Post 429: 'VIPER MAD'

Trying out 'Viper Mad' at Foxton Locks.

My friends and I added Viper Mad (sometimes called Pleasure Mad) to the tunes we regularly play. I believe it was written by Sidney Bechet and Rousseau Simmons as long ago as 1924.

It is great fun to play and improvise upon, especially if taken at a pretty fast speed.

It has a 12-bar introduction, followed by a 32-bar chorus (16 + 16 pattern, rather than with a middle eight). Here's our version.

In my view, the A7ths followed by the D minor in the Chorus are what give the tune its special flavour.

The original words are politically incorrect and are usually changed when sung these days. But they are full of youthful exuberance (I'm twenty-one, I've just begun, I'm far from done) and I like that aspect. It's a happy song that is both fun and effective to play.

If you wish to listen to this tune on YouTube, it is easy enough to find it played by Sidney Bechet himself. But if you would like an easy-paced more recent version (by The California Feetwarmers - with Chloe Feoranzo no less on clarinet) CLICK HERE.

Post 350: TRY FLOATING ON THE 9th

Something to learn when you are mastering the art of improvisation is that playing the 9th above a chord can be very effective.

Assume that the chord for a couple of bars is C7th. This means the notes in the chord are:

  C  -  E  -  G  -  Bb.

While the rest of the band sustains this chord, try playing the D above it, in effect turning the chord into a 9th. It can be quite exciting. It gives a pleasant sensation of 'floating' above the chord. 

For a simple example on YouTube, 

CLICK HERE

and notice how (at 36 seconds until 38 seconds) Shaye on the cornet plays a series of Ds above the chord of C7th. It is one of her favourite devices, though she probably does it so instinctively that I doubt whether she herself is aware of it. In other performances, you will find her holding the 9th as one long continuous note.

When improvising, try occasionally playing a D above a C chord, an E above a D chord, a G above an F chord, a C above a Bb chord, etc.

You will also frequently come across moments in songs where the composers themselves use the 9th as the melody note. Here's a simple example. Think of the song from 1930 'I'm Confessing That I Love You'. It begins with the words 'I'm confessin' that I love you. Tell me do you love me too?'

That word 'too' is the 9th of the chord in the harmony at that point. If the song is being played in the key of F (as it usually is), the chord is D7th (D     F#   A    C) but the melody note is E.

You can hear the effect in your head, can't you?

Post 324: CHORDS - THOUGHT-PROVOKING STUFF FROM A GUEST WRITER

Following my own ramblings and speculations about chords, I have received this contribution from the traditional jazz pianist Chris Reilley.

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Chris writes: -

In my case learning about chords started when I took an interest in playing Boogie Woogie, so the chord shapes in that case were fairly simple first-inversion major triad shapes. From then on it was only a matter of making slight amendments to the chords for the simplest of Jazz Tunes to be able to play Traditional and New Orleans Jazz tunes.

In recent years I have found that some tunes suggest the use of much more complicated chords – some of which are almost impossible to play with the left hand only. I am referring to those chords that require a span of more than one octave or more than the use of five notes in the chord.

I bought a Chord Chart Book in the 1950s which showed all of the most common chord shapes in use and since then I have referred to this and to a book commonly known as the “French Chord Book”. Both of these list the details of a number of different chords some of which either require the use of six fingers or for the chord to be missing a note (usually the root). This is because the chord would normally be played as a split bar with the root being played on the first and third beats and the chord (less the "Root") on the second and fourth beats.

One interesting point made in the Chord Chart Book regarding “Inversions” is the suggestion that chords played on the Piano should ideally be centred over middle C in order to get the fullest sound. This means that some chords should not necessarily be played in the first inversion but maybe in either second or third inversions to obtain the fullest sound.

There is no doubt that some chords use the same notes as other chords in a different key but in a different inversion; this can be confusing and the only way I know to resolve this issue is to make sure that the chord used is in the same key as the tune (unless there is intended to be a change of key at that point).

