Post 122: 'ZING WENT THE STRINGS OF MY HEART'

It makes a change to play a tune beginning with 'Z'!

But the 1935 tune Zing Went The Strings of My Heart is unusual in another way. The Chorus comprises 56 bars. It's also a little unusual in that the words as well as the music were composed by the same man: James F. Hanley. He is perhaps even better known as the composer of the tunes Indiana and Second-Hand Rose.

Hanley fought in the American Army during World War One. He died in 1942, sadly at the age of only 49.

Despite the 56 bars, it feels like a normal 32-bar tune when you play it. This is because it has a simple pattern:

A1:    16 bars

A2:   16 bars (it's A1 repeated, apart from bars 15 and 16)

B:     Middle Eight [ yes - eight]

A3:   16 bars again - an exact repeat of A2.

As well as that, the chord progressions are simple and of a standard kind.

It even lends itself to a spirited vocal.

I can't remember the last time I heard a traditional jazz band play Zing Went The Strings of My Heart, but its structure makes it an interesting one for the repertoire. It can be a very jolly up-tempo number. And a band can make it more interesting by dividing the long chorus between several lead instruments, rather than having 56-bar solos.

Post 121: OLD MEN PLAYING JAZZ

I was invited to play a jazz gig recently in a band that had been put together just for the occasion - a 'telephone' band, as you might say.

When I turned up, there was no trombone player, but we had two reed players - clarinet and saxophone.

We three were required to be the 'front row', with the rhythm section behind us. So I had the clarinet player on my left and the sax man on the right, with me in the middle playing cornet. Before we started, we had a chat and commented that we were obviously quite elderly.

We all revealed our ages and - guess what - the combined total of the three of us was 243 years! We wondered whether that was a record for the front row of a jazz band.

My guess is that there are plenty of bands these days whose front rows could beat it.

Post 120: TUBA SKINNY GOING TO GERMANY?

Germantown is a very attractive suburb of Memphis, about 15 miles east of the City. Back in 1929, banjo player Gus Cannon, who worked in Memphis, made a recording that appears to have had the intended title 'Going to Germantown'.

Gus Cannon led a jug band, whose members included harmonica player Noah Lewis and guitarist Ashley Thompson. It is believed Lewis was probably the actual composer of the song.

Somehow - maybe because of the casual articulation of the words - the title was corrupted to 'Going to Germany'.

When Tuba Skinny recorded this attractive song for their album 'Tupelo Pine', with Greg Sherman as vocalist (CLICK HERE FOR A STREET PERFORMANCE), I think many viewers must have been as puzzled as I was about how a song about 'going to Germany' would have caught on in Tennessee in 1929.

Well, a fine clarinet-playing friend of mine - a Gus Cannon expert - told me about the corruption of the title. I think he must be right. The song is about going a few miles down the road to Germantown and not about going to Germany.

Gus Cannon died aged 96 in Memphis in 1979.

Post 119: 'MY LITTLE SUEDE SHOES'

Charlie Parker died young, in 1955. He was one of the early developers of bebop - a complicated, challenging form of jazz that has never appealed as much to me personally as early New Orleans (traditional) jazz.

But I came across his tune My Little Suede Shoes recently. And I must tell you that, having worked it out, I am having lots of fun with it.

I have never heard this tune played by a traditional jazz band, but I think some of us should try it.

For a start, and surprisingly, it follows a very simple and conventional 32-bar structure:

A [eight bars]
A [same eight bars repeated]
B [the bridge or 'middle eight']
A [first eight bars repeated again].

Structurally and rhythmically, it reminds me a little of Isle of Capri (which traditional jazz bands frequently play).

But, unlike Isle of Capri, it throws in the novelty of notes deliberately written 'off beat'. There are 5 of them in each Section A; and 5 in Section B, making 20 'off-beats' or deliberate syncopations in all. Here's an example. I have underlined the off-beats in red:

This adds a lot of fun to the tune and gives it a hint of a Latin flavour.

It's easy to learn and play on any standard instrument. And here's more good news: you do not have to be a bebop specialist to improvise on it.

In the course of the 32 bars, the progression (with the tune in Eb)  Fm - Bb7 - Eb (familiar to all jazz musicians as 2m - 5 - 1) occurs ten times (you can see three of them in the example above). That sequence occurs in thousands of popular tunes and is therefore easy to improvise on.

Add to that the simplicity of the Middle Eight:

Ab - Gm - Fm - Eb, etc., which you can think of as simply climbing down the stairs; and you should be able to improvise at the first attempt.

Yes, it's a tune with great potential. At present, I seem to be humming it all day.

