Post 590: 'SAVOY BLUES' - TWO MAGNIFICENT CONTRASTING PERFORMANCES

May I draw to your attention two recent and magnificent performances of Savoy Blues? They are both available for you to watch and hear on YouTube.

Savoy Blues is one of the best-known tunes in the traditional jazz repertoire. It is played by almost all of our bands. Created by the great pioneering trombonist Edward 'Kid' Ory (1886 - 1973), it is played throughout in the key of F and has opportunities for 12-bar blues improvisations at its centre. But it also has popular riffing patterns at the beginning and end. These have become conventional parts of the structure. The exciting riffs are old friends to anybody who listens regularly to traditional jazz. Because the trombone usually has such a prominent part, the tune is often regarded as a trombone feature. Most bands playing Savoy Blues stick closely to the original Ory structure.

The first performance on YouTube, by the Shake 'Em Up Jazz Band, adheres to these conventions. The video may be enjoyed BY CLICKING HERE.

The ladies begin with the famous 16-bar introduction with its striking notes at the end (30 seconds to 32 seconds). This is followed by the famous riff of 12 bars where once again the final two bars are usually accentuated (52 seconds to 54 seconds). After this comes a four-bar 'bridge' (two bars played twice) acting as a lead-in to the series of 12-bar blues solos. 

In this Shake 'Em Up performance, the first solo is taken by Chloe Feoranzo on the clarinet. Chloe by the way plays a Buffet E11 clarinet with a Vandoren M13 Lyre mouthpiece. She begins with a laid-back chorus and then plays two more in which her improvisations become increasingly fiery. Chloe is followed by Marla on the trumpet. She also takes three choruses, demonstrating some very fine work with the plunger mute. Note how Haruka Kikuchi and Chloe back her up with a gentle riff in the third chorus (2 minutes 56 seconds to 3 minutes 12). 

It is usual in Savoy Blues for the final solo to be taken by the trombone. That is what happens here. The great Haruka Kikuchi, who has told us it was Kid Ory who inspired her to become a traditional jazz trombonist, plays very much in his manner. She takes just two choruses, with Marla and Chloe backing her up prettily in the second. As is the convention in Savoy Blues, the trombone solo ends with a glissando rising over two bars (3 minutes 57 seconds to 4 minutes 01 in this video). This glissando is one of the most treasured and exciting moments for traditional jazz audiences (as indeed it obviously is for the cheering audience here!).

The glissando takes us into the final two 12-bar riffing choruses. The Shake 'Em Up ladies then finish with a neat two-bar trombone-led coda. 

Throughout this performance, notice the superbly metronomic, empathetic and gentle rhythmic footfall provided in the background by Albanie, Molly and Dizzy. 

What a magnificent performance of Savoy Blues this is! Here we have six of our greatest musicians each individually demonstrating wonderful skills and yet playing brilliantly as a team. It is hard to imagine a better performance of Savoy Blues in its conventional form.

Now let us turn to the slightly more recent performance by Tuba Skinny. You can watch the video BY CLICKING HERE.

This is equally magnificent and yet the tune is reinterpreted in Tuba Skinny's distinctive way. Editing of the usual rituals has taken place and the tune is given a new delicacy. There is no question of its being a 'trombone feature'; and the 12-bar riffs that usually bring the tune to an end are replaced by a repeat of the riffs from the beginning.

Sure enough, Tuba Skinny begin with the usual 16-bar riffing introduction but with less accentuation on the famous final two bars than we normally hear (from 32 seconds to 35 seconds). Then, sticking for the moment to the usual pattern, they follow with the 12-bar riff but again quite deliberately tone down the final two bars (54 seconds to 55 seconds). 

This is followed by the usual four-bar link to the solo choruses. It is played gently by Barnabus. 

As with the Shake 'Em Up version, soloing now begins. First we have Craig playing two choruses on the clarinet, in the second of which he is very neatly and gently backed up by Shaye and Barnabus (1 minute 26 seconds to 1 minute 42).

