Post 582: COMMUNICATE - BUT DON'T TELL FIBS!

I have often recommended someone in the band should SPEAK to the audience as much as possible. Fans enjoy receiving scraps of information about the band and the music being played, including the titles of tunes.

However, I wish some speakers would take more care to get their facts right.

I often hear band-leaders giving information that is neither credible nor amusing. There's plenty of fake news in the way tunes are introduced. My friend Bob Anderson of San Diego told me the same is true in the USA: he said: 'We have a few bandleaders here who are either misinformed or think the false myths are a good story'.

I can recall occasions when an announcer said something that members of the audience were too polite to tell him was untrue. One told us the New Orleans trumpet-player Jabbo Smith made records in the 1940s and then 'faded away and was heard of no more'. Yet some of us knew Jabbo was still playing in the 1980s: there are YouTube videos of him doing so.

Often I hear a tune introduced as 'written by the great Louis Armstrong' when in fact it was certainly not written by him.

I have heard Ice Cream announced as being by Chris Barber, the British band-leader (no doubt because his band recorded it), with no recognition that it was composed before Chris Barber was born and first made famous as a jazz tune by such musicians as George Lewis.

Recently I heard a band-leader firmly say: 'This next tune was composed by Benny Goodman. It is called The Glory of Love.' If he had said 'recorded by', I would have given the matter no further thought. But he definitely said 'composed by'. That sounded fishy to me. When I arrived home, I checked and found the composer was in fact William Joseph Hill, who had studied at The New England Conservatory of Music and went on to run a jazz band in Salt Lake City.

I have noticed that an introduction frequently used by one announcer is: We're now going to play the old Fats Waller number.... and he then names, for example, Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans or You Always Hurt The One You Love - tunes that were written after Fats Waller died!

Algiers Strut is often introduced incorrectly as having been 'written by Kid Thomas Valentine' - an announcement that particularly irritates my friend Barrie Marshall. And I know of two band-leaders (one of them, sadly, no longer with us) who loved to play Doctor Jazz and always announced it as 'by Jelly Roll Morton'.

It's true Morton's band made a fine recording of this tune; but it was not 'by' him. The music was written by King Oliver, as you can see:

Doctor Jazz is one of the great classics of our repertoire. It is played so often that we tend to overlook what a fine piece it is. Unlike many, the song has a good and appropriate Verse; and the 32-bar Chorus is brilliantly constructed, with a beautiful chord progression, a vigorous, singable melody, and some built-in opportunities for 'breaks' - on Bars 15-16, 25-26 and 27-28. What a great man Joe 'King' Oliver was, in his own playing, in producing such seminal recordings with his bands and also in his composing! We are all deeply in his debt.

Moral of the story: get your facts right; and don't credit the hard work of a composer to someone else.

Post 581: MAY AND SHAYE - 'THRILLER RAG'

Thriller was one of the rags composed by May Aufderheide. She wrote it in 1909. May was also the composer of 'Dusty Rag', which is still a favourite with our bands.

I think May would have greatly enjoyed hearing Tuba Skinny, in 2017, adding Thriller Rag to their repertoire. As so often, we have to thank the videomaker RaoulDuke504 for recording their performance for us. You can watch it BY CLICKING HERE.

I believe the sheet music starts with the instruction 'Not Fast', but Shaye Cohn chooses to ignore this and play the piece at a pretty quick tempo. I don't think May Aufderheide would have disapproved of the effect this achieves. Such a tempo certainly provides the basis for 'thrills'.

In fact, although the whole band plays well, I think this performance is in particular a tour de force by Shaye herself.

The four-bar Introduction (from 10 seconds into the video until 14 seconds) is possibly the most thrilling part of all. Shaye leaps to the high Ab and rapidly tumbles down through arpeggios on the Ab diminished chord.