Post 118: WALTER DOYLE'S 'EGYPTIAN ELLA' - A FINE TUNE FOR JAZZ BANDS

I had never heard of the song Egyptian Ella until 2012 when on YouTube I came across some of the New Orleans street bands performing it. The music appeals to me because the Chorus (32 bars, structured a - a - b - a) is a moderately fast, catchy tune with the 'a' section tumbling down the chromatic scale. Also it's a tune in a minor key and we don't get enough of those in traditional jazz. There are plenty of versions of it on YouTube but beware: some of them do not include the Verse.

This song is very much of its time. It would not be considered 'politically correct' today. But it is fun.

It was written in 1931 by Walter Doyle who was a popular vaudeville composer. I guess he wrote the words as well as the tune. He also composed Mysterious Mose, which is still sometimes heard.

As well as its 32-bar chorus, Egyptian Ella has a 24-bar verse - worth including if you have a singer, as it sets the scene with regard to Ella's biography.

I doubt whether I shall ever get to perform this tune with a band but I decided to add it to my mini-filofax collection, so that I could learn it, at least for my own amusement. It sounds good in C minor, so I put it in D minor to suit my Bb cornet.

The words tell the story of a dancer called Ella who 'started getting fat'. She soon got the sack and also 'lost her fella'. So she went off to Egypt and started a new life. But she found they liked fat dancers there! So she is now a big star. 'She weighs two twenty but they don't care; they like 'em plenty that way out there'. When she dances by the River Nile, 'the boys all take their old sweethearts and throw 'em to the crocodiles'! 'How they love Egyptian Ella!'

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Footnote:
My book 'Enjoying Traditional Jazz' is available from Amazon:

Post 117: THE MEMPHIS JUG BAND

The links between the early 'jug bands' and traditional jazz are much stronger than you may think. Their repertoires and playing styles overlapped, as did their instrumentation. Also the jug bands tended to play tunes based on simple, familiar chord sequences - just the sort of thing that appeals to many traditional jazz musicians.

And don't be put off by the thought of 'jugs'. You may be picturing someone trying to make 'music' by blowing into a jug and producing a sound like a constipated tuba. But in fact jug bands comprised various mixtures of fine musicians playing guitars, banjos, mandolins, violins, pianos - in fact all manner of instruments (yes, often including a jug). There could be anything from two to eight players in the band.

It's called a 'Jug Band' but there's only one jug.

These bands flourished in the late 1920s and early 1930s, especially in the regions of Memphis and Chicago.

In recent years, they have had a big influence on the young generation of busking traditional jazz players and string bands in the streets of New Orleans; and there are also numerous modern jug bands playing material taken from the 1920s.

Think for example of the following tunes in the repertoire of the great young jazz band, Tuba Skinny. They were all learned from the records made by The Memphis Jug Band:
I'll See You In The Spring

Papa's Got Your Bathwater On
Fourth Street Mess Around
Memphis Shakedown
Come Along Little Children
Bumble Bee
Ambulance Man

Care to try one? Listen to a performance of I'll See You in the Spring by Tuba Skinny. You can see them play it in Ab (a wee bit low for Erika's voice) if you CLICK ON HERE.

In later performances, they switched to Bb. In this version, the words are helpfully very clear: Click on here.

And for a recent relaxed al fresco performance:

click here.

Compare it with The Memphis Jug Band's original by clicking here. Don't be fooled into thinking it i just a repetitive 16-bar tune. Listen out for the curious 14-bar Interlude, starting on the Dominant 7th.

But who exactly were The Memphis Jug Band? Like many of today's young street bands, they did not have a fixed personnel. The driving force was Will Shade (also known as Son Brimmer or Sun Brimmer): he was a singer who played guitar and harmonica. He composed several of the band's songs. From 1926, he convened the band and managed such gigs as they attracted. He drew on a pool of fourteen musicians who could play banjo, guitar, mandolin, washboard, kazoo, violin, jug, drums and piano. They included Vol Stevens, Charlie Nickerson and Ben Ramey. Four lady singers (notably Hattie Hart and Memphis Minnie) also appeared at various times on the recordings. They played blues, ballads, novelty humorous numbers and pop songs of the day. They produced a distinctive, addictive sound, partly because the jug and kazoo respectively performed the roles of trombone and trumpet in a traditional jazz band. They are believed to have made almost 100 recordings (some of which you can find on YouTube). The band also occasionally recorded under different names (such as The Memphis Sheiks, The Carolina Peanut Boys and The Dallas Jug Band).

