Post 497: JOY FROM 'THE LOOSE MARBLES'

The most important and influential traditional jazz band to emerge anywhere in the world in the Twenty-First Century has undoubtedly been The Loose Marbles. This band was given its name by its founder, Michael Magro, who grew up in Philadelphia. Its first performance was in Providence, Rhode Island, way back in September 2000.

I have explained in the past why this band is so important in the history of our music. To read my article, CLICK HERE.

The good news is that Michael is still leading the band and setting an example to us all. A 26-minute video of Loose Marbles in one of its latest manifestations - as a six-piece - has recently appeared on YouTube; and I commend it to you.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW.

There is nothing exhibitionist or pretentious in this music. Leading from the clarinet, Michael likes to play good, simply-structured, pretty tunes in a relaxed way, with the emphasis on melody and teamwork. He is often the first to state the melody, usually (as in Winin' Boy Blues) in a very interesting way. Michael's playing is reminiscent of his heroes George Lewis and Albert Burbank. And it is interesting to hear Marla playing one complete chorus with a double-section stonelined 'cleartone' mute. (I must remember to add one to my Christmas wish-list!) The three rhythm players are exemplary throughout, with their clockwork 4/4 support.

I hope you will enjoy this entertaining and sincere performance, filmed in Frenchmen Street, New Orleans, at The Louisiana Music Factory, which, in case you don't know, is a very large shop with a terrific stock of jazz recordings.

POST 464: 'HOW DO THEY DO IT THAT WAY?' - VICTORIA SPIVEY TO TUBA SKINNY

Victoria Spivey composed How Do They Do It That Way? in 1927 and recorded it with Red Allen's Orchestra in 1929. It's a catchy and lively song. You can hear Victoria singing it BY CLICKING HERE.

Interesting points to note are:

1. It has a very good 16-bar Verse that no band should omit.

2. The Chorus (32-bar a-a-b-a) has a very simple chord structure that we also find in other tunes, notably Ice Cream. So improvising on it is very easy.

In Victoria's original recording, Red Allen's musicians played the song right through in the key of Eb. Then - for Victoria's vocal - they switched to Bb. Immediately after this they returned to Eb for an exciting chorus (trumpet against stop chords).

When Tuba Skinny took up this tune, with Erika Lewis as vocalist, they followed precisely this pattern set by the 1929 recording, complete with the key changes. You can hear an example of their performance BY CLICKING HERE.

Post 385: THE RHYTHM WIZARDS

Robin Rapuzzi is very proud of the work done in New Orleans by The Rhythm Wizards, one of the jazz bands in which he played.

Alas, the band was short-lived. It disbanded by 2017.

I can tell you this was a really good and interesting band, unusual because of its instrumentation and broad-minded repertoire. It is admirable that so many of the young musicians in New Orleans are introducing us to long-forgotten and unfamiliar tunes, including some with a Caribbean origin. This is so refreshing after all the Bourbon Street Parades and When The Saints and Bill Baileys that we constantly hear elsewhere.

The Rhythm Wizards were formed late in 2014, with Tomas Majcherski as leader. Some of the musicians had earlier played together in an experimental band called The 4.99 Five-Piece (a name based on fried chicken on sale in the market!); and some had played in Steamboat Calypso - the group led by Madeleine Reidy. Robin says they were very inspired by that group. In fact, Maddy was the singer on the first album The Rhythm Wizards produced.

Robin had great respect for the leadership provided by Tomas: he told me Tomas had 'done a ton of research for the group, especially when it comes to picking out the significant poly-rhythms that make Caribbean and jazz music so much fun to play'.

Robin kindly let me know The Rhythm Wizards intended to perform in Royal Street on 7 April 2016, while I was in town. So I made a point of being there.

Who were the members of the band? It's hard to give a definitive answer because the young New Orleans bands all seem to have a pool of players to draw upon. But the 'core' players seemed to be:

Tomas Majcherski : Clarinet and Reeds
Robin Rapuzzi : Drums and Washboard
Jon Ramm : Trombone
Max Bien-Kahn : Guitar
Todd Burdick : banjo and tuba
Peter Olynciw : upright bass
Coleman Akin : Violin
Zayd Sifri : auxiliary percussion
Others who played and recorded with them include:
Max Feldschuh : Vibraphone and Piano
Madeleine Reidy : vocals

You will notice that The Rhythm Wizards usually played without a trumpet and they had up to four musicians on stringed instruments. It was the clarinet that tended to lead on the melody. All these features helped to make this a refreshingly distinctive traditional jazz band.

On its website, the Band claimed to play 'Traditional Jazz and Pan-American Music from the Mississippi Delta to the Caribbean and beyond'. Such a repertoire also made it rather special.

Yes, The Rhythm Wizards could be found playing a popular standard such as Ice Cream, or St. Louis Blues, or an elegant Maple Leaf Rag, but in the same programme you were also likely to hear that rarely-played number St. Louis Tickle and the rhythmic Caribbean-style Petrol or the sweetly melodic waltz-tempo Tres Bemoles (meaning 'Three Flats' - and it is indeed in the key of Eb). Or you might catch them playing Black Rag, which sounded to me like Down Home Rag. (I found later that Down Home Rag was composed in 1911, but that Papa Celestin's Tuxedo Orchestra was the first to record it - in 1925 - under the title Black Rag. I wonder why. To avoid paying dues?)