The Thriller comprises two 16-bar themes. Tuba Skinny play through Theme A twice, during the second of which (at 34 seconds) Shaye introduces some interesting variations. When they come to Theme B (54 seconds), Shaye frequently plunges down to the Ab below the stave; and yet then leaps up two octaves to the Ab above the stave for more of those descending arpeggios (e.g., 1 minute 08 seconds). This is something very difficult to do on a cornet, especially at this speed. I am not even sure I have heard Shaye do such a thing before. It's a sign that she is at the height of her powers and full of confidence.

By the way, from all I have said, you may have inferred correctly that the band plays Thriller Rag in the key of Ab - the key in which May Aufderheide composed it. But some bands (certainly here in England) have taken to playing it in F, which is - in a sense - cheating but makes it a good deal easier on the lips!

Also notice how well Shaye directs the performance. In addition to making it clear which instruments are to take 16-bar solos, there are at least six other discreet signals:

2 mins 10 secs: All the 'front line' to join in.

3 mins 09 secs: Return to Theme A.

3 mins 29 secs: Switch to Theme B - finger pointing down:

3 mins 43 secs: Washboard to play the 'break'.

4 mins 03 secs: Front line to play the break.

4 mins 08 secs: Final chorus (leg extend signal).

Post 580: THE REMARKABLE 'LOVESICK DUO'

In my Post Number 542, I tried to answer the question 'How many musicians does it take to form a jazz band?'. You can read that post BY CLICKING HERE.

Today a reader of my blog, Graham Beech, would like to draw to your attention a wonderful little 'band' that consists of only two musicians. Graham writes:

They are based in Italy and their names are Paolo Roberto Pianezza and Francesca Alinovi. They perform as The Lovesick Duo.

I knew nothing about these musicians until recently, when I came across their videos on YouTube and was greatly impressed by their energy, musicianship, teamwork and their appeal to both young and old.

Paolo is brilliant on the resonator guitar and is also a very good singer, so his voice adds a third 'instrument' to their performance.

Francesca is also to be heard singing occasionally, putting in a perfect harmony. We have noticed in recent years that there has been a conspicuous rise in the number of ladies playing string bass in our kind of music. I would rate Francesca right up there with the very best of them.

They play a wide variety of music and I suppose they would not describe themselves as a traditional jazz band. But they play exactly as traditional jazz musicians aspire to do. For example, try their version of 'I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate': CLICK HERE. Great playing. Great entertaining. They are an example to us all.

And what about this 2017 video as an illustration of their talent and virtuosity? CLICK HERE.

Another good introduction to them is this video (CLICK ON HERE): you get to meet the couple at Lake Garda and can then enjoy an energetic performance of 'No Particular Place to Go'. Finally, CLICK HERE to see them busking very pleasantly in Venice.

Post 579: SHAYE COHN - TRADITIONAL JAZZ COMPOSER

Shaye Cohn is considered by many to be the best traditional jazz band leader, the best traditional jazz cornet player and one of the best traditional jazz piano players and violin players in the world today. I think it's time also for us to recognise her achievement as a composer of our kind of music.

While only in her early 30s, Shaye had already given us some wonderful compositions. Think of the very entertaining and clever Blue Chime Stomp. Remember the haunting Owl Call Blues. And there was Salamanca Blues - a lovely melancholy piece with themes in F and then Ab, giving plenty of opportunities to the trombone and guitar.  Watch it in this performance: CLICK HERE.  As you can hear, it starts with a pleasant 12-bar blues theme in F, played by Barnabus. After that, so many interesting things happen: an other-worldly 16-bar theme led by Shaye; then a switch to the key of A flat and some lovely 12-bar blues sequences (including those played with a 'break' on bars 7 and 8 by Craig and Barnabus and Todd - always signalled by Shaye's outstretched leg). It's an early example of the beauty and complexity of Shaye's compositions. I should think she must still be very proud of it.

The medium-tempo Tangled Blues is a particularly clever composition: as its title suggests, it sets us plenty to 'untangle', with pretty, wistful phrases popping up in different keys and in two different themes - one of which runs for the highly unusual length of 18 bars.

