Post 451: BLOGGING ABOUT TRADITIONAL JAZZ

New Orleans, April 2015
Mrs. Pops Coffee met one of our favourite musicians:
Todd Burdick
('Mr. Tuba Skinny' himself)

I mentioned to Mrs. Pops Coffee yesterday that I sometimes feel guilty spending so much time at my computer when I ought to be doing something of practical use to my family. I am typically six hours a day in front of the screen, mostly answering jazz-related correspondence, but also planning, researching, and writing articles, striving to achieve a balance of observation, opinion and scholarship.

I took up blogging as a hobby, to share what I was learning about traditional jazz. But now - though totally without pay - it feels like a full-time job! There have been almost half a million 'visits' to this Blog. My sitemeter tells me most of my readers are in the USA, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, France, Sweden, Russia, The Netherlands and Canada - in that order. Many of you have let me know you appreciate what I am trying to do. That is very rewarding.

My wife, by the way, replied that writing a blog was the ideal hobby for a very old guy like me because it has slowed down the progress of dementia.

Maybe; but it hasn't helped me remember what I was looking for when I came into the room.

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 346: TUBA SKINNY'S CD 'BLUE CHIME STOMP'

I offer my thanks to the many correspondents who sent me emails this morning to tell me Tuba Skinny's latest CD - Blue Chime Stomp, recorded last April - has at last become available to download. Some asked me to write about it.

Well, it's a bit early for much analysis. I am looking forward to listening to the CD carefully many times in the weeks ahead. But, for what they are worth, here are my immediate observations.

We are told the CD was recorded at The Tigermen Den in Royal Street, New Orleans. Mr. Google shows me the building is situated in a peaceful spot about three-quarters of a mile east of the French Quarter. It is a restored 1830s corner store. It seems there is plenty of music and dancing there these days, and that great food is served.

Maybe the aim was to get an appropriate 'old-time dance hall' type of acoustic. (You may remember The Shotgun Jazz Band did just that with their last CD: they recorded in the former Luthjens Dance Hall.)

There is certainly a good sound quality to this CD. As soon as it begins, with a lusty performance of Maple Leaf Rag, you realise you can hear the tones of all the individual instruments very clearly. Turn up the volume and it's like having them in the room with you.

You later find that, in the recording process, Erika's voice has fared just a little less well in a couple of numbers than the instruments. She is a wonderful singer in great form and beloved by us all but listen to her performance of her own composition Broken-Hearted Blues on the band's 2009 CD and then listen to her performance of the same song on this 2016 CD. A big difference, isn't there? In the 2009 version, the voice is completely clear and you can make out all the words easily; but you can't quite say the same about this 2016 version.

The band has evolved, of course. In 2009, they had just five musicians, plus Erika singing. But in the 2016 CD, they sometimes use nine musicians (three of them reed men) in addition to Erika. This has made Tuba Skinny sound more like a 'big band' on a few numbers. Especially when they use a driving saxophone and 'walking' riffs (as in Running Down My Man and Broken-Hearted Blues) we seem to be in the realms of R&B music. Indeed a correspondent has just told me the Tuba Skinny website - introducing this CD - says '...this album features us in a couple different line-ups - our traditional one, as well as one with multiple reed players, and also our R&B line-up including piano, upright bass and drum set'.

There is also inevitably a greater sense of choreography these days. In the more complicated multi-theme tunes, such as Soudan, Oh Papa, Shaye's composition Blue Chime Stomp, the vigorous Variety Stomp and - to a lesser extent - Dear Almanzoer, all the musicians had to master their parts meticulously in order to participate in the strict, tight arrangements. Of course there is still some room for free expression and improvising, but the backbone of each of these pieces is very rigid.

Robin Rapuzzi (who - before playing washboard regularly with Tuba Skinny - was originally a complete percussionist) plays the full drum-kit on some of these numbers. Todd Burdick apparently plays the string bass rather than the tuba on some - but I have yet to work out which, though I think they include Running Down My Man. He told me last April that he had been 'learning to play a string bass' but he did not mention that he had already recorded with it!

