Post 572: GREAT TRADITIONAL JAZZ IN A FEW SECONDS

To appreciate the finer points of traditional jazz and the genius of great players, it sometimes pays to concentrate on exactly what is happening in just a few seconds of music.

That is what I am inviting you to do today.

I would like you to click on a YouTube video and then focus on just EIGHT seconds of the performance. I will give you the link in a moment. But first let me set it in context.

The musicians (Tuba Skinny) are playing a tune called Crumpled Papers. This was composed just a few years ago by Michael Magro. It is a relatively simple tune - a 12-bar in the key of D minor. But it has amazing energy and gives plenty of opportunities for exciting improvisation.

In this video, the band plays straight through the tune 15 times. So in total we have 15 x 12 = 180 bars (measures) of music.

For the first couple of choruses, the tune is played by the ensemble, led by the cornet, in a straightforward manner. Then we have a similar two choruses, again ensemble, but led by the cornet producing some variations in the form of chromatic runs.

But now comes the fifth chorus; and this is the one on which I'm inviting you to focus. Shaye on cornet passes the lead to Barnabus on trombone.

Note exactly what Shaye is doing in this chorus during the eight seconds running from 1 minute 44 until 1 minute 52. Barnabus has taken on the melody but she is decorating it by running around (on the D minor chord) in her own subtle, energetic and tasteful way. The two phrases for you to note occur from 1 minute 44 seconds to 1 minute 46 seconds, and from 1 minute 49 seconds until 1 minute 52 seconds. I put it to you that those few notes demonstrate traditional jazz playing and teamwork at its very best. (In most other bands, the trumpet player or cornet player would have dropped out at that point, taking  a breather.)

Now here's the link, with thanks to James Sterling for being there to video the performance for us:

CLICK HERE.

Shaye is always like this - modestly creative, and energetic, instinctively playing notes that are just right and make the band as a whole sound wonderful. She is not one of those self-important players who like to show off their technique by playing pointless screaming high notes. Also, as you see in this and hundreds of other videos, she cleverly directs the musical traffic, so that even a short and simple tune such as Crumpled Papers is developed in a way that is full of variety and excitement.

Post 295: LEARN FROM LOUIS DUMAINE, ARMAND PIRON AND SAM MORGAN

If you want to know what the authentic New Orleans bands sounded like in the 1920s, it's easy to study some fine examples. We must be grateful to the original sound recordists and to all who have perpetuated their work by means of various technologies over the decades and - more recently - those who have put the music on to YouTube.

I'm thinking at the moment of three bands in particular. Their total recorded output is not huge; but there is plenty from which we can learn, with careful study.

Louis Dumaine's Jazzola Eight recorded only four tunes. The pieces themselves don't get much attention these days, but the recordings are a lesson to all traditional jazz musicians in how their instrument should contribute to an effective ensemble. These repay close scrutiny. For an example,

CLICKHERE.

Next, think of Armand Piron (violinist) and his classy orchestra. They gave us lovely performances of such numbers as these (mostly composed by the band members):

Bouncing Around

I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate

Mamma's Gone, Goodbye

Kiss Me Sweet

Bright Star Blues

Louisiana Swing

Red Man Blues

Sud Bustin' Blues

For an example of a typical well-arranged piece (with great ensemble work) that many of us still try to emulate,

CLICK HERE.

Then there's the eight-piece Sam Morgan's Band (with big Jim Robinson on trombone). It recorded just eight tunes in 1927. They included Bogalusa Strut, Mobile Stomp and Short Dress Girl (all composed by Morgan) as well as three spirituals, notably Over in the Gloryland, which is still very popular. These recordings powerfully influenced the repertoire and drive of many of today's bands. For a stomping performance that gives you the full flavour of this band,

CLICK HERE.

Post 106: TUBA SKINNY'S CD 'OWL CALL BLUES'

Readers asked me to re-publish what I wrote in 2014 about Tuba Skinny's CD - Owl Call Blues - which was released at the end of August that year.

I would much prefer that you all listen to it and buy it! Go to their website: CLICK HERE  and follow the instructions.

The band's friend (and occasional guitarist) Max Bien-Khan recorded the music with his equipment over several days in one of the New Orleans houses in which Tuba Skinny musicians live. The resulting acoustic is of a very high quality.

Here's what the CD contains:

1. Crazy 'Bout You: a standard Tuba Skinny performance of the pleasant, simple 16-bar tune, with singing by Erika and good ensemble work. I enjoyed Shaye's cheeky Ab on the very last note played - turning the final chord into Bb7th!

2. Rosa Lee Blues: vocal by Greg (abetted by Erika) in this 12-bar blues, which is slightly unusual in having an eight-to-the-bar rhythm and being played in the key of G.

3. Cannonball Blues: An amazing key-changing 12-bar blues with a terrific head arrangement. I love the moment when Shaye shakes her cornet though about 12 notes in half a second while changing the key from Eb to Ab! And it's clever how they slide down to the Key of C for Todd's tuba chorus before sliding up again to Ab.

4. Got a Mind To Ramble: One of those Erika vocals that we all love. Essentially a simple 8-bar theme in Bb - just the sort of material out of which nobody can make more than Erika and Tuba Skinny do.

5. Short-Dress Gal: Many of us know and love the 1927 original by the Sam Morgan Band. Tuba Skinny recreate it with their usual skill and Barnabus does a great job on the trombone, in the style of Big Jim Robinson on the Sam Morgan recording.

