Post 532: PUZZLE - FIND THE TITLES

As many readers seem to enjoy my occasional puzzles, here's another for you.

Look at this collection of thirteen words.

Cream Blues Rag River Up Ella A Roof Lazy Ice Snake Tin Egyptian

From it you can create these five titles of familiar tunes played by our bands.

Ice Cream

Tin Roof Blues

Up a Lazy River

Egyptian Ella

Snake Rag

=======

Now can you create five titles from these twenty-two words?

On Alone The Plenty Porch Love It A Night Back That’s I Clarinet I’m On Blame Blues The Marmalade Because Last You

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Send your answers to me and I will publish the names of the first three persons with the correct solution in my next post (No. 533 on 2 August).

Post 531: HOW TO PLAY TRADITIONAL JAZZ - AN EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW

I received an interesting request. A reader said he likes traditional jazz but doesn't understand how it works. He asked me to pick a video of a band playing a tune and to 'talk him through it', explaining what is going on.

I am happy to do this and will try not to be too technical, though I think you may appreciate it if I at least make a small number of technical points that everyone should be able to grasp.

I have selected The Loose Marbles playing Take Me Out To The Ball Game in the video you may watch by clicking on this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBHn3dtqjos

We have to thank the video-maker 'Wild Bill' for filming it.

As it happens, this is also a very good performance, demonstrating well what great musicians can do with simple material.

So what do we find?

Take Me Out To The Ball Game - like hundreds of our tunes, comprises 32 bars. This means that, to get through it once, you beat one-two-three-four 32 times. The Loose Marbles choose to play through it seven times, so they play 7 x 32 = 224 bars in all. To put it another way, this means the performance contains 224 x 4 beats, making 896 beats in all - if you should wish to count! They play the tune entirely in the key of Bb, which is the most commonly used key in traditional jazz.

Throughout the performance, note how the rhythm players beat out a pulsating  but fairly gentle four-to-the bar, driving the music along in a most exciting way. (So many bands fail to achieve this.)

I have said the band runs through the tune seven times. So what happens in each of those seven choruses?

CHORUS ONE: 01 seconds - 32 seconds. Unusually, it is the clarinet who firmly states the tune, but note how tastefully he is supported by the trombone and trumpet.

CHORUS TWO: 32 seconds - 1 minute 03 seconds. This time, Barnabus on trombone presents the melody, but the clarinet and trumpet now provide decoration.

CHORUS THREE: 1 minute 03 seconds - 1 minute 36 seconds. Now the trumpet takes the lead; but the clarinet and trombone do not drop out. They give subtle, decorative support. By the end of this Chorus, the rhythm players have obviously had to go through the tune's chord progression three times, pumping out 3  x 32 x 4 beats = 384 beats! Get it? All of the rhythm players are working to the same chord chart. If they didn't, something would sound wrong. Here's how the chords for the 32 bars of this tune seem (to me) to run. You will notice that the musicians do not need to have this chart in front of them. They have memorised it.

Bb	Bb	F7	F7	Bb	Bb	F7	F7
G7	G7	Cm	Cm	C7	C7	F7	F7
Bb	Bb	F7	F7	Bb	Bb7	Eb	Eb
Eb	Bbo	Bb	G7	C7	F7	Bb	Bb

CHORUS FOUR: 1 minute 36 seconds - 2 minutes 06 seconds. For variety (and to give the 'front row' a little rest), this chorus is taken by the banjo. The great John Dixon gives us a very fine 32 bars.

CHORUS FIVE: 2 minutes 07 seconds - 2 minutes 39 seconds. Robin plays this as a percussion solo, improvising 32 bars for us. Note that, while he does so, Todd, Julie and John provide punctuation, striking some chords (for example, the first beat of every other bar) to remind us where we are in the tune.

CHORUS SIX: 2 minutes 39 - 3 minutes 08 seconds. Marla takes this as a vocal. Note how the pulsating 4-to-the-bar rhythm is maintained behind her. And, at 3 minutes 05 seconds, watch the leader Michael hold up one finger to signal to the band that he wants just one more chorus. So everybody clearly knows when the tune must be brought to an end and they can work to make this final chorus something of a climax.

