Post 605: SEARCHING FOR TAINTED TUNE TITLES

'We're now going to play that good old number from the 1930s - Fats Waller's I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby.'

'One, Two; One, Two Three....'.

'Hold on! Hold on!' shouts the bass player, hunting through his chord book. 'Does it come under I for I'm Crazy? No. I can't find it.'

'Try under C,' calls the piano player. 'You've probably got it as Crazy 'Bout My Baby'.

How often I have heard such conversations delaying the start of tunes and also making the band look incompetent.

A Friend's Chord Book

When you are compiling an extensive alphabetical chordbook or list of repertoire, you have to take so much care. In the case of the I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby example, it might pay to have the chords under both letters.

Another troublesome problem is how to handle tunes beginning with an apostrophe.

For example, do you put 'S Wonderful under I because it means It’s Wonderful, or does it go under S?

If you set out the title correctly with the apostrophe included and then tell your computer to ‘SORT’ your titles into alphabetical order, you are likely to see 'S Wonderful end up neither under 'I' nor under 'S'.

But on a gig, you may need to find a tune quickly. So you need a good system.

There’s a similar problem with all the ’Taint tunes. Think, for example, of ’Tain’t Nobody’s Business if I Do, ’Tain’t No Sin to Take Off Your Skin, ’Tain’t What You Do, It’s The Way That You Do It, ’Tain’t Nothing Else But Jazz. Do you want them pedantically under 'I' [for It Ain't] or under 'T'?

The best solution, when preparing such lists, is to omit the apostrophe, ensuring that you begin the title positively with a letter rather than a punctuation mark. Then, the 'SORT' into alphabetical order on your computer will convert any list into something more useful. So use TAINT rather than ’TAINT.

Then there's the matter of tunes that have an apostrophe very near the beginning, as in I'm Alone Because I Love You. Would you expect this to appear before, or after, If I Had You ? It makes things easier if you establish a rule and stick to it.

In my case, I keep little notebooks containing leadsheets. These are supported by a separate Index. I have found the best solution for this Index is to show letters only. In other words, I get rid of all spaces and punctuation marks. I then let the computer 'sort' the titles in alphabetic order and - by thinking only of the letters, I can instantly find any tune. Here's an extract from my Index:

ILoveParis285

ILoveYou(ColePorter)288

ILoveYou(Thompson/Archer)294

ILoveYouBecauseYouUnderst289

ILoveYouSoMuchItHurts167

ImAloneBecauseILoveYou168

ImAlwaysChasingRainbows356

IMayBeWrongBut293

ImBeginningtoSeethLt386

ImBlueandLonesome28

ImComingVirginia1140

ImConfessin1142

ImCrazyBoutMyBaby1141

ImDreamingofaWhiteChristm229

ImForeverBlowingBubbles333

ImGettingSentimentlOY387

ImGoingAwaytoWearY290

ImGonnaLockMyHeartand244

ImGonnaMeetMSwtieN382

ImGonnaSitRightDown&W167

ImHenerytheEighthIAm35

ImHummingtoMyself315

ImintheMarketforYou1143

ImintheMoodforLove292

ImLookingOver4L289

ImNobody’sBaby47

ImPuttingAllMyEggs390

ImShyMaryEllenImShy356

ImSittingonTofthWld391

ImSorryIMadeYouCry256

InaMellowTone47

InAppleBlossomTime155

InaShantyinOldShantyTown257

Indiana122

IndianLoveCall244

INeverKnewthatRosesGrew356

INeverKnewWhataGalCdDo379

InHarlemsAraby370

IntheGarden388

IntheGloaming383

IntheGoodOldSummerTime190

IntheMood374

IntheShadeoftheOldAppleTr284

InTheSweetB&B289

IntheUpperGarden389

IntoEachLifeSomeRain294

InWalkedBud361

IOnlyHaveEyesforYou274

ISawMummyKissingSantaCl294

IsItTrueWhatTheySayabtD1115

IsleofCapri113

ISurrender,Dear386

IsYouIsOrIsYuAintMB317

ItDontMeanaThing333

ItFeelsSoGood164

ItHadToBeYou287

ItHappenedinMonterey295

ItIsNoSecret462

ItLooksLikeaBigTimeTont421

ItLooksLikeRaininCherry422

ItsAllRightWithMe351

ItsaLongWaytoTipperary1115

ItsaSintoTellaLie179

What it means is that, for example, if I want 'I'm in the Market for You', I find it as
ImintheMarketforYou1143
and this tells me the tune is to be found in Notebook One, Page 143.

Post 582: COMMUNICATE - BUT DON'T TELL FIBS!

I have often recommended someone in the band should SPEAK to the audience as much as possible. Fans enjoy receiving scraps of information about the band and the music being played, including the titles of tunes.

However, I wish some speakers would take more care to get their facts right.

I often hear band-leaders giving information that is neither credible nor amusing. There's plenty of fake news in the way tunes are introduced. My friend Bob Anderson of San Diego told me the same is true in the USA: he said: 'We have a few bandleaders here who are either misinformed or think the false myths are a good story'.

