Post 488: 'BLAME IT ON THE BLUES'

Recently I recommended the storming version by Ken Colyer's band of Blame It On The Blues. You can listen to it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A79yvcDRzIw

This is such a good number that it is worth a closer look.

Fortunately, Lasse Collin ( http://cjam.lassecollin.se ) - that great benefactor of jazz musicians the world over - produced a lead-sheet of this piece on his website. So we have a good clear version of the music to work from.

Here, with thanks to Lasse, is his lead-sheet.

This piece was composed as a Rag for Piano in 1914 by Charles L. Cooke.

It is typical of its time, comprising two 16-bar themes in one key followed by a more leisurely 32-bar theme in which we modulate into the key a fifth below. This final theme was called the 'Trio' - a term whose usage dates at least from the classical music of the 18th Century.

Think of At a Georgia Camp Meeting, Climax Rag, Hiawatha Rag and Buddy's Habit. They are constructed in a similar way.

Our jazz band version of Blame It On The Blues is remarkably faithful to the original sheet music, (using Lasse's labels) in Themes A and B. But what we play as Theme C (the Trio) is a simplification and reinterpretation of the notes Cooke wrote for the piano. Here's his original Theme C (The Trio). Note that it also had a 4-bar Bridge which our bands do not play:

Theme A, in Eb Concert, is very lively, with much swooping down the octave. B is simple but exciting, because it clambers up through the arpeggio of the Chord of C diminished. This is a very effective device (also found in Memphis Shake and Dusty Rag).

Normally, bands play A - A - B - B - A - before relaxing into C. This final Theme has a good though more leisurely melody, but in the related key of Ab.

Note that, throughout this piece, the chord progressions are basic and memorable. This is a reason why it is a good number to play - and not too difficult.

Playing ends with as many improvisations as desired on Theme C. The chord pattern here is straightforward, familiar, and a joy for clarinet players to work on.  Note what Ian Wheeler manages to make of it in the Ken Colyer recording.

Conclusion? It's a very good tune, a joy to play and hear and - dating from over a hundred years ago - historically interesting and important. Let's play it.

Post 467: SECTIONS CALLED 'TRIOS' IN THE STRUCTURE OF MUSIC

Have you ever wondered why so many classic jazz pieces run through two or three themes - perhaps including some links or bridges - and then finally settle into a chunky 32-bar theme on a straightforward chord progression - a theme that may be repeated with variations and improvisations for as long as the band wishes? I'm thinking of such tunes as At a Georgia Camp Meeting, Buddy's Habit, Blame It On The Blues, Bugle Boy March, Fidgety Feet, Frogimore Rag, Hiawatha Rag, Original Dixieland One-Step, Mabel's Dream, and Tiger Rag.

I believe it is all part of a tradition passed down to us from the days of Haydn. It is the 'Trio'.

Yes, I know a 'trio' usually means a group of three - three musicians, for example.

But there is another use of the word 'Trio' in connection with music and it dates from the way pieces were structured by the classical composers of the mid-Eighteenth Century.

Symphonies and string quartets by the likes of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven were made up of several units of music, spread over a number of movements.

The 'Trio', which often came within a 'Minuet' movement, was often provided as a contrast to another theme that was played before and after it.

Why it was called a 'Trio' is somewhat obscure, but it seems likely that, originally at least, it really did involve some kind of three-part harmonizing. (You can certainly find that in Haydn string quartets.)

Move forward to the late Nineteenth Century and we find that composers of light or semi-classical music still considered it proper to create pieces that included four or five separate themes, or parts. By analogy, they thought they too should have a section called the Trio; and often it appeared as a somewhat grand but simple melody (usually 16 or 32 bars). Just as the classical composers had done, they often switched to a different key for the Trio. And, just as in classical music, they sometimes indicated that the musicians were expected to go back to the opening theme and play that again AFTER the Trio.

This idea of including Trios was immensely popular in Brass Band music of the Nineteenth Century. Think of those great marches, in many of which there is a theme called the 'Trio'. Sometimes it is quite grandiose.

So it's hardly surprising that the Trio found its way into early jazz - and that it's still there today, though I doubt whether any of our current musicians ever consciously think about it.

Look at the original sheet music of some of our jazz classics. This is the final section of Deep Henderson. I have highlighted where the Trio begins.

And here is the point in Panama where the Trio begins:

It switches from the key of F to the key of Bb at the start of the Trio - the most common switch of all, in which early themes are played in the key that is the Dominant of the Final Theme.

The same happens in Maple Leaf Rag. Here the switch is from the key of Ab (for the earlier themes) to Db for the Trio.

And here's the Trio from Charles Cooke's 1914 piano rag Blame It On The Blues. When our jazz bands play it today, it sounds very unlike this, because it has been re-interpreted with a much more simple melodic line, easier for trumpet players to cope with.

A few more examples:

The Cactus Rag (1916) is written in Eb - until the Trio, which is in Ab.

Chimes (by Homer Denny, 1910 - not to be confused with Chimes Blues) is a rag in F with a Trio in Bb.

The rag Cole Smoak (1906) is in Eb, with the Trio in Ab.

James Scott's Evergreen Rag (1915) goes from G to C for the Trio.

