Post 579: SHAYE COHN - TRADITIONAL JAZZ COMPOSER

Shaye Cohn is considered by many to be the best traditional jazz band leader, the best traditional jazz cornet player and one of the best traditional jazz piano players and violin players in the world today. I think it's time also for us to recognise her achievement as a composer of our kind of music.

While only in her early 30s, Shaye had already given us some wonderful compositions. Think of the very entertaining and clever Blue Chime Stomp. Remember the haunting Owl Call Blues. And there was Salamanca Blues - a lovely melancholy piece with themes in F and then Ab, giving plenty of opportunities to the trombone and guitar.  Watch it in this performance: CLICK HERE.  As you can hear, it starts with a pleasant 12-bar blues theme in F, played by Barnabus. After that, so many interesting things happen: an other-worldly 16-bar theme led by Shaye; then a switch to the key of A flat and some lovely 12-bar blues sequences (including those played with a 'break' on bars 7 and 8 by Craig and Barnabus and Todd - always signalled by Shaye's outstretched leg). It's an early example of the beauty and complexity of Shaye's compositions. I should think she must still be very proud of it.

The medium-tempo Tangled Blues is a particularly clever composition: as its title suggests, it sets us plenty to 'untangle', with pretty, wistful phrases popping up in different keys and in two different themes - one of which runs for the highly unusual length of 18 bars.

In some of her work, we might say she is following the Schoebel School of Composition. By this I mean that, just as Elmer Schoebel in such pieces as 'Stomp Off, Let's Go' and 'I Never Knew What a Girl Could Do' has unconventional linking passages that catch us off balance, so Shaye does not restrict herself to nothing but such 8-bar blocks of music as constitute about 95% of traditional jazz tunes. 

Indeed, Shaye often challenges the ubiquitous 32-bar structures [four 8-bar sections, a – a – b – a] followed by popular music composers of the 1920s and 1930s. Some of her structures verge on the byzantine.

Pearl River Stomp (from 2016) springs another Shaye surprise. It begins with a bright 16-bar theme in the key of Ab. This is played through several times. Various instruments in turn take the lead, with interesting backing from the others. But just when you think it will continue like this, no doubt ending with some ensemble choruses, there is an abrupt drop to the key of Db and an entirely new 16-bar theme is played (very much like Bogalusa Strut and complete with the break in Bars 7 and 8). And it is with this theme - played only two or three times - that the piece ends.

Elysian Fields includes some apparent 8-bar sections that weirdly morph into 9 bars, with the barely perceptible addition of a holding pause.

Then there is the mighty Mortonesque Pyramid Strut, composed while the band Tuba Skinny was touring in Australia. This is the most complex of Shaye's creations. It has four themes, as well as an 8-bar bridge, and uses two keys. Lots of 'breaks' are built in and there are witty moments - such as the Coda. You can find videos of all these tunes on YouTube.

A favourite of many fans is the hauntingly beautiful Deep Bayou Moan. To my ear, it's in Ab (F minor). Elegiac, introspective, Arcadian: it has all these qualities.

Shaye's composition Nigel's Dream sounds so authentically 1920s that you could easily be fooled into thinking it was a previously undiscovered manuscript by King Oliver.

You can hear Shaye and Tuba Skinny performing Nigel's Dream either at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1-vc0YVodU

or at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mH63AsRRuw.

As ever, we must be grateful to the video-makers (in this case James Sterling and RaoulDuke504) for bringing this tune to our attention.

Its cheeky two-bar introduction involves nothing more than one 'Charleston' bar from the washboard followed by a single chord from the banjo, guitar and tuba. Then we are into Theme A - 32 bars in the key of C. Great use is made of a phrase (reminiscent of the Middle Eight of East Coast Trot) in which a flattened third is accentuated. Actually these 32 bars comprise two almost identical 16s; and at the end of the first sixteen (Bars 15 and 16) we have a 'break' (played by the banjo first time through and by the cornet and clarinet in a witty King Oliver-style mini-duet when the Theme is played again, led by the trombone, later).

