Post 547: TRADITIONAL JAZZ PUZZLE FOR TODAY

Here's another of my occasional puzzles.

These are eight titles of tunes played by our bands.

They are all slightly wrong.

When You Wore a Turnip
Egyptian Fella
You’re the Fly in My Coffee

Blue Turning Green Over You
Give Me Your Cardinal Number
Red Roses for a Fat Lady
Buddy Bolden’s Boots
I Wish I Could Simmer Like My Sister Kate

What are the correct titles? Answers to:

ivantrad (@) outlook (dot) com

Winners' names will be given in my next post - Post 547 on 16 September.

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.

Post 448: USING THE INTERNET TO RESEARCH JAZZ

I often receive requests and suggestions from readers concerning what I should write about. For example: 'How about an article on the life and work of George Lewis, the great clarinet player, who died in 1968?'

Writing such an article would involve me in a great deal of time and research. And I would be unable to come up with anything new - that is to say, anything not already available if you search for it on the internet.

I don't want to spend my time, as the saying goes, 're-inventing the wheel'. That is why I do not tackle such subjects.

So today may I point out to you that there is a vast amount of information available if you care to look for it. Wikipedia is obviously a possible starting point. And there are many sites specifically related to our kind of music.

I would like specially to mention one you may not have come across. The full 15-volume archive of the magazine New Orleans Music (incorporating Footnote) has been placed at our disposal by some fine, generous and dedicated people. They have gone to the enormous trouble of providing a large Index, which leads you to information about the musicians and bands (including many of the more obscure) who were important in the history of our music from the end of the Nineteenth Century onward. The magazine ceased publication in 2010.

To discover these riches, CLICK HERE.

Post 391: BREXIT AND BLOGGING

My friends in Europe have been troubled recently by one burning question:-

Does Brexit mean we will no longer have access to Pops Coffee's Enjoying Traditional Jazz Blog?

Well, the good news is that the very first thing the new U.K. Government (led by Prime Minister Theresa May) is going to negotiate is that this Blog should have freedom of movement throughout all countries in the E.U.

She will be the 15th British Prime Minister under whose administration I have enjoyed traditional jazz. Two of them (Churchill and Wilson) were in fact Prime Minister twice.

Jazz started for me when Neville Chamberlain was Prime Minister and we almost wore out the latest Decca release by Johnny Dodds and His Chicago Boys - Shake Your Can, with a vocal by percussionist O'Neil Spencer, a workmanlike trumpet solo by Charlie Shavers and a restrained chorus by Johnny Dodds himself. Lil Hardin was on piano.

Johnny Dodds
(1892 -1940)

Post 237: TUBA SKINNY TESTIMONIALS

I start my days at my In-Box, where I usually find at least a dozen e-mails from readers of this Blog. These are appreciated; and I try to reply to them all.

I must tell you the topic my correspondents raise most often is the joy that discovering Tuba Skinny (the young New Orleans band) has brought to their lives. Some of them thank me for pointing them to the YouTube videos of this wonderful group of musicians.

Here's a recent typical e-mail:

I’m happy to report that 'Tuba Skinny' are under my skin ... a narcotic mix of youth, exuberance and Shaye Cohn’s phrasing. I listen to their YouTubes and am compelled to have a blow myself.........repeatedly failing to reproduce their magic but I enjoy trying!

And another:

...I bought all of the Tuba Skinny CDs because of your blog. Thanks so much. They are terrific! I walk to work...........where I teach harmony, counterpoint and composition......I have an mp3 player and listen both ways. I am conducting my orchestra this Friday..............and I should be absorbing the concert music on my walks. Ha, instead I have had a week of Tuba Skinny - I can't get enough of it - comical.

Another:

Dear Ivan,

I just turned 79 last March. Quite by accident, I also discovered Tuba Skinny. I've long been a dixieland/jazz lover. Your treatise on Tuba Skinny was spot on. I agree with your comment on the washboard, but they do make it work..........Many thanks for your wonderful blog on Tuba Skinny. (I'm also in love with Shaye.)

 Sincerely,

Lou 

Another reader - an English trumpet player on holiday in New Orleans - told me he came across Tuba Skinny playing in the street and he stood 'absolutely mesmerised' for two hours by Shaye's playing.

There are over 250 videos of Tuba Skinny on YouTube. I am an admirer of - and greatly indebted to - the video-maker codenamed digitalalexa, who has filmed the band in the streets dozens of times. A fine example of his work is to be seen by clicking here.