In some of her work, we might say she is following the Schoebel School of Composition. By this I mean that, just as Elmer Schoebel in such pieces as 'Stomp Off, Let's Go' and 'I Never Knew What a Girl Could Do' has unconventional linking passages that catch us off balance, so Shaye does not restrict herself to nothing but such 8-bar blocks of music as constitute about 95% of traditional jazz tunes. 

Indeed, Shaye often challenges the ubiquitous 32-bar structures [four 8-bar sections, a – a – b – a] followed by popular music composers of the 1920s and 1930s. Some of her structures verge on the byzantine.

Pearl River Stomp (from 2016) springs another Shaye surprise. It begins with a bright 16-bar theme in the key of Ab. This is played through several times. Various instruments in turn take the lead, with interesting backing from the others. But just when you think it will continue like this, no doubt ending with some ensemble choruses, there is an abrupt drop to the key of Db and an entirely new 16-bar theme is played (very much like Bogalusa Strut and complete with the break in Bars 7 and 8). And it is with this theme - played only two or three times - that the piece ends.

Elysian Fields includes some apparent 8-bar sections that weirdly morph into 9 bars, with the barely perceptible addition of a holding pause.

Then there is the mighty Mortonesque Pyramid Strut, composed while the band Tuba Skinny was touring in Australia. This is the most complex of Shaye's creations. It has four themes, as well as an 8-bar bridge, and uses two keys. Lots of 'breaks' are built in and there are witty moments - such as the Coda. You can find videos of all these tunes on YouTube.

A favourite of many fans is the hauntingly beautiful Deep Bayou Moan. To my ear, it's in Ab (F minor). Elegiac, introspective, Arcadian: it has all these qualities.

Shaye's composition Nigel's Dream sounds so authentically 1920s that you could easily be fooled into thinking it was a previously undiscovered manuscript by King Oliver.

You can hear Shaye and Tuba Skinny performing Nigel's Dream either at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1-vc0YVodU

or at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mH63AsRRuw.

As ever, we must be grateful to the video-makers (in this case James Sterling and RaoulDuke504) for bringing this tune to our attention.

Its cheeky two-bar introduction involves nothing more than one 'Charleston' bar from the washboard followed by a single chord from the banjo, guitar and tuba. Then we are into Theme A - 32 bars in the key of C. Great use is made of a phrase (reminiscent of the Middle Eight of East Coast Trot) in which a flattened third is accentuated. Actually these 32 bars comprise two almost identical 16s; and at the end of the first sixteen (Bars 15 and 16) we have a 'break' (played by the banjo first time through and by the cornet and clarinet in a witty King Oliver-style mini-duet when the Theme is played again, led by the trombone, later).

The final bar of Theme A takes us through a modulating chord into the Key of Eb, in which Theme B is played. Twice through the sixteen bars (apparently both beginning with the chord sequence IV - IV - I - I) gives us a merry 32 bars. We then go straight back into Theme A (key of C again), with the trombone taking the lead. Then Theme B (in Eb) is re-visited. This is played through a couple of times with some boisterous, polyphonic ensemble, giving the piece a great ending. There is a neat Coda of just one bar.

What a composition! It's just as well written and well played as those King Oliver Jazz Band classics from the 1920s.
======================

FOOTNOTE
'Tuba Skinny and Shaye Cohn', by Pops Coffee, is now available from Amazon.

Post 578: YES MA'AM ARE BACK

Watch this performance from December 2017 of the New Orleans busking string band Yes Ma'am.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW.

I find it utterly compelling, so full of variety and brilliant musicianship. After the gently stated start, note the changes of tempo, the attention to dynamics, the brilliant little solos, Matt's footwork. It will give you some idea of what this group - and especially its founder and leader Matt Constanza - have achieved in the eight years since he formed the band.

But let me go back.

