Timbre might be be a good entry into the category of the immanent. That's another way of saying the qualitative, the irreducible, the distinctive.
Paul Desmond: A very saturated, dense tone. Imagine a wall painted with many coats of a bright color mixed with a little black.
Stan Getz: Airy and light, with a lot of breath. Here there is white mixed in the paint instead of black. The attack of each note is more discernible. A hint of bassoon.
Charley Rouse: Almost textureless. I have no visual image of his timbre at all!
Lee Konitz: Bright and ringy. Smooth on the surface but with a lot of upperlevel partials giving it a tense harshness. You never forget that the saxophone is made of metal.
etc...
Sometimes listening to Eric Dolphy I think the sax (& flute, even) is turning into flesh & blood... how does he get that "humor" into it? It seems very edgy, like the sound of someone on the verge of a nervous crisis... very "talky". Which makes the contrasting lyrical passages - when he stretches out & relaxes - all the more impressive.
ResponderEliminarA lot of Dolphy you're hearing is bass clarinet, which has a different timbre. (He played flute and alto sax as well.) He also tends to play a little sharp, which might contribute to that edgy nervousness you're noting.
ResponderEliminarOh yeah... I mean the sax is turning into wood! Yes, that's true about the sharps too.
ResponderEliminarTimbre's uniqueness is the body's uniqueness.
ResponderEliminar