The final bar of Theme A takes us through a modulating chord into the Key of Eb, in which Theme B is played. Twice through the sixteen bars (apparently both beginning with the chord sequence IV - IV - I - I) gives us a merry 32 bars. We then go straight back into Theme A (key of C again), with the trombone taking the lead. Then Theme B (in Eb) is re-visited. This is played through a couple of times with some boisterous, polyphonic ensemble, giving the piece a great ending. There is a neat Coda of just one bar.

What a composition! It's just as well written and well played as those King Oliver Jazz Band classics from the 1920s.
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Post 543: TUBA SKINNY'S 'TUPELO PINE' - ALBUM AND CD

Tuba Skinny recorded their eighth album - Tupelo Pine - in May 2017 and released it in August.

Using the eight musicians who were appearing regularly with the band at the time (but without Erika, who was absent), it offers music ranging from 1921 right up to tunes recently composed by three of the band members. Greg provides vocals, with one by Max.

The only tune to have appeared previously on one of their CDs is Call of the Freaks. On their earlier Garbage Man CD, it was played under its alternative title - Garbage Man, in fact. In this 2017 version, there are some 'freakish' inventions, especially from the clarinet, and we still have the vocal (Stick out your can....). But the arrangement is more  elaborate, intricate, delicate, and polished than in the earlier version.

And that is exactly what will strike you about this album. Everything is so deftly executed. You have the impression that a great deal of preparation has gone into the arrangements. Backing rhythmic patterns are precise and well-rehearsed. All the little breaks are carefully worked out. A good illustration of this is the structure and use of two-bar breaks in Come On and Stomp, Stomp, Stomp, where the band precisely follows the famous recording made in 1927 by Johnny Dodds' Black Bottom Stompers. What stands out strongly compared with Tuba Skinny's earlier recordings is that everything is even more slick and polished.

As usual with Tuba Skinny, there is no exhibitionism. The emphasis is on good melodic music played with bags of intelligence and impeccable teamwork.

Several of the tunes have become familiar through YouTube videos that appeared in 2016 and 2017. For example, the 1933 Clarence Williams composition Chocolate Avenue is yet another of those good old numbers the band unearthed. It is a gently swinging 32-bar tune in Eb; and the band passes the melody around in its usual fashion. To read the article I wrote when Tuba Skinny were first filmed playing Chocolate Avenue, CLICK HERE. And to watch a video I made of them playing this tune in New Orleans when I was there in February 2017, CLICK HERE. It is interesting to compare different performances. You will notice that the structure is remarkably similar, with the trombonist (in my video Charlie Halloran, but on the CD Barnabus Jones) leading the first sixteen bars of the Second Chorus and Craig on clarinet leading from the Middle Eight to the end of the Chorus. On the new recording, in the third Chorus Todd on sousaphone is given the dominant role in the first sixteen bars but the full ensemble rounds the piece off. So: three Choruses in all. However, in my video, you can see them playing four Choruses in total, with much prominence given to the three-man string section in the third.

And Clifford Hayes' romping Frog Hop from 1929 (at two and a half minutes the shortest piece in the album) is a real foot-tapper, with good little solos and a couple of amusing 'frog' effects.

Dangerous Blues - the 1921 song with music by that tragically short-lived young lady Billie Browne - features Craig on clarinet and also has the usual collective vocal. You can read my article about this tune BY CLICKING HERE.

Come On and Stomp, Stomp, Stomp (composed in 1927 by Fats Waller et al.) is the trickiest and most complex piece in this album. Tuba Skinny's version is taken at a more leisurely pace than the one by Johnny Dodds, is fully arranged, complete with the key changes, and sets a great example to any band wishing to try this tune.

Shaye's composition Pearl River Stomp (2016) is a bouncy number with two sixteen-bar themes. In this performance the lead is passed around, the bass clarinet is strongly in evidence and there is even a 'twos' section shared by cornet and trombone. Almost imperceptibly, without any bridge, it slips into Db for the final two choruses (the second theme) after being entirely in Ab up to that point. This theme seems to be similar to the second theme of Bogalusa Strut, also using that tune's chord progression.