Overlapping other local jug bands at this time were The South Memphis Jug Band, Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers and Jed Davenport's Beale Street Jug Band.

The Memphis Jug Band went on, widening its styles and membership, over many years; but it is the early recordings that have most influenced traditional jazz today. Of course, the band's legacy to pop and rock music has been even greater.

Among its repertoire, let me recommend these (all of which I believe you can find on YouTube). Note that many of its tunes were 12-bar blues.

On The Road Again

Cocaine Habit Blues

Stealin' Stealin' (a 32-bar  a  -  a  -  b  -  a)

Round and Round (great fun)

Kansas City Blues
Memphis Shakedown

Move That Thing (rather like It's Tight Like That)

He's in the Jailhouse Now (series of verses about criminals who have been punished, each followed by the 'He's in the Jailhouse Now' 16-bar chorus)

K.C. Moan (a very simple blues, but in 16 bars)

Papa's Got Your Bathwater On (sung as a duet, and with lyrics alleged to refer to an ancient voodoo practice)

Gator Wobble (standard 12-bar)
I'll See You In The Spring (mentioned above - a lovely 8+8 bar sung structure, using the Magnolia Chord Sequence, with a curious 14-bar instrumental intermezzo [faithfully retained in the Tuba Skinny version] between the vocals)
She Done Sold It Out (standard 12-bar)
Fourth Street Mess Around (great sung number, 16+16 bar structure; with an amusing Coda)
Bumble Bee (archetypical 12-bar country blues. Singing by Memphis Minnie makes it something special)
Ambulance Man (another 12-bar duet)
I'm Looking For The Bully of the Town (Despite its off-putting title, this up-tempo song from 1927 is surprisingly catchy.)

Post 116: 'DEEP HENDERSON' (AND TUBA SKINNY)

Tuba Skinny added to their repertoire a piece written in 1926 by Fred Rose and first made famous that year by the King Oliver Band. It is called Deep Henderson.

They must have worked hard getting this tune into their heads. It is a tricky, complicated piece, including a key change (going from F into Db for the Trio, unlike the original piano sheet music). It has several sections and many moments where the clarinet or the cornet have one-bar breaks or where a beat or two are completely silent. It is also very rhythmic and the overall effect can be, I think, terrifically exciting.

There are now several videos on YouTube of Tuba Skinny playing this tune. May I recommend that you seek them out?

Post 115: 'STORYVILLE BLUES' AND 'GOOD TIME FLAT BLUES'

I have spent years trying to learn some of the good century-old New Orleans jazz tunes. Sometimes I do this by listening to tunes on the internet (mainly YouTube) and using the pause button to pick them out by ear.

One such was Storyville Blues. But I quickly ran into trouble. The tune offered as Storyville Blues (for example in a clear recording by the Chris Barber Band of more than 50 years ago) was not the tune I was expecting. After more research, I found I had been confusing TWO tunes. So let me sort them out and offer you my findings.

Storyville Blues was composed (both words and music) by Maceo Pinkard in 1918. But he named it Those Draftin' Blues. It acquired its usual name when recorded by Bunk Johnson (who probably couldn't remember the correct title) in the 1940s. But, adding still further to the confusion, it was also recorded in the 1940s by another band as Bienville Blues.

Well, whatever it is called, here's how it sounds to me.

The other tune is Good Time Flat Blues. This was composed by Spencer Williams in 1924. But it became known in the 1940s as Farewell to Storyville. That was what confused me. Both titles have been used in past recordings.

What I like about Good Time Flat Blues is that the Chorus uses The Salty Dog Chord Progression (beginning on the chord of the 6th note of the scale, e.g. E7th in the key of G)  and then following the Circle of Fifths. So improvising on it is easy. And it's a pleasant tune.

Footnote

Pops Coffee's books 'Enjoying Traditional Jazz' and 'Tuba Skinny and Shaye Cohn' are available from Amazon

Post 114: 'HAVE YOU MET MISS JONES?'

I looked at the song Have You Met Miss Jones?. What a beautiful and harmonically unusual song it is!

For a start, the words - by Lorenz Hart - tell a joyful story of the blossoming of love, from 'Have you met Miss Jones?' someone said as we shook hands. She was just Miss Jones to me

through to

I met Miss Jones, and we'll keep on meeting till we die - Miss Jones and I!

It was written for the musical I'd Rather Be Right and was published in 1937. 

And what about those glorious harmonies by the great Richard Rodgers? No wonder they have appealed to such modern jazzmen as John Coltrane.

