Viola's More Popular Cousin
 

Yeah so is there any Jazz where the Violin is the lead instrument. I think it might be the only instrument that doens't show up in jazz. Well any bowed string for that matter.

Jean Luc Ponty and Stephan grappelli have both made solo records with violin as the lead instrument. There must be others

Cant think of any cello, viola or bass as lead. Though I think there was a guy in the thirties who took bass solos with a bow. First name was Slam or Slim and I can't remember his last name. He was in one of the major bib bands like Count Basie orchestra or something.

Yeah, there are soem great Jean Luc Ponty recordings out there. Some not so inspired though as well. Definitely worth a listen though.

If you like your jazz a bit on the wild site there is alway the mahavishnu orchestra which has lost of violin.

Mahavishnu's violinist was Jen Luc. That was where he was first heard by the general music public, then went on to a solo career after Mahavishnu split up.

I was thinking of the struff with Jerry Goodman playing on it like "Birds of Fire" I think of Jerry as being in the classic lineup of the band. I think Jean-Luc played on some fancy stuff that was done later in the band's existance.

I remembered the name of the bass player who would do solos with the bow. It was Slam Stewart.

He played bass in the 1940's and his style was quite distictive.
Technically the bass is not in the same instrument family as the violins, cello and violas as the strings are tuned in 4th and the machine heads are made of metal.

ddp- You are totally right. I just went back and looked at my old vinyl Mahavishnu, and the early stuff was Goodman. I completely forgot about him. He was fantastic. Jean Luc was later.
Have you ever heard the duo recording that Jean Luc Ponty and Stephan Grappelli did together in the late 70's. Pretty mellow duets, but very tastful. Worth a listen although I have it on vinyl, and I don't even know if it's available on CD.

There's the Avi Shai Cohen Trio. The lead guy plays the double bass, and went on solos quite often when I heard them, but it WAS live, so they were probably improvising a LOT.