The barrel-house piano (presumably the one in the picture above, belonging to The Tigermen Den) is played by Shaye on some of the pieces. One of these - I'm Blue and Lonesome - is heard in the key of Gb. Amazing. When did you last hear a tune performed by a jazz band in Gb? I can't recall when. All other bands would simply have opted for a key of G or F to keep the playing simpler.

And on the same subject, Erika sings Running Down My Man (the Merline Johnson 12-bar from 1936) in E - a key most traditional jazz musicians steer clear of.

These two tunes (and Broken-Hearted Blues - here performed in the unlikely key of B) make me suspect the piano was half a tone flat. After all, in YouTube videos (with Shaye on cornet rather than piano) they have always played Running Down My Man in F and I'm Blue and Lonesome in G. But for the CD Shaye switched to the piano. If, as I believe, it was half a tone flat, then its F actually produced an E and its G sounded like Gb. Perhaps that's the complete explanation. The rest of the band did very well to adapt to such awkward keys.

With very neat banjo support, Erika sings Me and My Chauffeur (the song written by E. Lawler and recorded in 1941 by Memphis Minnie). This is trickier to sing than it may sound: note the long pause that has to be left in the ninth and tenth bars. There are some gems from Erika - not only those I have mentioned but also the 12-bar blues (composed in the 1930s by Ann Turner for Georgia White) Almost Afraid To Love, and Oh Papa (the Ma Rainey number from 1927) and Midnight Blues, both with substantial vocals. Midnight Blues follows very closely, in spirit and detail, the recording made of this song by Rosa Henderson in 1923 - the year of its composition.

Anyone who has watched the YouTube videos of Tuba Skinny to emerge since March 2015 will have heard all of the tunes on this CD, so they may already be familiar to you.

But here are a few more thoughts about some of the pieces. 

Soudan started out in about 1906 a a sort of tone poem for piano by the Czech composer Gabriel Sebek. He called it Oriental Scene for Piano, Opus 45. The sub-title was In The Soudan: A Dervish Chorus. The ODJB recorded an adaptation of it in 1917 as Oriental Jazz (or Jass) and recorded it again in 1920 - this time as Soudan. As I have indicated, Tuba Skinny play a neat, strict arrangement. Their version intersperses the 'oriental' theme in F minor with the more bouncy traditional theme in the related key of Ab, and there is a trombone-led F minor coda from Barnabus to round it off. It's a very unusual number!

Corrine (sung by Erika) is not the same as the famous Corrine Corrina.

Corrine, recorded in 1937 by Blind Boy Fuller, is a 16-bar blues, not a 12-bar. Erika gives a fine performance in the key of A, appropriately supported by the resonator guitar.

Memphis Shake (long-since established in Tuba Skinny's repertoire) is a straightforward number of two short themes and distinctive diminished chords. The 'big band' line-up gives it a delightfully free treatment, with much ensemble work.

Similar is Shake It And Break It (which has two short themes - in minor and major keys). The performance is very enjoyable and the final minutes are taken up with some pretty soloing and ensemble on the major-key theme.

Blue Chime Stomp is of course yet another fine composition by Shaye. I have written about it before (CLICK HERE to read) and I also had the pleasure of hearing the band play it in New Orleans last April at this performance - CLICK HERE to view.

The CD ends with a very pleasant and straightforward version of Chloe - bringing things full circle in a sense, as this number also featured sweetly on their very first CD of seven years earlier, when they had only five musicians: a cornet, violin and trombone were supported merely by a tuba and guitar. This latest CD version of Chloe (using at least eight musicians) is taken a shade more slowly.

I must also mention the order in which the tunes have been thoughtfully arranged on the CD: fast and slow numbers alternate, as do instrumentals and vocals. So, played straight through, it makes a good concert.

