Post 593: KEYS USED BY JAZZ BANDS

Here are two astonishing facts:

1. Our jazz bands play 43.5% of the all their tunes in just one key - Bb.

2. Our bands play over 90% of all their tunes in just three keys - Bb, F and Eb.

And yet there are twelve keys available. So why use only three?

Knowing many of my readers are not musicians, I will try to explain things as simply as possible.

When a band is going to play a tune, the musicians have to agree on which key they will use. Twelve keys are available:

G

Ab

A

Bb

B

C

Db

D

Eb

E

F

Gb.

Think of it this way: on a piano, Ab, Bb, Db, Eb, and Gb are the black notes. All the others are white notes.

The key indicates within which scale the tune is played and also which is the 'Home' note. For example, a tune in F will usually end on the note F.

The 'top five' keys are:

43.5% of all tunes: Bb  : (made up of 42% in Bb and 1.5% in the related minor key - G minor)

29.5% of all tunes: F : (made up of 26.5% in F and 3.5% in the related key of D minor)

18.5% of all tunes : Eb

4.5% of all tunes : C 

3.5% of all tunes : Ab : (made up of 2% in Ab and 1.5% in the related key of F minor)

Of course, any tune could be played in any key. To change a tune from one key to another, all you have to do is raise or lower all the notes by the same amount in order to reach the key you want. But most tunes are traditionally played in one agreed key.

Bearing in mind that there are twelve keys available, why on earth do we find that almost half of our tunes are played in Bb? And why are most of the others played in either F or Eb?

Put simply, it is because those are the keys in which the various musicians of the band are most likely to stay well in tune with each other. For example, when a trumpet plays in these keys (especially Bb), the notes require minimal use of the valves and all notes are reasonably well in tune.  Other keys require far greater uses of the valves. Each of the three valves on a trumpet adds an extra bit of tubing through which the column of air has to pass. Notes at six different pitches can easily be achieved by any combination of valves; but the physics of sound would require the length of tubing to be slightly different for each of these six notes to be perfectly in tune. So the manufacturers compromise by making tubes of the 'least worst' lengths.

On most instruments, the lower notes played with the use of valves are a tiny bit sharp. Some manufacturers provide expensive instruments with levers to extend the tubing just a little on these particular notes. You can see such levers in the centre of this picture:

The keys of Bb, F and Eb are used so much that musicians become increasingly comfortable with them and the fingering they require. So there is not much incentive to use other keys - even just for fun or for practice.

This is why traditional jazz musicians sometimes find it tricky when suddenly asked to play a tune in an unfamiliar key. This happens mostly when they accompany singers. You play a tune for years in F and then come across a singer who wants it in D because that is the key that best suits her voice.

Despite all I have said, the young band Tuba Skinny - in this as in so many respects - has made us re-think our attitudes. They are unafraid of 'tricky' keys and may be heard in a few of their recordings and YouTube videos playing  in such keys as G.

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How 'scientific' is the survey above?

Sufficiently, I think, to justify my findings.

I chose two hundred different tunes from the standard traditional jazz repertoire and noted the keys in which they were played in YouTube videos and in performances I have attended. I omitted tunes such as early rags which usually comprise two or three sections and use different keys for different parts. I also omitted a very small number of tunes (such as 'Willie the Weeper' and 'At The Jazz Band Ball') which have two parts - one in a minor key and the other in the related major.

In the case of tunes in minor keys, as shown above I counted them within the total for the related major key: for example, G minor uses the same notes as Bb, so I classified it within 'Bb'. 

Post 550: MAY AUFDERHEIDE'S 'DUSTY RAG' - AND THE EVOLUTION OF TUNES

I have often made the point that some of the tunes played by our bands have been transformed since the original composer penned the piano manuscript many decades ago.

What often happened - especially with those tricky early rags - was that the bands distilled the melodies from the pieces and played them more simply. This was mainly because it is not possible on a cornet or trumpet to play the range of notes and the rapid leaping semi-quavers that a pianist's fingers could cover. Also, the rags often included three or four parts, sometimes with a change of key in the final part. But the jazz bands tended to drop at least one of these parts and might have no key change in their version.