And Shaye's Nigel's Dream (from 2015) is another fine composition. With typical Shaye-isms, it slides neatly from C to Eb, back to C and then back to Eb to finish. It uses a thematic base reminiscent of the middle eight of East Coast Trot, and indeed the whole piece is something of a trot, played with great energy. Quite a dream our Nigel had!

I am glad the album also includes Thoughts, Robin Rapuzzi's gently rolling composition from 2015, in a lovely arrangement. I have written before about this tune. You may read my article BY CLICKING HERE. Robin originally composed it for violin but he is proud of the way it sounds when played by the band.

I'm Going to Germany (the 1929 number composed by Noah Lewis for Cannon's Jug Stompers) is a 16-bar song with a wistful melody, well presented by Greg, with good support from the band.

Greg also sings Loose Like That - one of those bright 8-bar tunes from which Tuba Skinny always manages to extract so much. It gets the album off to a fine start. (There is a YouTube video of them playing this song at the Abita Springs Buskers' Festival in April 2017.) In contrast, he also sings the 1930 Broonzy number Eagle Riding Papa, which is a brisk 32-bar tune.

Max is the singer on Right or Wrong, the pleasant love song composed in 1921 by Arthur Sizemore and Paul Biese, with words by Haven Gillespie.

Some have already said that the elegiac minor-key Deep Bayou Moan is the loveliest melody Shaye has ever written. She herself leads it off, and it is then played beautifully by all members of the band. You may well consider this track alone justifies the price of the album.

The eponymous Tupelo Pine, composed by Barnabus (maybe inspired by the band's canine musical director!), is a slow, lovely melody in Eb over a simple chord progression (plenty of Ebs, C7ths and Abs). As with all the other tunes, it provides opportunities for a variety of instruments to take the lead.

You can download the album, or individual tracks, from Bandcamp: CLICK HERE.

Post 411: TUBA SKINNY - WHAT'S THE SECRET?

How do Tuba Skinny do it? How is it that this group of surprisingly young musicians – who met six years ago while busking on the streets of New Orleans, has become the greatest traditional jazz band in the world today?

Let me offer you twenty-one reasons.

1. They work very hard behind the scenes – researching and learning old material and devising ways of playing it with fresh vigour. And they are perfectionists. Look, for example, at their performances of Deep Henderson, a tricky multi-part rhythmic piece. While showing respect for the 1926 recording of this tune by King Oliver's Band, Tuba Skinny do not slavishly imitate: they show what they can do with their own resources. They have arranged the piece meticulously. And all members of the band have the arrangement firmly inside their heads. They know exactly who does what, and when. And they also know where they have a chance to cut loose for a few bars. Now watch other bands playing this tune. Almost invariably they are dependent on printed arrangements of the music on stands in front of them, and their performances sound far less exciting and more stilted.

2. Although Tuba Skinny could play the familiar worn-out tunes of every trad band's repertoire, their programmes mostly comprise exciting unfamiliar gems they have unearthed from the 1920s and 1930s (e.g. New Orleans Bump, You Can Have My Husband, Chocolate Avenue, Jackson Stomp, Deep Henderson, Banjoreno, Treasures Untold, Russian Rag, Oriental Strut, Minor Drag, Michigander Blues, Harlem's Araby, Me and My Chauffeur, A Jazz Battle, Droppin' Shucks, Fourth Street Mess Around, Carpet Alley Breakdown). The almost-forgotten artists whose music they have revived include Lucille Bogan, Victoria Spivey, Memphis Minnie, Jabbo Smith, Georgia White, Skip James, Merline Johnson, Ma Rainey, Hattie Hart, The Memphis Jug Band, Blind Blake, Clara Smith, The Dixieland Jug Blowers, The Grinnell Giggers and The Mississippi Mud Steppers; and of course they also play tunes associated with the better-known, such as Bessie Smith, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton. They will surprise you by going to some unconventional sources for tunes they turn into exciting traditional jazz - sources such as Ray Charles and the 21st-century Australian original C. W. Stoneking.

