Post 541: 'SOME KIND'A SHAKE' - A NEW GEM FROM TUBA SKINNY

On 3 March 2018, that generous video-maker James Sterling put up on YouTube a performance by Tuba Skinny of a tune called Some Kind-a-Shake. This tune, which - James informed us - was an 'original' by the band, had never been previously available on YouTube. You may watch it BY CLICKING HERE.

What you will witness is another astonishing composition and performance. Tuba Skinny must have been busy in recent weeks working up some slick arrangements. I guess they have rehearsed together quite a bit.

For what's it's worth, and in case you're interested, here's how I see this new piece.

Essentially it's a 16-bar (8 + 8) tune in the key of F; but it is played with so much variety and quite a few surprises.

After twice through the 16-bar Chorus, we find Shaye offering an obbligato on the third time. Then the fourth time through has a surprise rhythmic pattern (with silent first beats in the third and fifth bars from the whole band ). Craig is the next to play his improvisation on the theme.

Then at 1 min 52 comes the highlight of the piece - an amazing 8-bar 'Bridge' section. You have Todd, Barnabus, Shaye and Craig over a period of four bars playing just one note each in turn through two rising arpeggios (to my ear, Gb diminished and Ab diminished respectively). The band did a similar thing in Blue Chime Stomp - you may remember. Then there's a two-bar banjo tremolo, and next a couple of bars from Todd to lead us back to the 16-bar Chorus (but - unusually - the key has not changed).

Max - a stalwart of Tuba Skinny.

Now we have one Chorus for the strings and one for Barnabus (playing the tune fairly straight) and one in which Todd leads while the whole front line plays very sweet choreographed supporting notes. Finally, there's a stomping ensemble Chorus, followed by a clever and well-rehearsed Coda - it uses the first two bars of that Bridge again! and then one additional bar to put the tune to bed.

Wow! When did you last hear any other band (especially in the U.K.) do anything like that - without printed music in front of them?

The only other band I can think of that does similar tricky things (i.e. while working without printed music) is The Smoking Time Jazz Club, also based in New Orleans.
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Post 246: WHAT IS GOOD TRADITIONAL JAZZ?

I received this e-mail:

Hi Ivan,

You have strong opinions about what is good traditional jazz and what is bad. I know nothing about music. I can't read music. I never learnt to play an instrument. Can you please explain to me what makes some jazz performances better than others?

Wow! That's a tough question.

So let me say right from the start that appreciating any kind of art is a very personal matter. What pleases me may not please you. And that is just how it should be. So I will answer the question in my own way but shall not be surprised if you hold a completely different opinion.

Knowing about music

First, I don't think it's essential to know a lot about music in order to be stirred by traditional jazz or to feel the excitement that it generates. But it does add a little to the intellectual side of appreciation. For example, if you are listening to a piece made up of several different sections (e.g. Buddy's Habit or Climax Rag), it is satisfying to understand which point in the music the band has reached and to be aware when it modulates into a different key. It also makes it a little more interesting if you know something about the chord progression, no matter what tune the band is playing. In other words, you may appreciate it just a little more if you know about the 'grammar' of the music.

But with or without such knowledge, I think it's possible to distinguish between really well played traditional jazz and the not so good.

Preparing and Rehearsing

I think some bands over-rehearse. Things become too arranged and formalized. Much of the freedom and looseness that are features of the best traditional jazz are lost if the players have to concentrate too hard on their 'part' in the 'arrangement'. There is stiffness in the playing of some bands using this approach, especially if they become over-reliant on printed music on stands in front of them.

At the opposite extreme, it is common enough for good traditional jazz to be played without any rehearsal or preparation. Bring together the right mix of experienced players and a fine concert can occur.

But in general I think the best traditional jazz is produced by bands who rehearse at least occasionally, mainly to discuss their music and clarify their approaches to their repertoire. They should tidy up the trickier moments, ensure they are all using the same tune structure and chord progression and they should agree on any special tune endings. The little bit of extra work put in like that can be appreciated and pays off in a better public performance.

