Hearing loss on the bandstand in Jazz

[Dan Gould]

I know that Blakey got very deaf by the end of his life ... a result of so many days in a band that he was kicking everybody's ass in?

 

But I am wondering about the topic in a more general way and in particular ... the one time I went to Smoke my wife and I saw the George Coleman Octet, with Harold Mabern and a group of relative youngsters. Jim Rotondi was playing next to Gary Smulyan and I couldn't help but notice how often he played one handed, with the hand closest to Rotondi plugging his ear to block out his high notes.

Do jazzers (especially in larger bands) tend to lose their hearing?

[JSngry]

Cymbals can be brutal.

[Teasing the Korean]

On 5/6/2024 at 3:22 PM, JSngry said:

Cymbals can be brutal.

Especially in loud bands.  Not only that, but cymbals have a way of eating up frequencies of other instruments, which is why Brian Wilson and Phil Spector tended to avoid or minimize their use.