pike first made his mark as a member of pianist Paul Bley’s quartet in 1957 earlier than launching his solo profession in 1961. In the beginning of the 70s, Pike led The Dave Pike Set, jettisoning bop for an explorative mesh of jazz-rock, South Asian music, and even avant-garde experimentalism.
11: Terry Gibbs
Born Julius Gubenko in Brooklyn, Gibbs started as a drummer/percussionist and turned down a chance to review classical timpani at Juilliard to pursue a profession as a jazz musician. Influenced by the extrovert vibes enjoying of Pink Norvo and Lionel Hampton, he minimize his enamel in Woody Herman’s band and by the Fifties was making bebop-influenced information underneath his personal title. A gifted vibraphone participant, Gibbs may play quick melodic traces with readability and precision however balanced his prodigious method with a fragile emotional sensitivity.
10: Buddy Montgomery
The youthful brother of jazz guitar icon, Wes Montgomery, Indianapolis-born Charles “Buddy” Montgomery started his profession within the late Forties, enjoying as a pianist with blues singer Huge Joe Turner. In 1956, Montgomery switched to the vibraphone and shaped The Mastersounds which included his older sibling, bassist Monk; throughout the identical interval, he recorded alongside his two older siblings as The Montgomery Brothers and briefly joined Miles Davis‘ group. Within the late 60s, he launched his solo profession and later grew to become a jazz educator. His blues and bop-based strategy to the vibes mirrored the affect of Milt Jackson.
9: Roy Ayers
Los Angeles-born Ayers was 5 years outdated when his dad and mom took him to a Lionel Hampton live performance. Afterwards, he met the vibraphonist, who introduced him with a pair of mallets; it was an expertise that ignited Ayers’ lifelong love affair with an instrument that he later grew to become synonymous with. A sideman to flautist Herbie Mann, pianist Jack Wilson, and saxophonist Curtis Amy within the 60s, Ayers profession took off within the Nineteen Seventies when he led a gaggle known as Ubiquity, which allowed him to pioneer an explorative jazz-funk type and reframe the vibraphone in a post-bebop world.
8: Stefon Harris
One of many thrilling jazz discoveries of the late 90s, Albany-born Harris was indebted to vibraphone pioneers Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson however was in a position to distill their influences and fuse them with Latin and R&B components to reach at a method that may be very a lot his personal. Rhythmically fluent and harmonically astute, Harris assaults his instrument with an infectious vitality that has helped to revitalize public curiosity within the jazz vibraphone within the twenty first century.
7: Walt Dickerson
Like Bobby Hutcherson, Dickerson was a key determine in aiding the vibraphone’s transition from bebop to freer modes of jazz expression. Born in Philadelphia, he pioneered a singular strategy to the vibraphone the place he used unusually small mallets which he held near the hammers that allowed him to play cascades of notes with excessive velocity. Beginning as an exponent of laborious bop, the affect of John Coltrane impressed him to discover jazz in a post-bop vein within the first half of the 60s earlier than he took a decade-long sabbatical. On his return to the jazz scene in 1976, he grew to become immersed in free jazz.
6: Johnny Lytle
From Springfield, Ohio, Lytle started his profession as a drummer for Ray Charles and Gene Ammons earlier than taking on the vibraphone in 1955. His solo profession started 5 years later, when famous report producer Orrin Keepnews signed him to Jazzland, an imprint of the Riverside label. Initially enjoying in a tough bop type, by the 70s, Lytle was refashioning his vibes in a extra progressive, jazz-funk-fusion context. His capability to execute quick passages with a showman-like panache purportedly prompted Lionel Hampton to dub him “the greatest vibes player in the world.”
5: Cal Tjader
Regardless of his Swedish ancestry, St. Louis-born Tjader – a former drummer for Dave Brubeck and vibraphonist for George Shearing – grew to become an unlikely doyen of New York’s Latin jazz scene; his profession taking off when an infectious bout of mambo fever gripped the Huge Apple within the mid-’50s. Later, Tjader married California cool with Latin warmth, forging a particular sound that was sultry but breezy. He hit the decrease rings of the US Scorching 100 in 1965 together with his single “Soul Sauce,” a revamp of Dizzy Gillespie’s Afro-Cuban groove, “Guachi Guaro.”
4: Gary Burton
A self-taught vibraphonist, Indiana native Burton introduced a post-bebop jazz sensibility to the language of his instrument when his profession started as an adolescent on the daybreak of the Sixties. He performed with saxophonist Stan Getz and pianist George Shearing early on after which together with his personal band, grew to become an early pioneer of jazz-rock within the late 60s. His renown elevated within the 70s by way of album collaborations for ECM Information with pianists Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea. Like his modern Bobby Hutcherson, Burton revolutionized vibraphone enjoying utilizing 4 mallets (versus the customary two), widening the instrument’s harmonic palette and expressive functionality.
3: Lionel Hampton
From Louisville, Kentucky, the much-decorated “Hamp” discovered the xylophone as an adolescent however started his skilled profession as a drummer with the Les Hite Band. He switched to the vibraphone in 1930 when Louis Armstrong heard him recreating one in all his trumpet solos on the instrument. Establishing the blueprint for the vibraphone in a jazz context, Hampton rose to fame within the swing period with Benny Goodman’s band earlier than launching a profitable solo profession in 1940. Famous for his liquid mallet runs, Hampton performed the vibes with a joyful élan and irrepressible sense of swing.
2: Bobby Hutcherson
Impressed to save lots of up for a vibraphone after listening to a Milt Jackson report when he was 12, this versatile Los Angeles-born mallet maestro bridged the divide between bebop, modal, and free jazz. Famend for the quicksilver fleetness of his melodic traces, shimmering harmonies, and compositional aptitude, Hutcherson’s profession took off at Blue Word Information the place he cast a outstanding solo profession within the 60s and 70s. Utilizing his vibes to create an impressionistic kaleidoscope of shade, texture, and environment, his enjoying was essential to the sound of a number of seminal avant-garde jazz information within the early 60s; amongst them, Eric Dolphy‘s Out To Lunch and Jackie McLean‘s Vacation spot…Out!
1: Milt Jackson
A Detroit-born musician whose nickname was “Bags,” Milt Jackson was an aspiring gospel singer and pianist who switched to the vibraphone as an adolescent after listening to Lionel Hampton play in Benny Goodman’s band. He helped lead the bebop revolution within the Forties when he joined trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie’s band. From that alliance sprang his personal quartet which ultimately grew to become the long-running Fashionable Jazz Quartet, famed for his or her elegant chamber jazz sound. A particularly dextrous participant, Jackson melded blues, bebop, and classical music influences into a singular type outlined by his cool, crystalline melodies and a glassy, chime-like sound.
Construct your jazz vinyl assortment with traditional titles and under-the-radar favorites that includes the most effective vibraphonists.