Amplification

In general, I think traditional jazz is likely to sound better if played without amplification. (So much 'music' in the last fifty years has been made hard to bear - for me, anyway - by the use of electronic devices and massive amplification.) It is so pleasant to hear musicians in a room with good acoustics and no amplification. You appreciate the sounds of all the instruments in their natural glory. There is no electrical 'humming' or blurring of tone. Performances in Preservation Hall (or in London's Wigmore Hall) testify to the truth of this.

But I accept that bands - in special circumstances - sometimes need amplification. In these cases, it is best if it can be kept to a minimum, for example one microphone for use by the vocalist.

Melody and Soul

Most tunes in our repertoire have stood the test of a very long time. So a good band performance must respect a good melody. There is soul in these old tunes and a good performance finds and expresses that soul. We should hear the melody clearly - maybe decorated and caressed; but it should always be there at the heart of the music. As the late great Chris Blount (clarinet) once said to me, 'If there's no soul, it's just a load of notes.'

Tempo

A good traditional jazz band sets a tempo which is appropriate to the tune and its chosen interpretation; and keeps to that tempo - other than for special effects. It's bad traditional jazz when a tune drags. (I have noticed this quite a lot in YouTube videos.) It can happen either because the tune is started too slowly or because the band slows down during the performance or because of labouring from the rhythm section - especially the drummer. (I don't know why, but On The Sunny Side of the Street is an example of a tune that is particularly prone to labouring!)

Collective Improvisation

When - in ensemble choruses - one instrument (usually the trumpet) is stating the melody, there should be creative support from the other 'front line' instruments (normally the clarinet and trombone). Teamwork is the key to great traditional jazz. If teamwork is good, the performance is more likely to impress. The support will use syncopation and counterpoint. It will be decorative and yet also - by finding the best phrases and harmonies - will push the tune along. You will feel that all three front-line players are listening and responding to each other's ideas and statements. Among today's top players, Barnabus Jones, Haruka Kickuchi and Charlie Halloran (trombones) and Chloe Feoranzo, James Evans, Jonathan Doyle, Aurora Nealand and Ewan Bleach (reeds) are examples of musicians to study on YouTube if you want to see this done supremely well.

Jazzy Devices

This is really an aspect of improvising. But it is important enough to deserve separate mention. A good performance (certainly an exciting one) usually requires a generous dose of those devices that make jazz - especially traditional jazz - so distinctive. Notes bluesily bent or flattened (in the right places), glissandi, breaks, syncopation, the use of 6ths and 9ths where they take us by surprise - all these elements enrich the performance. Without this 'jazziness' you may be left with some very pretty music for dancing but it will lack the spirit of early New Orleans jazz.

Rhythm Section

First, as my friend Barrie said to me, the expression 'rhythm section' is relatively modern and misleading. The whole band should think of itself as the rhythm section. But these days when leaders refer to their rhythm section, they mean the part of the band likely to consist of two or three or four players selected from percussion, banjo, guitar, piano, bass [string or brass]. In a good performance, these players will, as the saying goes, 'sound like one man'. They too must listen carefully to each other and to the trumpet, clarinet and trombone. In so many of the elderly British bands I have heard, or watched on YouTube, they certainly do not sound like one man: often the drummer is too loud and his rhythmic patterns are disruptive to what his colleagues seem to be trying to achieve. At least for the brighter and quicker tunes, most of the time the rhythm section in unison should play a pulsating but not too loud four-to-the-bar poom-poom-poom-poom (not um-CHUCK-um-CHUCK). This pumps the front line along and sets the audience's feet tapping. A good drummer drives the band without being loud or exhibitionist and a good pianist subjects his skills (in ensembles) to the need for a steady rhythmic and chordal underpinning of the music.

Solo Choruses

In performance, most bands include a sequence of 'solo' choruses (normally 32 bars, or even 64 bars) by several of the players in every tune. Often these solos have nothing much of interest to say (they are what Chris Blount would have called 'just a load of notes'), though, if the band has a very good pianist, they give him a rare opportunity to show what he can do. Often solo-takers try to play something stretching to the full their technical skills - showing how clever they are. I suppose this is fair enough if they are technically brilliant. Festival audiences can be counted on to applaud this sort of thing. But my view is that flashy and often raucous solo choruses are not an essential part of good traditional jazz.

Fortunately, in solo choruses a few players are technically brilliant and highly creative at the same time (James Evans again is a great example).