Another point in chord use is to take into account the unfortunate limitations of some instruments like for example the Banjo and Guitar which in many cases only have four strings.

I have been asked to play “eleventh” or “thirteenth” chords in certain places in tunes and when I have looked at the melody I usually have found that the notes of the “eleventh” or “thirteenth” are actually in the melody. Now as I want to be able to use my right hand for improvisation and harmonic accompaniment, I excuse myself of that task by playing all the notes except the “eleventh” or “thirteenth” notes of the chord and let the melody instruments sound that.

To add to the above there is also the interesting use of Lead-in notes and Chords (e.g. the Dominant Seventh or Augmented Fifth) and the final Chords (e.g. Dominant Seventh, Major Seventh or Major Sixth as well as chordal sequences) being the most common. Also in some tunes there appears what is commonly called the “magic” Chord (in the key of Bb there might appear the chord of Db prior to playing an Eb chord). In the case of the well-known Boogie Woogie composer Jimmy Yancy, he used to finish many of his tunes with a bar or two in a totally different Key.

I hope you find this interesting.

Cheers,

Chris.

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Thanks, Chris. I certainly did. You have made some points that had not occurred to me before.

Post 299: MORE CHORD SUBSTITUTION AND SIMPLIFICATION

I have previously mentioned that you can sometimes simplify matters by playing a basic triad major chord instead of the minor 7th of the note three semitones below it.

For example, play C major triad instead of A minor 7th. (Nobody will notice!)

Banjo-playing friends have since reminded me of two more similar tricks. One friend said 'Because we have four strings, we often play partial chords, as the full chord pattern on each inversion would stretch fingers beyond human limits at times'.

TRICK ONE

The music calls for a Diminished Chord. Instead, play the 7th of the chord one semitone below it. But LEAVE OUT THE BOTTOM NOTE. For example, for F diminished, play E7th (but leaving out the E at the bottom). It works.

For C diminished, play B7th without the B;

For F# diminished, play F7th without the F, etc.

TRICK TWO

The music calls for a Minor 7th with flattened fifth (sometimes called the 'half-diminished' chord). Instead, play the Minor 6th based on the note three semitones above.

For example,

For Cm7-5, play Ebm6;

For Dm7-5, play Fm6;

For Gm7-5, play Bbm6;

etc.

Tricks. But you will get away with them.

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

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

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

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

And if you are interested in jazz chord progressions, as I am, here's a curiosity for you. Take a standard twelve-bar blues chord sequence, for example (in the Key of C):

  C | C | C | C7 | F | F | C | C | G7 | G7 | C | C

(This was the basis of so much rock 'n' roll and all that followed.)

Then chop off the first four bars, leaving you with a sequence of eight bars:

 F | F | C | C | G7 | G7 | C | C

And what do you have?

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

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

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

Post 271: 'BROKEN-HEARTED BLUES' AND THE MAGNOLIA CHORD PROGRESSION

One of the loveliest uses of the Magnolia Chord Progression is to be heard in Broken-Hearted Blues, the 2009 composition written and sung by Erika Lewis with Tuba Skinny. This song is played in the key of C and the Magnolia Progression occurs several times. You can hear Erika perform the song on their 2009 CD or by watching this video. Click here to view. It is a pity the audience noise is so loud, but we have to be grateful to Peter Butler for filming it for us, as this seems to be the only version available on YouTube. (By the way, the other Broken-Hearted Blues - the quite different song composed in 1937 by Lil Johnson - is also played by Tuba Skinny and there are  several videos of that song. Don't be confused.)

The Magnolia Chord Progression is one with which several of the good old songs begin: start on the tonic chord; then the tonic 7th; then the chord of the 4th note in the scale; and then the 4th minor (or sometimes diminished).

So, in the Key of C, this means:

   C  :  C7 :  F :  Fm

It's known to jazzmen as The Magnolia Progression because it was used to begin the chorus of the famous 1928 Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields jazz tune Magnolia's Wedding Day.