CHORUS SEVEN: 3 minutes 09 seconds - 3 minutes 42 seconds. This is indeed a fine ensemble chorus. You may also note that Robin plays a double beat on the drum at 3 minutes 34 seconds and again at 3 minutes 35 seconds. This respects a very old tradition: for many decades it has been the custom in marching brass bands for the drummer to give this signal just eight bars before the end of a tune, to make absolutely sure everybody knows it is coming to an end.

The last thing to observe is that the tune ends abruptly on the third beat of the final bar - the 32nd bar. The fourth beat (the 896th beat of the performance) is left completely silent. This a clever and effective way of ending tunes - especially quick ones. Its use is widespread. (Sometimes a band adds a 'tag' or 'coda' - an extra little phrase to round the piece off; but I like the chopped 'sudden death' ending, as demonstrated so well here by The Loose Marbles.)

Post 530: LOTS OF SUGAR

Maceo Pinkard
He also composed 'Sweet Georgia Brown'
and 'Them There Eyes'

Robert Duis, who frequently emails me and is a band-leader in Holland, discovered that there is more than one song called Sugar that traditional jazz bands play.

I suppose it's not surprising that composers used this word as a title at a time when it was very fashionable to call your sweetheart 'Sugar'.

And, if you think about it, you recall that 'sugar' appears frequently in titles and lyrics, for example, Sugar Blues, Sugar Babe, When I Take My Sugar To Tea, When My Sugar Walks Down The Street and 'You're My Sugar' (in Honeysuckle Rose).

With my interest aroused by Robert's email, I explored this topic.

The tune I have always thought of as Sugar was composed by Maceo Pinkard, Sidney D. Mitchell, and Edna Alexander and was recorded by Ethel Waters in 1926. It has a pleasant story-telling Verse and then a 32-bar Chorus beginning with the words The name is 'Sugar'. I call my baby my 'Sugar'. It is a song with a Middle Eight and an aaba structure. You can hear Ethel singing it BY CLICKING HERE.

But, as Robert discovered, there is a different Sugar recorded by Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra the following year (1927). It seems that this one was composed by Jack Yellen and Milton Ager. Its bouncy Chorus begins with the words Don't you know who she is? Looking right at me is 'Sugar'.  You can hear this song BY CLICKING HERE. It is another 32-bar (but this time 16 + 16), very pleasant and easy to improvise on. In the recording it has no Verse and I do not know whether it ever had one. You can also hear the Red Nichols' Stompers playing it in 1927 BY CLICKING HERE.

And - would you believe it? - there was yet another Sugar. This was composed by George W. Meyer and Joe Young. It was recorded by Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra in 1931. It is a bright up-tempo tune and includes a Verse. The distinguishing first words of the Chorus are Sugar, that's what I'll name you, Sugar. I'll come and claim you, Sugar. This is probably the easiest of the three to play. It has a very simple chord sequence. Enjoy this one BY CLICKING HERE.
====
Finally, wow! Almost as soon as this post appeared, I received this email from friend and frequent correspondent David Withers in New Zealand:-

Hi Ivan,
The Temperance Seven recorded all of these versions of Sugar and called it 'The Tate & Lyle Suite.' A very English title no doubt. I have it somewhere in my CD collection, but since the earthquakes when we had to move out of our house for repairs I don't know which box it is in. I do know however, that it was a Lake Records CD (i.e. a British CD label).
Regards,
David Withers
Christchurch, NZ
===
Footnote: I have found it in the Lake Records catalogue. The CD is called:

THE TEMPERANCE SEVEN – PASADENA & THE LOST CYLINDERS

Post 529: THE GOLD STANDARD IN JAZZ PLAYING - A RECENT CORRESPONDENCE

E-MAIL 1

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Hi I,
Just to set on record how much Barry, Bruce and I thoroughly enjoyed this lunchtime's jazz session at the D&G. What a splendid group of musicians, and all of you 'gelling' in the tunes you played. We agreed that it was the most enjoyable musical event we'd been to for a very long time. I hope the same group can be gathered again for another performance - it really was outstandingly good.
Goes to prove a theory I developed decades ago that the functions one thinks could be a bit 'dodgy' - you had warned me! - often turn out to be excellent.

C.

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E-MAIL 2

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Hi C,

Thanks very much for the kind compliments. I am glad you enjoyed the performance.

I thought we did well but that so much could have been better. I have been spoilt by frequent exposure to the playing of Tuba Skinny and The Shotgun Jazz Band. They are the Gold Standard. So, whenever I play in any band, I am all too aware of how our performance compares with theirs.

