Cymbal set up for jazz, the right side ride cymbal with the left side ride/crash that compliment each other . What would be some suggestions as well as the theory behind why this combo would work . I am intrigued more and more about playing jazz . Thx
I mean... there are some guidelines for what a "Jazz" ride cymbal set up...but really jazz and the spirit of jazz is for you to find your voice and come up with your own sound.
You might immediately think - darker - washier cymbals that can fill a lot of space in the context of intrumental music...but there's nothing to say that you can't have have a Tony Williams-esque pingier cymbal if that fits your playing.
Now having soap boxed for a while - I've played jazz for decades and I feel like I have a decent cymbal rig and concept for you. As noted above - Cymbals are very important in jazz - as your cymbal sound is the really the blanket that the rest of the band rides on...a cymbal sound can completely define the tone and feel of a song in jazz much more than other genres.
I think it's to have a couple of different main tones because in any given song there will be shifts in energy and intensity and different types of instruments you'll need to support - so I like to have two distinctly different, but related primary cymbals.
In my case I got lucky and Ari Hoenig is a good friend so when he designed his Bosphorus set, I got a couple and they are amazing...but this brand and specific cymbals aside - there are characteristics of each cymbal that you might find useful in whatever brand or cymbal you get.
I have a 21" Boshporus Lyric Series with rivets on my left side - this is probably the best cymbal I've ever played - especially in jazz its got a warm shimmer - but it still has some stick definition so on uptempo patterns, you can clearly hear what the sticks are doing so it's not lost in in the mix. I think it's important to have at least one cymbal that falls into this category with jazz....flat rides are beautiful for this too. Something with some definition.
The second cymbal I use is a 23" Lyric ride...this is more like riding a big wave and it might be more of what you think of a traditional "jazz" cymbal to be. It's dark and washy and can fill SO much sonic space on slower passages - and it has a stronger bell than the 21" for latin stuff, etc. It can totally get away from you though and building a ton of wash - which is why it makes such a great crash when needed.
So my thoughts more concisely are: I would find a set of cymbals that give you two distinct ride sounds - one with more definition for fast passages - one with more wash for filling up space on ballads or slower tunes, both that can be crash-able when the music get more intense, something with a versatile and strong bell, and two cymbals that are kind of related tone wise so you can switch back and forth during songs without being too sonically jarring.