The story of the cello in jazz began in the 1950’s with jazz bass players. Oscar Pettiford, Ray Brown, Ron Carter and other bass players took up the cello at one time or another during their careers for its refreshing range and small size that made fast playing easier. Unlike its relatives the violin and the bass, the cello is a relative newcomer to jazz and improvised music. Perhaps this is because, traditionally, the violin was a melody instrument, while the bass filled a crucial role as the bottom of all types of ensembles. The violin has been involved in folk music for centuries. Even in classical music, virtuosity came much later on the cello than on the violin.

Oscar Pettiford (O.P.) was the first major jazz figure to take up the cello, playing cello on at least 10 LPs over a 10-year period. His first recording with the cello, "Great Times," was made in 1950 with Duke Ellington and a small combo. O.P was also one of the first musicians to use overdubbing on his recordings, so that he could play both cello and bass. Like most bass player/cellists, O.P. used only pizzicato and tuned the instrument in 4ths like the bass rather than in 5ths like the cello. The next important jazz cellist/bass player was Ray Brown. He found the cello "such a nice, easy and clear means of expression." Brown recorded "Jazz Cello" and "Ray Brown and his Jazz All Star Big Band." Other bass players who played and recorded jazz on cello include Harry Babasin, Sam Jones, Eldee Young, Percy Heath and Keter Betts.

In the mid 50's Fred Katz was perhaps the first trained cellist to play jazz. He introduced the use of the bow in jazz cello playing. This added a much wider range of timbres and effects and a new sense of swing to the palette of the jazz cellist. Katz played melodies, harmonies, solos and wrote arrangements for drummer Chico Hamilton’s chamber jazz groups. Jazz bassist Ron Carter's first instrument was actually the cello. In high school he switched to bass and went on to study at Eastman. After getting involved with jazz, he brought the cello out again (tuned in 5ths). In the 60’s he played cello, with the bow, on albums by Eric Dolphy, Mal Waldron, and George Benson.

The cello is well suited to avant-garde music because it can make lots of wonderful effects like screeches, growls, snaps, buzzes, trills, glissandos and endless tone color variations. The most prolific of the early avant-garde cellists was the late Abdul Wadud. In the 70's, after finishing studies at the Oberlin Conservatory, Wadud moved to New York and soon became part of the avant-garde scene there, performing with Cecil Taylor, Anthony Davis, Lester Bowie, and Arthur Blythe, using innovative bowing and pizzicato techniques. Another cellist who came out of the New York avant-garde scene is David Eyges. He worked with Gunther Hampel and Bob Moses before going on to form his own bands. Eyges tends to play mostly pizzicato filling the roll of a bass/rhythm player on his own albums, letting the horn player have more of the solo space. In recent years he has begun mixing in more blues influenced music. He has recorded with saxophonists Arthur Blythe and Byard Lancaster among others. British bassist/cellist David Holland's 1971 album, "Improvisations for Guitar and Cello" with guitarist Derek Bailey is very experimental in nature. In contrast, his 1983 album "Life Cycle" is much more introspective and lyrical, and was perhaps the first solo improvised cello album.

David Darling has made major contributions to the evolution the cello as an improvising instrument. He has played on over 40 albums - several as leader. Using a blend of acoustic and electric cellos, Darling creates rich harmonic textures. Making no effort to improvise in a standard jazz way, his style is personal and complete. Like many improvising cellists, Darling has played in a very wide variety of styles, thereby defying a singular stylistic categorization. Cellist Eugene Friesen has performed with the Paul Winter Consort since 1978. In the process Friesen has devised an approach to two hand-pizzicato on the cello that creates mbira-like polyrhythms and an array of harmonic accompaniments. In his work with Trio Globo, featuring Howard Levy and Glen Velez, Friesen blends his voice with bowed cello for increased melodic colors, and explores world rhythms. Friesen is on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and has made several solo albums.

Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger has been an important figure on the improvised music scene since the 70s, playing with Louis Sclavis, Trilok Gurtu, Yo-Yo Ma, Derek Bailey, Misha Mengelberg’s ICP Orchestra, the Gerry Hemingway Quintet, the Amsterdam String Trio, Trio Arcado and Trio Clusone (with Michael Moore and Han Bennink). Hank Roberts is a stylistically wide ranging cellist who can be heard on his many albums from the mid 1980’s to the present. He has also made several solo albums.

