Post 181: IMPROVISING ON MIDDLE EIGHTS

Many of our tunes (such as 12-bar blues) do not have Middle Eights, of course. And 32-bar tunes frequently consist of two 16-bar blocks, where there is no conventional Middle Eight.

However, hundreds of tunes (especially 32-bar songs built on an a - a - b - a structure) do have a Middle Eight (the 'b' section).

We can easily be flummoxed by Middle Eights. If you're not sure of the melody or the chord sequence in those eight bars, you can find yourself in trouble.

And some tunes are notorious for their unusual and tricky Middle Eights. Think, for example, of Have You Met Miss Jones?, Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans? and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Even I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket needs care (don't break the eggs!).

In many of the good old standards, it is possible to spot familiar chord progressions (with the famous 'circle of fifths' working its magic). But I'm sorry to say I have discovered no simple trick to help me master Middle Eights. You just have to work hard at them and learn them one by one.

Below are twenty Middle Eights (in their most simplified form) of some popular traditional jazz tunes. As you can see, there is much variety even among them. There are a few cases (e.g. the first three songs below) where you find two or more tunes using pretty much the same progression.

In my examples, I use the numerical system. So, in the Key of C:

1    27    4m    5

would mean:

C    D7      Fminor    G.
-------------------------------------------------------

Yes, Sir, That's My Baby

1   1   4   4   27   27   57   57

We'll Meet Again
17   17   4   4   27   27   57   57

On the Sunny Side of the Street

17   17   4   4   27   27   57   57

I Want a Little Girl to Call My Own

17   17   4   4   67   67   27   57

Egyptian Ella

2m   2m  6m  6m  2m   2m  77   37

(a typical minor key tune's Middle Eight)

Has Anybody Seen My Girl?

37   37  67   67   27   27   57   57

Fingering With Your Fingers

37   37  67   67   27   27   57   57

Girl of my Dreams

37   37   6m   6m   27   27   57   57   

Sweet Emmalina
37   37   67   67   27   27   57   57

I Got Rhythm

37   37  67   67   27   27   27   57

Ice Cream

4   4   1   1   27   27   57   57

Carolina Moon

4   4   1   1   27   27   57   57

When You and I Were Young, Maggie

4   4   1   1   5   27   57   57

I'm Sitting on Top of the World
4   77   1   1   6m   6m   27   57

Lady Be Good

4   57   1   1   6m   6m   2m7    57

My Blue Heaven

4   67   2m   2m   57   57   1   1

I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket

4   4  6b7  6b7  3b7  3b7   57   57  

(Note the tricky bit)

Beautiful Dreamer

57   57   1   1   27   27   57   57

Way Down Upon the Swanee River
57   57   1   17   4   4   1   57

When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful

57   1   57   1   67   27   27   57

Post 180: EASY TUNES FOR BEGINNERS

I recommend Ice Man as the first tune you master. It's only eight bars long and uses just two chords - the tonic and dominant 7th. You can pick it up from the YouTube performance by Tuba Skinny.

Very similar is Old-Time Religion. It's essentially just eight bars - six of them on the tonic and the other two on the dominant 7th.

For your first experience of a tune in a minor key, may I recommend Crumpled Papers? It's a very simple 12-bar (though not a blues). It is best played in D minor and you will probably get away with just two chords - D minor and A7th. You could pick it up by clicking on  THIS VIDEO.

I recommend Eh La Bas and Mama Inez for playing even by a novice jazz band. Eh La Bas has a simple melody and is also entirely based on the two most familiar chords (tonic and dominant 7th). Mama Inez  has a very simple chord pattern (using only three chords) and is fun to play. Let me also offer you Creole Song, Gatemouth, Jambalaya (On the Bayou) and Rum and Coca-Cola. That gives you quite a few easy tunes to learn and try out.

Creole Song consists of just 16 bars, divided into two 8s. The two little melodies are simple, catchy and repetitive. Play it in the key F and all you will need are two chords: F and C7th. Don't confuse this with Creole Love Call or Creole Love Song. I am talking about the tune you can find on YouTube played by Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band. The song Salee Dame is almost identical: perhaps they were originally the same tune.

Basically, the chord pattern is simply:-
  F  |  C7 | C7 |  F, repeated over and over.

Gatemouth was I think written by Louis Armstrong’s wife, Lil Hardin, and made famous by the clarinetist Johnny Dodds. It also has just two simple, repetitive sections, in this case 16 bars each. You can pick it up by watching the performance on YouTube of Gatemouth by the Peruna Jazzmen of 1988. The main theme (used for the improvisations) requires little more than the chords of Bb7 and Eb, though with the final four-bar sequence:
 Ab :Abm / Bb : C7 / F7: Bb7 / Eb. This is a sequence you must learn, as it comes at the end of dozens of tunes, so it is worth the trouble.

Jambalaya is great fun to play and SO simple. Play it in Bb and all you need is to keep repeating the sequence:  Bb  /  Bb  /  F7  /  F7  /  F7  /  F7  /  Bb  /  Bb.

If you need reminding of the tune, try the YouTube performances by the Carpenters and by the Tierra Buena Jazz Band.

Rum and Coca-Cola is just as simple. Play it in the key of C and all you need is to keep repeating:

 C  /  C  /  C  / G7  /  G7  /  G7  /  G7 /  C  .

This calypso-style tune was composed about 70 years ago by the Trinidadian Lionel Belasco. In the last few decades, trad jazz bands have adopted it with much success.