Well, here's something unique in my experience - A 12½-bar Blues and an 11½-bar Blues..
We all know dozens of 12-bar blues. The 12-bar blues form is the commonest structure in our music.
But my friend James Sterling introduced me to a blues with a 12½-bar structure when he filmed Tuba Skinny playing Blue Sky Blues. With the help of Peter Donkin, who identified it, we learned the song had been recorded in about 1930 by The Mississippi Blacksnakes (an alternative name for The Mississippi Sheiks), and that it was probably composed by Walter Vinson. You can hear the original BY CLICKING HERE.
The tune ought to feel uncomfortable, with those two 'extra' beats at the end of each Chorus. And yet The Mississippi Blacksnakes and Tuba Skinny sail through it as though it is the most natural form in the world - just as Tuba Skinny did when they added to their repertoire the unusual 'Jackson Stomp', which has an ELEVEN-bar blues structure.
Here's the link to James's video. You can hear those extra two beats for the first time at 34 seconds and then at the end of every subsequent Chorus:
The tune ought to feel uncomfortable, with those two 'extra' beats at the end of each Chorus. And yet The Mississippi Blacksnakes and Tuba Skinny sail through it as though it is the most natural form in the world - just as Tuba Skinny did when they added to their repertoire the unusual 'Jackson Stomp', which has an ELEVEN-bar blues structure.
Here's the link to James's video. You can hear those extra two beats for the first time at 34 seconds and then at the end of every subsequent Chorus:
CLICK HERE.
And then came a video of Tuba Skinny playing Viola Lee Blues - again filmed by my friend James Sterling. This time it's a tune learned from the recording made in 1928 by banjo blues legend Gus Cannon. The tune feels odd, with (compared with a standard 12-bar blues) two beats 'missing'. What seems to happen is that Bar 6 has only two beats, unlike the expected four. Again, Tuba Skinny make it sound easy. Listen for yourself and try counting the beats:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jnbx4oHFuk
And here's a curiosity - the only 13-BAR blues I can think of. It occurs as the Interlude in Blind Boy Fuller's Untrue Blues. This is essentially an eight-bar tune, but he has two guitar links of 13 bars, which seemed to be based on the 12-bar blues, but with Bar 10 repeated. When Tuba Skinny revived this tune in 2014, they scrupulously followed the original and kept the 13-bar section.
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My books Playing Traditional Jazz and Tuba Skinny and Shaye Cohn are available from Amazon.
And then came a video of Tuba Skinny playing Viola Lee Blues - again filmed by my friend James Sterling. This time it's a tune learned from the recording made in 1928 by banjo blues legend Gus Cannon. The tune feels odd, with (compared with a standard 12-bar blues) two beats 'missing'. What seems to happen is that Bar 6 has only two beats, unlike the expected four. Again, Tuba Skinny make it sound easy. Listen for yourself and try counting the beats:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jnbx4oHFuk
And here's a curiosity - the only 13-BAR blues I can think of. It occurs as the Interlude in Blind Boy Fuller's Untrue Blues. This is essentially an eight-bar tune, but he has two guitar links of 13 bars, which seemed to be based on the 12-bar blues, but with Bar 10 repeated. When Tuba Skinny revived this tune in 2014, they scrupulously followed the original and kept the 13-bar section.
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My books Playing Traditional Jazz and Tuba Skinny and Shaye Cohn are available from Amazon.