Since the late 80's there has been significant growth in the number of cellists playing nonclassical music in a much wider variety of styles than ever before. Matt Turner, who has recorded on over 30 CDs, is comfortable improvising in jazz, rock, country, and other styles, but is best known for his experimental and avant-garde performances. Peggy Lee was always drawn to pop and folk music, but the Toronto-born cellist took a classical musician's standard route: private study, university and workshops. Now in Vancouver for over 10 years, she has made a name for herself as an innovative improviser and bandleader.

David Baker is one of today's leading jazz pedagogues, a prolific composer and the head of Jazz Studies at Indiana University. In the 50's and 60's he played trombone with Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton, and Quincy Jones. Then in 1962 problems with his jaw led him to take up the cello. Since that time he has recorded with Charles Tyler and Nathan Davis, and has made several albums with his own "21st Century Bebop Band." Matt Brubeck has taken his cello improvisation skills into a wide range of musical territories in the last ten years. In the jazz realm, he founded Oranj Symphonette, which recorded two CD's and played the New York, Montreal, and Monterey Jazz festivals and received first place in Downbeat Magazine's 1997 critics poll for "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition." Matt has also recorded three jazz CD's with guitarist David Widelock.

New York City based cellist Erik Friedlander has worked and recorded with John Zorn, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas, Marty Ehrlich, Myra Melford among others. He recently played on the Laurie Anderson CD, "Life on a String." His new CD, "Grains of Paradise" will be out in November on Tzadik. His group Topaz recently toured Europe. Jazz cellist Chris White has been playing, recording and giving workshops on jazz cello in North America and Europe since the late 1970’s. His solo CD “Cello Again” features live and studio recordings of originals and standards in a variety of jazz styles. In 1994 White founded the New Directions Cello Association & Festival, which has been helping to create an infrastructure and foster growth for cellists around the world who are interested in improvising in a wide range of styles. The annual summer festival has featured a ‘who’s who’ of improvising cellists playing jazz, blues, pop, rock, folk, world, avant-garde, Middle Eastern funk, cello & dance, cello & poetry, etc., as well as workshops and jam sessions. The NDCA also publishes a semiannual newsletter, Cello City Ink, which is sent out to members worldwide.

Swiss cellist Daniel Pezzotti has played with Lee Konitz, Steve Swallow, Lew Soloff, Ray Anderson, Daniel Schnyder, Andreas Vollenweider, Hermeto Pascoal and many others. He has performed at jazz festivals in Berlin, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Montreux and Zurich. Canadian based cellist Eric Longsworth has recorded 3 albums as leader. He plays concerts in North America and in Europe and also plays occasionally in other musical contexts ranging from pop music to contemporary jazz with artists such as René Lussier, Charles Papasoff, Malcolm Goldstein, Michel Donato, Helmut Lipsky, and composes music for films. French cellist Vincent Courtois has played with Michel Petrucianni, Swing String System, the National Jazz Orchestra (France), and has played and recorded with artists in Europe and the Americas.

Cellist Mark Summer is one of the founding members of the Turtle Island String Quartet (TISQ), one of the oldest and most respected improvising string quartets. The TISQ has released 11 recordings, and they have done a great deal to expand the realm of possibilities for string quartets. They have recorded with Billy Taylor and with Paquito D'Rivera, who is featured on their upcoming CD, “Danzon.” Another innovative string group was the Black Swan Quartet that featured Akbar Ali on violin, Abdul Wadud and Eileen Folson on cellos, and Reggie Workman on bass. Akua Dixon recently recorded solos on albums by Chico Hamilton and Steve Turre. She has recorded 2 CD's for string quartet, "Quartette Indigo" and "Afrika! Afrika!" Her group Quartette Indigo has also recorded with Dizzy Gillespie (Winter in Lisbon) and Steve Turre (Fire and Ice). The quartet is working on a new CD that features the music of Charles Mingus.

These are just some of the many cellist innovators of today. Some of the other cellists involved in jazz and related styles over the last 15 years also include Tom Cora, Diedre Murray, Stephen Katz, Rufus Cappadocia, Jeff Song, Erich Kory, Gideon Freudmann, Aaron Minsky, Nioka Workman, Tomas Ulrich, Boris Rayskin, Sera Smolen, Ina Kemmerzehl, Max Dyer, Marcie Brown, James Hesford, Robert Een, Eileen Folson, Jeff Song and Wolfram Huschke.

While cellists have clearly been finding homes for themselves outside of classical music, we certainly have a way to go in order to be recognized as legitimate jazz instrumentalists. As this new century progresses, it will be interesting to watch as the cello’s role expands in all types of music.



For more information, the websites below have links to many of the above mentioned cellists and others:

New Directions Cello Association & Festival
Mark Chung’s Jazz Strings

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