Soul Jazz Horns

"Horns" means the brass family as well as the extended family: woodwinds. Many horn players double on flute, clarinet, and even bagpipes, so it is pointless to draw severe lines. Part of the reason for this is the natural attraction of trumpets and saxophones, particularly, and the surplus of talented players. The instruments are relatively easy to buy, maintain, and transport, and they have no trouble making themselves heard. Another consideration is marching bands, from high school to the military, which tend to glorify the brass.

In jazz the horns, like the bird elsewhere, represent freedom; freedom is the essence of jazz. While keyboards and stringed instruments tend to have greater ranges of expression (and more easily double as percussion), brass provides the blastoff, the soar, and the dive. The lead horn is a telegram for the artistic statement. Additionally, horns work ensemble (i.e., a horn "section") to provide mid-range ballast and melodic impact. 1960s dance music, the mod sound, depends on brass as its core. Finally, in either case, lead or chorus, the horns substitute for vocals. Most soul jazz is instrumental, after all.

Jazz has long killed itself with internal squabbling and deification of one star at the expense of others. Miles Davis may have been the greatest trumpeter, but Blue Mitchell's funkier records are better for DJs. The Blackbyrds go over better than Ornette Coleman in a club. Then there is Yusef Lateef, whose oriental exoticism makes "out" not only palatable but beautiful. Somewhere in between soul jazz and straight-ahead jazz or bop lie Hank Mobley and others.

Buying: Great soul jazz LPs with horn(s) as the lead are the opposite of soul-jazz organ LPs: difficult to find. Many of the most prolific, top names have been comped and reissued repeatedly, however.