I am curious as to your opinions on this: I have often thought that the advent of an 18" kick was simply based on the necessity of what would fit in the station wagon used for touring jazz trios and quartets back in the 50's. Necessisity being the mother of invention. 26", and 28" kick drums that were prominent at the time were just physically too big. Only after the fact did musicians start to see the value of a small, articulate kick. What do you guys think?
Good conversation material. I think part of the downsizing of drum sizes probably had to do with the jazz groups getting smaller. Early on, big band was kind of the thing. Big band players like Krupa were rocking out some big bass drums. Over time, big bands were tough to keep up due to the number of guys to pay. Solution? Trios, Quartets, and Quintets came along and became more of the norm. With smaller groups, there wasn't a need for as much volume; hence, the smaller drums (especially bass drums). The small group trend setting drummers began playing smaller drums. I'm not a jazz historian, but a player and lover of jazz music....and I consider myself a jazz player first.
Anyhow, this is my theory. The good news is that there are no rules. Play whatever you want and what serves the music best. I like having a few different drum setups depending on my mood or the playing situation...kind of like that with cymbals too.