So, whenever we play one of those multi-part tunes that ends with a steady theme on which we all love to improvise, perhaps we should spare a thought for the likes of Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), who so long ago showed how pieces of music may be constructed by putting together various parts - or themes - and how interesting it is to have such an impressive contrasting theme (perhaps in a related key) that, for want of a better term, we may call 'The Trio'.

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Post 84: THE ICHNOGRAPHY OF OUR PERFORMANCES

If you are not a musician but have wondered what on earth is going on in the music when you listen to traditional jazz bands, you may be interested to know the musicians have to follow a ground plan in every performance.

At its simplest this may be nothing more than playing an eight-bar melody, with its accompanying chord sequence over and over, with various improvisations, sometimes by soloists and sometimes involving full ensemble. There may also be a few bars of Introduction and there may be a Tag or a Coda (a little tail added to the end of the final chorus); but these are not essential.

For an example, listen to Tuba Skinny playing ‘Jet Black Blues’. They do nothing more than work through the same eight bars FIFTEEN times, but with so much creativity that the performance is always interesting: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2bZoCTPblc 

The same applies to standard 12-bar blues, in which there is a single theme.

When we play the popular tunes of the 1920s and 1930s, the familiar song, usually called the Chorus, often consists of 32 bars, so the ground plan may be: just play that Chorus without any additional material straight through, several times – to allow for solos and ensemble work.

Sometimes the song has a good Verse (often 16 bars), so the plan may be to work through the Verse once before embarking of several treatments of the Chorus – perhaps returning once more to the Verse before finishing.

But with more complex structures, notably the classically-composed tunes of the 1920s, you often find two or more themes – each a little melody in itself and each with its own chord structure.

Often there is a key change, too. So a composition by King Oliver or Clarence Williams or Jelly Roll Morton may be structured like this: 

INTRODUCTION : Usually two or four bars. 

THEME A : Usually 16 or 32 bars. 

THEME B : Usually 16 or 32 bars. 

BRIDGE (A short linking, transitional passage, often leading to a key change). 

THEME C : Usually 32 bars. 

It often happens that the band agrees to play Theme A twice and then Theme B twice and then Theme A once more before tackling the Bridge. (This is also a very common procedure with classic rags written before 1920.) After that, they may remain on Theme C, playing it several times, with various improvisations. They will probably end with an Ensemble Chorus and perhaps a Coda.

Of course, this pattern can be varied in many ways. For example, a band may choose to play a number of solo choruses on Theme B, before playing the Bridge.

These structural patterns can be traced back to such classical composers as Haydn and Mozart. Well into the Nineteenth Century such an ichnography found its way into brass band music and eventually into ragtime structures. Theme C (usually involving the key change) was often called ‘The Trio’ in classical music and was still labelled as such in the sheet music of popular tunes in the early Twentieth Century. Even today it is sometimes still called the Trio by practising musicians.

If all this makes little sense to you, let me give you a practical example. Have a look at Tuba Skinny playing ‘Cushion Foot Stomp’ and let me talk you through their performance. I am referring to this video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaaY2yDcnW0

This is a Clarence Williams composition with three themes. Here's how this performance is structured. 

(1) EIGHT-BAR INTRODUCTION : 03 seconds - 13 seconds. 

(2) THEME A (standard 12-bar) : 14 secs. - 29 secs. Craig leading with the main melody. 

(3) THEME B (24 bars) : Todd leading, with Shaye 'decorating' : 30 secs. - 1 min. 01 secs. 

(4) THEME B (24 bars) : Craig leading, with Shaye 'decorating’ : 1 min. 02 secs - 1 min. 33 secs. 

(5) THEME A (the 12-bar again) : 1 min. 34 secs. - 1 min. 49 secs. 

(6) BRIDGE (4 bars, leading into Key Change - Key has been E flat until now but is about to become A flat) : 1 min. 50 secs - 1 min. 54 secs. 

(7) THEME C - Classically known as the TRIO. This is the Main Theme on which the piece settles, and is to be used as the basis for improvised solos. (16 bars in Ab, always with a ‘break’ on Bars 7 and 8) : Taken by Craig: 1 min. 55 secs – 2 mins. 16 secs. (You can hear his ‘break’ at 2 mins. 04 secs. - 2 mins. 05 secs.) 

(8) THEME C : Taken by Barnabus and including the ‘break’ - 2 mins. 17 secs – 2 mins. 37 secs. 

(9) THEME C : Taken by Shaye and including the ‘break’ - 2 mins. 38 secs – 2 mins. 59 secs. 

(10) THEME C : Taken by Max and including the ‘break’ - 3 mins. 00 secs – 3 mins. 19 secs. 

(11) THEME C : Taken by Todd and including the ‘break’ - 3 mins. 20 secs – 3 mins. 41 secs. 

(12) THEME C : Taken by Robin and including the ‘break’ - 3 mins. 42 secs – 4 mins. 02 secs. 

(13) THEME C : Taken by the full ensemble but with the ‘break’ allocated to Todd - 4 mins. 03 secs – 4 mins. 23 secs. 

(14) CODA (4 bars) : Initiated by Robin – 4 mins. 24 secs – 4 mins. 30 secs. 

For a performance to come out as slickly as this, all band members have to remember the agreed ichnography as well as the three principal melodies and the chord progressions.