Our heroine - that multi-talented young lady Shaye - has again done the artwork for the CD: see it at the top of this article.

Post 327: 'MEMPHIS SHAKE' - A GREAT JAZZ TUNE

There is a terrific video of Tuba Skinny performing Memphis Shake. It is expertly filmed; and the tune - from 1926 - is brilliantly played. Unfortunately the start of the tune was not caught; but I think it's a video you will enjoy.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW.

Todd on Tuba

There were eight musicians on this occasion

Post 321: 'DUSTY RAG'

It was 23rd December 2015 and I started the day as usual by dealing with my large email jazz correspondence and then checking to see what was new on YouTube. I found that RaoulDuke504 - the great Louisiana-based film-maker - had just put up another video of Tuba Skinny playing a few days earlier in the French Quarter.

On the face of it, this video is nothing out of the ordinary. The tune is May Aufderheide's Dusty Rag (from 1908) in the sort of performance that the Tuba Skinny musicians probably regard as routine and unexceptional. They give a simple unpretentious interpretation, without special effects and complexities. What's more, there seems to have been a workman using an electric drill somewhere off-camera, so there are irritating occasional whirring noises in the background.

And yet, this is such an enjoyable performance that it reminds me why I consider the playing of Tuba Skinny to be streets ahead of most of the bands whose efforts I watch on YouTube.

Todd Burdick

It's not easy to put my finger on exactly what makes them so good. I think it's a mixture of the following. The drumming (by Robin Rapuzzi) is so intelligent, tasteful and unobtrusive. The string players are completely solid in supplying accurate harmonies and four-to-the-bar rhythmic support. Todd Burdick (tuba - though he plays a sousaphone on this occasion) as ever provides a bass line that is elegant, accurate and appropriate. The 'front line' (clarinet, cornet and trombone) listen to each other carefully: they interweave their musical lines and harmonies with subtlety and with a total absence of flashiness or exhibitionism. The emphasis is on teamwork: players support each other. (Note how even when the sousaphone has a little 16-bar 'solo', Barnabus gives gentle support on the trombone.) Also, the band takes care with setting a perfect tempo - and maintains it. Finally - and I think this is very important - there is no electronic amplification of any kind. Everyone plays acoustically. We can hear every instrument, and we can appreciate the various 'voices' and blending tones.

I hope you will share my pleasure if you watch the video by clicking here.

What makes other bands less good? They nearly always fail in one or more of the respects I have mentioned. The drumming is too loud or insensitive: one or more of the players is an exhibitionist; there is limited evidence of teamwork; amplification is allowed to unbalance the band and distort sounds,.... and so on.

Tuba Skinny at the end of 2015

On a related matter, I would like to quote from two emails I received. The first is from a gentleman who lives in Florida. He became a keen fan of Tuba Skinny after discovering the band early in 2015:

I have commented to others that Tuba Skinny is, in my humble opinion, the best trad jazz band in the world. Of course I haven't been exposed to every band in the world, but I haven't heard one better. Shaye forgoes what I call 'acrobatics' on the horn to play the actual music with her impeccable phrasing and reverence for the music. There is no show off in her, trying to prove how facile she is on the cornet like many players, who only do so to the detriment of the music.

And this one is from a gentleman in England:

I've just been listening to the 3 recordings on You Tube of Tuba Skinny playing Blue and Lonesome. All are good but the one that thrills me most is played on Royal Street 4/11/14 on Digitalalexa. Erika's singing and the instrumental work are in perfect sympathy. They caress the melody and play both individually and collectively in the best New Orleans tradition. How do they do it so well? I've now listened to several of the other New Orleans busking groups and there isn't one, including those involving some of the regular TS musicians, which comes within a mile of what they achieve. Wonderful, wonderful jazz . What a find.

Post 212: TODD BURDICK AND BARNABUS JONES

Lou, an elderly American reader of this blog, has corresponded with me from time to time and recently sent this message, which I think ought to be shared.

