Post 546: SHAKE 'EM UP JAZZ BAND TRIUMPHS AGAIN!

Once again, those of us who live thousands of miles from New Orleans are indebted to my friend Randy, who makes videos under the name RaoulDuke504. Despite his busy and hard-working life as a chef, he managed to get across the Lake to attend the performance by the all-ladies Shake 'Em Up Jazz Band at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art on 7 September 2017. 

And what a performance it was! This band - which was formed initially just to give a demonstration at a girls' summer camp in 2016 - has continued in existence, flourished and is now one of the most exciting and best traditional jazz bands in the world.

Watch Randy's video of them playing Margie in this recent concert: CLICK HERE.

Yes, I know it's a simple 'standard' that all bands play. But what musicianship!

The three rhythm players have established a kind of 'alternative' gently-pulsating New Orleans-style background that really drives the music and keeps your feet tapping. They are unusual in having no drum kit, no tuba, no banjo, no piano. It's all done in this video by Albanie's guitar, Molly's string bass and Dizzy's subtle work on the washboard (listen to the way she uses her 'cymbal' on the offbeats in the final chorus). I should explain that Julie was out of town so Albanie joined the band. In one half of the concert, she played guitar and Molly the string bass; in the other half, they switched rôles. What versatile and brilliant musicians they are!

After a neat final-eight intro from Haruka, Albanie provides a lovely clear vocal at the start.

Then excitement gradually builds, first with a super solo chorus from Haruka, and next with one of amazing fluency from Chloe on clarinet, while the three rhythm ladies keep that gentle, hypnotic pulse going. Just listen to those notes in Chloe's improvisation. Jazz doesn't get any better than that. Then we hear one of Marla's specials - a chorus brilliantly demonstrating what she can achieve with the plunger mute - hugely creative. After this we have a most exciting chorus, with all three front-line ladies collectively improvising around the melody. How well they listen to each other!

After Albanie sings the vocal again, there is a final ensemble chorus that leaves you desperate to hear more from this band.

And yet the whole performance is achieved with restraint. Everyone is relaxed, comfortable and totally in control. There is no over-blowing, no excessive noise. The notes are allowed to do the work. What we have here are great musicians with a common purpose, working brilliantly as a team and expressing the soul of the music.

I could go on about the other videos from this performance.... But seek them out for yourselves. 'Savoy Blues' and 'Shake 'Em Up' are played in ways that will also take your breath away.

By the way, the cavernous acoustics in the Museum are notoriously bad. So Randy did really well to get close to the band and capture the sound in such high quality.

Post 143: RECORDING JAZZ IN THE EARLY DAYS

What a performance it was, recording music in the early days - round about 1920, for example.

The sound had to be picked up through a funnel (centre of picture above) and - to achieve some kind of balance - the musicians had to be disposed at various distances from it. The vocalist, if any, would sing straight into the funnel.

On  a related subject, here's a video you may find interesting. It shows Andy Schumm and fellow musicians, with the recording expertise of Shawn Borri, in 2012 recreating the wax cylinder recording techniques of about 100 years earlier.

Click here.

To hear the amazing end product in full,

Click here.

Post 23: THE ICEBERG CHORD

If you are beginning to play traditional jazz and trying to develop your skills at improvisation, one of the lessons you have to learn concerns the occasional appearance of the chord III^7th in bars (measures) 23 and 24 .

As you probably know, in 32-bar songs, it helps to 'feel' the tune as four groups of eight bars.

And in just a few of these 32-bar structures (enough to catch you out), the final two bars in the third group of eight (Bars 23 and 24) are based on the chord of III^7th . This means that, if you are in the key of C, for example, then that chord will be E^7th. If you are in the key of F, that chord will be A^7th  .... and so on. Get it?

In this example, I have highlighted Bars 23 and 24 of It's a Long Way To Tipperary. As you can see, if you are playing the tune in C, then these two bars are based on E^7th 

The effect of this chord is usually to provide an exciting mini-climax to the tune, leading to a rapid intake of breath before you motor into the satisfying final eight bars. Incidentally, in these situations, it often happens that those final eight bars (25 - 32) follow The Sunshine Sequence, so that makes improvising through them quite simple. I have written about The Sunshine Sequence before. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

As the use of III^7th in Bars 23 - 24 is a somewhat unusual chord development, I have noticed players being taken by surprise by it and producing something that sounds horribly wrong during those two bars.

So when you are improvising, it is important to be aware when this chord is coming up. Look upon it as an iceberg on the horizon: don't let it knock you off your course. You must improvise on that chord at that point in the tune. If you do anything else, the effect can be excruciating.

Here are a few examples of songs you need to be aware of because they employ that device in Bars 23 - 24.

Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly Roll

Alice Blue Gown

All By Myself

Any Time

Barefoot Boy

Beneath Hawaiian Skies

Big Bear Stomp (main theme)

Blame it on the Blues (main theme)

Come Back Sweet Pappa

Crying for the Carolines

Dancing With Tears in My Eyes

Don't Bring Lulu

Down in Jungle Town

Fidgety Feet (main theme)

For Me and My Girl

Heart of My Heart

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

I'm Nobody's Baby

I'm Sorry I Made You Cry

It Happened in Monterey
I've Never Been to New York (the Jonathan Doyle composition)

If I Had a Talking Picture of You

In Apple Blossom Time

Irish Black Bottom

It's a Long Way to Tipperary

Mama's Gone, Goodbye

Margie

Mobile Stomp

Moose March

My Cutie's Due at Two to Two

New Orleans Shuffle

New Orleans Wiggle (main theme)

Paper Doll

Red Hot Mama

Roses of Picardy

Running Wild

Salutation March (main theme)

The Breeze

The Curse of an Aching Heart

The Sheik of Araby

The Waltz You Saved for Me

The World is Waiting for the Sunrise

There's a Blue Ridge Round My Heart Virginia

Tishomingo Blues

Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie

When You Wore a Tulip

You Were Meant for Me

You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You