During my April 2016 visit to New Orleans, I was thrilled at last to hear the string band Yes Ma'am. I had admired their work on YouTube for several years but unfortunately did not come across them when I previously visited New Orleans in 2015.

However, in Royal Street on 7 April 2016, I bumped into my friend Randy (the great video-maker codenamed RaoulDuke504 - he who also filmed the video I have recommended above) and he gave me a tip-off that Yes Ma'am were playing at that moment at The French Market. I hurried over and sure enough there they were.

What a dazzling performance! I can assure you they are even more exciting in person than when seen on YouTube. Each musician individually is a virtuoso. The finger-work on some of the solo choruses was mind-boggling. The songs were witty; and the control of 'breaks' and rhythm (sometimes doubling-up) was so clever and effective. You can't help having a big smile on your face and you can't stop your feet tapping when Yes Ma'am are playing.

Elena Dorn has been with Yes Ma'am since
the early days. She plays the violin beautifully
and her subtle improvisations perfectly complement
the textures of the other instruments.

At the break, I was fortunate enough to have a chat with the leader - Matt Costanza. On YouTube, Matt (like Yes Ma'am in general) has always given me the impression of being very laid-back, devil-may-care, unconventional and bohemian in life-style. Well, maybe some of that is true. But I have to report that the man I met that day was also deadly serious about his music, modest, very articulate, extremely hard-working and also kind and generous in talking with me. He allowed me to take this photo.

I thanked Matt for the pleasure his band had given to YouTube viewers all over the world. I told him I was amazed at his own brilliance and versatility: he sits at the centre of the band, playing the guitar with great vigour and lustily singing, while simultaneously providing percussion: with his feet he plays a 'drum' and a tambourine and a bell! In the course of a performance he uses a huge amount of energy.

He very modestly said he did not consider himself a great player. In his opinion, the rest of the band were the technically-gifted players and he was privileged to have them working with him.

Well, there you have the recipé for a perfect team: a leader who is a dedicated, tireless, directing presence surrounded by other musicians whom he respects and encourages to display their skills.

Those Yes Ma'am songs tend to be tricky in structure. Think of the sudden tempo changes. How does the band get to perform them so slickly? And where do the songs come from?

Matt's answers were surprising. He told me he himself now composes about 90% of the material. The band hones and masters it during their many performances on the streets. 

I had guessed they must get together from time to time to rehearse. No, Matt told me. He could recall that they had had two rehearsals. No more.

But is all this really traditional jazz? That's a question I hear some people ask. Well, yes, it certainly is. The links and overlaps between jug bands and string bands and what has become 'conventional' traditional jazz (with a front line of trumpet, trombone and clarinet) go right back to the earliest days; and they have been gloriously revived by the young musicians in the New Orleans of today. Instrumentation in the string bands may be slightly different (though I should mention that Yes Ma'am sometimes - as in the picture below - includes a cornet and trombone), but the principles for playing and interpreting the music are exactly the same.

In the years during which Matt's band has been evolving, there have been several changes of personnel (and I believe he still draws from a pool of players). When I first discovered them on YouTube, they looked like this.

Although two of the ladies from that photo are still usually in the band, the line-up was rather different when I saw them in April 2016. I made a video and you can watch it by clicking on here.

If you would care to hear how they sounded at the end of 2015, click on this performance of Squishin' Bees, an up-tempo 12-bar blues in Bb.

For a very fine video of them with their late-2013 line-up playing a medley, CLICK HERE.

One of my favourites from their earlier days (2011) is this: CLICK HERE  to watch it.

Whatever you think, please watch right to the end: there are surprises along the way. And admire all the little details.

The band appeared to be absent from the streets of New Orleans after the end of 2016. According to an unofficial report, it seemed that Matt felt completely exhausted at the end of that year - hardly surprising, in view of the energy and hard work put into every performance. He decided to take a break, during which he could re-charge his batteries, probably compose some more songs, and make plans for the future. Well, I'm pleased to see he's back.