We then have an extraordinary conversational two choruses in which Barnabus on trombone and Shaye on cornet 'trade twos' in a most exquisite manner (1 minute 47 seconds to 2 minutes 30). For me, this is the highlight of the performance and it demonstrates so well why thousands of us all over the world consider the musical partnership and mutual understanding of Shaye and Barnabus to be among the best in traditional jazz anywhere. 

After this we have a single 12-bar chorus from the strings. 

Now, in a total break from the Savoy Blues conventions we do not have a final chorus from the trombone and we do not have the famous glissando up to the 12-bar riffs that normally bring the tune to an end. In contrast, the trombone solo and those riffs are dropped altogether and we have Todd (at 2 minutes 52 seconds) taking the lead just for 12 bars while the others repeat the 12-bar riff that had been played before the solo choruses. 

Finally, Tuba Skinny choose to go right back to the beginning (with Shaye tapping her hand on the head at 3 minutes 13 to remind them to do this). So they end by playing the 16-bar introduction and the 12-bar riff that always follows it yet again, giving us an unusual and surprising ending, which incidentally they finish in a gentle manner with a little rallentando.

In addition to the musicians I have named, note the usual brilliance and solidity of the Tuba Skinny rhythm section and the subtleties of Robin's playing on his percussion instruments.

So this too is a magnificent performance, cleverly thought out, with superb teamwork and some lovely touches demonstrating traditional jazz at its best. 

I hope you will enjoy these videos as much as I have. And I must add that both were uploaded by RaoulDuke504. I think we owe this generous gentleman a major international award for all the pleasure he has spread over the world with his videos in the last few years. Thank you, RaoulDuke504!

Post 538: FLATTENED SIXTHS AND 'SAN' - FROM LOOSE MARBLES TO TUBA SKINNY

Imagine you are playing a standard tune in the key of F. The chords you are most likely to use are F major, B flat major and C 7th. In fact some tunes can be played using only these three chords. But there's a fair chance you will also need G minor 7th, A 7th and a few more.

But an unlikely chord is D flat 7th.  Based on the flattened 6th note in the scale of F, it has a clashing, 'depressing' effect on the melody at any point where it is played. However, it crops up briefly, for special purposes, in quite a few of our tunes.

In the Chorus of the popular tune San, composed in 1920 by Lindsay McPhail and Walter Michels, this chord occurs an exceptional number of times. In total, it occupies 18.75% of the Chorus. This gives the tune its distinctive character. I can think of no other tune in which this chord is used so much.

I recently came across an interesting video that had been put up on YouTube at the end of 2013. The generous video-maker was a person codenamed twobarbreak and the video was of Loose Marbles playing San.

By the way, my friend Bob Andersen in San Diego has emailed me to say that twobarbreak is in fact Peter Loggins, the well-known jazz trombone player, dance teacher and jazz researcher.

You can watch his video BY CLICKING HERE.

They are playing the tune in the key of F. Listen for that D flat 7th chord: you hear it forty-two times, first at 03 seconds, and then at 05 seconds. See what I mean?

This video also appeals to me because it provides a glimpse at what was going on behind the scenes in those days when Loose Marbles was still evolving and Tuba Skinny was in its early stage of development.

There is no audience. The band seems to be rehearsing in an otherwise deserted New Orleans bar. Chord books lie around on the floor; and Shaye is directing proceedings: for example, she sets up a washboard Chorus by the hugely energetic Robin. This is accompanied by stop chords - a device that was to occur very often in later Tuba Skinny performances. 

San has a 24-bar Verse in a minor key but Loose Marbles choose not to play this at all. Instead, they simply romp through the Chorus seven times in a pretty exciting manner. The distinctive clarinet sound of Michael Magro is much in evidence. There is the usual Loose Marbles emphasis on ensemble playing, and they ensure that the tune is not always led by the cornet. Note how Barnabus on trombone leads in the second and fifth Choruses. 

Already in 2013, Shaye's wonderful gift for intuitive improvisation and harmonisation during ensembles was much in evidence. The actual notes she plays in the fourth Chorus (that runs from 1 minute 45 seconds to 2 minutes 20 seconds) repay close attention. They are so much more inspired and original than what we hear from so many players. It is amazing to think she had taken up cornet-playing only three or four years earlier.

