Post 360: 'POSTAGE STOMP' - PLAYED WITH ENERGY AND DRIVE

What joy it is to hear an up-tempo tune played with real energy and drive, and with a total sense of control and great teamwork.

It is an experience that, I'm sorry to say, does not happen often enough here in England. So many of our musicians are very elderly and are really not up to producing that drive any more. (I am one of them.)

If you look at a performance given on 30 March 2016 by Tuba Skinny, filmed by the great Louisiana-based video-maker codenamed RaoulDuke504, you will see what we are failing to achieve.

They are giving a routine street performance of Postage Stomp. It's a simple 32-bar tune with the same chord pattern in the Middle Eight as dozens of other tunes:

 III7 - III7 - VI7 - VI7 - II7 - II7  - V7 - V7

This allows for 'breaks' in Bars 23/24.

Click here to watch the video.

Barnabus, the regular trombone player, is absent, but one chorus is taken by the saxophone and there is another in the first half of which cornet and clarinet trade fours. Further variety is provided by a percussion chorus (against stop chords) and a tuba-led chorus - with the clarinet, sax and cornet playing long notes to decorate the Middle Eight. Above all, though, four of the choruses involve dramatic, driving work from the full ensemble. There is brightness and energy from all quarters, with Robin on percussion and Shaye, so busy on cornet, never allowing the tempo or the excitement to drop. The banjo, guitar, tuba and drums keep the tune pounding along in rock-steady fashion.

To Tuba Skinny, this performance was probably nothing special - just another day at the office. But to us old guys who are struggling to play the music, it's an object lesson.

For those of you who are interested in such matters,  Postage Stomp is, I believe, a tune from 1930, featured that year by Maynard Baird and His Orchestra. I think it was composed by Sam Goble and Vic Johnston (members of Maynard Baird's Orchestra). They played it in the key of F and you can hear their bouncing, slickly-arranged version by clicking here. Tuba Skinny play it in Bb.

And, while we are on the subject of playing with energy and drive, have a listen to Tuba Skinny (in the same set as Postage Stomp), playing Dallas Rag. Do so by clicking here.  Sensational!
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Post 355: MAYNARD BAIRD AND 'POSTAGE STOMP'

Does your band play Postage Stomp? If not, how about giving it a try? It's a bright, chirpy, conventional 32-bar number, easy to pick up and improvise on. It has a familiar chord pattern - very similar to that of Has Anybody Seen My Girl?

Maynard Baird's 'Orchestra' - an obscure but very slick outfit - was based in Knoxville, Tennessee; and in April 1930 Postage Stomp was one of two tunes they recorded for the Vocalion label. I have been unable to discover beyond doubt who composed Postage Stomp. One source gives 'Goebel and Johnston'. So it seems a very reasonable inference that they were Sam Goble and Vic Johnston - trumpet player and pianist respectively in Baird's band. You can enjoy the recording (complete with some visual entertainment) by clicking on here. Impressive performances are given by Buddy Thayer on banjo, Harold Taft on baritone saxophone, Horace Ogle on trombone and Ebb Grubb on sousaphone. But the whole performance is polished, using a well-crafted written arrangement that treats the 32-bar theme in a variety of ways. Maynard Baird (who appears to have been the conductor and leader) chose to pitch the tune rather high - in the key of F.

From a newsreel (with no sound track):
A tantalising glimpse of Maynard and some members of his Orchestra

My attention was drawn to this tune because Tuba Skinny seem to have added it recently to their repertoire. But they have opted for the key of Bb, which strikes me as more comfortable. Listen to their delightfully brisk performance by clicking here.

(With thanks to my friend Carsten Pigott for supplying some of the historical information. In his turn, Carsten asks me to give the 'real credit to the majestic work of the great Brian Rust, without whose meticulous research we would all still be flailing around in the dark in these matters'. Thanks also to RaoulDuke504 - maker of the Tuba Skinny video.)