It is difficult with the cold medium of text on a screen to show what is exciting about the harmonic progression. But I will try. Incidentally, I have noticed that the various books of music offer many alternatives within the chord structures, so I am working with one of the least complex. 

With the tune in the key of G, we find:-

(1) It includes the harmonies of G sharp diminished, lots of A minor 7ths and E minor 7ths. 

(2) While the singer holds the word 'die' on the long high F sharp (in 'till we die', at the climax of the song), the accompanying harmony moves through three chords: G major 7th; C sharp diminished; and A minor 7th. Wow! What a heady experience. 

(3) The 'middle eight' is unlike all other middle eights that I know of. The basic chords for the eight bars are these (with chord books offering other subtleties in between):-

C major | Eb7 | Ab major |  B7 |

E major |  Eb7 |  Ab |    D7    |

How amazing is that as a way of leading us through to the D7 that in its turn will take us into the final eight?

Post 113: 'SOME DAY I'LL BE GONE AWAY' - THE PERFECT BLUES

What a wonderful example of the 12-bar blues Merline Johnson's Some Day I'll Be Gone Away is!

You can listen to it on YouTube BY CLICKING HERE.

Merline recorded the song in 1938 and almost certainly wrote it herself.

It's based on the standard 12-bar blues chord sequence and is performed in the key of C. There's a four-bar Introduction and then Merline sings - without a break - five separate choruses. So we have 64 glorious bars of blues music in total.

As with most great blues, we find the twelve bars are broken down into three distinct groups of four. Merline always makes the most of the first four bars, singing two 'rhyming' lines that surge up on the C7 chord of the fourth bar, leading into an explosive 'Some DAY' on the F chord in bars 5 and 6. Yes: the word 'DAY' is punched out very effectively in every chorus. The 'rhymes' are good examples of the assonances that are commonplace in the blues: cold/more; pond/wrong; self/else; gin/been.

So, for anybody who knows nothing about the 12-bar blues, this tune is a model of what such songs sound like at their best, with all the familiar ingredients.

Although very little is known about Merline Johnson, she left us several important and influential recordings. Examples are Sold it to the Devil, Bad Whiskey Blues, Running Down My Man, Got a Man in the 'Bama Mine, Jelly Bean Blues, I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water, and Please Come Back to Me.

Merline's influence has been particularly strong on Erika Lewis and the band Tuba Skinny. You can hear Erika singing Some Day I'll Be Gone Away BY CLICKING HERE.

In this Tuba Skinny version, the band plays two full choruses as an Introduction. Erika then sings the second of Merline's choruses followed by the first. Then Shaye takes a chorus on cornet before Ewan leads one and then Barnabus leads another. Jonathan takes the next. After all this, Erika resumes, this time singing the fourth and fifth of Merline's choruses. The performance ends with a band ensemble chorus.

So, in developing the Merline Johnson original, Tuba Skinny (incidentally retaining her key of C), make it much more of a band number, even though Erika gets to sing four of the five choruses.

Post 112: 'CUSHION FOOT STOMP'

What a good little number 'Cushion Foot Stomp' is!

It's not difficult to master, but it is fun to play, holds quite a lot of interest for both band and audience, and lends itself to effective improvisations on easy chord sequences.

It was the pianist / music entrepreneur Clarence Williams who composed the piece (with Agnes Castleton adding words) in 1927. And he recorded it in New York in April that year. Playing as his Washboard Five, he used the following from his pool of many musicians: Ed Allen on cornet, Buster Bailey on clarinet, Cyrus St. Clair on brass bass, Floyd Casey on washboard and himself on piano. You can listen to that famous recording  BY CLICKING HERE.

The tune is played in Eb, though some later bands modulate into Ab for the final theme.

It opens with an 8-bar Introduction of ladder-climbing semi-tones.

Then comes Theme A (very simple because it uses a standard 12-bar blues chord sequence). The pretty little triplet riffs are best played on a clarinet, with a (muted) cornet backing in the even-numbered bars.

This is followed by Theme B which consists of 24 bars. The chord sequence is again virtually the standard blues changes, but spread (by doubling all bars) over the 24 bars. This theme has a stately melody best played on a trombone or tuba or a clarinet in its chalumeau register, with other instruments (e.g., a muted cornet again) providing some pretty decoration.

Usually Theme B is played twice before Theme A is repeated.

Then there is a 4-bar Bridge leading into Theme C. This offers a very simple riffy 16 bars (8 + 8) using one of the most familiar of all chord sequences, known to jazzers as the Salty Dog Chord Progression: VI7 | II7 | V7 | I. It lends itself to a Break on Bars 7 and 8.