Always, I find us defective in many respects. I think we could improve our playing just a little if we had rehearsals and if we discussed and analysed our playing intelligently and critically.

But the truth is: we old guys are simply not good enough. We do our best and can be reasonably entertaining but we are many miles short of the top-quality stuff.

Best wishes,

I.

======

E-MAIL 3

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Hi I,

I think we can all appreciate the Gold Standard whenever we come across it, whether it be in the arts, sport or any other field of human endeavour. That it's given to so few people to reach is what makes it special and admirable.

But if we all tried to reach that sort of standard in our chosen fields of activity, there would be much disappointment and the suicide rate would rocket!

We live in the English East Midlands, not in New Orleans, and I think we should treasure the talent that the region has to offer us - not least musically. OK, not Shotgun or Tuba Skinny, but I really don't think that matters at all - Thursday's outing to the D&G had three of us singing the band's praises on the way home.

Incidentally, the ride to and from the D&G in Bruce's new, automatic, 4-seater sports Mercedes was a treat in itself: the technology in that car is quite remarkable. It can do just about everything short of making a dry martini!

C.

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E-MAIL 4

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Dear C,

Thanks as ever for talking good sense to me.

I think if you want a Mercedes that serves dry martini, you need the 2017 E Class Coupé.

I don't feel 'suicidal' about my inability to play like the youngsters in New Orleans, though I am envious and frustrated.

Your comparison with sport is spot on. When, long ago (in 1988) I took part in The London Marathon, even though I finished 10956^th, two hours behind the winner, I was on a high for days afterwards. It's the same with playing jazz: I feel exhilarated by the attempt, despite the frustrations.

Best wishes,

I.

Post 528: EH LA BAS - LET'S TALK CREOLE PATOIS

There are a few good old songs in our repertoire that date from the days when Creole patois was still widely spoken in Louisiana. I believe it probably is still spoken. I well remember, on my first visit to America about 30 years ago, somewhere near Lafayette meeting a couple of elderly gentlemen who were sheltering from the heat in the shade of a moss-covered oak. One of them was playing an accordion. They were speaking in 'Creole' and I struggled to converse in my almost-forgotten schoolboy French, but we managed to understand each other enough to exchange plenty of thoughts.

If you know a bit of French, you can get some of the meaning; but you notice that most of the rules of French grammar and spelling have gone to the wall, and familiar words are compressed.

The great Humphrey Lyttelton used to play an exciting tune called Ce Mossieu Qui Parle. This was taken to mean 'This man who is speaking'. But, as Humphrey himself said, it might originally have been C'est moi seule qui parle ('It's only me who's speaking.')

The most famous of the tunes our bands still play is Eh La Bas. Potentially, it has plenty of verses. But here is quite enough of the song for most people (with French and English translations):

Eh la bas! Eh la bas! Eh la bas, chèri! Komon sa va?
(Eh la bas! Eh la bas! Eh la bas, chéri. Comment  ça va?)

(Hey there! Hey there! Hey there, m'love! How's things?)

Mo chè kouzen, mo chè kouzin, mo lenme la kizin!
(Mon cher cousin, ma chère cousine, j'aime la cuisine)
(My dear cousin, my dear cousin(ess), I love cooking)

Mo manje plen, mo bwa diven, e sa pa kout ariyen.
(Je mange beaucoup, je bois du vin et ça ne coûte rien.)

(I eat plenty, I drink wine and that costs nothing.)

Ye tchwe kochon, ye tchwe lapen, e mo manje plen.

(On tue cochon, on tue lapin, et je mange beaucoup.)

(They kill a  pig, they kill a rabbit, and I eat till I'm full.)

Ye fe gonmbo, mo manje tro, e sa fe mon malad.

(On fait gumbo, je mange trop et ça me rend malade.)

(They make gumbo, I eat too much and that makes me sick.)

The reason why I am thinking of this topic today is that I enjoyed the performance of this song by the all-ladies Shake 'Em Up Jazz Band at the Abita Springs Buskers Festival in April 2017. Marla Dixon had a really good shot at singing the words (all the above and more, I think!). You can watch the performance again by going to

https://livestream.com/accounts/21714146/events/7258879

Click on the second from the top of the four available videos. You will then need to slide the control button along to 1 hour 40 minutes 30 seconds, which is where the song begins.