Post 577: FEBRUARY IN NEW ORLEANS

I'm looking back on my brief visit to New Orleans last February and, with the help of my photographs, would like to share with you some of the pleasures and memories.

First, some lovely sights.

Next, the flavour of the French Quarter.

As usual, it was a great privilege to be able to video some fine bands playing in Royal Street.

And I had the chance to meet and photograph some of the great musicians whose work I have long admired from 4500 miles away on YouTube. They included Molly Reeves.

I had the pleasure of making a new friend among the musicians - saxophonist Marty Peters.

And it was a great thrill renewing friendship with Marla Dixon and Haruka Kikuchi.

I told Haruka in 2015 that I was adopting her as my grand-daughter, so she now greets me as 'Grandad'!

If you have never seen the storming performance of Royal Garden Blues that I filmed in 2015 (in which Haruka and Marla both play), may I recommend it as a treat?

CLICK ON IT HERE.

And this February, as usual, I made time for an occasional stroll by the mighty Mississippi.

I decided this would be my 'farewell' visit to New Orleans. In my old age, and currently being treated for a couple of medical conditions, common sense tells me the 4500-mile journey is too strenuous to undertake any more. But looking at these pictures makes me want to be right back there. I wonder whether I shall be able to make it one more time?

Post 576: ORIGIN OF THE EXTENDED LEG SIGNAL

Way back in the early months of 2008, Shaye Cohn was still a beginner on any kind of brass instrument, though she was already improvising on one very well.

She had a pocket trumpet in those days.

Later she was to acquire from Ed Polcer the old Yamaha cornet with which she has won thousands of devoted fans all over the world; and the Yamaha is the instrument she is still playing to this day.

But back then in 2008, with her pocket trumpet, she would busk in various groups on the streets of New Orleans. One of these groups was the Sweet Nothings, led by Aurora Nealand.

What a piece of good fortune that a video-maker codenamed bixerbecke filmed them at this time. His video is a valuable historical document. Not only do we see Shaye playing her pocket trumpet - and improvising a simple but decent chorus from 1 minute 10 seconds to 1 minute 44 seconds; we also have an amusing episode from 2 minutes 38 seconds when Shaye discovers for the first time that it is conventional to provide the response 'got no pants on' when someone is singing 'The Sheik of Araby'. She finds it hilarious, and joins in.

Aurora, leader of the group, was already playing brilliantly (but dare I say that she too has gone on majestically improving in subsequent years?). And it's fun to hear Aurora struggling to sing the highest notes of the song. They could have pitched it in a lower key for her, instead of Bb, as used by most bands. But this would have been a change hardly worth making.

However, another point of interest in this video is Aurora's use of the extended leg to signal to the band when they are on the final chorus.

Aurora extends the leg to signal the final chorus

This is a device used so much by Shaye when leading Tuba Skinny in the years that followed. Many of you, I am sure, believe that Shaye 'invented' this signal. But as this video shows, Aurora was using it back in 2008. My guess is that Shaye picked it up from her and that Aurora was the 'inventor'.

I am indebted to my friend Phil Lynch in the USA who reminded me of the existence of this video.

You can watch it BY CLICKING HERE.

Post 575: MEMPHIS MINNIE, TUBA SKINNY AND 'FRISCO BOUND' - A TEN-BAR TUNE

Memphis Minnie was quite somebody. She could play the guitar and sing well. But she was also a composer of some fine early jazz tunes.

Her real name was Lizzie Douglas and she was born in the New Orleans suburb of Algiers in 1897. Her family later lived in Tennessee. As a child, she mastered the banjo and guitar. She took to busking in the Beale Street, Memphis, area when she was only a teenager, and she also toured with a circus. It was a hard life. She became a tough, street-wise young woman; and this toughness was reflected later in her singing and playing.

She married three times. Her second husband, Joe McCoy, was a fellow busker. They were talent-spotted and went on to make records for both Columbia and Vocalion.