The musicians are all familiar faces, though a couple of them seem to have since departed from the New Orleans scene.

In more recent times, Tuba Skinny have been playing San frequently. You can easily find videos of them doing so on YouTube. Watch an example filmed by my friend James Sterling BY CLICKING HERE.

But Tuba Skinny are now including the Verse - usually playing it at the start and again later. They are also pitching the tune three semi-tones higher, having switched to the key of Ab, in which it works very well. However, I don't think these later performances are necessarily more exciting than that original Loose Marbles rehearsal!

Post 485: 'DROPPIN' SHUCKS' BY LIL HARDIN ARMSTRONG

Good friend and regular correspondent Jim Sterling of Florida told me he had been very pleased to discover the YouTube video of Tuba Skinny playing Droppin' Shucks in Royal Street as long ago as 2012, when the band still had Ryan Baer on banjo and when there was no reed player. I'm talking of this video - click on here to view.

The message from Jim reminded me that I enjoyed the video when I first saw it in 2012. At the time, I remember listening also (for comparison) to the original 1926 version composed by Lil Hardin Armstrong and recorded by Louis Armstrong's Hot Five (also available on YouTube).

But on that occasion, apart from feeling that it was a very good but quite complicated piece of music, I thought no more about it.

Jim enjoyed the performance and particularly praised Shaye's muted cornet work. Throughout the three minutes, Shaye uses her Humes and Berg 102 stonelined cup mute and has it fully wedged inside the bell of her cornet. We know that on other occasions, she prefers to hold it half in and half out of the bell. Barnabus also, using his Humes and Berg stonelined straight mute, plays some lovely stuff complementing Shaye's melodic lines. Jim also specially liked the final Chorus, in which Shaye and Barnabus play so well together, alternating the 'breaks'.

We must all be grateful to the video-maker codenamed jazzbo43 for recording this fine performance.

It's interesting to observe how Ryan (at 2 mins 08 secs) warns Max that the band is about to go to the 12-bar 'breaks interlude' rather than the start of the Chorus; and then (at 2 mins 24 secs) that this time they are returning to the start of the Chorus. (The 'Breaks Interlude' is copied from the original Armstrong recording.)

Perhaps Max hadn't played this number with the band before. (In fact it is a song they seem to have played very rarely over the years.)

After Jim encouraged me to listen more carefully to it again, I realised Droppin' Shucks is not really as complicated as I had thought. Basically it has a simple and pretty 16-bar minor-key Verse played once (Tuba Skinny play it in C minor); and then the Chorus - played several times (in the key of Ab) - is simply one of those 16-bar standards (with 'breaks' on Bars 9 - 12), very similar to How Come You Do Me Like You Do Do Do? or If It Don't Fit, Don't Force It or Don't Care Blues or Don't Go Away, Nobody, or Forget Me Not Blues.

The only little extra ingredient is that 12-bar 'Breaks Interlude' I mentioned - which may be regarded as optional.

But what makes Droppin' Shucks special - perhaps unique among sixteen-bar tunes - is that the whole of Bar 12 is based on a diminished chord. That certainly adds a bit of excitement.

So it's easy to pick up. Let's have more bands playing it!

As for what the title Droppin' Shucks means, I think you may be able to find out. But I shall say nothing on the subject. Regular readers will know that I limit the contents of my pages to the decorous, the refined, and the tasteful.

Post 476: 'YAAKA HULA HICKEY DULA'

Having been told I would be asked to play Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula in a band that had been put together for a particular occasion, I remembered that I have always been puzzled by the number of bars (measures) in the VERSE of this song.

Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula was written in 1916 by E.R. Goetz, Joe Young and Pete Wendling. It was one of those 'Hawaiian' songs fashionable at the time. Its CHORUS is no problem: eight bars on a very familiar and easy chord progression (IV  -  IV  -  I  -  I  -  II7  -  V7   -  I  -  I ) - repeated to make sixteen bars in total.