Bands tend to stick on this theme with various improvisations. When they have had enough, they go into the 4-bar Coda, which (unusually) begins with 3 bars played by the washboard alone, with the full band joining in on the final bar.

So: there's plenty of fun to be had.

And if you would like to hear a version with the full vocal, try the one recorded by Sara Martin. It's on YouTube.

At the piano: Clarence Williams

Over the years, many of our bands have recorded this tune and you can find plenty of performances on YouTube.

One of the latest is the version by Tuba Skinny, who took the tune up in 2018. They stick closely to the pattern of the Clarence Williams original, though they play it at a very slightly slower tempo. Their performance is available BY CLICKING HERE.

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Footnote

My book Playing Traditional Jazz is available from Amazon.

Post 111: 'MAMA INEZ'

(The first version of this article was published in 'Playing Traditional Jazz' in 2014. It had hundreds of readers, so it seems to have met a need. I have now updated it.)

I don’t know how many New Orleans traditional jazz bands these days include Mama Inez in their repertoire. I believe the Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans about 45 years ago was the first to show how effective it could be as a contrast to the usual run of tunes. For a time it became popular with European bands too.

There are four great things about Mama Inez, making it attractive for musicians of any standard - even beginners. First, it is remarkably simple in structure and chord pattern. Second, it is not difficult to play. Thirdly – because it can be played with a Latin-American rhythm – it provides variety to any band’s programme. Fourthly (always important) it has a catchy basic melody that appeals to the audience.

Mama Inez was written in 1932 by the prolific Cuban pianist and composer Eliseo Grenet who lived from 1893 to 1950. He had an amazingly busy career in music, leading bands and writing many popular songs as well as film music. (Words for Mama Inez were added by L. W. Gilbert).

For a performance of Mama Inez, CLICK HERE.

This really is a three-chord trick tune. Assuming you play it in the key of G, you will need only the chords of G major, C major and D7^th. In my examples below, I am using the key of G.

Some bands used to play Mama Inez only as a 32-bar tune. But there is also a 16-bar verse or introduction. It uses this rhythmic phrase.

The first sixteen bars and final eight bars of the chorus are based on a repetition of this.

But there’s a distinctive rhythmic middle eight, in which the entire band must be silent throughout the final three and a half beats of bars 2 and 4. It’s effective and great fun for dancers.

Post 110: 'SNAKE RAG'

The jazz classic Snake Rag was composed by King Joe Oliver and, according to some sources, the New Orleans bandleader Armand Piron. In 1923, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, with Louis Armstrong on second cornet and Johnny Dodds on clarinet, recorded it twice. To this day, those recordings - much re-issued - are treasured by enthusiasts of early New Orleans ensemble-style jazz.

I spent some time working out Snake Rag for myself and learning it. I made a lead-sheet for storage in my mini-filofaxes. 

While doing this, I couldn't help noticing how easy the chord structure can be (if the pianist or banjo-player chooses to keep it simple and avoid subtleties). But the melody is busy, including those famous cascading chromatic runs.

The early jazz rags usually show signs of classical influence. There are several themes and a change of key. So it is with Snake Rag.

The tune's structure is:-

Introduction in Eb : 8 bars ending with the cascade.

Theme A : Usually played twice. 16 bars in Eb, again with the cascade at the end.

Theme B : Usually played twice. 16 bars, still in Eb. There is a 'break' (conventionally taken by the trombone) in bars 7 and 8; and the cascade at the end.

Next, Theme A is usually repeated (once).

Now, before I get to Theme C, here's the point I'm making about the chords: it is possible to play the entire tune so far while using only two chords - Bb7 and Eb. That is a very unusual feature.

Theme C (the final theme, normally played at least three times to allow for ensembles and solo improvisations) is in the new key. It is played in Ab.

It comprises 32 simple bars, requiring only four chords to cover them (Ab, Eb7, F7, Bb7). Again, how unusual!

The 32 bars divide conveniently into two very similar 16s, with the opportunity for a 'break' on bars 15 and 16. (The ways in which Armstrong and Oliver played these breaks have become legendary.)

To sum up, Snake Rag is to this day considered one of the most enjoyable and exciting jazz tunes from the early Twentieth-Century repertoire. Many bands still play it in their own fashion, but always keeping fairly closely to the structure I have outlined. Audiences love it and it sounds tricky, but in fact it is not too difficult to play - especially if you are in the chord-providing department of the band.

Anyone who bought a banjo, mastered the very few chords needed  and had a good sense of rhythm could probably play it with a band within a few days.

If you don't know the tune, give it a run on YouTube. You will not be disappointed.