It was at that time (when she was already more than 30 years old) that the publicists decided to call her 'Memphis Minnie' and the name stuck. (Similarly, her husband was given the name 'Kansas Joe'.) Between 1929 and 1934, they recorded about 30 songs, some of them more than once. After they divorced, she recorded many more, sometimes with Kansas Joe's brother and later with her third husband - Ernest Lawler ('Little Son Joe'). At this time she was mainly based in Chicago.

Minnie recorded more than 130 songs in total, several of them composed by herself. Among songs Minnie recorded that have influenced and been revived by the young New Orleans musicians of the 21st Century are: Bumble Bee, Frisco Town, I'm Goin' Back Home, Me and My Chauffeur, Ice Man, Tricks Ain't Walkin' No More, What's The Matter With the Mill?, New Dirty Dozen, and When the Levee Breaks. 

Minnie is known to have been the composer of the following songs that she recorded: Black Cat Blues, You Caught Me Wrong Again, Down in the Alley, Good Biscuits, Good Morning, Has Anyone Seen My Man?, Hoodoo Lady, I Hate To See The Sun Go Down, I'm a Bad Luck Woman, I've Been Treated Wrong, Ice Man, If You See My Rooster, Keep On Eating, Ma Rainey, Man You Won't Give Me No Money, My Baby Don't Want Me No More, My Butcher Man, My Strange Man, Nothin' In Rambling. Some of the other songs for which she became well known (such as Bumble Bee and  Me and My Chauffeur) were written by McCoy or Lawler.

You can hear Minnie and her third husband (the composer) performing Me and My Chauffeur
by clicking here.
And you can watch one of today's young traditional jazz bands performing the song by clicking here.

Memphis Minnie seems to have been the composer of Frisco Town (a ten-bar blues) in 1929.  She recorded it with her husband Kansas Joe the same year. Its title rapidly changed to Frisco Bound. (This a quite different song from the Frisco Bound composed by Sam Powers in 1915.)

Still in 1929, a recording of Frisco Bound was made by James Wiggins and this increased its popularity.

This song also has recently been revived in its ten-bar form by Tuba Skinny:

Click Here.

How does it come to be a ten-bar blues? Well, if you look closely at its structure, you will see it is really a 12-bar blues, but with the first two bars omitted.

Two choruses here:

In another video of Tuba Skinny, the young musicians may be seen performing one of the 12-bar blues written by Minnie's second husband (Joe McCoy). The singer is Erika Lewis. Enjoy especially at 2 mins 20 seconds (and again later) the descending triplets played by the clarinettist (Craig Flory) in his 'solo' chorus. The song is called If You Take Me Back. You can watch it by clicking here.

By the way, my book about Tuba Skinny is now available. If you may be interested, go to the Amazon Website, click on 'Books', and type in 'Tuba Skinny and Shaye Cohn'.

Post 574: WONDERFUL VINTAGE RECORDINGS

Reader and tuba player Roger Menning wrote to tell me he has recently formed The Wild Rumpus Jazz Band in Chicago. I look forward to the band's development and hope there will soon be some YouTube videos.

Roger also wondered whether I had come across the YouTube channel of a videomaker codenamed BassetHoundTrio. Roger thought I might find it interesting.

Well, interesting it certainly is. May I pass on the recommendation to all of you? BassetHoundTrio has put up a collection of nearly 300 videos, in which precious 78s from the 1920s are played on beautiful and great-sounding antique gramophones. Many of the recordings feature early dance bands playing tunes that have become part of the traditional jazz repertoire. The videos also provide information about the songs, the bands and the gramophones used. What a wonderful resource BassetHoundTrio has provided for us. If by any chance he reads my blog, I send him sincere thanks.

Try these for starters, and then explore others:

(1) 'Positively - Absolutely' played by Jan Garber and His Orchestra: CLICK HERE.

(2) 'You're the Cream in My Coffee' played by Ted Weems and His Orchestra: CLICK HERE.

Wonderful stuff! Thanks very much, Roger, for leading me to these performances.

