Post 549: THANK YOU, STEPHEN FOSTER

I suppose most of us play Stephen Foster songs from time to time. They are among the oldest tunes in our repertoire. Foster wrote over 200 songs - an amazing output, considering that he died at the age of only 37, and that he was largely self-taught in musical theory and instrument playing.

I am particularly fond of Beautiful Dreamer (1864) and Way Down Upon the Swanee River (1851; also known as Old Folks at Home) and I get to play them quite a lot. It is always a poignant thought that Stephen died only a few days after composing Beautiful Dreamer. He did not live to see it published and probably never heard it played by a professional musician.

Foster's tunes may seem somewhat basic, compared with the rags that were added to our repertoire fifty years later. But I believe they should not be under-estimated. He was absolutely brilliant at producing a good melody within everybody's vocal range and with enough repeated phrases to make it easy to learn. His tunes also used very simple chord progressions that made the tunes a doddle to play in those nineteenth-century homesteads, where families had to make their own entertainment and where everybody aspired to own a piano or harmonium or fiddle or accordion or banjo. Also he tended to write 32-bar tunes, using the a-a-b-a structure (four eight-bar blocks) which was to become the standard in popular songs for decades.

And all those features make his tunes very pleasant and straightforward for us to play. Have you noticed how effectively The Shotgun Jazz Band (with Tyler Thomson singing) has been playing My Old Kentucky Home in recent months?

Here's how the wonderful and generous Lasse Collin has made Beautiful Dreamer available to us on his website[ http://cjam.lassecollin.se/ ]:

You see what I mean about the simple lines of the melody and the exceptionally simple chord sequence? But it is a gem of a tune to play. And audiences still love it.

Footnote added later: I noticed that on 6 November 2017 a video was downloaded on to YouTube by RaoulDuke504 in which Tuba Skinny are seen (for the first time?) playing Beautiful Dreamer. So I'm very pleased that they too have added this song to their repertoire.

Post 181: IMPROVISING ON MIDDLE EIGHTS

Many of our tunes (such as 12-bar blues) do not have Middle Eights, of course. And 32-bar tunes frequently consist of two 16-bar blocks, where there is no conventional Middle Eight.

However, hundreds of tunes (especially 32-bar songs built on an a - a - b - a structure) do have a Middle Eight (the 'b' section).

We can easily be flummoxed by Middle Eights. If you're not sure of the melody or the chord sequence in those eight bars, you can find yourself in trouble.

And some tunes are notorious for their unusual and tricky Middle Eights. Think, for example, of Have You Met Miss Jones?, Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans? and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Even I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket needs care (don't break the eggs!).

In many of the good old standards, it is possible to spot familiar chord progressions (with the famous 'circle of fifths' working its magic). But I'm sorry to say I have discovered no simple trick to help me master Middle Eights. You just have to work hard at them and learn them one by one.

Below are twenty Middle Eights (in their most simplified form) of some popular traditional jazz tunes. As you can see, there is much variety even among them. There are a few cases (e.g. the first three songs below) where you find two or more tunes using pretty much the same progression.

In my examples, I use the numerical system. So, in the Key of C:

1    27    4m    5

would mean:

C    D7      Fminor    G.
-------------------------------------------------------

Yes, Sir, That's My Baby

1   1   4   4   27   27   57   57

We'll Meet Again
17   17   4   4   27   27   57   57

On the Sunny Side of the Street

17   17   4   4   27   27   57   57

I Want a Little Girl to Call My Own

17   17   4   4   67   67   27   57

Egyptian Ella

2m   2m  6m  6m  2m   2m  77   37

(a typical minor key tune's Middle Eight)

Has Anybody Seen My Girl?

37   37  67   67   27   27   57   57

Fingering With Your Fingers

37   37  67   67   27   27   57   57

Girl of my Dreams

37   37   6m   6m   27   27   57   57   

Sweet Emmalina
37   37   67   67   27   27   57   57

I Got Rhythm

37   37  67   67   27   27   27   57

Ice Cream

4   4   1   1   27   27   57   57

Carolina Moon

4   4   1   1   27   27   57   57

When You and I Were Young, Maggie

4   4   1   1   5   27   57   57

I'm Sitting on Top of the World
4   77   1   1   6m   6m   27   57

Lady Be Good

4   57   1   1   6m   6m   2m7    57

My Blue Heaven

4   67   2m   2m   57   57   1   1

I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket

4   4  6b7  6b7  3b7  3b7   57   57  

(Note the tricky bit)

Beautiful Dreamer

57   57   1   1   27   27   57   57

Way Down Upon the Swanee River
57   57   1   17   4   4   1   57

When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful

57   1   57   1   67   27   27   57