As you can see from the chords, it makes for a bright, positive start in the home key but gets you into a minor - with possibly just a hint of sadness - by the fourth bar.

This effect is particularly noticeable in the opening chords of  Cherry Red and Big Boat (both of them 8-bar blues), Girl of My Dreams, Got a Mind to Ramble, In the Upper Garden, My Mother's Eyes, Old Rocking Chair, When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain, When You and I Were Young, Maggie, When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano, I'll See You in the Spring, Does Jesus Care?, Lonesome Road, Louisiana Fairytale, I May Be Wrong But I Think You're Wonderful, You Were Only Passing Time With Me, If I Had You, After My Laughter Came Tears, and Carolina Moon - all of which start with the Magnolia Progression.

It is also used in some tunes where the 'saddening' effect is less obvious, though this is because they are generally brighter and faster. Examples are 'Deed I Do, Cornet Chop Suey, I'm Gonna Meet My Sweetie Now, I Want a Little Girl to Call My Own, I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket, Brown Skin Mamma, the final theme of Stevedore Stomp, not to mention Magnolia's Wedding Day itself.

Here is the Magnolia Progression illustrated, in this case in the opening chords of the tune My Mother's Eyes:

Post 168: 'MAGIC IS THE MOONLIGHT' - A GOOD ONE FOR BEGINNERS

I was having a look at Magic is the Moonlight (with music composed in 1930 by Maria Grever) and it occurred to me that this tune has all the ingredients to make it useful for anyone learning to play traditional jazz.

Why?

Well, it has a simple 32-bar a-a-b-a structure, like hundreds of our tunes. The (a) part comprises eight bars taken at only moderate speed and they are virtually the same each time they are played, so the melody is easy to learn. The Middle Eight - the (b) part - is easy too, and is based on a progression of chords with which you need to become familiar and totally at ease as you progress in your playing. On top of all this, the tune is a pleasant one - much enjoyed by audiences.

The wonderful Lasse Collin, whose website I have often praised, has kindly supplied a lead-sheet for this tune. If you look at it carefully, you will see how simple the tune is. Improvising is helped by the fact that you need work only with the major tonic chord in the first four bars of each Section (a). The Middle 8 is essentially a IV - I - II7 - V7 sequence of chords, such as you will encounter in hundreds of tunes.

If you would like to hear a jazz band having a go at this tune, CLICK HERE.

Post 119: 'MY LITTLE SUEDE SHOES'

Charlie Parker died young, in 1955. He was one of the early developers of bebop - a complicated, challenging form of jazz that has never appealed as much to me personally as early New Orleans (traditional) jazz.

But I came across his tune My Little Suede Shoes recently. And I must tell you that, having worked it out, I am having lots of fun with it.

I have never heard this tune played by a traditional jazz band, but I think some of us should try it.

For a start, and surprisingly, it follows a very simple and conventional 32-bar structure:

A [eight bars]
A [same eight bars repeated]
B [the bridge or 'middle eight']
A [first eight bars repeated again].

Structurally and rhythmically, it reminds me a little of Isle of Capri (which traditional jazz bands frequently play).

But, unlike Isle of Capri, it throws in the novelty of notes deliberately written 'off beat'. There are 5 of them in each Section A; and 5 in Section B, making 20 'off-beats' or deliberate syncopations in all. Here's an example. I have underlined the off-beats in red:

This adds a lot of fun to the tune and gives it a hint of a Latin flavour.

It's easy to learn and play on any standard instrument. And here's more good news: you do not have to be a bebop specialist to improvise on it.

In the course of the 32 bars, the progression (with the tune in Eb)  Fm - Bb7 - Eb (familiar to all jazz musicians as 2m - 5 - 1) occurs ten times (you can see three of them in the example above). That sequence occurs in thousands of popular tunes and is therefore easy to improvise on.

Add to that the simplicity of the Middle Eight:

Ab - Gm - Fm - Eb, etc., which you can think of as simply climbing down the stairs; and you should be able to improvise at the first attempt.