The popular Dusty Rag is interesting to examine.

The first performance I heard of Dusty Rag was a recording made in a relaxed manner by Ken Colyer's Jazzmen in about 1959. It was an attractive jaunty piece of music.

I discovered much more recently that Ken had kept very close to the version recorded by Bunk Johnson in 1942. Bunk's band had a stellar line-up:

Bunk Johnson - trumpet

George Lewis - clarinet

Albert Warner - trombone

Lawrence Marrero - banjo

Chester Zardis - bass

Walter Decou - piano

Edgar Mosley - drums

You can listen to Bunk's version on YouTube BY CLICKING HERE.

As you can hear, they play the piece entirely in the key of Eb. After a four-bar Introduction, there is a 16-bar first theme played twice through, and then a second theme (also 16 bars) played several times, always as full ensemble. The entire piece takes about three minutes and ends without a Coda. Here are the chords, as supplied to me by a banjo-playing friend.

You can hear Tuba Skinny in 2014 playing the piece quite briskly and without the four-bar Introduction (or a Coda) if you CLICK HERE. They make the tune last four minutes, with much soloing on Part B. 

More recently, I have seen the original sheet music. It was entirely in the key of C. It too began with a four-bar Introduction, not dissimilar to what the jazz bands play. And it too had a first theme of 16 bars, with a pattern very like the band version, and even including the attractive and distinctive diminished chord arpeggio in Bars 13 and 14. Then comes the second theme of 16 bars, which is very closely followed by Bunk and his imitators. Finally there is another theme of 32 bars, much in the spirit of the earlier themes. No jazz band, as far as I know, plays this third theme. Ever since Bunk, bands have decided that the first two themes give them enough to work on.

Dusty Rag was composed in 1908 by May Aufderheide of Indianapolis. This remarkable lady was only twenty years old at the time. Her proud, wealthy father set up a small music publishing business to sell her sheet music. Dusty Rag became very popular and she went on to compose many more pieces. One of them was Thriller Rag, which is also still played by our bands.

May Aufderheide lived to a good old age. She died in 1972. So she experienced the entire early evolution of jazz from Buddy Bolden until long after the death of Charlie Parker. Amazing to think she was still alive to hear The Beatles'  recordings of A Hard Day's Night and Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

She lived through nearly three decades of my own life. How I wish I had had the chance to meet her and talk about those early days, and what she thought of Bunk Johnson's and Ken Colyer's versions of her music.

Here's May Aufderheide's composition. It was orginally called just Dusty, as you can see.

May Aufderheide

Post 372: CHOOSING KEYS FOR MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS

Traditional jazz bands play 43% of their tunes in the key of Bb, 29% in the key of F and 18% in Eb. They don't have much use for other keys.

Why is this?

It is because the instruments used in jazz bands (particularly the 'front line instruments') are easiest to finger in those keys and also because (for technical reasons to do with their construction) a few of the notes sound very slightly out of tune in other keys.

But what about classical music? There, it's a different matter.

My friend Stephen Brown, who is a Canadian composer, wrote a classical piece called 'Northern Journey' that runs to 38 minutes and is in four movements. The key he chose was A minor. (Incidentally, Stephen takes traditional jazz very seriously too and has played plenty of it over many years.)

Now you would have to search very hard to find a traditional jazz band playing a tune in A minor!

Stephen Brown

But to a classical composer, with a wide range of instruments available, all keys are theoretically commonplace.

I told Stephen I found something curiously appealing about the key of A minor as I listened to his composition; but I also said I had no way of explaining or understanding why the key seemed so perfect in that context.

