Post 346: TUBA SKINNY'S CD 'BLUE CHIME STOMP'

I offer my thanks to the many correspondents who sent me emails this morning to tell me Tuba Skinny's latest CD - Blue Chime Stomp, recorded last April - has at last become available to download. Some asked me to write about it.

Well, it's a bit early for much analysis. I am looking forward to listening to the CD carefully many times in the weeks ahead. But, for what they are worth, here are my immediate observations.

We are told the CD was recorded at The Tigermen Den in Royal Street, New Orleans. Mr. Google shows me the building is situated in a peaceful spot about three-quarters of a mile east of the French Quarter. It is a restored 1830s corner store. It seems there is plenty of music and dancing there these days, and that great food is served.

Maybe the aim was to get an appropriate 'old-time dance hall' type of acoustic. (You may remember The Shotgun Jazz Band did just that with their last CD: they recorded in the former Luthjens Dance Hall.)

There is certainly a good sound quality to this CD. As soon as it begins, with a lusty performance of Maple Leaf Rag, you realise you can hear the tones of all the individual instruments very clearly. Turn up the volume and it's like having them in the room with you.

You later find that, in the recording process, Erika's voice has fared just a little less well in a couple of numbers than the instruments. She is a wonderful singer in great form and beloved by us all but listen to her performance of her own composition Broken-Hearted Blues on the band's 2009 CD and then listen to her performance of the same song on this 2016 CD. A big difference, isn't there? In the 2009 version, the voice is completely clear and you can make out all the words easily; but you can't quite say the same about this 2016 version.

The band has evolved, of course. In 2009, they had just five musicians, plus Erika singing. But in the 2016 CD, they sometimes use nine musicians (three of them reed men) in addition to Erika. This has made Tuba Skinny sound more like a 'big band' on a few numbers. Especially when they use a driving saxophone and 'walking' riffs (as in Running Down My Man and Broken-Hearted Blues) we seem to be in the realms of R&B music. Indeed a correspondent has just told me the Tuba Skinny website - introducing this CD - says '...this album features us in a couple different line-ups - our traditional one, as well as one with multiple reed players, and also our R&B line-up including piano, upright bass and drum set'.

There is also inevitably a greater sense of choreography these days. In the more complicated multi-theme tunes, such as Soudan, Oh Papa, Shaye's composition Blue Chime Stomp, the vigorous Variety Stomp and - to a lesser extent - Dear Almanzoer, all the musicians had to master their parts meticulously in order to participate in the strict, tight arrangements. Of course there is still some room for free expression and improvising, but the backbone of each of these pieces is very rigid.

Robin Rapuzzi (who - before playing washboard regularly with Tuba Skinny - was originally a complete percussionist) plays the full drum-kit on some of these numbers. Todd Burdick apparently plays the string bass rather than the tuba on some - but I have yet to work out which, though I think they include Running Down My Man. He told me last April that he had been 'learning to play a string bass' but he did not mention that he had already recorded with it!

The barrel-house piano (presumably the one in the picture above, belonging to The Tigermen Den) is played by Shaye on some of the pieces. One of these - I'm Blue and Lonesome - is heard in the key of Gb. Amazing. When did you last hear a tune performed by a jazz band in Gb? I can't recall when. All other bands would simply have opted for a key of G or F to keep the playing simpler.

And on the same subject, Erika sings Running Down My Man (the Merline Johnson 12-bar from 1936) in E - a key most traditional jazz musicians steer clear of.

These two tunes (and Broken-Hearted Blues - here performed in the unlikely key of B) make me suspect the piano was half a tone flat. After all, in YouTube videos (with Shaye on cornet rather than piano) they have always played Running Down My Man in F and I'm Blue and Lonesome in G. But for the CD Shaye switched to the piano. If, as I believe, it was half a tone flat, then its F actually produced an E and its G sounded like Gb. Perhaps that's the complete explanation. The rest of the band did very well to adapt to such awkward keys.