As you may infer, the variety of rhythms to be heard in a performance justified their name as the 'Rhythm Wizards'.

One of their most popular numbers was The History of Man. Codallo's Top Hatters Orchestra of Trinidad recorded that tune in the 1930s, and The Rhythm Wizards were one of the few bands to be playing it in the 21st Century.

I made two videos of their performance in Royal Street on 7 April 2016. While filming, I slowly walked round the band, to get a good view of all of them in close-up. The result is that the sound quality is sometimes unbalanced but I hope the videos give a good idea of the kind of music the band plays and, incidentally, what busking is like for a musician on the streets of New Orleans.

In one of my videos, they are playing The Cotton-Picker's Drag.  This tune was created by a string band of the 1930s - The Grinnell Giggers. View The Rhythm Wizards playing it BY CLICKING HERE.

The other video shows them playing the old favourite Ice Cream: View it BY CLICKING HERE.

Post 82: JUST A LITTLE HELP WITH MIDDLE EIGHTS

Hundreds of the songs (not counting the 12-bar blues) played by traditional jazz bands are structured in 32 bars. Sometimes there is a pattern of two sets of sixteen bars – each of the sixteen starting with similar notes.

But many tunes have a ‘middle eight’ – so-called but not really middle because they are actually the third of four sets set of eight bars. The tunes often have an A – A – B – A structure, in which the three A sections (each of eight bars) are very similar in melody and harmonic progression, while the B section (sometimes called the ‘release’ or ‘bridge’) has a contrasting melody and harmonic structure.

For the musicians, it is a tough job learning all these chord progressions and the middle eights can be particularly tricky and easily forgotten.

Fortunately there are some recurring patterns and it helps a little to familiarise yourself with these. Here are three of them. Please note: most tunes listed below have their own slight variations within these structures.

Suzie Middle Eight Pattern

Based on these chords of the Home Key:

 I   |   I^7th  |  IV   |   IV   |   II^7th   |    II^7th  |   V^7th |    V^7th 

Examples:

All Alone by the Telephone

Are You Lonesome Tonight?

Big Butter and Egg Man

Coquette

Darkness on the Delta

Honeysuckle Rose

I Had Someone Else Before I Had You

I’m Alone Because I Love You

I’m Confessin’ That I Love You

If You Knew Suzie

Just Squeeze Me

Move the Body Over

Some Day Sweetheart

That Certain Party

The Best Things in Life and Free

We’ll Meet Again

When I Leave the World Behind

You Always Hurt the One You Love

You’re the Cream in My Coffee

Girl of My Dreams Middle Eight Pattern

Based on these chords of the Home Key:

 III^7th  |  III^7th  | VI^7th |  VI^7th  |  II^7th  | II^7th  | V^7th |  V^7th 

Examples:

Do  Your Duty
Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue

Girl of My Dreams

Give it Up

Hometown

I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love with Me

Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall

Kansas City Kitty
Love Letters in the Sand
Please Don’t Talk About Me

Side By Side

Stevedore Stomp

Ice Cream Middle Eight Pattern

Based on these chords of the Home Key:

 IV  |   IV  |   I   |    I  |    II^7th   |   II^7th   |   V^7th   |   V^7th 

Examples:

Blue Turning Grey

Don’t Sweetheart Me

Exactly Like You

I Like Bananas Because They Have No Bones

Ice Cream

Monday Date

Painting the Clouds with Sunshine

San Jacinto Stomp
Sentimental Journey

There’s an Old Mill By the Stream

When the Moon Comes over the Mountain

Post 75: THE IV - I - V - I (BLUEBERRY HILL) CHORD PROGRESSION

If you are interested in jazz chord progressions, here's a curiosity for you. Take a standard twelve-bar blues chord sequence, for example (in the Key of C):

    C | C | C | C7 | F | F | C | C | G7 | G7 | C | C

(This was the basis of so much rock 'n' roll and all that followed.)

Then chop off the first four bars, leaving you with this sequence of eight bars:

   F | F | C | C | G7 | G7 | C | C

And what do you have?

It's the sequence 4 - 1 - 5 - 1  (IV - I - V7 - I), because it is based on the fourth note of the scale (F major) followed by the 1st note (C major), etc. It is known by some musicians as The Blueberry Hill Progression.

The structure can lend itself to some exciting if riffy rocking music, especially with Redwing and Uptown Bumps.

It is the chord sequence for:

Blueberry Hill (1st, 2nd and final 8s)
Bucket's Got a Hole in It

Come on and Stomp Stomp Stomp [A]
Down By The Riverside (chorus)

Ice Cream (middle eight)

It is No Secret (the chorus)

Make Me a Pallet on the Floor

Marie (I. Berlin 1928)
New Orleans Hula

Redwing (the chorus)

The Girls Go Crazy

Uptown Bumps (chorus)

When It's Sleepy Time Down South

If the tune is written in the key of F, this means the first chord would be Bb major. Here's an illustration of how it works. The tune (second half of Down by the Riverside) is in the key of F.