Yes, it's a tune with great potential. At present, I seem to be humming it all day.

Post 105: PLAYING TRADITIONAL JAZZ - WHICH CHORD ARE YOU ON?

You are a player of the clarinet, or trumpet, or trombone. Your band is playing 'Oriental Strut'. It's your turn to improvise a 32-bar chorus on the final theme. You are in the key of F. Off you go.

Now: imagine that I stop you suddenly in the middle of the 13th of the 32 bars and ask you to tell me which chord you are on. Would you be able to give the correct answer?

The reason why I ask is this. When I was in New Orleans in April 2015, I was interested to find out just how the great musicians currently working there go about their business. I managed to have conversations with several of them - people such as Tommy Sancton, Ben Polcer, Charlie Halloran, Aurora Nealand, Todd Burdick and John Dixon. What astonished me was how seriously they take their work and how thoroughly they have prepared and trained.

Two great musicians I had the pleasure of meeting -
Tommy Sancton (clarinet; left) and John Dixon (banjo; right)

I tried several of them with the kind of question I have asked above. To my surprise, the answer from all of them may be summarised as 'Of course. You have to know the chord structure as well as the melody.'

They would usually go on to say that, after playing a tune many times, they had the chords 'in their fingers' and no longer needed to think of them consciously. But, if challenged with my '13th bar of Oriental Strut' question, they would certainly be able to name the chord.

One of the great clarinet players told me he had studied very closely the recordings of his idol, George Lewis, who is generally believed to have been a rare genius who could play instinctively, by ear.  He discovered that even if George was not a good reader of music, he was always right on the arpeggio of the correct chord. However, there was one exception: George was not too good on playing around with chords on the 6th (for example, the A7 chord when in the key of C). What an amazing observation! And doesn't it tell us a lot about how seriously the current generation of New Orleans musicians take their musical studies?

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Footnote: The answer to my original question is E7th. Did you get it?

Post 100: IMPROVISE BOLDLY!

I have received several emails from people who tell me they are trying to learn to play traditional jazz with the help of my blog. Some seem to be seeking a magic formula and think it is to be found in the stuff I write about chord progressions.

This is worrying. It's time to warn you not to take me too seriously. I am no expert. I am a self-taught ever-struggling learner, especially in matters of chord progressions.

Note this: confidence and boldness when improvising are often more important than knowing the tune's chord progression by heart.

In 1997, when I had started taking a serious interest in the music, I closely observed the trumpet-player Marc Caparone at the High Mountains Jazz Festival in Oregon.

Marc Caparone

He was playing some amazing solo choruses and I could tell from his fingering that he was often using notes that seemed quite alien to the chord progression. Yet he was producing some really exciting music.

I had the good fortune to bump into him later and I mentioned this to him.

His reply was unfortgettable: 'That's right. I don't let the chords get in the way!'

Maybe that's the best approach to take.

Post 79: THE HOT NUTS CHORD PROGRESSION

THE HOT NUTS PROGRESSION 

has a long history, as it dates back at least to 1906 with Percy Cahill's Don't Go Away, Nobody. In the Key of C it is:

C | A7 | D7/G7 | C | C | A7 | D7 | G7
C*** | C7*** | F*** | Fm*** | C | A7 | D7/G7 | C 

As you can see, it is a very simple 16-bar structure. In some songs, a two-bar tag is added, making 18 bars in all. Where I have placed askerisks, the band sometimes chooses to include solo instrument (or vocal) breaks.

Like the 12-bar blues, this is one of the most common progressions in traditional jazz.

You can hear it for example in:

If It Don't Fit, Don't Force It 

Droppin' Shucks
Everybody's Talking About Sammy

Forget Me Not Blues
Hot Nuts, Get 'Em from the Peanut Man 

How Come You Do Me Like You Do Do Do? 
Maybe Not At All

Meat on the Table (one theme)
My Sweet Lovin' Man
Prove It On Me Blues
Take Your Fingers Off It
Walk Right In
Watchin' The Clock
Don't Go Away, Nobody

Like the Sister Kate Progression, this one ends with the Sunshine Sequence (described elsewhere in this Blog). So nothing could be more natural or simple to play. But the progressions are extremely effective.