He sent me this very interesting reply, which both added to my education and gave me much to reflect on:

No explanation about why some keys affect folks in one way or another, but they certainly do. Beethoven chose C# minor for his most gut-wrenching  music. D major for Mozart was bright and cheerful, and on and on. Debussy preferred 5 & 6 flats for his quiet pieces on the piano. Some of it has to do with the keyboard (one hears the bone on the end of your finger on the white keys and the flesh pad when you get on the black keys and also the finger is extended and relaxed on the black keys - tap on your table top the hear the difference). It also depends what one is writing for. Orchestra works rarely go beyond four sharps because writing them is a pain and strings favour 1 - 4 sharps. Of the four most popular violin concertos (Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Mendelssohn), three of them are in D major and one in E minor.

You might want to have a look at this book by Deryk Cooke, 'The Language of Music'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Language_of_Music

For instance when we come to express death in a funeral march the tempo is quite slow, in a minor key appropriate to the the mood, and the rhythm used is pretty much quarter, dotted eight and 16th:

Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 in C# minor,  'Quasi una fantasia', Op. 27, No. 2, dreadfully nicknamed (not by him) 'The Moonlight Sonata' uses this rhythm in Mvt 1. Note the key - C# minor, the tempo, and the rhythm of the melody (bar 5 - 6 and elsewhere). To me this mvt is a funeral march and is so darn sad I have trouble listening to it. How folks take it as a comforting night piece I’ll never know. Maybe the gentle triples in the intro imitate little waves on a lake at night but once we get to the theme it does anything but soothe. However, it is found on all the classical relaxation CDs:

Stephen's composition 'Northern Journey' can be enjoyed on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv4-AW1mZ9w

Post 313: REGIONAL CHORD BOOKS

In my country, England, I learned to speak English by copying my parents and other native speakers. I acquired the local accent.

But when I travelled 100 miles, what did I find? English was spoken in not quite the same way. There was a different regional accent. When I travelled 200 miles, the difference was very marked. When I travelled 300 hundred miles, I would occasionally have difficulty understanding what the locals were saying.

I expect the same thing happens in virtually every country and every language.

But here's a curious parallel in traditional jazz music.

A wise old jazzman told me many years ago that, when you move from region to region, you find the local jazzbands play some tunes in different keys from those to which bands in your own region are accustomed.

For example, all the bands in your area play a certain tune in Bb. But move 100 miles and you find that all the bands in that area go for C.

All the bands in your area play a tune in F. But in another region you find all the bands play it in Eb.

(Yes, the difference is nearly always one tone.)

In the years that followed, I was able to confirm the truth of this from my own observations. If you guest or deputise in a band 100 miles or more from your home, be prepared to play some tunes in keys that will feel unfamiliar.

How has this come about? My theory is that within each region the musicians deputise in each other's bands and build up over decades a kind of communal regional chord book.

An interesting phenomenon, isn't it?

Post 285: SHAYE ESTABLISHES THE KEY WITH AN ARPEGGIO

Just listen to Shaye in the first two seconds of this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeRFyDLjtSU

Before the song starts, she runs up an arpeggio through these notes (I'm giving Concert Pitch): Bb -  Eb  -  G  - Bb  - C - Eb.

They make up the chord of Eb, or more accurately Eb6.

Why does she do this? I can think of two reasons.

(1) She is signalling to the rest of the band that this song is to be played in the Key of Eb.

(2) She is establishing in her own her head the 'feel' of the key in which they are about to play. This could be particularly important if the previous song was, for example, in the key of F, and she wants to clear her head of that key and firmly establish the new one.

I have noticed this is a procedure Shaye follows in starting many tunes. This is in addition to the great care she takes to get the tempo just right - sometimes tapping her foot for quite a while before counting the band in  with 'One, Two; One, Two Three, Four'.

It seems a good idea and I wonder whether there are many other band-leaders who adopt it.

Post 284: 'C'EST SI BON'

The period between 1940 and 1980 was a Golden Age for popular music. Songs had words that were important and worth listening to, with a narrative and drama; and those words were articulated clearly by great singers, accompanied by a real, accomplished pianist or band or orchestra, playing from an arrangement that would include adventurous harmonies, changes in rhythm and key; and even accelerandos, rallentandos and pauses.

Some of the best tunes came from France. One of them was C’est Si Bon.