But the VERSE is unusual in that it contains 25 bars. This is weird because:

(a) virtually all musical phrasing in traditional jazz comes in multiples of 4 (or 8) bars, so we would expect the verse to consist of 24 bars; and

(b) standard chord books I have consulted present the verse as 24 bars.

Listen to any of the 'big name' recordings (Kid Ory, George Lewis, Bunk Johnson) and they all play 25-bar verses. If you play the tune, I expect you play 25 bars too. Certainly The Shotgun Jazz Band plays the 25 bars as in this video (click here).

So how is this explained?

In the early days, the tune was for singing rather than for playing by jazz bands. It was written with a Verse that ran to 38 bars: 

Within those 38 bars, note the repeat of the first 13 bars. Repeated sections of THIRTEEN bars in trad jazz are so unusual as to be almost non-existent. But that 13th bar is the apparently 'extra' bar that will make up the jazz band's 25.

Jazz bands OMIT the REPEAT that should occur after Bar 13 above. This means they play the 38 bars MINUS the repeated first 13. Result: 25 bars.

Regular readers will known I'm obsessed by that great band Tuba Skinny and you may be wondering how they play this tune. Well, watch this video and you will see they play the 25 bars: CLICK HERE.

You can also find Loose Marbles, with Barnabus on trombone and Shaye on piano, sure enough going for 25 bars:
CLICK HERE.
(What a super video, by the way!)

For an earlier classic sample (the Bunk Johnson version),
CLICK HERE.

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My books Tuba Skinny and Shaye Cohn and Enjoying Traditional Jazz are available from Amazon:

Let me tell you straight away that the young band Tuba Skinny, based in New Orleans, is currently considered by many people to be the best traditional jazz band playing anywhere in the world today. Judge for yourself by clicking on this video which was made in late 2016 and is to be commended for its fine sound and visual qualities. We have to thank the video-maker codenamed CANDCJ for making this treat available to us.

For me, the most exciting musical experience of the last seven years was discovering the band called Tuba Skinny.

After evolving since 2009, I think they reached their most effective line-up, as seen in this video:
CLICK HERE.

In 2010, a friend advised me to have a look at them on YouTube. The result: a revelation!

I learned from the Internet that Tuba Skinny was more or less half a dozen young musicians who had based themselves (though not born there) in New Orleans. They have been playing together for seven years and have recorded 7 CDs.

This super photo from the early days of
Tuba Skinny was taken in New Orleans by Greg Headley.

Although they have already appeared elsewhere in the USA, notably in New York, and also toured in several countries, including Mexico, Sweden, Australia, Switzerland, France, Italy and Spain, they spend half their year busking in the streets and playing in the clubs of New Orleans, their natural setting.

There, they appear content to live mainly on the income from busking. As far as I can tell, they seem to live cheaply, using bicycles for all transport needs. Yes, Erika even gets around with her bass drum on her bicycle. And here's Barnabus taking his trombone and Tupelo, the band's internationally-renowned dog (the group's Chief Executive!), to the next gig:

Dog and 'bone - as Bill Stock wittily says.
He kindly sent me the picture.

Tuba Skinny plays jazz in the style established in New Orleans and Chicago between 1900 and 1930. The musicians have built up a wide repertoire, mixing classics (especially blues) with more modern tunes, including original compositions. They have rescued from near-obscurity such 90-year-old gems as Muddy Water, Russian Rag, New Orleans Bump, Deep Henderson, Chocolate Avenue, Frog Hop, Variety Stomp, Dear Almanzoer, Harlem's Araby and Minor Drag; and the Jabbo Smith forgotten classics from the 1920s - Michigander Blues and Sleepy Time Blues and A Jazz Battle. They have shown, with their fresh and original interpretations, how exciting these tunes can be.

How do they decide on their repertoire? In an interview, washboard-player Robin Rapuzzi explained: It's a group decision. It always is. Tuba Skinny is a miniature political system of majority rule. We discuss ideas with each other either on the street or over dinner. We have listening-parties throughout the year to discuss what we're interested in and where we want to go with our music. It's very organic. We're very fortunate to all be so interested in the same kind of music and to have met each other when and where we did and with a travelling itch and desire to busk.