Post 573: REPEAT EIGHT BARS FIFTEEN TIMES

Can a band take a tune of just eight bars that lasts less than 20 seconds, and play through it FIFTEEN times without boring the audience? Can the band even keep it interesting and produce a little work of art?

Yes, it can be done. Tuba Skinny and other great bands frequently show us how.

Consider Jet Black Blues, an 8-bar tune based on a very simple chord progression (think The Magnolia Progression).

Lonnie Johnson wrote and recorded it in 1929. You can find his original recording (in which King Oliver also features) on YouTube.

Tuba Skinny added the tune to their repertoire some years ago.

At one of their performances, my friend David Wiseman filmed them. You may see the result BY CLICKING HERE.

Note how they vary the presentation and constantly provide fresh interest, in the fifteen runs through the tune:

1. Shaye on cornet states the tune.

2. The clarinet and trombone join in for an ensemble chorus.

3. Another ensemble chorus.

4. Craig on clarinet takes the lead, with quiet support from the cornet and trombone.

5. Another clarinet-led chorus.

6. Charlie on trombone takes the lead, with interesting stop-chord support from other members of the band.

7. The trombone again leads, this time with an amusingly different pattern of stop-chord support.

8. The cornet provides an improvisation on the eight bars.

9. Another cornet improvisation.

10. Jason on banjo takes the lead, with lovely tremolo work.

11. Jason again leads.

12. The clarinet leads, with long-note backing.

13. The clarinet again leads, with gentle backing.

14. The full ensemble plays the chorus.

15. A final run-through by the full ensemble is neatly rounded off with a 2-bar coda.

That's how it's done!

=
Footnote

My book Tuba Skinny and Shaye Cohn is available from Amazon:

Post 572: GREAT TRADITIONAL JAZZ IN A FEW SECONDS

To appreciate the finer points of traditional jazz and the genius of great players, it sometimes pays to concentrate on exactly what is happening in just a few seconds of music.

That is what I am inviting you to do today.

I would like you to click on a YouTube video and then focus on just EIGHT seconds of the performance. I will give you the link in a moment. But first let me set it in context.

The musicians (Tuba Skinny) are playing a tune called Crumpled Papers. This was composed just a few years ago by Michael Magro. It is a relatively simple tune - a 12-bar in the key of D minor. But it has amazing energy and gives plenty of opportunities for exciting improvisation.

In this video, the band plays straight through the tune 15 times. So in total we have 15 x 12 = 180 bars (measures) of music.

For the first couple of choruses, the tune is played by the ensemble, led by the cornet, in a straightforward manner. Then we have a similar two choruses, again ensemble, but led by the cornet producing some variations in the form of chromatic runs.

But now comes the fifth chorus; and this is the one on which I'm inviting you to focus. Shaye on cornet passes the lead to Barnabus on trombone.

Note exactly what Shaye is doing in this chorus during the eight seconds running from 1 minute 44 until 1 minute 52. Barnabus has taken on the melody but she is decorating it by running around (on the D minor chord) in her own subtle, energetic and tasteful way. The two phrases for you to note occur from 1 minute 44 seconds to 1 minute 46 seconds, and from 1 minute 49 seconds until 1 minute 52 seconds. I put it to you that those few notes demonstrate traditional jazz playing and teamwork at its very best. (In most other bands, the trumpet player or cornet player would have dropped out at that point, taking  a breather.)

Now here's the link, with thanks to James Sterling for being there to video the performance for us:

CLICK HERE.

Shaye is always like this - modestly creative, and energetic, instinctively playing notes that are just right and make the band as a whole sound wonderful. She is not one of those self-important players who like to show off their technique by playing pointless screaming high notes. Also, as you see in this and hundreds of other videos, she cleverly directs the musical traffic, so that even a short and simple tune such as Crumpled Papers is developed in a way that is full of variety and excitement.

Footnote



The book 'Enjoying Traditional Jazz' by Pops Coffee is available from Amazon.