Post 523: 'CREOLE JAZZ' OR 'CREOLE SONG'?

It was one of those pub lunchtime informal jazz sessions. An elderly customer asked us whether we could play 'Creole Jazz'.

The other band members said they did not know it.

I said I had a vague memory of it, so I hummed what I thought was the tune. But the gentleman replied, 'No, it's not that. It's something Acker Bilk recorded'.

Back home, I consulted YouTube and chord books. I soon discovered how I had been mistaken.

The song I had hummed can be heard in this Kid Ory (1944) YouTube video, in which it is the first tune to be played:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW.

Although the video as a whole is called 'Creole Jazz', this particular tune is definitely entitled 'Creole Song'. It is so 'Creole' that it has words in Creole Patois (Madame Feydeaux,..etc.) and Kid Ory can be heard singing them. Mutt Carey is on trumpet.

I found that the great Lasse Collin on his site had produced a leadsheet for this number.

As you can see, Lasse attributes the song to Kid Ory; and, fair enough, it was certainly Ory who introduced it to our repertoire. Some believe, however, that the song was already familiar in New Orleans when Ory was a young man there.

But, to get back to the pub customer and his request, I sought out the Acker Bilk recording of 'Creole Jazz'. This is also available on YouTube:
CLICK HERE.
I was instantly reminded that this recording had been popular at about the time when Kennedy was the President of the USA and MacMillan was our Prime Minister here in the UK. Acker played the lively tune as a brisk clarinet feature, with only his rhythm section in support.

This tune is quite different from the Ory song. It was composed very much later by Claude Luter, the Paris-based musician who was a friend of Sidney Bechet.

This was the tune our customer had requested. Fortunately, the great Lasse Collin had done the trick again! He had produced this leadsheet for it.

I shared this with my colleagues, though I must admit we transposed it to Concert Bb to make it a little easier for us old chaps to learn and play.

And then, at our next visit to the pub, we surprised the elderly gentleman by playing it for him.

Another satisfied customer!

And if you haven't already come across the wonderful website of Lasse Collin - in which he supplies hundreds of leadsheets and is constantly adding more, please may I recommend it to you?
http://cjam.lassecollin.se/
Lasse Collin is generously providing an invaluable service to the whole world of traditional jazz.

ADDITIONAL NOTE added in August 2023 : Sadly, I have just heard that Lasse died on 23 December 2022.

Post 438: AT THE JAZZ BAND CONCERT - PLAYING REQUESTS

It often happens - especially at less formal gigs - that bands receive requests from the audience to play particular tunes.

Should the band play requests or not?

I have come across bands who have a fixed playlist to which they adhere rigidly, refusing to take any requests. On the whole, I think this is a pity. However, I can appreciate that the musicians in such cases want to sound as competent as possible and want to be heard at their best, especially if they have a well-prepared, well-rehearsed programme.

Sometimes a band receives a request that seems crazy in the circumstances. For example, a trio comprising clarinet, guitar and string bass is asked to play South Rampart Street Parade - a number that requires a big band and, ideally, at least one powerful trombonist. Or you have a request to play Stranger on the Shore (a clarinet feature) at a time when there is no clarinetist in the line-up. The person making the request is thinking of the pleasure he derived from recordings and is unable to grasp the limitations of the instruments in front of him.

Surprisingly, I have seen some musicians attempt to oblige even when 'asked for the impossible' in this way; but the result is more often than not disappointing. So it is better to deflect such requests and explain why they are impractical.

An irritating experience that I'm sure many musicians will recognize is this: someone comes up to you and requests a tune; you agree and start playing it for him. Then you notice that he has wandered off into the distance and is in animated conversation with somebody, neither of them bothering to listen. What is the point of such requests? I have no idea. Maybe such people simply wish to show off to their friends that they actually know the name of at least one tune!

I have been present on occasions when a band has been requested to play a tune that is obviously not in its repertoire. Two or three of the musicians say they vaguely know it and the band agrees to 'give it a go'. The result has usually been messy and it would have been better if the band had simply declined the request. I accept that audiences seem to admire these brave attempts but on the whole I do not think it is good for a band in public performance to be seen struggling.

The tunes most often requested (in my experience) are When The Saints Go Marching In, Sweet Georgia Brown, Stranger on the Shore, Twelfth Street Rag and Tiger Rag. All bands can play these very readily - they have had to do so hundreds of times. Some musicians groan when they are asked to play When The Saints yet again; but it is their job to please the public, so their best tactic is to blot out memories of all previous performances and do their best to play the tune in a fresh and appealing manner.

On the whole, I think bands have to put the customer first and should welcome requests. But they should also be prepared to say a polite 'No' rather than risk making fools of themselves.