The songs are played against a rock-steady ‘walking’ rhythm, with tuba, washboard, guitar or banjo laying down the foundation while the cornet, trombone and clarinet play the melody and frolic around it. For its first three years, the band had no reed player (except when a welcome guest sat in), so there was a distinctive brassy sound.

In the streets, there is no use of the electronic amplification that spoils so much music these days.

The performances are meticulously prepared. Although allowing plenty of room for improvisation, sophisticated head arrangements are used, with precision and admirable attention to detail. Great care is taken to get the tempo just right for the interpretation. There are mid-way key changes, and clear pre-planning of introductions and an understanding of when verses, bridges and codas will be played, around the repeating choruses. They support each other’s solo choruses with harmonising long notes and stop chords.

Tunes do not outstay their welcome: most are completed in about four minutes. Tuba Skinny avoids the dreary succession of uninspired solo choruses that we associate with many other traditional jazz bands. Usually, in a 32-bar chorus, two or more instruments take the lead for a few bars each.

The Band has a remarkable singer – Erika Lewis, originally from New York State's Hudson Valley. She has an amazingly strong and soulful voice, ideal for the blues. Her control of pitch and command of rubato are perfect. She has been compared with Bessie Smith (who must have been her inspiration) and in my opinion she equals the great Bessie in vocal ability. In street performances she needs no microphone. Since 2012, Erika has also taken to playing the bass drum, on which she sits as she sings and plays - further solidifying the band's rhythm section. Erika has said (Offbeat Magazine, September 2014), 'It just dawned on me one day that a bass drum was something that I could add and it would fit in. For the first year, I strapped it to my front, but I felt like a pregnant spider flailing around, standing up while everyone else was sitting down. So I said, I’m just going to sit down on it.'

There is a vocal in about 75% of the tunes played by the band, and these are mostly performed by Erika, though other members also contribute.

At the end of 2015, to the disappointment of her many fans, Erika moved away from New Orleans and therefore ceased appearing with the band in the New Orleans streets. But she announced that she would continue to appear with the band at festivals and on tours.

Tuba Skinny is a model collective enterprise, without a star or prima donna. But I must admit a special admiration of Shaye Cohn, the young lady who plays the cornet and generally directs the musical traffic.

As one who attempts to play the jazz cornet myself, I appreciate her technical virtuosity and amazing inventiveness. Using mutes with great skill, she produces a unique tone that perfectly encapsulates the blues feeling that is at the heart of so much of our music. She knows just when to 'bend' notes and she has a great instinct for bluesy notes in the right places. Her phrasing is impeccable. Shaye is not a showy player who produces lots of high and raucous notes, like so many trad band trumpeters. Her playing is busy, but in an unobtrusive way. Just listen to her extraordinarily inventive and subtle improvisations and don’t miss the way she provides brilliant delicate arabesques behind the solos of others (such as the trombone - which often takes the melody), and particularly behind the singer.

I have been told that, when she was just nine years old, Shaye was a member of The New England Conservatory Children's Chorus and sang solo on stage. This amazing lady from Boston is classically trained and, as YouTube demonstrates, also plays other instruments (especially the accordion, violin and piano - and even the spoons!) brilliantly. To judge from videos and recordings, Shaye is currently also one of the best traditional jazz piano-players on the New Orleans scene. She even does the delightful artwork for the band's CDs. Here's an example:

Some people are so talented!

I guess that other musicians in the group also have academic musical qualifications, but I have no information on this.

The guitarist when the band was formed was Kiowa Wells and he and the slim Todd Burdick (tuba - Mr. Tuba Skinny in person - originally from Chicago) were the founders of the band, building it up by inviting other fine musicians they met busking on the streets of New Orleans. They originally worked (circa 2007) in the band Loose Marbles, a kind of musical collective that still exists but that spawned several of the great bands based in New Orleans today. Todd and Kiowa are very skilful, sensitive and accurate players. You quickly notice from their first recordings how thoroughly they have learned their music, how meticulously they prepare and play. Todd originally played guitar and banjo (as he still does when required) and he is very good on those instruments. It must be a big help to be strong in your knowledge of chord sequences when laying a secure foundation on the tuba.