With very neat banjo support, Erika sings Me and My Chauffeur (the song written by E. Lawler and recorded in 1941 by Memphis Minnie). This is trickier to sing than it may sound: note the long pause that has to be left in the ninth and tenth bars. There are some gems from Erika - not only those I have mentioned but also the 12-bar blues (composed in the 1930s by Ann Turner for Georgia White) Almost Afraid To Love, and Oh Papa (the Ma Rainey number from 1927) and Midnight Blues, both with substantial vocals. Midnight Blues follows very closely, in spirit and detail, the recording made of this song by Rosa Henderson in 1923 - the year of its composition.

Anyone who has watched the YouTube videos of Tuba Skinny to emerge since March 2015 will have heard all of the tunes on this CD, so they may already be familiar to you.

But here are a few more thoughts about some of the pieces. 

Soudan started out in about 1906 a a sort of tone poem for piano by the Czech composer Gabriel Sebek. He called it Oriental Scene for Piano, Opus 45. The sub-title was In The Soudan: A Dervish Chorus. The ODJB recorded an adaptation of it in 1917 as Oriental Jazz (or Jass) and recorded it again in 1920 - this time as Soudan. As I have indicated, Tuba Skinny play a neat, strict arrangement. Their version intersperses the 'oriental' theme in F minor with the more bouncy traditional theme in the related key of Ab, and there is a trombone-led F minor coda from Barnabus to round it off. It's a very unusual number!

Corrine (sung by Erika) is not the same as the famous Corrine Corrina.

Corrine, recorded in 1937 by Blind Boy Fuller, is a 16-bar blues, not a 12-bar. Erika gives a fine performance in the key of A, appropriately supported by the resonator guitar.

Memphis Shake (long-since established in Tuba Skinny's repertoire) is a straightforward number of two short themes and distinctive diminished chords. The 'big band' line-up gives it a delightfully free treatment, with much ensemble work.

Similar is Shake It And Break It (which has two short themes - in minor and major keys). The performance is very enjoyable and the final minutes are taken up with some pretty soloing and ensemble on the major-key theme.

Blue Chime Stomp is of course yet another fine composition by Shaye. I have written about it before (CLICK HERE to read) and I also had the pleasure of hearing the band play it in New Orleans last April at this performance - CLICK HERE to view.

The CD ends with a very pleasant and straightforward version of Chloe - bringing things full circle in a sense, as this number also featured sweetly on their very first CD of seven years earlier, when they had only five musicians: a cornet, violin and trombone were supported merely by a tuba and guitar. This latest CD version of Chloe (using at least eight musicians) is taken a shade more slowly.

I must also mention the order in which the tunes have been thoughtfully arranged on the CD: fast and slow numbers alternate, as do instrumentals and vocals. So, played straight through, it makes a good concert.

Our heroine - that multi-talented young lady Shaye - has again done the artwork for the CD: see it at the top of this article.

POST 345: MERLINE JOHNSON, CLARA SMITH - THOSE LADIES OF THE BLUES

Tell me honestly: were you much aware of Lucille Bogan, Mamie Smith, Merline Johnson, Memphis Minnie, Clara Smith and Hattie Hart before Tuba Skinny and other young bands in New Orleans today revived some of their songs? I certainly wasn't. Yes, I knew about Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, and I was aware of Victoria Spivey and Clara Smith, though I couldn't have told you much about them.

So I must thank Tuba Skinny and others for making me seek out those great lady performers (who were often composers too) from the 1920s and 1930s. Fortunately, quite of a lot of their work is available on YouTube.

Lucille Bogan (in her later years performing as Bessie Jackson) lived from 1897 until 1948, first in Mississippi and later in Alabama. She was twice married.

Lucille

Lucille made a lot of recordings, songs often composed by herself; and some of them are notable for their sexual innuendoes or even explicitness. She was the originator of Tricks Ain't Walking No More. Memphis Minnie recorded it too. This Century, it has become a favourite in Tuba Skinny's repertoire. Lucille's recording probably also influenced their choice of Eddie Miller's composition I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water.

Merline Johnson was probably born in 1912, in Mississippi or Missouri.

Merline

Merline made recordings from 1937 until 1947, usually in the company of some of the most famous blues musicians of that era. If you are a fan, you may be interested to know that it was from Merline Johnson that Tuba Skinny learned Got a Man in the 'Bama Mine, Sold It To The Devil, and Running Down My Man. What a legacy from someone about whom little is known!

