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Wynton vs. Louis

By Edmund Blackadder in Edmund Blackadder's Diary
Fri Feb 22, 2013 at 01:40:38 AM EST
Tags: It's the Last Time, jazz, swing, Louis Armstrong, Wynton Marsalis, trumpet tone, high frequencies, bad recordings, recreation, trumpet break (all tags)

Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, "The last time":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95UHXL6ZwPM

The recording's not very good quality. The highlight for me is Louis's two breaks from 3:11 to 3:16.

Here's Wynton's version (with Eric Clapton singing):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwz8kVO3i34
Note that Wynton doesn't recreate Louis's trumpet breaks. He sort of tries in the opening, around 0:33 to 0:41 or so. But Louis's breaks are louder, faster, and higher!
Clapton sticks pretty close to Louis's vocal, but at 2:28 his phrasing is cornier than the original.
Spectrogram and spectrum plot of Wynton's trumpet: http://subbot.org/misc/music/buddy/wynton_last_time1.png
The spectrum is taken from the high note just to the right of the plot, at about 19.65 seconds on the spectrograph. There is a lot of energy in the higher frequency ranges. Note the bump around 10k, and the regular sawtooth nature of the spectral profile.
Maybe because of the recording quality, the spectrographic and spectral analysis of Louis's trumpet does not show any energy above 5k or so. I have a recording of this tune; I might try to see if I can get a better quality recording to analyze.
The hypothesis is that Louis's distinctive tone (which Wynton in this recording is clearly trying to reproduce) has a lot of energy in the higher frequency ranges (like bird calls).
---
Previous relevant diaries:
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2012/9/8/3212/27826 "Why do old rockers turn to jazz in the end?"
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2013/2/10/233747/866 "Spectrographic analysis of a cockatiel call"

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Wynton vs. Louis | 12 comments (12 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

s/right of the plot/left of the plot (none / 0) (#1)
by Edmund Blackadder on Fri Feb 22, 2013 at 01:44:37 AM EST

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MAY I SUCK YOUR PENIS? - Nimey
Hi! I fail at basic sig technology! En plus, je suis pédé! - smegko

Armstrong was pretty good (none / 0) (#2)
by Vampire Zombie Abu Musab al Zarqawi on Fri Feb 22, 2013 at 05:31:47 PM EST

Even though most of your diaries are tiresome and stupid, you do have some knowledge of jazz. The black guy on the clarinet or whatever on the thing with Clapton was pretty funny as well, but as usual, Clapton ruined it. The most overrated musician ever? Certainly.

Better audio of Louis's version: (none / 0) (#3)
by Edmund Blackadder on Sat Feb 23, 2013 at 05:36:11 AM EST

http://subbot.org/misc/music/buddy/The%20Last%20Time.mp3

Spectrogram and spectrum of the D Louis plays at the end of the his first break, around 3:13: http://subbot.org/misc/music/buddy/louis_last_time2.png

Note the sharply-defined frequency bands, extending up past 10k.

Compare to Wynton: http://subbot.org/misc/music/buddy/wynton_last_time1.png

I think the spectrums are pretty similar in that they both show sawtooth-like profiles. Wynton's has a drop-off in energy between 7k and 9k, then a bump from 9k to 10.5k. Louis's is smoother throughout the spectrum.

It's hard to tell whether I'm comparing apples to apples in these spectrums. Possible confusing factors are the other instruments in Wynton's, possibly the cymbal made the bump around 10k? In Louis's sample, he's the only instrument playing.

I want to continue trying to isolate the acoustic factors that make Louis's tone so distinctive. Of course, as I mentioned before, Wynton is consciously imitating Louis's tone, so the spectrums should probably look similar. Maybe I can analyze some of Wynton's classical recordings where his tone is much "cleaner"?

---
MAY I SUCK YOUR PENIS? - Nimey
Hi! I fail at basic sig technology! En plus, je suis pédé! - smegko

HI, THIS POST EXPLAINS TOO MUCH FOREST TREES $ by procrasti, 02/23/2013 05:37:59 AM EST (none / 0)

Consider Flea by Edmund Blackadder, 02/23/2013 05:45:09 AM EST (none / 0)

Hi, I must have lots of words to obfuscate things. by procrasti, 02/23/2013 05:47:52 AM EST (none / 0)

Point: focusing on length is a distraction. by Edmund Blackadder, 02/23/2013 05:49:58 AM EST (none / 0)

Point: One liners have little information content by procrasti, 02/23/2013 05:55:36 AM EST (none / 0)

Hi, I'm focusing on length, not the message. by Edmund Blackadder, 02/23/2013 06:26:42 AM EST (none / 0)

Hi, my zero content messages need no length $ by procrasti, 02/23/2013 06:30:51 AM EST (none / 0)

Hi, I can't answer the point so I need to distract by Edmund Blackadder, 02/23/2013 06:43:33 AM EST (none / 0)

That added to my knowledge... good point NOT # by procrasti, 02/23/2013 06:48:52 AM EST (none / 0)

Wynton vs. Louis | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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