You can also enjoy the late great Danny Barker performing the song clearly and with many verses BY CLICKING HERE.

Post 527: SCRAMBLED TITLES PUZZLE: THE ANSWERS

In Post 526, I invited you to unscramble five titles of well-known tunes from the traditional jazz repertoire. Here are the answers.

========================

1.  MOEC CBKA ESETW AAPP

2. EDKRASSN NO HET LDEAT

3. EILWLI EHT PREWEE

4. SELONOEM DROA

5. NDHCIMIREGA SEUBL

ANSWERS
1. COME BACK SWEET PAPA
2. DARKNESS ON THE DELTA
3. WILLIE THE WEEPER
4. LONESOME ROAD
5. MICHIGANDER BLUES

Congratulations to the many of you who sent in the correct answers. All correct in the very first mail-box were Cleber Guimarães from Brazil, Marinus-Jan van Langevelde from Terneuzen in Holland, David Withers from a wintery Christchurch in New Zealand, Henry Kiel of Germany and John Whitehorn of England. And a very close second, a few minutes later, was Robert Duis in Holland.

Post 526: SCRAMBLED TITLES JAZZ PUZZLE FOR YOU

Many readers seem to enjoy my occasional puzzles. So here is another for you.

Can you decipher these five SCRAMBLED TITLES of well-known tunes from the traditional jazz repertoire?

============

EXAMPLE

ASJAKSC  SEBLU

Answer : JACKASS BLUES

============

NOW TRY THESE

1.  MOEC  CBKA  ESETW  AAPP

2. EDKRASSN  NO  HET  LDEAT

3. EILWLI  EHT  PREWEE

4. SELONOEM  DROA

5. NDHCIMIREGA  SEUBL

The answers will be published in the next post (POST 527, due on 15 July).

I will also give the names of the first three people to send in a set of correct answers.

Send to ivantrad (at) outlook (dot) com

Have fun!

Post 525: VISITORS TO NEW ORLEANS

In the last few months, I have received about a dozen emails from readers who had recently spent a week or two in New Orleans. For some of them, it was their first visit. Some were there for the French Quarter Festival; but others had opted for the quieter and less crowded weeks after the Festival.

Let me say straight away that they all reported having a great time and returned home exhilarated. Several had set out with the aim of catching favourite bands. They generally succeeded, and assured me that seeing the bands in person (and sometimes managing a chat with them) was even better than watching great YouTube videos.

Yet there were just a few grumbles too. These included complaints about time-keeping and punctuality. These points were made: sometimes a band is advertised to start playing at a certain time; but they spend so long chatting and setting up, that the concert actually begins almost half an hour late. Similarly, a band told a tourist it would be busking in a certain spot until 1pm, but when he turned up to hear them at 12.30pm, he found they were already packing up and leaving.

I fear such things are bound to happen. In New Orleans, as in many countries of my experience, people have a relaxed attitude to matters of time-keeping and punctuality.

However, the point was made that Tuba Skinny always started right on time (for example, at their dba concerts). There was always high praise for that particular band. Most people managed to catch them at least once busking in Royal Street.

Some of the lesser bands were criticised for poor discipline and a somewhat cavalier attitude to their audiences. Here's an extract from one correspondent:

Arriving at 7pm, I asked where the band was. I was told they were delayed by the non-arrival of one of their number. I chatted to a couple at the bar (2 of the only 3 attendees apart from myself). After that the sequence of events was as follows:

7.30 Band (less the missing one) started playing to about 5 spectators.

7.40-7.45 Trombonist arrived, placing his instrument by his seat on the stage, went to the bar, ordered a 'shot', downed it, ordered a pint and went outside to drink it with a cigarette.

7.55 Trombonist joined the band. Turned out he was also the vocalist.

8.15 1st set finished, the couple having left earlier. I left, leaving about 3 people in the audience.

I must admit having had a couple of similar experiences myself in the bars of Frenchmen Street. But I think such performers are their own worst enemies. They will not make a living and will be soon rejected.

But let us end positively: for an example of the sort of music recent visitors have enjoyed:

CLICK HERE.

Post 524: THE SHOTGUN JAZZ BAND; AND THE GOLDEN AGE

We are certainly living in a Golden Age of traditional jazz. Although most of us can't get to New Orleans or the few other places in the world where top-quality music is constantly being played, the wonders of YouTube assure us that it exists all right.