Hattie Hart worked both with and apart from The Memphis Jug Band. Among the songs she recorded that Tuba Skinny have taken up were Won't You Be Kind To Me? (her 1928 composition), Ambulance Man, and Papa's Got Your Bath Water On.

Hattie

Not much is known about Hattie, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in about 1900.

I must briefly mention Clara Smith, who was born around 1894 in Carolina and worked in both New Orleans and New York. In the 1920s, she recorded well over a hundred songs, often with some of the 'big names'. Though she did not compose it, Clara made Freight Train Blues famous; and this is another song Tuba Skinny have developed dramatically (train noises and all) in their repertoire.

Clara

Among Clara's other interesting recordings are Jelly Bean Blues and Percolatin' Blues. Clara died in 1935.

And what about Mamie Smith (1883 - 1946 - no relation to the other Smiths)? She was the singer who made famous the song composed in 1920 by the 27-year-old Perry Bradford, Crazy Blues. He was the Musical Director of Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds. Mamie recorded it in the same year with huge success. This is now considered by jazz and blues scholars to have been an important milestone in the history of our music, because Mamie was the first black blues singer to be recorded.

Mamie

Mamie could be said to have started the era of classic female blues. In 2014, Tuba Skinny introduced into their repertoire a super version of Crazy Blues - quite a tour de force by their singer Erika Lewis.

Memphis Minnie has become a favourite of mine. It was she who recorded Me and My Chauffeur, Bumblebee, Blood Thirsty Blues, Frisco Town, I'm Goin' Back Home, What's The Matter With The Mill? as well as many other good old songs. Erika Lewis and Tuba Skinny have found her work to be a rich source.

Memphis Minnie

'Memphis Minnie' was of course a stage name. She was born in Algiers (the 'across the river' suburb of New Orleans) in 1897 and her real name was Lizzie Douglas. As a teenager, she became a busker in Memphis and it was there that her musical career was to take off, especially when she was invited to make recordings, together with her second husband (of three): they were billed as 'Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie'. They wrote quite a lot of their own material. Over the years, Minnie performed in many different cities and recorded for various labels. She had a hard life but seems to have been a tough, resilient, cheerful woman and a good singer and guitarist. Possibly she was the most popular country blues singer of all time. She died in 1973. Fortunately, it is still possible to buy many of her recordings and to find some on YouTube. CLICK HERE  for an example of Minnie's work.

Victoria

As for Victoria Spivey from Houston (who is, I believe, a favourite of Erika's), this lady had a long career. Coming from a musical family, she lived from 1906 until 1976 and was a prolific entertainer.

She was a pianist as well as a singer and composer. (Among her compositions were TB Blues, How Do They Do It That Way?, Black Snake Blues, Detroit Moan, Moaning the Blues, Long Gone, and Spider Web Blues.) She made her first recording in 1926 and her last as late as 1964, having worked at times with several of the big names of jazz. At the age of 56, she launched a record label of her own. She even found time to marry four husbands. CLICK HERE to appreciate Victoria Spivey singing Any Kind A Man Would Be Better Than You; and you will understand at once how much she has influenced today's singers, such as Erika Lewis.

Georgia White was another blues singer who influenced Tuba Skinny. For example, Erika picked up Late Hour Blues from Georgia's 1939 recording of this song by Richard M. Jones. Georgia and Richard worked together and jointly composed I'm Blue and Lonesome; Nobody Cares For Me and Biscuit Roller - both of them songs Erika has adopted - to the delight of her fans. Georgia White is believed to have been born in 1903 and was working in Chicago by the 1920s.

Georgia White

She made a very large number of recordings. She was still performing as late as the 1960s and is believed to have died in about 1980.

While 'researching' these ladies, I discovered there were DOZENS more like them making good blues recordings at the same time. For example, check out Leonia Williams. There are several of her recordings from 1922 and 1923 on YouTube - some of them remarkably clear and impressive. She is accompanied by her 'Dixie Band', though I gather they were actually The Original Memphis Five.

I simply could not study the work of all these ladies. But believe me, they are there all right.