On the whole, though, I don't enjoy a performance padded out with numerous dull solo choruses in which the players have nothing but a string of clichés to offer. I prefer the more creative, unpredictable kind of playing (as best exemplified in the performances of Tuba Skinny) where one player takes the lead for a short time (perhaps 16 bars) but usually other players provide decorative accompaniment to this kind of 'soloing' (another example of good teamwork). Such playing gives the audiences constant delightful surprises.

Sometimes a rather special chorus contributes to a pleasing performance. For example, a band may try a 'front-line-only' chorus and even better a full-band quiet chorus (just tickling the notes) before turning up the volume for the end of the tune.

Ending the Tune

I like a tune to end well, either crisply or with a neat rehearsed coda. I think messy endings are bad.

Band Demeanour

I like all members of the band to take the music seriously. I do not like it when there is much talk between players during the performance of a tune. (Guffaws at each other's private 'jokes' are even worse.) Discreet hand signals for directing the music should be enough.

Listening Test

I will end by giving this tip to my enquirer - and to anybody else like him. When you next listen to a traditional jazz recording, try focusing your ear on just the bass player. If it's a good band, you will be amazed at the precision and importance of his or her contribution.

Now try focusing on just the clarinet. Listen carefully to the notes he or she is playing. How well and how cleverly do they blend into the overall sound?

Try listening intently to the drummer or indeed any of the instruments and you may be surprised at how much your appreciation of what the individuals do (or fail to do) helps you to sort out performances that are really 'good'.

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.

Post 72: ENDING THE TUNE

A musician who is uneasy about confusion in bands when they are bringing tunes to an end has suggested I write on this topic. I'm happy to do so, for reasons that will become obvious.

I don't enjoy hearing bands ending a tune in a messy way - and I'm sorry to say this happens all too often. At worst, some of the players in the band think they are on the Out-Chorus and play an 'ending' while others keep going into another Chorus. The result is a shambles. Another type of messy ending occurs when one or two clever-dick players at the end of the tune take it upon themselves to play a few extra notes or start a two-bar or four-bar 'tag', forcing the other players to snatch up their instruments and try (unsuccessfully) to give the impression this was intended.

So this is a topic every band should talk about. A policy should be agreed.

The simplest solution is the 'chopped' ending. I like this. For example, every player stops dead on the first or third beat of the 32nd bar in a 32-bar Out-Chorus. This always has an impact, it sounds dramatic and it impresses the audience. Listen to the end of this performance for example: Click on here.

But if you must add something, then everybody needs to know that there will be a 2-bar or 4-bar tag (usually through the chord sequence IIm  -  V7  -  I), or even possibly that the final eight bars will be repeated. These endings should be polished at a rehearsal. Or at least they should be discussed and agreed in advance.

Of course it's essential that all members of the band know when the Out-Chorus is happening. The simplest solution is for one musician (most often the trumpet player) to give an indication by raising his instrument and ensuring that all can see it. (When playing seated, sticking out a leg has become a fashionable signal.) But there are more subtle methods. You can surely devise one with your colleagues easily enough.

Sometimes a problem is caused when a singer is delivering the lyrics in what might or might not be the final Chorus. Do we play one more instrumental Chorus after the singer, or do we bring the song to a conclusion on the singer's final note? Someone must clearly decide and signal. 

Another idea is to get away occasionally from the conventional barn-storming Out-Chorus ending. This requires pre-planning or discussion. How about devising a quiet low-octane ending (possibly with only two or three instruments playing the final 16 bars)? It can be very effective and give the audience a pleasant surprise.

Several famous tunes have acquired special codas and endings that have become an almost obligatory part of the performance. Think of Screamin' The Blues, Bouncing Around, Black Cat on the Fence, Joe Avery's Piece, Panama Rag, Perdido Street Blues, Pasadena. And there are a few tunes in which the Coda is by convention a repeat of the Introduction, examples being Bogalusa Strut and Clarinet Marmalade. If you are playing such tunes, you probably know what is required. But in such cases there's no harm in checking first that all members of the band are clear about what they have to do at the end.

Most bands these days play a great fun ending to Climax Rag (an ending which, incidentally, could be used with many other tunes). Everyone needs to know it's coming and that the little 2-bar phrase will be played twice - no more, no less:

Click here to enjoy it.