3. All the musicians in the group have thoroughly mastered their instruments; and most of them can play more than one (e.g. cornet + piano + violin; tuba + banjo; trombone + banjo; banjo + harmonica + mandolin + guitar). This provides variety of sound and also the ability to 'substitute' if a regular player is unavailable.

4. They prefer collective improvisation to prima donna solos. Their teamwork is exceptional.

5. They have an outstandingly good singer (Erika Lewis). She has a soulful plaintive voice and great intonation. Her phrasing is perfect and she uses rubato very skilfully. Rather than stick to the familiar jazz standards, she has developed a rich repertoire of tunes rescued from obscurity (e.g. Tricks Ain't Walking, Crow Jane, How Do They Do It That Way?, Mississippi River Blues, I'll See You in the Spring, Need a Little Sugar in my Bowl, You Let Me Down, Got a Man in the 'Bama Mines, What's the Matter with the Mill?). Erika also doubles on bass drum.

6. Other members of Tuba Skinny are also very competent vocalists.

7. The Band does not use a conventional percussionist, with full drum kit. Instead, they have a washboard (and recently the bass drum). As a result, there is a clean sound to the rhythm. In many traditional jazz bands, the drumming has a smudging effect, filling every space and sometimes forcing other players to blow too loud. Listen to Tuba Skinny and you can hear clearly the part played by every single instrument: there is no need to over-blow; and there is none of the muddying effect you sometimes notice with other bands. The washboard player is superb is his energy and inventiveness and time-keeping (and I speak as one who used not to care much for washboards as musical instruments).

Erika and Robin

8. Tuba Skinny avoids the dreary succession of 32-bar 'solo' choruses from four or more instruments that we so often hear in traditional jazz performances. Usually, two or three players lead for a few bars each in covering a 32-bar theme. In the rare instances of complete solo choruses, Tuba Skinny musicians add colouring behind the soloist, either with musical phrases or by using stop chords or long notes.

9. Tuba Skinny always starts a tune well. They have devised an appropriate introduction for every one of their tunes.

10. The tuba player Todd Burdick provides a very solid base line for all tunes. It pays from time to time to focus on his contribution and admire its accuracy and solidity.

11. The trombonist Barnabus Jones has absorbed the skills and techniques of the great traditional jazz trombonists in the famous recordings of the 1920s. He and the cornet-player work particularly well together – listening carefully to each other and responding to each other's musical phrases. Recently-introduced reed players (one of them English, I'm pleased to say) proved just as skilful.

12. The band takes great care with the setting of tempos at the start of each tune. Once established, the tempo is maintained with metronomic accuracy. There is none of the speeding up or (worse) the wearying drag-back of tempo that you notice in other bands on YouTube. The combination of Todd Burdick on tuba and a guitar player (such as Max Bien-Kahn) provides a powerful 'engine' that drives the band along; and all the banjo players over the years have been brilliant at providing the rock-steady rhythms that our bands require. The banjoists are good at playing tremolos to add emphasis on stressed notes (as in Jazz Battle) or to add pretty decorations (to such tunes as Memphis Shake and Michigander Blues).

13. The Band is not afraid of key changes within tunes, sometimes because the tune is written that way, sometimes to play the tune in a key that suits the whole band and then in a key with which the singer is more comfortable (e.g. How Do They Do It That Way? and Delta Bound and Dangerous Blues) and sometimes just for the mischief of it. Have a listen to Cannonball. Notice what tricks they can play even with a 12-bar blues. Admire the Introduction, the Bridges and the Coda, and especially the three key changes!
Watch it by clicking here.

14. Tuba Skinny devises interesting endings for its tunes. Listen to their very neat codas.

Left to Right: Shaye, Barnabus and Erika.

