Post 218: THE 12-BAR BLUES STRUCTURE AND 'SHAKE THAT THING'

In case you need help with mastering that most quintessential of jazz tune structures - the Twelve-Bar Blues - here is a tune that uses the chord progression in its least sophisticated form.

This is 'Shake That Thing' - well worth having in your repertoire. It was written by 'Papa' Charlie Jackson in 1926.

Born in 1885, Jackson was unusual in creating 'blues' that were
played faster and were more humorous than most.

Play 'Shake That Thing' at a moderately fast speed and if possible have someone singing the words. They are good fun.

There are various sets of possible words. In one of them the first two verses can go something like this:

Down in Georgia there's a dance that's new,

Ain't nothin' to it, it's easy to do.

You gotta shake that thing. [Shake that thing.]

You gotta shake that thing. [Shake that thing.]

I'm growin' tired of tellin' ya,

You gotta shake that thing.

The old folks are doin' it, the young folks too,

The old folks tell the young folks what they gotta do.

They gotta shake that thing. [Shake that thing.]

They gotta shake that thing. [Shake that thing.]

Growing' tired of tellin' ya:

You gotta shake that thing.

You can click on this video to see and hear how effective it can be:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPhbe6RwABI

And here's a curiosity - the only 13-BAR blues I can think of. It occurs as the Interlude in Blind Boy Fuller's Untrue Blues. This is essentially an eight-bar tune, but he has two guitar links of 13 bars, which seemed to be based on the 12-bar blues, but with Bar 10 repeated. When Tuba Skinny revived this tune in 2014, they scrupulously followed the original and kept the 13-bar section.

Post 81: HORRIBLE VOCALS

I spend a lot of time watching and listening to traditional jazz bands.

One thing I find disappointing is that some of the 'vocals' are - frankly - horrible.

In particular, there are so many elderly male performers who are determined to sing the words of whatever tune they are playing, regardless of their lack of ability. They croak and strain and are out of tune. Such 'expression' as they attempt is inept. If that's the best they can do, why bother?

Perhaps some of them used to have reasonably good singing voices twenty or thirty years ago. They haven't noticed (and friends have been too kind to tell them) that they have 'lost it' with the passage of time.

I think these vocals help to explain why traditional jazz fails to attract younger audiences.

Some of the elderly gents seem to think that, in order to be qualified to sing, all you need is to be a bit musical on the clarinet or trumpet and also have the words of the song on a music stand in front of you. But there is far more of an art to it than that. It requires a good voice, intelligence and serious practice.

Here's the great Erika Lewis. What would most of us give to have a singer of her quality working with our band? But if we don't have a good singer, then may I suggest that we let the music speak for itself and cut out those horrible 'vocals'?