stop time
Pause the clock
Stop time is a rhythmic technique in jazz and blues where the band abruptly halts its accompaniment, leaving a soloist to play unaccompanied for a measure or two before the ensemble resumes: The drummer kicked off a stop time break and the horn player filled the silence.
The effect creates tension and showcases individual improvisation against sudden silence.
- freezeBecome solid from cold
- freeze frameHalted motion picture image
- pauseTemporary cessation of activity
- momentBrief period of time
- stillnessComplete lack of motion
held breath · clock · suspended · suspended animation · instant · split second · slow motion · eternity · frozen · halt · snapshot · motionless · breathless · hourglass · infinity · tick · second · standstill
- Rhythm Changessyncopation, rubato, fermata, ritardando, accelerando
- BluesB.B. King, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, twelve bar blues, delta blues
- jazzbebop, swing era, hard bop, soul jazz, cool jazz
- time perceptionduration, temporal distortion, internal clock, slow motion, fleeting
- Big Bandbrass section, horn section, trumpet section, trombone section, rhythm section
- musical cuessting, stinger, cue, fanfare, bumper
stop timewalking bass
Stepwise rhythmic low accompaniment
four-on-the-floor · comping · time-keeping · vamp · backbeat
stop, time, stops, stopped, stopping, stopper, stoppers, stoppage, stoppages