charlie
Real Bebopper
There is a phenomenon, among pianists for sure, and maybe even guitarists, where you can hear the musician groaning, mumbling, humming or any other combination of weird utterances while they are improvising. I believe it is mostly done subconsciously to "plan" their improvisation. I would even say, that you can test whether or not a solo you're listening to is good this way.
I have personally heard it on the playing of: Barry Harris, Bud Powell, Oscar Peterson, Thelonius Monk and Errol Garner (perhaps it is a feature especially of Bebop and Stride; those forms of Jazz have especially melodic lines). BB King once said that you should make your guitar sing. Many guitarists may be familiar with using their own voice, or trying to mimic others' voices for structuring solos. After a certain point of training your mechanical-musical ability, and training your inner hear to hear the various movements throughout music. You then may come to a point where you know what you like hearing and what you want to hear. So, as you are improvising, and making "a minute's music in a minute's time" as Bill Evan's calls it, it may become necessary to use your inner ear to guide your playing. Sing something to yourself that sounds nice, and you will play it.
This can even be a way to test whether or not a solo is very "musical". Whether or not you can sing it. Barry Harris once criticized solos that have too many large jumps because you can't sing it.
Now, I am not exactly sure how one learns this trait/ability, but I do enjoy hearing it on records.
Examples (Check timestamps):
Oscar Peterson (1:00)
Barry Harris while teaching (7:20)
In this video he also shows bad ways in which people try to play, I'd suggest watching the whole thing
Bud Powell (you can almost hear it immediately and throughout)
Errol Garner (0:15)
Garner doesn't do much humming as much as groaning occasionally
Thelonius Monk (3:20)
I have personally heard it on the playing of: Barry Harris, Bud Powell, Oscar Peterson, Thelonius Monk and Errol Garner (perhaps it is a feature especially of Bebop and Stride; those forms of Jazz have especially melodic lines). BB King once said that you should make your guitar sing. Many guitarists may be familiar with using their own voice, or trying to mimic others' voices for structuring solos. After a certain point of training your mechanical-musical ability, and training your inner hear to hear the various movements throughout music. You then may come to a point where you know what you like hearing and what you want to hear. So, as you are improvising, and making "a minute's music in a minute's time" as Bill Evan's calls it, it may become necessary to use your inner ear to guide your playing. Sing something to yourself that sounds nice, and you will play it.
This can even be a way to test whether or not a solo is very "musical". Whether or not you can sing it. Barry Harris once criticized solos that have too many large jumps because you can't sing it.
Now, I am not exactly sure how one learns this trait/ability, but I do enjoy hearing it on records.
Examples (Check timestamps):
Oscar Peterson (1:00)
Barry Harris while teaching (7:20)
In this video he also shows bad ways in which people try to play, I'd suggest watching the whole thing
Bud Powell (you can almost hear it immediately and throughout)
Errol Garner (0:15)
Garner doesn't do much humming as much as groaning occasionally
Thelonius Monk (3:20)