Hi Ivan,

It certainly sounds as though you enjoy life and the pleasure that the music brings. I have commented on a few members of Tuba Skinny, but I have to mention Barnabus. Of course I listened to the traditional recorded dixieland growing up. But we spent every weekend during my college days at a local jazz place. We listened to the "Dixiecrats", a great band consisting of piano, tenor sax, trumpet, clarinet, string bass and drums. The tenor and sax played with Cab Calloway and the clarinet played with Louis Armstrong in the early days in NOLA. So I was pretty used to a band without a trombone, and never gave the instrument much thought. As a matter of fact, we thought of our taste in dixieland as rather elite....no tuba, no banjo, strictly "Chicago Style".

Tuba Skinny has totally changed my thinking on the subject, which is a lengthy lead-in to Barnabus.

I suspect that he, Shaye and Todd go back to their earliest days together and that they have not only a strong personal relationship, but are attuned to one another musically. Barnabus is such a strong player. He's always where he should be, whether it's lead or support. I still find it hard to believe that he just picked up a horn and taught himself. He certainly plays like he has a deep musical background. The same thing seems true of Todd. He's so gentle that at times he sounds like a string bass, and he's so important as part of TS's rhythm section.

Have I pontificated enough?
Regards,

Lou

I am so pleased Lou pays this tribute to Barnabus and Todd.

Todd Burdick

Tuba Skinny fans (including myself) are so seduced by the amazing talents of the ladies - Shaye and Erika - that we don't give sufficient credit to the other players - especially Todd, who goes unnoticed by most people while never putting a foot wrong in the 'engine room' of the band.

Shaye and Barnabus

Sometimes, when listening to a tune played by Tuba Skinny, I deliberately focus my attention on ONE instrument. It is a great way to appreciate the magic of this band. I am invariably amazed at how that one instrument contributes to the overall structure. In the case of Barnabus, Lou is so right about his strengths, whether leading on the melody or supporting other players. And Todd has an uncanny ability to find the perfect bass line, no matter how complicated the piece. Maybe the fact that both these men are also banjo players - and therefore understand chord sequences - helps a little. What great musicians they both are!
-------------------------
Canadian correspondent Wally, who not long ago attended a Tuba Skinny performance, added this:

Hi Ivan,

Thank you for sharing this.

I would like to add a thought to something your correspondent mentioned: "but are attuned to one another musically". This is something that I can echo wholeheartedly, especially after my trip to Maine. In fact, it is more than just this three, it is the entire ensemble. Easy enough to focus upon the band all at once or on each individual, but the secret is to look for the interactions as well, something that does not always seem apparent when viewing a video, unless one knows exactly what to look for.

A note on Todd: In a couple of the songs he took on the most amazing solos, something unexpected from a Tuba on the back line. How often do we see the front line getting the nods while the rhythm section keeps on steadfastly pounding out the rhythm?

Regards,

Wally

Post 103: TALKING WITH TUBA SKINNY

During my visit to New Orleans in April 2015, I had the pleasure at last of hearing in person the wonderful young band Tuba Skinny, which I have been praising in my writings for many months. My main article about them (CLICK HERE TO READ IT) had been viewed by 20,000 people by the time of my visit. I attended three of their performances.

The picture above shows the band as I saw them on April 14th. Left to right are: Craig Flory, Shaye Cohn, Barnabus Jones, Erika Lewis, Todd Burdick, Jason Lawrence, Max Bien-Kahn and Robin Rapuzzi. At other performances they had Charlie Halloran on trombone and Jonathan Doyle on reeds.

Tuba Skinny playing at
The French Quarter Festival
in New Orleans, April 2015.

I was specially pleased to see Max Bien-Kahn playing regularly with the band (Greg Sherman had departed to the north) as I have always admired Max's strong, solid, concentrated performances with the band on YouTube, and I don't think he has had the recognition he deserves.

A bonus was that I was able to have a chat with some of the players.

I had the great privilege of a long chat with
Todd Burdick, 'Mr. Tuba Skinny' in person.

