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Please note this is an archived topic, so it is locked and unable to be replied to. You may, however, start a new topic and refer to this topic with a link: http://www.fiddlehangout.com/archive/60137
The Violin Beautiful - Posted - 06/22/2025: 17:14:11
This is a fascinating article written by one of my customers who plays jazz in DC himself:
capitalbop.com/stuff-smith-violin-big-red/
For anyone who loves stories about violins being passed down and finding new life again after being put down, this is a good one with a very positive ending.
Swing - Posted - 06/23/2025: 04:00:04
Rich Thank you for posting the article about Stuff Smith's violin..... jazz is an important part of the violin/fiddle culture and while many people find it difficult to both play and or to listen to, it still is vital and enriching.
Play Happy
Swing
The Violin Beautiful - Posted - 06/23/2025: 09:51:27
I’ve had the honor of playing with Stuff’s pickup and a vintage amp that replicated his electric violin setup. I spent an afternoon playing on that and comparing it with a couple very different systems. It was hard to get used to the pickup at first because it was so extremely sensitive (I kept getting noise from the violin if it moved when I vibrated. I had to completely change my bow approach and think carefully about even the smallest movement. But after a while, I started to see how the extreme sensitivity gave a lot of range for color. I certainly didn’t get to the point of being able to play confidently with it, but I could see the potential for getting there with a lot of practice.
wrench13 - Posted - 06/23/2025: 10:53:49
I heard a lot of things that also show up in some modern day bluegrass fiddle breaks in these recordings. Gotta love the jazz fiddle vibrato!
RinconMtnErnie - Posted - 06/24/2025: 22:38:19
Great story and videos!
I've heard of Stuff Smith, but I've never seen any videos. It's pretty amazing to watch and listen.
The Violin Beautiful - Posted - 06/25/2025: 06:31:06
Stuff in a way redefined violin jazz. Players before him brought the violin into jazz but Stuff approached from a different angle by getting the violin to work in new ways to explore a range of colors that hadn’t been used before. Fans talk about his ability to make the violin sound like a horn when he wanted and to get the violin to make noises no one had heard before that lent themselves to bebop. His unique vibrato also made him instantly recognizable.
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