Smear

What it means

Smear, in jazz, designates an effect in which a note is approached with a glide from below: the attack lies somewhat below the goal pitch, and the voice or instrument pulls quickly upward into the actual note. The word means “to blur” and describes that the beginning of the note remains indistinct.

The figure belongs to a group of related effects that carry their own names in jazz practice — among them pulling up from below, falling off at the end of a note, and bending the pitch during the note. The names are not strictly fixed and are used differently depending on tradition and textbook.

The effect is related to the portamento of classical practice but differs in function and execution: here it is not about connecting two melody notes but about colouring the beginning of a single note.

In the notation

The effect is usually indicated by a short rising line or a curve before the notehead, occasionally by the word or an abbreviation. There is no generally binding notation; various signs are found in arrangements and lead sheets, whose meaning is inferred from the context.

Musical use

The effect belongs to the expressive stock of wind players and singers in jazz and related styles. It gives a note warmth and emphasis and is part of that tone production which deliberately departs from the fixed pitch of European art music. In big-band arrangements it is often prescribed for whole sections.

It is a glide from below. It is typical of brass players.

Performance practice

Attack below the goal note and reach it quickly; the note should sound clean for the greater part of its duration. With wind players this succeeds through embouchure and air flow, not through the fingerings. Use the effect sparingly and adapt it to the style. And take care that the rhythm stays exact — the goal note lies on its beat.