Todd Burdick is best known as the Bb tuba player and founder member of Tuba Skinny.

After Hurricane Katrina, many young musicians migrated to New Orleans. Todd moved there from Chicago and he told me that at the time you could find a pal and jointly rent a shotgun house near the French Quarter for just 400 dollars a month. (The price by 2015 had risen to 900 dollars a month.)

It was a hard life and I guess some of them soon gave up. But many settled. They made just enough money to survive by playing for tips on the streets. They started to find like-minded musicians who became their friends and formed themselves into bands. A good example was Loose Marbles - a band in which founder members were Ben Polcer and Michael Magro, who encouraged promising newcomers to pass through the band's ranks and hone their skills. Many of the musicians who developed their talents in Loose Marbles have gone on to form bands of their own. Tuba Skinny is one of those bands.

From Todd Burdick and Robin Rapuzzi (washboard), I learned a good deal about Tuba Skinny. By the way, Robin told me that as an infant he had occasionally visited Nottingham to stay with his grandmother. This appealed to me as Nottingham is where I live and am writing right now.

Robin tapes his fingers and prepares his thimbles
before performing at The French Quarter Festival.

I had often wondered how Tuba Skinny go about unearthing the obscure tunes from the 1920s and 1930s that now form a substantial part of their repertoire. Todd pointed out that it's no longer necessary for someone to have a vintage 78rpm recording. Today there is so much available, not only on re-issued CDs but even on the internet - especially YouTube. For example, the band introduced Dear Almanzoer into its repertoire in 2014. This is a lively composition by Oscar 'Papa' Celestin and was recorded in 1927 by his band. Thanks to the kindness of various YouTube uploaders, Todd said, you can freely listen to - and learn from - the Celestin original.

I had wondered whether the members of Tuba Skinny get together for private rehearsals occasionally. After all, some of their music is tricky, with complicated arrangements. Think of Cannonball Blues as a typical example: with so many surprising key changes and various ensemble phrasing patterns to remember, you can't just turn up and play such a tune. Everybody needs to have learned exactly what their rôle is at any given point. Robin told me much of the experimenting and 'rehearsing' takes place on the street. They like to play in Royal Street twice a week if possible. But they do also have an occasional private rehearsal in one of their houses, perhaps once a month. They had recently been rehearsing once a week - but this was in the lead-up to the recording of their seventh CD - Blue Chime Stomp. The recording took place over two days in early April 2015.

They told me they guessed The Smoking Time Jazz Club Band - similar in some ways to themselves, but continually playing even more complicated arrangements - surely gets together to rehearse more frequently.

I asked about the 'arranging' of the more complex of Tuba Skinny's tunes. It seems obvious that Shaye Cohn is the expert in this matter and has a big say (though she modestly claimed she does not need to do much other than 'direct the traffic' in performance). I was assured that the band's decisions are acephalous and that all contribute ideas, though it's a fact that Shaye will sometimes supply a 'chart', especially for banjo and guitar players.

I mentioned Maple Leaf Rag as an example. It had been recently introduced into Tuba Skinny's repertoire and obviously they had to decide in which key to play it (some bands go for Eb moving into Ab; but Tuba Skinny chose F going into Bb). They also had to make up their minds about which of the tune's four possible melodic themes they should play and in which order, and whether with any distinctive treatments. And they had to decide whether to include an introduction, bridges and a coda. If you watch THIS VIDEO (CLICK ON TO VIEW)  you will see what they came up with. Enjoy especially the use of those long harmonising notes in the final choruses preceding the out-chorus. When they played Maple Leaf Rag at The French Quarter Festival a few weeks later, with slightly different personnel, the arrangement was essentially the same, though with two fewer of the 16-bar final choruses, and also this time there was a two-bar coda - I guess a spur-of-the-moment Shaye-ism that took nobody by surprise! Enjoy it in THIS VIDEO (CLICK ON).

