Swing Two/Four style optimized for ballads
The two styles that I use most are Ballad Swing and Swing Two/Four. Each style has a default tempo, 60 bpm for Ballad Swing and 180 bpm for Swing Two/Four. Be that as it may, I frequently use the Ballad style for tunes played at 80–110 bpm (or even faster); the Ballad style works very well at these tempi. I often use the Two/Four style for tunes played much slower than its default tempo, also in the range of 80–110 bpm when I want to play the bridge of a ballad in four. Unfortunately, I have found that the Two/Four style does not work well at these slower tempi. The "two" section (with the "A" rehearsal mark) seems rhythmically dead in contrast to playing the same chord chart using the Ballad style at the same tempo. For me, that's a problem.
In order to discover why this is the case, I created WAV files of the same chord chart played at 80 bpm with each style and compared the result (using Audacity to create a short file juxtaposing 24 seconds of the Ballad style followed by 24 seconds of the "two" section from the Two/Four style). The Two/Four style has a bass that plays faithfully on beats 1 and 3 (and little else) and uses a ride cymbal for the drum part (note: I'm a pianist and always mute the chord instrument) whereas the Ballad style has a bass that plays on beats 1 and 3 with additional syncopated bass notes and a snare drum. The combination of bass and drum instruments seems noticeably more lively with the Ballad style at this tempo and gives better support to my piano playing. In my opinion, it's not even close.
Therefore, I am requesting a new combination style for iRP: another Two/Four style that is optimized for slower tempi, perhaps 90 bpm. A good place to start would be to use the algorithm from the Ballad Swing style for the "two" section and to retain the "four" algorithm from the present Swing Two/Four style (although I suggest replacing the clanging cymbal for something quieter). I would guess that this would be reasonably easy for the developers to do; they might call it "Ballad Two/Four." I think that the jazz players in our community would have great use for such a style. I'm not advocating replacing the present Two/Four style; I'd just like a second one for slower tunes.
I do hope that the development team will give this proposal serious consideration.