It is a catchy, happy, leaping tune. But I particularly admire the extraordinarily adventurous harmonies, as well as the surprises in the melody.

You will remember that it begins:

Already, after the anacrusis, we find the opening accented note (the E flat) is the fourth note of the Bb scale. This is an unusual opening gambit, though not totally uncommon. But look too at the harmonies:

We start on the chord of C minor 7th; and it will take the whole of the first eight bars to establish that we are in fact in the Key of Bb.

We soon begin to feel that – in structure - this is going to be one of those conventional 32-bar tunes, shaped A – A – B – A.

But two more daring developments are in store.

First, the ‘middle eight’ (Section B) begins with an amazing melodic line. Remember we are in the key of Bb; and yet the melody descends the scale of Db! On the face of it, this seems simply not do-able. What on earth can the composer be playing at? And yet – when you have heard it a few times and become accustomed to it – you have to admit the trick works just perfectly.

Here again, the harmonies add to our sense of amazement.

How often would you find a popular tune in Bb that included the chords of B natural, Db7th and Gb? Nowhere else, I guess.

The second half of this ‘middle eight’ returns us eventually to the secure ground of Bb.

We move into what we think will be the final eight, only to discover that the melody goes stratospheric in the 7th and 8th bars, leading into a further ‘final eight’.

So in fact we have a 'final sixteen' and the complete tune comprises 40 bars, not the expected 32.

How daring is that?

C’est Si Bon was composed by Henri Betti in 1947, and its words were written by André Hornez. Betti, who died in 2005 at the age of 87, was – you may not be surprised to hear – a classically-trained pianist who made a good living as a writer of music for films.

As usual, having worked on C'est Si Bon, I wrote it out on mini filofax paper so that I have an aide-mémoire and also so that I could learn it by heart to avoid boredom on a bus journey. I put it in to the key of C, which is how I fancy it as a Bb trumpet player.

Post 262: CHOOSING KEYS FOR VOCALISTS

Erika Lewis

An American musician - Lou - has become a very good pen-friend after first writing to me about an article in this Blog several months ago.

Recently he sent me this message:

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Ivan,
I have been playing the tune Six Feet Down (in G) along with Tuba Skinny from their 2010 CD.
Today I saw the video made of them playing this tune at The Louisiana Music Factory in 2015 (Click here to watch it). I thought I would again play along. But this time they were playing it in F.
Strange!

--------------------

This message left me thinking in general about choices of keys.

In the case of Lou's example, I think there is a simple explanation. In 2010, Erika was comfortable singing her song in G (one tone higher than in 2015). But her voice matured over the following five years. By 2015 her perfect comfort zone for a tune such as Six Feet Down had become the key of F. In that key, the lowest note used in her vocal is C and the highest is A, so (unlike some of Erika's other songs, such as Crazy Blues, where she sings high Ebs) it does not require a very great range - just four and a half tones. I am sure she could still sing it in G easily enough; but in F it sounds absolutely right for her 2015 'mature' voice.

Tuba Skinny are well-known for the freedom and boldness with which they roam around the keys and often change key (sometimes more than once) within a tune. On some occasions, the band plays a tune in one key and Erika - when taking a vocal chorus - sings it in another. For example, in How Do They Do It That Way?, you find the band playing choruses in Eb and Erika singing choruses in Bb. The transitions are so skilfully managed that you hardly notice. The same sort of thing happens in Delta Bound, with Erika singing in D minor and the band choruses in G minor.

Traditional jazz musicians come to learn that there is no such thing as a correct key for any tune. You can play in a band that performs Muskrat Ramble in Ab, for example, and then deputise in another band, only to find it plays Muskrat Ramble in Bb. A tune such as Ain't She Sweet may turn up in Bb or Eb. You will hear Breeze in either Eb or F. And so on. Whenever there is a singer, the whole band may have to adapt to an unusual choice of key. For example, after years of playing I Can't Give You Anything But Love in F, you one day find yourself in a band with a lady singer who requires the tune to be played in Bb.