Todd and His Tuba

Kiowa occasionally sings; and he also contributes some fine guitar solo choruses. How clever these young people are! Listen carefully to the tuba in Tuba Skinny performances and notice how solid and accurate is the foundation Todd lays and how important this is to the special sound of the band.

It seems that Ryan Baer on banjo and guitar replaced Kiowa after a year or so. Ryan is extremely good, whether providing rhythmic support or delicate melodic solo choruses. He too is a fine singer.

And in recent months, other guitar and banjo players have been frequently used. Guitarist Max Bien-Kahn from Oregon, who has also frequently worked as the band's recording engineer, has provided a rock-solid rhythmic backing in many performances, and toured with the band. In 2014 such fine and well-known New Orleans street performers as Gregory Sherman and Jason Lawrence (and occasionally Scottie Swarers - 'Stalebread Scottie') played on banjo and guitar. Another fine player who appears frequently on tenor banjo is the Texan Westen Borghesi. To appreciate Westen's very skilful and sympathetic playing, listen carefully to his contribution throughout the band's CD called Pyramid Strut. No matter who plays, they all conform to the Tuba Skinny house style - laying down a very solid four-to-the-bar foundation. 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 that rock-steady rhythm 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).

The ever-present trombonist (except when he headed off on a sailing cruise in early 2016!) is the versatile Barnabus Jones, who possesses a big sound and has mastered the tricks of Kid Ory, John Thomas, Honoré Dutrey and Fred Robinson - the trombonists who played with Louis Armstrong in the 1920s. Barnabus produces musical phrases that perfectly complement the melodic inventions of Shaye Cohn. The trombone and cornet blend magically.

Shaye and Barnabus

What is more, he too (from evidence I have seen) is also brilliant on other instruments - the banjo and the violin, which were his original instruments; and on occasion he shows himself to be no mean singer!

Barnabus and Shaye again -
what a great musical partnership!

All the Tuba Skinny instruments are easily portable. This is particularly helpful if you are a street band. They normally have no drum kit, for example. But they have a washboard player – Robin Rapuzzi from Seattle (though I'm proud to report his mother was born in England!). Normally, I am not keen on the washboard as a musical instrument: I have known a badly-played washboard to wreck a jazzband, especially when the player fails to keep a steady tempo. But Mr. Rapuzzi is a great driving force for the rhythm of this band, and fully underpins the music’s structures. He has fixed a few additional small percussive items to his washboard, so he can produce tricky crowd-pleasing solo choruses, with sound varied very imaginatively.

Although it's easier to play a washboard on the street than to lug around a full drum kit, Robin is in fact a drummer, and enjoys the full range of tones and colours that he can get from the drum kit, including the snare and Chinese tom-drum and Chinese-crash cymbal. He used a full drum kit when making the band's 7th CD; and at the end of 2015 he managed to start taking his full kit along to street busking - using a bicycle with a trailer - which he described as 'some kind of work out'!

On a few occasions (including the tour to Mexico), the wonderful washboard player Defne Incirlioglu has deputised for Robin.

There are other part-time members of this band – too numerous for me to track or mention. In their videos you may spot an occasional double bass, or violin, or a second trumpet. This is bound to happen with a street busking band. But I must tell you that a young lady called Alynda Lee Segarra (who now mostly works with her own band) used to play banjo and sing (very well). Here she is with Shaye and Barnabus.

But most of the fine young musicians of New Orleans have played in the band at some time or other. Here, for example, we see Albanie Falletta on guitar.

Ewan Bleach from the U.K. on clarinet and saxophone fitted in brilliantly for a year or so (Ewan is incidentally also a superb jazz pianist); and John Doyle on sax and clarinet is another fine player (reminiscent of Jimmy Noone) who settled well into the band during 2013 when they were playing some of their greatest music. These two are outstandingly good musicians. Just listen closely to their work in any of the videos and you will class them among the very best traditional jazz reedmen you have ever encountered.