15. The cornet player and (it seems) unofficial director of music, the amazing Shaye Cohn (who is also terrific on piano, violin and accordion - and she even plays the double bass in the country music group The Lonesome Doves), is never flashy in her playing. She has a Mozartian instinct for what works best: she contributes to ensembles in the same way that the viola contributes to the 'conversation' in Mozart's string quartets. She can 'bend' notes and knows instinctively when to use this trick to the best effect. Full of bluesy notes and demonstrating a very effective use of mutes (notably the plunger and the stone-lined cup), the fluent phrases and harmonies she produces are hugely more interesting and exciting than the raucous high-note solos that many traditional jazz trumpeters think the music requires.

16. The Band does not stick doggedly to instrumentation that involves a trumpet (or cornet) – clarinet - trombone front line for every tune. Sometimes, their music has elements of bluegrass or klezmer and this can involve a whole tune (e.g. Russian Rag, Jackson Stomp, Papa's Got Your Bath Water On) being played without cornet or trombone.

17. They don't mind including an occasional waltz in their programme – especially if the tune is beautiful (e.g. Treasures Untold, Sunset Waltz). These are played lovingly, allowing the melodies to speak for themselves.

18. The violin is sometimes used – both for melodic and rhythmic effects.

19. Members of the Band have (in a small way so far) composed tunes for their group to play (e.g. Salamanca Blues, Owl Call Blues - a hauntingly beautiful song, Broken-Hearted Blues, Thoughts, the authentically-1920s-sounding Nigel's Dream, Pyramid Strut - a potential classic of Mortonesque structure and complexity, Six Feet Down, the lovely Blue Chime Stomp and the craftily-composed Tangled Blues - with a highly unusual 18-bar theme). These pieces are fully up to the quality of the material from the 1920s that they love so much.

20. The Band is very skilful with 'breaks' – the element Jelly Roll Morton considered so important in jazz. If you don't know what I mean, I am referring to those phrases (typically two bars) where the whole band stops suddenly, except for one instrument – the clarinet, for example – leaving that player to invent a decorative musical phrase to fill the gap before the band picks up again. Tuba Skinny is particularly good at breaks: there never seems to be any doubt about which player will play the break, and all the players cut off together. (So many other bands fail in this matter. It is particularly irritating when – for example – a drummer plays right through a clarinetist's break.)

21. Just like a classical orchestra, they take trouble tuning up. See the start of this video:
CLICK HERE

Finally, as a demonstration of the above points, listen to the way the band interprets and performs Delta Bound on its CD. This is a straightforward 32-bar tune, with a structure of four sets of eight bars. Let's call these four sets A1, A2, B [the middle eight], A3. So how do they make Delta Bound specially interesting and different? Here's what they do:

  Introduction: In the key of D minor, the full band plays A2; then the trombone plays the melody for B; and then the full band plays A3 (total 24-bar introduction – unusual!)

  Song: A sudden switch to the key of G minor! Erika Lewis sings the 32-bar song once right through. In A1 and A2, she is solidly supported by the tuba, banjo and washboard. In B and A3, there is quiet decorative support first from the brass and then from the clarinet.

   Next time through: The clarinet improvises on A1 – 8 bars only - while the brass trio play long supporting notes, including crescendos! Then the clarinet improvises on A2. The cornet takes over, improvising the eight bars of B, with lovely tuba support; and then the trombone leads the final 8 bars of the song – A3.

   Approaching the End: the return of the singer; but Erika picks up the tune not at the beginning but rather at the middle eight – B, while the clarinet provides decorative background. Then the full band joins in for A3 with long-note harmonies.

   Coda: Suddenly we switch back to the opening key - D minor - just for the final eight bars! How cheeky is that? The full band plays A3 again as the coda, with a rallentando to round off.

What about that for an interpretation?

If you would like to hear this performance of Delta Bound, click on this link or paste it into your browser:

http://tubaskinny.bandcamp.com/track/delta-bound
Or you can watch them playing it on YouTube. But this performance was recorded long before the CD. There was no clarinet at the time, so the arrangement is slightly different:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u0uqoqfMEM

"I think what's unique about our group is that everyone is really dedicated to the music," said Erika Lewis in an interview. "That's the bottom line. How we measure success is all about how well we played."