Only a few days ago, blog readers urged me to watch the recent 54-minute video of The Loose Marbles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EFAhHT9AEE&t=17s
It was sensationally good and gave me huge pleasure.

Now, readers have told me also to watch the video of similar length which shows The Shotgun Jazz Band playing at the same event (The Abita Springs Buskers Festival, 2016):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvoau6EoMxI

Both of these videos were professionally made by Radio Station WWOZ; and the sound quality is excellent. We have to thank Alice Glick for uploading them.

Whereas The Loose Marbles performed on the day with ten musicians, The Shotgun Jazz Band uses its core five (three of them also in The Loose Marbles video, of course).

Yet again, The Shotgun Band gives us all a lesson in how traditional jazz - at the highest levels of performance - should be played. John Dixon is one of the very best banjo players to be heard anywhere - absolutely solid and reliable. In combination with Tyler Thomson (the world's best string bass player in this genre), he underpins everything this band plays with perfect chords and a perfect pulse. Note Tyler's solo chorus in China Boy (beginning at 45 minutes 36 seconds).

James Evans (reeds), Marla Dixon (trumpet and vocals) and Charlie Halloran (trombone) have all reached the very top of their profession. But they are not just outstanding individual musicians; they demonstrate great teamwork, supporting each other in a hundred subtle ways.

At 30 minutes 30 seconds, you can hear an exemplary performance of The Original Dixieland One-Step.

A little incidental treat is that Chloe Feoranzo joins in on Uptown Bumps.

And note throughout the video the varied and wonderful effects Marla can achieve with mutes. 

Dip into this video anywhere. You will discover music that brings tears of joy to your eyes.

I hope you watch it all. Don't make excuses.

But if you really can't spare more than a minute or so right now, at least watch the beginning of Breeze (10 minutes 20 seconds to 11 minutes 30 seconds) to be reminded of what beauty a great band can find in even the simplest material.

Post 523: 'CREOLE JAZZ' OR 'CREOLE SONG'?

It was one of those pub lunchtime informal jazz sessions. An elderly customer asked us whether we could play 'Creole Jazz'.

The other band members said they did not know it.

I said I had a vague memory of it, so I hummed what I thought was the tune. But the gentleman replied, 'No, it's not that. It's something Acker Bilk recorded'.

Back home, I consulted YouTube and chord books. I soon discovered how I had been mistaken.

The song I had hummed can be heard in this Kid Ory (1944) YouTube video, in which it is the first tune to be played:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW.

Although the video as a whole is called 'Creole Jazz', this particular tune is definitely entitled 'Creole Song'. It is so 'Creole' that it has words in Creole Patois (Madame Feydeaux,..etc.) and Kid Ory can be heard singing them. Mutt Carey is on trumpet.

I found that the great Lasse Collin on his site had produced a leadsheet for this number.

As you can see, Lasse attributes the song to Kid Ory; and, fair enough, it was certainly Ory who introduced it to our repertoire. Some believe, however, that the song was already familiar in New Orleans when Ory was a young man there.

But, to get back to the pub customer and his request, I sought out the Acker Bilk recording of 'Creole Jazz'. This is also available on YouTube:
CLICK HERE.
I was instantly reminded that this recording had been popular at about the time when Kennedy was the President of the USA and MacMillan was our Prime Minister here in the UK. Acker played the lively tune as a brisk clarinet feature, with only his rhythm section in support.

This tune is quite different from the Ory song. It was composed very much later by Claude Luter, the Paris-based musician who was a friend of Sidney Bechet.

This was the tune our customer had requested. Fortunately, the great Lasse Collin had done the trick again! He had produced this leadsheet for it.

I shared this with my colleagues, though I must admit we transposed it to Concert Bb to make it a little easier for us old chaps to learn and play.

And then, at our next visit to the pub, we surprised the elderly gentleman by playing it for him.

Another satisfied customer!

And if you haven't already come across the wonderful website of Lasse Collin - in which he supplies hundreds of leadsheets and is constantly adding more, please may I recommend it to you?
http://cjam.lassecollin.se/
Lasse Collin is generously providing an invaluable service to the whole world of traditional jazz.

ADDITIONAL NOTE added in August 2023 : Sadly, I have just heard that Lasse died on 23 December 2022.