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Post 184: CONCERT KEYS AND TRANSPOSING INSTRUMENTS

CORNET - a B Flat Instrument
(so its 'C' sounds the same note as a piano's 'B Flat')

I have had an enquiry from a reader. He says I wrote that Michigander Blues is normally played in the key of D minor. But when he tries it on his trumpet it seems to be in his key of E minor.

So let me explain that several instruments used in traditional jazz are transposing instruments, which means that music written for them appears to be in one key but when played it sounds in a different key. Most trumpets, for example, are Bb instruments, so if you play C on such a trumpet, you will produce the same note as Bb on the piano. The same is true of most clarinets.

You also come across Eb instruments, such as some tubas and saxophones. This means that if you play C on one of these instruments, it will sound the same note as Eb on the piano.

So my trumpet player - performing Michigander Blues in HIS E minor - is actually playing it in D minor (concert pitch - as sounded on the piano).

Why have instrument manufacturers made matters so complicated?  It's simply because they have found - over many decades of trial and error - that the tuning and fingering on the transposing instruments are better if they are built in such a way.

As a player of a Bb trumpet or Bb clarinet, you should in my opinion always refer to the concert key in which you are playing a piece of music with your band. Don't confuse the rest of the band by mentioning your own personal key. So, for example, if the band decides to play Michigander Blues in D minor, then D minor it is, even though you know that you personally will be playing it in your instrument's E minor.

To put it another way, you will always be one tone higher than the 'concert key' that the pianist or banjo or guitar player uses.

So for example if the band announces that it is going to play Muskrat Ramble in Ab, you know immediately that you will be playing in your Bb.

Maybe this sounds tricky, but after a short time such thinking becomes automatic.

Here's Shaye Cohn's Bb cornet. When she plays C on this, it sounds the same note as the Bb on a piano or banjo.

Here she is playing Michigander Blues. You can hear that the band is playing the tune in D minor. But if you watch Shaye's fingers, you will notice that she personally is of course having to play it in the cornet's E minor:
CLICK HERE.

Post 43: THE HARDEST KEYS

When a traditional jazz band picks a tune, the first thing to do is decide in which key to play it.

There are 12 different keys.

So why is it that some of these twelve keys are virtually never used? The answer is that - for technical reasons concerning the physics of sound and the design of instruments - some notes in certain keys can sound slightly out of tune on clarinets, cornets, trumpets, brass basses and sousaphones.

The order of preference for keys is:

1. Bb (=A#)

2. F

3. Eb (=D#)

4. C

5. Ab (=G#)

6. G

7. Db (=C#)

8. D

9. Gb (=F#) 

10. A

11. B

12. E

So, you will hear more than 90% of our music played in Bb or F or Eb - the first three in the list. (More than 40% of our tunes are played in Bb.) You may have to search for months to find a tune played in a key from the other end of the list (notably A, E or B). There are odd exceptions. I was once astonished to hear two Australian buskers (trumpet and banjo) in Jackson Square, New Orleans, playing When the Saints in E. And that great band Tuba Skinny, of course, are never afraid to challenge conventions. On rare occasions you will find them using such keys as Db and G, especially when the unusual choice seems best fitted to the vocalist.

Over time, most of our musicians become so accustomed to playing in Bb, Eb and F that these keys are embedded in their fingers. They play easily in these keys but are thrown if suddenly asked to play a familiar tune in, for example, A instead of the usual Bb: they have to struggle and think fast to find the right fingering.

Of course, each of the twelve keys also has a related minor key. So there are also 12 minor keys. C minor uses the same notes as Eb major, Db minor uses the same notes as E major; and so on. But all I have said about the major keys applies exactly to tunes in minor keys. Most of our minor key tunes are played in G minor, D minor or E minor - which correspond of course to the three top choices for major keys.

Post 20: 'HE LIKES IT SLOW'

Erika Lewis

An Australian reader who introduced himself as relatively new to traditional jazz wrote to ask whether I could offer any help with He Likes It Slow (by W. Benton Overstreet), which he was having difficulty in picking up, having heard it played by Tuba Skinny. Like many who write to me, he over-estimated my powers!