6. Owl Call Blues: I think for many of us this haunting song alone is worth the price of the CD. Shaye and Erika composed it; and here the band performs it lyrically for us. I have written before about Owl Call Blues   HERE .

7. Too Tight: The bouncy 16-bar blues highlights the strings and also Todd on the tuba.

8. Oriental Strut: Johnny St. Cyr's complex multi-part 1926 composition is very well executed, with a typical Tuba Skinny arrangement including some tricky breaks and rhythmic effects.

9. Ambulance Man: This 1930 Hattie Hart song is a duet with a story to tell. There is very good ensemble support. Basically a 12-bar Chorus in Bb but with a preceding Verse. (Don't like to say this but maybe it starts just a shade too slowly. It picks up later. Perhaps the slow start is deliberate - for dramatic effect.)

10. How Do They Do It That Way?: This Victoria Spivey song from 1929 is a favourite with the band and their followers. There are plenty of videos of them performing it. And I believe it's the only number they have recorded twice for CDs: it was also on their Garbage Man CD. So we are in familiar territory, though with a new arrangement. On this occasion they have chosen to play one Chorus in Eb and then one in Bb (Erika's preferred key) before Erika's vocal solo. But they return to Eb for a remarkable final Chorus, displaying Shaye's talents as she plays almost the entire Chorus solo, against stop chords.

11. Dallas Rag: This tune (devised and recorded by The Dallas String Band in 1927) has settled into Tuba Skinny's repertoire and I have written about it before ( CLICK HERE TO READ ). Although it's based on a simple chord sequence, given its liveliness and the use of breaks, it is a great fun number. Good work all round. Fans of Robin will enjoy hearing him strut his stuff.

12. Untrue Blues: Another 8-bar theme bouncily played and well sung by Erika. You'll enjoy hearing Shaye playing the fiddle here. Like Rosa Lee Blues (above) it's played in G.

13. Somebody's Been Lovin' My Baby: One of those sad tales that suits Erika's voice very well. A 32-bar song. Sounds like another example of a key that is hardly ever ventured into by other traditional jazz bands - A minor.

14. Willie the Weeper: Jazz bands have been playing this one since 1920. Tuba Skinny give a lusty creative performance, almost entirely with full ensemble and preferring the keys of G minor and Bb to those used by many bands - D minor and F. (By the way, Robin has said this is his favourite track on the CD).

15. Travellin' Blues:  A standard 12-bar, with Shaye on fiddle and Greg providing the vocal - again abetted by Erika.

Post 63: 'BLUE CHIME STOMP'

Tuba Skinny (and more specifically - I guess - Shaye Cohn) did it again: in early-2015 they came up with a new tune and gave it a brilliant performance from which we can all learn something.

I am referring to Blue Chime Stomp which - thanks to the generous video-maker codenamed RaoulDuke504 - became the newest tune in their YouTube repertoire on 24 March 2015. Have a listen by clicking here.

Great stuff, isn't it?

Underlying all the excitement and brilliance, the tune comprises just two 16-bar themes, both played in the key of Bb. Let's call them A and B.

The A Theme includes the 'Chimes' - descending in semitones over bars 1 - 4  and 9 - 12.

The B Theme is sprightly and melodious. Using a comfortable chord progression (you find something very similar in Do What Ory Say and Dallas Rag and Sister Kate and South), it lends itself easily to improvisations.

The band plays the themes in this order:
A-A-B-B-A-B-B-B-A-B-B

As usual, Tuba Skinny add sparkle, brilliance and excitement to the basic material. This includes playing the 'chimes' in different ways - such as hitting the second beat of the bar rather than the first, and breaking each chime into four single notes played by the tuba, trombone, cornet and clarinet successively over the four beats of a bar.

And when they play Theme B, they build up the excitement like this:

5th time: Clarinet alone leads;

6th time: Clarinet gets support from the trombone;

7th time : Cornet joins in, for a thrilling energetic polyphonic chorus.

There are no tedious 'solo' choruses. Except as mentioned above, the full ensemble keeps busy throughout.

Post 50: IMPROVISE A THRILLING FINAL NUMBER

It has been a great gig. But now it's time to play the last number.  Your energetic young dancers are excited and still want one more good tune to finish what has been a terrific evening.

So: MAKE UP AN INSTANT JAZZ THRILLER.

Here's how.

Agree on your key as Bb. Beat it in at a cracking tempo. Crotchet = 220 will do nicely.

Start by playing three or four choruses with the full band improvising on the chord sequence:

 IV   IV   I   I   V7   V7   I   I

(Think The Girls Go Crazy or The Bucket's Got a Hole In It).

Make sure the tempo never drops.

On a signal from the leader, switch to improvisations on the standard 12-bar pattern. Play twenty or more choruses of this, with plenty of variety (as directed by the leader): you can have ensemble choruses, backed solo choruses, 4-bar trades and choruses against stop chords. Keep the tempo pounding.

Now (on the leader's signal) go back to the first theme (Bucket's Got a Hole) and do the same again -  a variety of chorus treatments, always maintaining the excitement and the tempo. Plenty of ensemble work is required.

The leader decides whether to go back again to the 12-bar and also when to give the signal for a thrilling out-chorus.

Want to see how it can all work?

Very well indeed, in the hands of great musicians:

CLICK HERE.