I can recall occasions when an announcer said something that members of the audience were too polite to tell him was untrue. One told us the New Orleans trumpet-player Jabbo Smith made records in the 1940s and then 'faded away and was heard of no more'. Yet some of us knew Jabbo was still playing in the 1980s: there are YouTube videos of him doing so.

Often I hear a tune introduced as 'written by the great Louis Armstrong' when in fact it was certainly not written by him.

I have heard Ice Cream announced as being by Chris Barber, the British band-leader (no doubt because his band recorded it), with no recognition that it was composed before Chris Barber was born and first made famous as a jazz tune by such musicians as George Lewis.

Recently I heard a band-leader firmly say: 'This next tune was composed by Benny Goodman. It is called The Glory of Love.' If he had said 'recorded by', I would have given the matter no further thought. But he definitely said 'composed by'. That sounded fishy to me. When I arrived home, I checked and found the composer was in fact William Joseph Hill, who had studied at The New England Conservatory of Music and went on to run a jazz band in Salt Lake City.

I have noticed that an introduction frequently used by one announcer is: We're now going to play the old Fats Waller number.... and he then names, for example, Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans or You Always Hurt The One You Love - tunes that were written after Fats Waller died!

Algiers Strut is often introduced incorrectly as having been 'written by Kid Thomas Valentine' - an announcement that particularly irritates my friend Barrie Marshall. And I know of two band-leaders (one of them, sadly, no longer with us) who loved to play Doctor Jazz and always announced it as 'by Jelly Roll Morton'.

It's true Morton's band made a fine recording of this tune; but it was not 'by' him. The music was written by King Oliver, as you can see:

Doctor Jazz is one of the great classics of our repertoire. It is played so often that we tend to overlook what a fine piece it is. Unlike many, the song has a good and appropriate Verse; and the 32-bar Chorus is brilliantly constructed, with a beautiful chord progression, a vigorous, singable melody, and some built-in opportunities for 'breaks' - on Bars 15-16, 25-26 and 27-28. What a great man Joe 'King' Oliver was, in his own playing, in producing such seminal recordings with his bands and also in his composing! We are all deeply in his debt.

Moral of the story: get your facts right; and don't credit the hard work of a composer to someone else.

Post 516: HOW TO MANAGE A JAZZ BAND

It's tough being a band manager. That's why I think it's the duty of all members of a band to support their manager in every way they can and to appreciate his efforts on their behalf.

What do you think is the most important skill a band manager needs? Playing an instrument outstandingly well? Wrong. If you want to run a band that attracts plenty of worthwhile gigs, your business skills are likely to be more important than your musical skills.

In my view, here's what a band manager needs.

1. Man management

Recruit the right musicians and keep all members of your band content and well-behaved - and happy to be part of the team.

2. Customer-relation skills

Courteous and meticulous attention to customers' comments and correspondence.

3. Common sense

For example, don't waste time quoting a fee the client obviously can't afford. Don't play music inappropriate to the occasion.

4. Musical expertise

Obviously essential, but less important than business skills.

5. Optimism

Don't be disheartened by knocks and setbacks. Always smile and look cheerful on stage.

6. Policy

Costume, style, repertoire, etc. Read my blog post about this by clicking here.

7. Willingness to devolve

Let other members of the band be the Musical Director and the Announcer if they are better qualified for these duties.

8. Business and marketing skills

Publicise your band in the most effective ways. And always have business cards available. 

9. A sense of humour

An obvious help - especially in the jazz world.

Here's another bit of advice. Communicate with your audience!

I remember a classical music concert at the Wigmore Hall in London. At the start, amidst applause, the musicians walked on to the stage, and without a word took their seats, played their two pieces, bowed and went off. After the Interval, exactly the same procedure occurred.

The musicians were some of the best in the world. Their playing was sublime. But throughout the two hours of the concert, nobody spoke one word to the audience. This is a convention with some classical music performers, but I think it is a pity. 

I have attended some classical concerts where the musicians have told the audience something about the music and have given a few other bits of information about themselves and where else they will be playing. On one occasion The Wihan String Quartet pleased the audience with a question-and-answer session.

In traditional jazz, too, when you have been booked to give a formal concert and your audience is politely seated, listening attentively to all you play, I think it is important for the band leader - or someone acting as spokesperson/announcer - to have a few words with the audience between tunes.

Speaking to the Audience:
Kenny Ball was a jazz musician who
set a good example.

This is good for achieving a rapport and is also helpful in letting the audience know something about the tunes, the history of our music and about the band.

It is inexcusable to take no notice of the audience between the end of one tune and the start of another, as I have occasionally seen bands do. Why do some bands not even tell the audience the titles of tunes with which they may be unfamiliar?

Remarks to audiences don't have to be profound or scholarly. They can be relatively trivial. For example, you could say which towns the musicians come from. You could say where you have been performing recently. You could tell them it's the banjo player's birthday. Little scraps like this help to establish a good relationship.

And don't feel compelled to tell jokes. There's no need to do so unless your timing and delivery are good and the jokes are of a kind that will not give offence.

Speaking to an audience is not easy. So regard this as another skill you need to develop. It may even be worth practising things you will say.

