Post 272: 'NEW ORLEANS HULA' AND 'THE GIRLS GO CRAZY'

Sadly, the great jazz clarinet-player Monty Sunshine died on 30 November 2010. He was born in London, England, in 1928. I enjoyed his recordings over fifty or more years and had the pleasure of being in the audience at some of his concerts.

One of his recordings was of New Orleans Hula, a tune of which I was only vaguely aware.

However, listening to it again recently, I noticed that it is virtually identical to another old jazz classic - The Girls Go Crazy.

And if you are interested in jazz chord progressions, as I am, 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 a sequence of eight bars:

 F | F | C | C | G7 | G7 | C | C

And what do you have?

None other than the chord sequence for New Orleans Hula and The Girls Go Crazy.

It also happens to work for the chorus of the spiritual It is No Secret - except that you have to go through the sequence twice to make up the 16 bars. And it works for the Chorus of Redwing and of Down By The Riverside.

If you don't know these tunes, I am sure you can find them easily on the internet. They are fun to play.

Post 77: THE I - IV - I (APPLE TREE) CHORD PROGRESSION

THE APPLE TREE PROGRESSION at the beginning of a tune is fairly common in traditional jazz, for example in the tunes listed below.

It is called The Apple Tree Progression because it was used in that lovely enduring song from 1905 - In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree.

What happens is that the song begins on the chord of the Tonic; it then moves on to the chord of the 4th note of the scale; and then back to the Tonic. So in the key of C, the first three chords would be C - F - C. The effect is that it gently rocks you away from the tonic and back on to it.

Hear it in:

Amazing Grace 

Blame It On The Blues [main theme] 

Bugle Boy March [main theme] 

Delia's Gone 

Gettysburg March 

Hush! Hush! Somebody's Calling My Name
I Love You Because

I'm Sitting On Top Of The World 

In The Sweet By and By 

In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree
I Wish'T I Was in Peoria

Lady Be Good 

Marching Through Georgia 

My Gal Sal 

My Old Kentucky Home 

Poor Old Joe

Precious Lord, Lead Me On

Red Sails In The Sunset 

Salutation March [main theme] 

Shine
Sometimes My Burden Is Too Hard To Bear 

The Rose Room 

Wait Till The Sun Shines, Nellie 

Walking With the King

Way Down Upon The Swanee River (aka The Old Folks At Home)

Walking the Dog

The Waltz You Saved for Me
What A Friend We Have In Jesus 

When You And I Were Young, Maggie

Redwing

Yearning

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.