Jonathan Doyle studied briefly at Depaul's School of Music in Chicago and has worked with several bands, including his own quintet. He now divides his time between Chicago, Austin and spells with Tuba Skinny - in New Orleans and touring abroad. He is also a composer of music for his bands.

(By the way, Jonathan Doyle and Westen Borghesi both play in the wonderful Thrift Set Orchestra in Austin, Texas. There are some videos of this group - well worth watching - on YouTube.)

In the Autumn of 2013, the clarinet and sax seat was briefly occupied by (among others) James Evans who is from Beaumaris, North Wales. James had spent the previous few years proving he is one of the very best clarinet players in the U.K. You can see him with Tuba Skinny in an absolutely cracking performance of Weary Blues:
CLICK HERE.

In 2014 and 2015, the reed player has usually been Craig Flory, from Seattle, but it seems that John Doyle is the principal reed player when available, especially for tours and festivals. At the end of 2015, Tomas Majcheski, the very fine player from The Smoking Time Jazz Club band, was regularly helping out on reeds.

Tuba Skinny dresses and presents itself in a laid-back, casual manner. The gents wear baseball caps and – on hot days – play in singlets and shorts, without shirts. The ladies have a penchant for short socks and flat shoes or trainers. So they have perfect looks for a New Orleans street band; and they tend to dress in just the same way for indoor gigs – bringing a breath of fresh air into what might otherwise be stuffy or formal venues. They seem to be modest, unassuming young people, having fun playing the music they love and scarcely aware of their own enormous talent.

But please let me beg you to try this band for yourself! There are over 300 examples of their work on YouTube.

Their line-up as at October 2015 was:

Shaye Cohn -   Cornet
Barnabus Jones -  Trombone
Erika Lewis  -  Bass Drum & Vocals
Todd Burdick -  Tuba
John Doyle (or Craig Flory) -   Clarinet and Sax
Jason Lawrence -  Banjo & Vocals
Max Bien-Kahn - Guitar
Robin Rapuzzi -  Washboard
A really exciting recent video - with a full band - is this: CLICK HERE.

Or you might care to go way back in time and start with this: CLICK HERE.

Here you can meet the band in a relaxed, undemanding, gentle-tempo 12-bar blues in the Key of C. The tune (made famous by Ma Rainey) is Hear Me Talkin’ To Ya. Unfortunately the camera does not catch much of Robin (washboard) but you have good examples of everything else, including brief solos from tuba and guitar.

Try the band here in its original formation in a quicker number. This song – Six Feet Down - was written by Erika Lewis, who is seen singing it: CLICK HERE.

The video illustrates much of what I have been saying (including – note – the skilful washboard playing) and you can identify all six of the original core members of Tuba Skinny.

And Garbage Man is a terrific, infectious, fun number. You can watch it (with Ewan and John on reeds) here: CLICK HERE.

To hear an example of Shaye Cohn's brilliance, listen to her solo that comes one minute and fifteen seconds into this next video. Quite apart from its technical virtuosity and fireworks, note its almost surreal inventiveness, especially in the first few bars: CLICK HERE.

To me it is so thrilling that YOUNG people are keeping alive the traditional jazz of New Orleans. I was there in 1998, and many of the great musicians of those pre-Katrina days have since passed on. But – thanks to groups like Tuba Skinny – their music has not disappeared with them.

Finally, listen to their wonderful and energetic performance of Minor Drag: CLICK HERE.

By the way, you can help support these wonderful young musicians by obtaining one or more of their CDs. You can buy or download the CDs online. You can pay with PayPal. It works even from other countries, as I have found. Start by going to their website and that tells you how to go about it:
http://tubaskinny.tk/

Post 343: TROMBONE GLISSANDOS; 'I'D RATHER DRINK MUDDY WATER'

One of the special effects that any trombonist can contribute to a performance by a traditional jazz band is the glissando, where he uses his slide to move (sometimes down but more often up) from one note to another. Most commonly, it is used on the last beat of a bar, dragging up to the first beat of the next bar, and in the process moving either the melody or the chord progression or both on to the next change.

Barnabus Jones, with Shaye and Erika

Well, let me tell you about an amazing use of trombone glissandos. The trombonist is Barnabus Jones and the band is Tuba Skinny on its CD called 'Rag Band'.

