Perspectives: Ronan Guilfoyle

Internationally-respected Irish acoustic bass guitarist, composer and author of 'Creative Rhythmic Concepts for Jazz Improvisation' Ronan Guilfoyle explains the origins of odd metres in jazz.

"Well really the first guy to extensively use odd metres was probably Brubeck, he certainly was the first guy to bring them to the attention of the public and players. Brubeck studied composition in Paris with Darius Milhaud, so I'd imagine the odd metre stuff came from there – there's no real precedent for it before that as far as I know.

"Then there was Don Ellis' work in the 60s – his big band stuff used lots of odd metres, some really unusual ones. He was a pioneer in that, but I feel, (and similarly with Brubeck), that what was interesting was the fact that they were interested in doing it at all, not so much what they did musically – because I don't think much of the actual music that was produced. It was a bit like the talking dog: what was amazing wasn't what the dog said, but the fact that it could talk at all, if you know what I mean? There's also an interesting Andrew Hill recording from the 60's (maybe ‘Judgement?) with Elvin on it in which they play a piece in 7. Elvin gets a good groove going actually – although the band gets a bit shaky from time to time. I think there might be a 5/4 piece on there too.

"The real breakthrough with odd metres came with the fusion guys in the early 70s – Billy Cobham with the Mahavishnu in particular – that's an interesting one. He was an out and out jazz drummer (with Horace Silver among others) and then suddenly became this odd metre virtuoso. Personally I think he got a lot of that stuff from McLaughlin's knowledge of Indian music – (though Cobham would probably rather die than admit that!), a lot of what he does is very like the way mridangam players from South India play.

"After the fusion guys you're into the 80s with Steve Coleman etc. and the real breakthroughs with odd metres – the expanding rhythmic universe starts there, continuing into the 90s with the Downtown scene etc. But you know, I have to say that almost nobody has convincingly dealt with the swing idiom in odd metres – the metric modulation thing has exploded and been heavily explored, but that's not the case with odd metres. That was what Conor [Guilfoyle], Mike [Nielson] and I got into in the early 90s  - playing odd metre swing (and other feels too – afro 6/8/straight 8s/ballad etc.) over changes. We played exclusively standards, but re-arranged everything rhythmically and harmonically. We did an unreleased recording unofficially titled 'Fucked Up Classics' in which every single piece was in an odd metre – did I ever play that for you? You know, Conor's probably done more work on how to play swing drums in an odd metre than any other drummer I know. Even when you hear Mehldau's group playing in an odd metre it doesn't really swing as much as when they're playing in 4/4 – we really worked on that, to make sure that the swing didn't diminish due to whatever metre we were in. Hasn't really been done much since in my opinion – not in anything I've heard anyway."

For more information on Ronan visit www.ronanguilfoyle.com.