Todd told me he had recently deputised in another band which had also played Maple Leaf Rag. But their version turned out to be quite different from Tuba Skinny's. Did this cause him any difficulty? Not really. He easily picked up what was going on.

I was gratified when Erika Lewis told me she was aware of these writings of mine. She said that when they were planning a play-list they would sometimes consult my list of their tunes to remind themselves of titles they hadn't performed recently and that perhaps ought to be revived. So I have become the honorary archivist to the band! CLICK HERE to see my list.

The first time I saw Tuba Skinny in person was when they were playing in a very crowded bar. I assumed the great number of people had all gone there specially to hear the band. I was wrong. I was trapped in the middle of the crowd near the bar, unable to move and quite a few yards from the stage. But when the band started to play, I found the din  of conversation around me was so loud that I could hardly hear the music. And so it continued. I felt so disappointed for the musicians, even more than for myself: they were producing such wonderful music and yet only a few people near the stage could hear them clearly.

When I eventually met Shaye, I told her how sorry I was that the band had been treated in this way. She shrugged her shoulders philosophically and said, 'Well, it's a bar....'.

If you have a conversation with Shaye, you find she has a sharp intelligence, good humour, charm, and wisdom beyond her years. She is articulate; and yet she values her privacy: she is sweetly and admirably inscrutable.

No wonder the band still so much enjoys playing in the street, where they can be clearly heard and be given respect by people who love their music. 

I had constantly wondered how Shaye manages to create all those wonderful phrases she plays (often with a mute) as a backing to Erika's vocals and also in support when the trombone or clarinet takes the melody. I asked her whether, while playing, she was thinking her way through the chords. She paused to consider my question for a moment, as if she had never thought about the process before. Yes, she knew the chords all right; but she felt that her inventions had become 'intuitive'.

In chatting with Barnabus, I got on to the unlikely topic of diminished chords. When I hummed a particularly enjoyable phrase he had played over a diminished chord in a YouTube video some years ago, he remembered exactly the one I meant and said he had picked the phrase up from Ewan Bleach! Barnabus also told me that Shaye is particularly fond of diminished chords.

One evening I bumped into that brilliant and ubiquitous trombonist Charlie Halloran. When he told me he would be playing with Tuba Skinny the following night (deputising during a very rare absence of Barnabus Jones), I asked him how he would cope with Tuba Skinny's often complex head arrangements. What if they played Deep Henderson, for example? He said Deep Henderson would be no trouble, as he knew their arrangement well. However, he told me 'I expect they will dumb down the programme a bit to make allowances for me.'

Well, I went to the concert. And I can tell you this: Tuba Skinny did not 'dumb down' at all. They played a typical programme, complex arrangements included. And how did Charlie cope? Brilliantly. He played some wonderful stuff and, as far as I could tell, never put a foot wrong.

I enjoyed observing how Shaye prepares a playlist. At The French Quarter Festival, for a quarter hour before the performance started, she sat in her place looking at her notebooks and working out a programme. She wrote the tune titles in large lettering on a sheet of paper which she then placed on the floor in the centre of the band, so that all members could know what was coming next. I noticed how skilfully she made the programme entertaining by alternating slower and quicker tunes, and mixing instrumental with vocal numbers, and even ensuring a variety of keys.

There are many people in the UK who wish Tuba Skinny would tour here. I raised this matter with some of them. I found they would like to visit the UK, but they have looked into the matter thoroughly and discovered so many obstacles (particularly financial and bureaucratic). I'm sorry to have to say this but I can't at present see how a tour in the UK will be viable in the foreseeable future. We can't expect the band to undertake it at a considerable cost to themselves.

Having admired his work through YouTube
for some years, it was a great pleasure
for me to meet Robin Rapuzzi.

Watching Tuba Skinny perform their specials - such as Freight Train Blues and the new ones by Shaye - Tangled Blues and Blue Chime Stomp - it was such a joy to observe at close quarters how brilliant they all are, and such perfectionists.