However, I would suggest first going back (as Tuba Skinny must have done) to the 1926 recording featuring Butterbeans and Susie and Louis Armstrong.

Butterbeans and Susie

It is remarkably clear for a recording of such a vintage:

CLICK HERE.

There's a simple Introduction and then a twelve-bar Verse, which is followed by a 20-bar (+2-bar tag) Chorus (with a 'break' on bars 7 - 8) making strong use of The Salty Dog Chord Progression. Note also how the band does a double-speed version of the first half of the Chorus as an interlude.

Tuba Skinny offer us a recording of this song on their CD Six Feet Down (made in 2010) and they are also seen performing it in several videos on YouTube, such as THIS ONE - CLICK ON TO VIEW. (Incidentally, they offer a full two choruses at the double tempo.)

The original Armstrong recording of 1926 was in the key of F. Tuba Skinny happily and brilliantly tackle it in Eb. The key suits Erika's voice perfectly, which is probably why they opted for it.

However, when Shaye (this time on piano) and Erika (singing) recorded the song again as a trio in a run-of-the-mill performance with Norbert Susemihl on trumpet, they played it in the key of F. I wonder why. If you wish to listen to this version,

CLICK HERE.

Post 17: USING MINOR KEYS IN TRADITIONAL JAZZ

In other posts, I have classified (by chord progressions) types of tunes in the repertoire of traditional jazz bands. I have done so mainly by looking at their opening bars.

There is another small group of tunes that are distinctive. These are the tunes in a minor key (or sometimes with just one theme in a minor key). I am surprised there are not more tunes in the traditional jazz repertoire using minor keys. The effect of the minor is striking and unusual. For an obvious example of this, just hum St. James' Infirmary to yourself.

Most of these tunes are usually played not in any old minor key but specifically in C minor, G minor or D minor.

The important point is that playing an occasional tune in a minor key gives variety to a jazz concert. And variety is necessary if you want to interest and entertain your audience.

To improvise on minor-key tunes, you have to make a mental adjustment and 'think minor'.

Some you might consider using are:

A Bientôt
A Jazz Battle
At the Jazz Band Ball (usually starts in G minor - part A)
Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen
Big Chief Battleaxe [one theme]
Big House Blues [final theme]
Black and Blue
Blue Drag (sample it - sung by Albanie - by clicking here)
Blue Skies
Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me
The Boy in the Boat
Caravan
Comes Love
Crying for the Carolines
Crumpled Papers (interesting 12-bar normally in D minor)
Dark Eyes (though the opening chord is the dominant seventh - not minor)
Deep Bayou Moan (Shaye Cohn's lovely 2017 composition - click here )
Diga Diga Doo
Egyptian Ella
Fourth Street Mess Around
Green Leaves of Summer
Hush-a-Bye
I Lost My Gal from Memphis
I'm Humming to Myself
I'm the King of the Swingers (part A)
It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing
La Roulotte
Joseph Joseph
Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho
King of the Zulus
(Sweet) Lotus Blossom
Lullaby of the Leaves (little known but well deserving a revival)
Michigander Blues
Midnight in Moscow
Minor Drag
Mother's Son-in-Law
My Heart Belongs to Daddy
New Orleans (the Hoagy Carmichael tune)
New Orleans Bump
No Moon at All
The Panic is On
Petite Fleur
Puttin' on the Ritz (Chorus)
Russian Rag (great example at 23 minutes 20 seconds in this Tuba Skinny video: Click here to watch )
Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down
Shout 'Em, Aunt Tillie
Sing Sing Sing
Steppin' Out With My Baby
St. James' Infirmary
Summertime
Take Me Away from the River
That Da Da Strain (usually starts in G minor - part A)
The Mooche
Tight Like This
Sway
You Let Me Down
When I Get Low I Get High
Willie the Weeper [first theme]
Who Walks In
Why Don't You Do Right?