28 June 2016

Post 408: 'MOONLIGHT BAY'

Moonlight Bay - often called On Moonlight Bay - is one of those very pleasant memorable songs from over a century ago that are easy to play and to improvise on. And yet I have heard very few traditional jazz bands playing it in recent years.

 So it was a great pleasure to come upon a video uploaded on to YouTube by the excellent Louisiana-based video-maker codenamed RaoulDuke504. It shows The Shotgun Jazz Band (in its five-piece form, with Charlie Halloran on trombone) giving a most tasteful, gentle performance of this song at Covington Trailhead, which is a lovely new public park about 35 miles north of New Orleans. This was in the middle of June 2016.


You can watch the video of The Shotgun Jazz Band by clicking here.

 This performance is unusual because it includes the VERSE as well as the familiar Chorus. The width of Marla Dixon's repertoire and the depth of her memory constantly amaze me. I ought not to have been surprised that she knew the Verse or that she sings the vocal. Is there any song for which Marla does not know the words by heart?!

 Apart from its great melody, it is the simplicity and structure of the Chorus that should make it appeal to many more traditional jazz bands. After all, it is virtually nothing but an eight-bar three-chorder. (Well, actually the eight bars are played twice; but you see what I mean.)



The chord pattern (without subtleties) is:



  I   |  I7:4  |  I    |  I   |   V7   |   V7  |  I  |  I:(V7)

In recent years we have been given plenty of lessons in what great musicians can achieve with even the simplest 8-bar themes. Think especially of Tuba Skinny and Late Hour Blues, Untrue Blues, Mississippi River Blues, Lonesome Drag, I'll See You in the Spring, Owl Call Blues, All I Want is a Spoonful, Papa Let Me Lay It On You, Too Tight Blues, Got a Mind To Ramble, Ice Man and so on. All these tunes have a basic eight-bar theme repeated many times, but with great creativity and subtlety in the variations.

The music for Moonlight Bay was written in 1912 by Percy Wenrich; the lyrics were by Edward Madden. Both men died in 1952.

Madden also wrote the words for such songs as By The Light of the Silvery Moon, Down in Jungle Town and Silver Bell.

Percy Wenrich was born in Missouri but from the age of 20 worked mainly in New York City. He composed rags such as The Smiler and Peaches and Cream, but he is probably best remembered for When You Wore a Tulip, Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet and of course Moonlight Bay.

Just in case my attempt may be of some use to a beginner, here's how I have worked it out with Band-in-a-Box. As usual, I can't guarantee 100% accuracy. Shotgun plays it in F:
But if, as a Bb instrument player, you prefer to see it in G, it works out like this.

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Post 407: JUDGING THE BAND

How do you judge the quality of the bands you watch and listen to?

All assessments are subjective. Different people are impressed by different qualities. I remember a lady who used to judge bands almost entirely on the nattiness of their waistcoats! And correspondent Barrie Marshall told me he once deputised in a band who wore stripey blazers and boaters; a lady told him during the break that you could tell they were a 'proper' jazz band from the way they were dressed. 

However, I thought it might be interesting - and a bit of fun - to produce a check-list with a view to awarding marks for various aspects of a performance.

What do you think of it? You may care to use this check-list in assessing some of the performances you attend. Keep the results to yourself, however. We don't want to offend anybody.
QUALITY
OF THE MUSIC
(60 marks)
PROFESSIONALISM:
AND RAPPORT
WITH AUDIENCE
(20 marks)
GOOD OVERALL
VALUE?
(20 marks)
TOTAL
NAME
OF THE
BAND
Skill
of the
musicians
(20 max.)
Teamwork


(20 max.)
Interpretation
and
Arrangements
(20 max.)
Appearance and
On-Stage
Behaviour
(Max. 10)
Presentation
and
Communication
(Max. 10)
The performance
as a whole
(Max. 20)
Maximum possible

100
























I tried applying it as honestly and ruthlessly as I could to ten bands I know well. I have put them in the eventual order of merit. I am not naming the bands as that would be invidious.
QUALITY
OF THE MUSIC
(60 marks)
PROFESSIONALISM;
AND RAPPORT
WITH AUDIENCE
(20 marks)
GOOD VALUE?
(20 marks)
TOTAL
NAME
OF THE
BAND
Skill
of the
musicians
(20)
Teamwork


(20)
Interpretation
and
Arrangements
(20)
Appearance and
On-Stage
Behaviour
(10)
Presentation
and
Communication
(10)
The performance
as a whole
(20)
Maximum possible

100
Band 1
17
16
16
7
7
15
78
Band 2
17
14
14
8
6
15
74
Band 3
17
14
13
8
7
15
74
Band 4
16
14
14
6
6
15
71
Band 5
15
14
15
6
7
14
71
Band 6
15
14
14
6
7
14
70
Band 7
13
12
12
7
5
13
62
Band 8
11
11
12
7
6
12
59
Band 9
10
9
9
8
7
11
54
Band 10
7
7
8
8
7
13
50
A friend noted an interesting correlation: a band that is weak in one area tends also to be weak in others.

Although any of us can carry out such 'assessments', just for our own amusement, I think it would be a good idea for bands to conduct similar assessments of their own performances. It would indicate some of the areas they could work on in order to improve.

By the way, do you think there is any band capable of scoring the Maximum 100 points? I would nominate The Shotgun Jazz Band, based in New Orleans.
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Postscript:

 A reader has immediately nominated The Bratislava Hot Serenaders.
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