Something else to avoid is the poor discipline we often witness. Between tunes, members of the band on stage talk among themselves and guffaw at each other's comments - while the audience is left with no idea what is going on.

And there's no excuse for the band members to argue among themselves about what to play next, while the audience sits waiting. From the audience's point of view, this kind of behaviour is irritating. But some bands are guilty. Cut it out!

Post 449: BAND-LEADER'S HEADACHES

I have written before about how hard it is to be a good and successful band-leader. Special skills are needed, as well as the capacity to remain cheerful and optimistic even when things are going against you. I think it is very important for all musicians to be supportive of their leaders. It is the leaders who obtain the gigs and who have all the hard work behind the scenes.

I would not want the job. I don't consider myself capable.

However, I receive an occasional request (perhaps once a year) to provide a band for an event; and I do my best to oblige.

I was once asked at about a month's notice to provide a band for a birthday party to be held during a Bank Holiday (i.e. a national holiday here in England). I contacted some fine musicians and they all agreed to play. So I replied to the enquirer that I would provide a band. But in the week that followed, two of the musicians found they could not play after all. Oh dear.

I struggled to find replacements. As the gig was on a Bank Holiday, when there is a great demand for bands, most other musicians were already booked. Two string bass players were available but I obviously could not use both of them. It was almost impossible for me to recruit a satisfactory balance of instruments.  Eventually I managed to put a band together, though it involved one player kindly switching from his usual instrument to his 'second' instrument which he had not seriously played for a couple of years.

Luckily, in the end, The Pops Coffee Cappuccinos worked well together and the gentleman and his guests were very happy with our music. We were warmly received and made to feel part of the party. In addition to being well supplied with drinks, we also enjoyed the bonus of an excellent meal.

But the experience had given me a further reason for admiring our regular band-leaders and sympathising with the headaches that are part of their job.

Post 334: THE CALIFORNIA RAMBLERS; OR, THE ONOMASTIC CHALLENGE!

So you need a name for your band. You will probably settle for something local and alliterative – such as The Stratford Stompers. Perhaps you would like to use a different name occasionally – for the more sophisticated gigs – The Palace Beach Serenaders, for example.

But surely your band won't need more than two names?

I hope not. But there was throughout the 1920s a band that was said to use over a hundred different names in its various combinations and manifestations!

Some of The California Ramblers

This was The California Ramblers. In those days, the main reason for using different names was of course to get round legal contractual commitments to various recording studios. (For some interesting information about this and similar practices, see the comments at the foot of this article.)

Incidentally, their principal name was hardly appropriate. The members of the band had little or no connection with California (most came from Ohio) and they were based mainly in the New York area. Over the years, the band – which was largely studio-based – made a huge number of recordings, many of which were of high quality and extremely popular at the time. They drew from a wide pool of musicians. Their stars included Adrian Rollini and Tommy Dorsey.

The band's most famous pseudonym was The Golden Gate Orchestra. Others included The Little Ramblers, The University Six, Cotton Blossoms Orchestra, The Goofus Five, Ed Blossom and His New Englanders, The Five Birmingham Babies, Ted White's Collegians, Palm Beach Serenaders, The Vagabonds, The Varsity Eight and The Baltimore Society Syncopators. You can find many delightful examples of their work on YouTube.

==============

My good friend Carsten Pigott, who has a vast collection of 78 rpm records and vintage gramophones, has kindly sent me these further comments about 'working for labels':

Your text is spot on; and, although many jazz (and dance) bands, both in the US and here recorded under a variety of pseudonyms, for the reason you give, the California Ramblers are probably the best example - and a great favourite of mine, in any case.

My 78 collection contains many records with pseudonymous accreditation. I try to label and file them under the name by which the band is best known. Brian Rust's unsurpassed discographies of vintage jazz and British and US dance bands - sadly no longer in print (and second hand copies now sell for small fortunes) - are still the finest tools available for unravelling the true identities of all those groups that recorded under more than one name.

A side issue, not directly related to your text, relates to the sometimes quirky decisions musicians made over which labels to record for (other than when recording for a multitude of labels using multiple aliases). There was quite a significant price difference between the major ones (e.g. HMV, Columbia, Decca) and the budget ones. Some musicians stuck with the more expensive labels, reasoning that the prestige of an expensive label reflected their own status as top musicians. Others took a more pragmatic and 'commercial' approach, opting for the budget labels (which, with luck, would sell more records and bring in more income), particularly after they'd already established themselves on the full-priced records and/or on the stage and radio. Examples that spring to mind are the wonderful Australian baritone, Peter Dawson, who insisted on recording for the 'plum' label on HMV (not exactly cheap), rather than the even more expensive red label that was designated for classical music. Sir Harry Lauder decided to go with Zonophone, the budget HMV brand, but only on condition that their green label be made red for any of his records. Jack Payne, after leaving the BBC and the Columbia label, signed up with the budget Imperial label, but on condition that the Imperial crown trade mark at the top of the label was replaced by an image of his face and a facsimile of his signature! Collecting 78rpm records offers up a wonderful field of fascination!