Post 443: W. C. HANDY AND MEMPHIS

Only once in my life have I been to Memphis, Tennessee. That was on 17 October 2016. Naturally, I headed to Beale Street.

And of course I had to be photographed with the statue of the great William Christopher Handy.

I also enjoyed seeing the house where he lived for the eight years during which he led his own band playing on Beale Street, and wrote some of his best-known work, establishing the importance of the 12-bar blues. In fact, a few recordings of Handy and his Memphis Orchestra, made in 1917, still exist (you can find them on YouTube).

The house was originally located at 659 Janette Street, but was transported in 1983 to this new site tucked away just behind Beale Street, near the statue. 

Handy in 1892

And here is his band in Memphis in 1918.

Handy lived from 1873 to 1958. Apart from being a trumpet-player and band-leader, he is best known as a composer - 'The Father of the Blues'. Among his compositions are some of the most enduring pieces in the traditional jazz repertoire: Memphis Blues, St. Louis Blues, Beale Street Blues, Ole Miss Rag, Chantez Les Bas, Atlanta Blues, Yellow Dog Blues, and Aunt Hagar's Blues.

Unfortunately, on the one day when I was in Beale Street, the live music in the bars was disappointing. But I guess I was just unlucky. Apart from 'meeting' W. C. Handy, my greatest pleasure in Memphis was a lovely stroll by the Mississippi.

And Mrs. Pops Coffee was thrilled to meet local resident Melvin - just three weeks old. Melvin's ambition is to become a jazz trumpet player.

Post 434: WHAT ARE 'BLUES'?

A reader asked me to explain the type-names we come across in traditional jazz tune titles. 'What is the difference between a Drag and a Rag?' he asked. 'What exactly is a Stomp? How do you define Blues?'

Little did he know I am just as confused about these matters as he is. There is plenty to read on the subjects, both in books and on the internet; but agreed definitions are not easy to come by.

Worst of all is trying to define Blues. In the 1940s, the first 'Blues' I became aware of were the songs of Bessie Smith and her contemporaries. There were tunes such as Backwater Blues and Blue Spirit Blues. I was led to believe the Blues were mournful songs, expressing suffering or regrets, or at least wistfulness and nostalgia. The books I read suggested they had arisen from the chanting of African slaves and were structured on a familiar twelve-bar chord pattern (three four-bar blocks). They used a scale in which flattened thirds, fifths and sevenths were common.

But just think of the heritage of tunes with 'Blues' in the title today.

There are songs called 'Blues' that are really just run-of-the-mill pop music of ninety years ago (normally 32-bar structures). Think of Beer Garden Blues (a conventional 32 bars in AABA structure). Think of Tishomingo Blues, Sugar Blues (this one actually an 18-bar, including tag), Bye Bye Blues, Wild Man Blues, Rent Party Blues, and Davenport Blues.

When professional composers got to work on writing 'Blues', their inventiveness took them far beyond creating one mournful melody of 12 bars. You find Yellow Dog Blues, Savoy Blues, Riverside Blues, Perdido Street Blues, Royal Garden Blues, Jackass Blues, Aunt Hagar's Blues, Dippermouth Blues, Livery Stables Blues, Beale Street Blues, Canal Street Blues, St. Louis Blues, West End Blues, Tin Roof Blues, Chimes Blues - all having two or more (often very cheerful) 12-bar themes and in some cases further structuring, such as 'bridge' passages and key changes.

The early classic Crazy Blues has a long, continuous vocal that runs through three themes. Only the middle one comprises 12 bars; but you would hardly be aware of it.

There are tunes with a 12-bar theme but also a substantial and memorable verse that is played before it. Think of Memphis Blues.

There are plenty of 'Blues' that are lovely wistful compositions that do not include a 12-bar theme at all - Basin Street Blues, Melancholy Blues, Wabash Blues, Michigander Blues, Owl Call Blues, Winin' Boy Blues, Faraway Blues, for example.

Some tunes called 'Blues' have no 12-bar theme and nothing 'bluesy' about them, but are simply well-structured fun numbers. Think of Wolverine Blues, Blue Grass Blues, Dangerous Blues and Jazz Me Blues.

Sometimes the 12-bar blues structure turns up in unlikely places. For example, Mahogany Hall Stomp (yes - it's called a stomp) has a simple main second theme of 12 bars on which the musicians improvise. The same thing happens in She's Crying For Me, Copenhagen, and especially in The Chant, which sounds like a very tricky piece, even though there is a simple 12-bar section tucked away within it as a basis for improvisations.

And what about Tom Cat Blues? It actually sounds like the 12-bar song Nobody Knows The Way I Feel This Morning leading (usually with a change of key) into the 16-bar Winin' Boy Blues.

And consider Weary Blues. Band-leaders often tell you it is not a blues and it is certainly not weary. In fact the first two themes are 12-bar structures, though they whip along in such a way that you would hardly notice. Then, with a change of key, you are into the pulsating familiar 16-bar theme on which sparkling improvisations are possible.

So: what kind of tune may be called a 'Blues'? As John Gore, my favourite school-teacher, used to say to us pupils in his Latin class 70 years ago: 'Tot homines, quot sententiae' [There are as many opinions as there are people]. He was quoting Terence, the Roman dramatist who lived 22 centuries ago.

Post 170: CALIFORNIA FEETWARMERS IN SCOTLAND

The California Feetwarmers (eight musicians) toured in Scotland in January 2015. To judge from YouTube evidence they attracted large audiences.

This seems to prove that such a tour in the U.K. by an American traditional jazz band (they prefer to call themselves a 'ragtime band') is financially viable - something about which there has been considerable doubt in recent years, when audiences for most trad jazz performances in the U.K. are sparse. This band - by the way - is terrific at communicating with and involving the audience.

For a good example of the band's work in Scotland, try this video: CLICK HERE. This is W. C. Handy's 1920 composition Aunt Hagar's Blues, played at an unusually brisk tempo. There's no prima donna exhibitionism. The emphasis is on neat ensemble work; and both the front line and the rhythm section (which includes both washboard and bass drum - rather like Tuba Skinny's) play well-drilled riffs and rhythmic patterns as required.

This is very enjoyable music-making. The California Feetwarmers are a band worth following.