In the song I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water (a 12-bar blues from 1936 performed in the key of G), Barnabus plays nothing but glissandos. There are - I think - 96 bars (i.e. eight choruses) - not counting the Introduction - and Barnabus plays a glissando leading into every odd-numbered bar. So he plays 48 glissandos in all. AND ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE! He begins every glissando on the 4th beat of a bar, slides up to the required note by the first beat of the next bar and then sustains the note for several beats, thereby underpinning all that is going on in the rest of the band.

I don't know whose idea this was. But I suspect it's because the trombonist on the later Smiley Lewis recording of this song did something similar. When Smiley recorded it, he changed the title to Don't Jive Me. I wonder why.

The glissando works amazingly well. Whether accompanying Erika's singing, or Shaye's piano chorus, or the clarinet solo, the glissandos are unrelenting; and they are very effective in pumping the tune along.

What a tour de force!

You can listen to the performance by going to:
https://tubaskinny.bandcamp.com/album/rag-band

Then click on the second tune. You will hear it - completely free. But I hope you will also consider helping this wonderful band by buying the CD. You can do this online: just follow the instructions on the page. I have done it; and it works easily and well. You can also watch the band performing this number on YouTube:

CLICK HERE.

Just keep your eye on that trombone slide! The indefatigable Mr. Jones works the trick again, though in this YouTube performance he  also plays a more 'standard' out-chorus.

And there's a more recent YouTube performance:
CLICK HERE.

Incidentally, here's how the tune sounds to me (three choruses).

Post 338: TUBA SKINNY SHOW US HOW TO PLAY TRADITIONAL JAZZ

As you probably know, Tuba Skinny occasionally spend a week in Italy. For the end-of-2013 trip, they had John Doyle on reeds. By then, I had come to the conclusion that he is one of the greatest clarinet players in the history of traditional jazz; and I am now even more convinced. His technique and inventiveness are amazing, and yet he subjects his talents (as do all players in this great band) to the Tuba Skinny house style, in which everyone puts teamwork first and there is no room for exhibitionists.

In these videos (we must be very grateful to a film-maker codenamed NewOrleansJS for presenting them to us), we can enjoy these performances:

Big Chief Battleaxe (Thomas S. Allen, 1907). This is a routine performance by Tuba Skinny standards, which means it is far better than most bands could produce. But it seems to be the first number in their programme. You sense they are 'loosening up' and perhaps slightly affected by some tiredness after the long journey from New Orleans. As usual, Shaye directs the operation with all those little signals she has developed.

Crazy 'Bout You (Big Bill Broonzy and the State Street Boys, 1935). This is a simple, catchy 16-bar tune. Shaye starts on cornet and then switches to piano, taking a solo that reminds us she is also one of the best New Orleans pianists at present. It's a very happy number and Erika has the audience clapping along with her spirited, rocking vocal.

Willie the Weeper (Walter Melrose, Marty Bloom and Grant Rymal, 1920). The band plays a 4-bar Introduction; and then they go into the second theme of Willie The Weeper. Barnabus and John contribute lustily throughout. There is fine ensemble work and great backed solos on the second theme, though Shaye alone takes a solo (one of her amazing arabesques) on the first (G minor) theme. Note Shaye's direction of the band again. She takes so much trouble before they start - to get the tempo exactly right. Also note the brilliant final few notes with which she chops the tune off at the end.

Weary Blues (Artie Matthews, Mort Greene and George Gates, 1915). Unfortunately this recording starts well into the tune, missing the opening themes (in F) but we still have the Bb theme, with plenty of amazing, exciting stuff, played at a cracking pace. One of the highlights occurs where Shaye plays a terrific solo against offbeats from all six of the other players.

Six Feet Down (Erika Lewis, 2009). Erika sings her own superb composition in F; and there is a great solo by John, against ensemble background. The ever-popular Robin Rapuzzi also struts his stuff on washboard.

How can you view these videos? Go to YouTube and type in 'Tuba Skinny Orvieto 2013'. That should bring them all up.