Post 60: 'DILL PICKLES'

A super little tune called Dill Pickles was composed by Charles Johnson as a piano rag in about 1906 and re-issued as a song (with words by Alfred Bryan) in 1910.

The composer, Charles L. Johnson, lived from 1875 until 1950, spending practically all his life in Kansas. As a composer of light music, he produced many songs, rags, waltzes and marches.

Charles Johnson in about 1902

What I specially like about Dill Pickles is that it is a very pleasant example of the quintessential popular syncopated music of the time. Somewhat mechanical, repetitive and based on a simple chord structure, it succeeds in being pretty too.

All these qualities make it a good number for traditional jazz bands to play. But I don't know of any bands with it in their current repertoire as a full band number rather than as a pianist's party-piece.

I entered it into my filofax collection of tunes, making my own leadsheet. You will note that it has two parts (let's call them Verse and Chorus), each with 32 bars that are essentially 16 repeated. As you can see, improvisation on this tune would be very simple. I hope I may this year hear a band somewhere playing it.

Post 16: TUNES WITH 'BILL BAILEY' CHORDS

It is well known that the 32-bar chord progression used in Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey? is found in many other tunes. This progression uses 'The Sunshine Sequence' in the final eight bars.

The Bill Bailey Progression

 I   |   I   |  I   |   I   |  I  |   I   |  V7   |   V7   |

 V7 |  V7  |  V7  |  V7 |  V7  |  V7  |  I  |  I  |

 I    |  I  |    I    |   I    |   I  |  I7  |   IV  |  IV   |

 IV  |  IVm  |  I  |   VI7   |  II7  |  V7  |  I:IV |  I

I have been sent a list of tunes that are said to use the sequence. 

I can't confirm that these tunes really are all based on the Bill Bailey Progression because there are tunes on this list that are unknown to me. However, I recognise most of them and know that they do indeed use the sequence.

339 Rag
Allez Vous En

Amapola (for the first 24 bars) 

Ancient Bottle Strut

At The Mardi Gras

Baby Face 

Beer Barrel Polka ('Roll out the barrel' strain)

Black Maria (final strain)
Bourbon Street Parade

Boys From Harlem

Ciri Ciri Bin 

Clink, Clink, Another Drink

Could Be

Creole Rag

Daybreak Express

Don't Give Up the Ship

Down in New Orleans

Fireworks (first strain)

First Choice

Golden Leaf Strut 

Good Old Days at a New Orleans Soiree

Hey, Engineer is This Train Going South?

Hiawatha Rag (final strain) 

Hindustan (modified by flat 6th chord in bars 27 and 28)

Hotter Than That

I Love You and Don't You Forget It

I'll Take That New Orleans Music

I've Got My Eyes On You

Just Because

Knee Drops 

Louisville Special

March of the Charcoal Greys

March of the Hoodlums (third strain)

Market Street Stomp

Meat on the Table (one theme)
Memphis Stomp

Merci Beaucoup

Mexicali Rose

Milenberg Joys (final strain)

Moonlight and Roses

My Little Girl

Oh How I Miss You Tonight

Over the Waves

Parade of the Pieces

Parade of the Wooden Soldiers

Polka Dot Stomp (first strain, modified)

Pretty Audrey
Saint Bernard Waltz
Salute to Ohio State
Second Line

Slide, Frog, Slide (second strain)

Spanish Eyes (almost all)

Stockyard Strut

Teddy Bears Picnic (one strain)

Tiger Rag ('Hold That Tiger' strain)

Trudy

Under the Double Eagle

Vine Street Drag

Walk Right Back

Washington and Lee Swing (aka Louisiana Swing and aka The Swing and aka Tulane Swing)

Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey?