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 496: JAZZ CLUB ON ITS LAST LEGS?

Let me tell you about a visit I made recently to a jazz club here in England. It was interesting because it said a lot about the state of traditional jazz in the United Kingdom – and probably about the state of jazz in many countries.

The 'Club' itself was actually a sub-section of a Social Club which has existed for almost 40 years. It is housed in an impressive building. The hall used for entertainments is large and well equipped with tables and comfortable chairs. It has a decent full-width stage with a permanent and very good P.A. system. There is a bar selling drinks and light refreshments.

The club puts on a traditional jazz night once a month but I learned from posters that there were other kinds of entertainment (bingo and solo artists mainly) at other times.

On the night when I attended, the performing band was a well-known six-piece group from 40 miles away. It was hard-working and played two sets of an hour each, mixing classics from King Oliver, Armand Piron and Jabbo Smith with well-known standards and even a couple of comic numbers for light relief. Three members of the band provided vocals.

The performance began punctually at the advertised time - 8.30pm. It ended a few minutes after 11pm. 

The band's programme was efficiently prepared: there was hardly any delay between tunes. In all it played about 12 tunes in each set. 

The audience paid £7 each for admission (£6 for club members) and there was a raffle with a prize draw during the interval.

Talking with some members of the audience, I discovered they were serious traditional jazz lovers, genuinely interested and knowledgeable. 

So far, so good. But here are some points of concern.

The audience consisted of only 27 men and 22 women and it seemed to me that all of them were above the age of 65. In fact, most appeared to be closer to 80. There were a few couples but mostly they were people who arrived on their own. My guess is there were quite a few widows and widowers among them. I suppose the club provided an escape from loneliness. They could enjoy a drink and a chat with friends and listen to some gratifying music. 

And what about the band? The audience was told it was formed in 1986, and there had been changes of personnel with the passage of time. The musicians were in the same age group as the audience. One or two of them were probably over 80. 

I could not help wondering what the situation will be in 10 years from now. With no sign of young blood re-invigorating either the audience or the band, will such concerts be a thing of the past? 

I also noticed that by 10pm some in the audience had their eyes closed and their heads were drooping. It seemed to me that two or three might even have been asleep! This was in spite of the fact that the music was lively enough. Around 10.15pm, a few stood up, put on their coats and headed for home, even though the concert was scheduled to continue until 11pm. 

This particular club is in the middle of a built-up area and I noticed that most arrived on foot. Obviously they lived close by. Only a few came by car. Even so, the dozing and the early-departing people reminded me of a point I have often made before. I think it is much more sensible for such jazz clubs to hold concerts in lunch hours, when the elderly audiences and the musicians are not yet tired and much more willing to be out.

It is all very well for the Frenchmen Street clubs of New Orleans to be in full swing at midnight. But the situation is totally different there. The audiences are young, on holiday, and looking for a good time. The musicians, too, are young and accustomed to the nocturnal life-style.

Midnight on Frenchmen Street

But where jazz is provided in such venues as this one I recently went to in England, the audiences are elderly and the club is in effect providing a social service. I think it makes more sense to have lunchtime or afternoon concerts, with good hot meals on sale as well.

If the performance really must be in the evening, I think the start and finish times should be earlier. Elderly people would be happier starting at 7pm and ending by 10pm. For the musicians, too, tired at the end of the gig, this would reduce the amount of late-night travel.

Post 420:THE CITY STEAM JAZZ BAND

Regular readers will know I often complain about the poor quality of traditional jazz currently being played in pubs by elderly English bands.

So I'm pleased to tell you I have today found on YouTube an elderly English band that plays in the pubs of the South-West of England and really is quite good. The musicians make an effort to play the music in a tasteful, restrained way, with some delicacy and decent teamwork.

This is The City Steam Jazz Band and you may watch and listen to an example of their work BY CLICKING HERE. Note especially the ensemble Chorus beginning at 2 minutes and 41 seconds. Not exactly Tuba Skinny, perhaps, but very pleasant nevertheless.

According to the band's website, The City Steam Jazz Band has been operating for three decades in the Exeter region. It took its name from an old laundry box in which the drummer carried his kit!

You can learn more about the band from its website BY CLICKING HERE. The 'main man' seems to be Dave Martin who plays the cornet, more or less manages the band, and has produced its pad of arrangements. 

Almost 60 years ago I spent a few months living in Exeter and I remember once hearing a very young traditional jazz band performing there. I wonder whether any of those players went on to become members of the City Steam.

Footnote: Friend and correspondent Ernest James Buck has sent me this further information:

Thanks for drawing the clip of The City Steam Jazz Band to my attention.  It was good to see Dave Martin in action.   Did you know that he also runs/ran a band called  The Jabbo Five which concentrates on playing the music of Jabbo Smith?   I have also heard him (but not recently) in a classic band run by Steve Graham with a two trumpet/cornet front line playing the Oliver/Armstrong  repertoire.

While looking at some of his Youtube clips I saw his playlist of clips and found it interesting, with a band  from New York playing "Once In A While".

Post 389: LUNCHTIME JAZZ WITH 'THE SECRET JAZZ BAND'

Alan Cole - a very special percussionist

Regular readers will know I'm strongly in favour of having jazz performances at lunchtimes, especially in pubs here in England, because the elderly folk who make up most of the audience prefer to go out for a leisurely pub lunch and hear some good music, rather than be out late at night, having to make their way home from a jazz club at 11pm. Many of them have told me so. Another reason is that the music gets heard by some younger people too, and that is surely important.

Good news is that yet another pub in the English Midlands chose to have traditional jazz in the lunchtimes. The pub is The Boathouse at Barrow-on-Soar (beautifully situated on the river bank between Loughborough and Leicester). The Secret Jazz Band played there every second and fourth Monday of the month from May 2016, between 12.30pm and 2.30pm.

Some of the boating people moored up and stopped to have a lunch and hear the jazz, too.

(Note added later: These gigs came to an end three years later, because the premises underwent massive refurbishment and had a new management with different policies.) 

The Secret Jazz Band was formed in June 2014. The percussionist Alan Cole had been invited to provide a six-piece traditional jazz band for a once-a-month Thursday lunchtime session at another public house - The Dog and Gun in Syston, Leicester. He agreed to do this - and then set about forming a band.

Alan gave the band the working title of The Secret Jazz Band (secret because he did not know who the musicians would be) – and the name has stuck.

Alan did not have much difficulty in finding players who said they would be happy to spend a lunchtime, at least occasionally, taking part in a relaxed jam session. They knew it would provide a good opportunity to have fun and keep in practice.

Since then, The Secret Jazz Band has played every month at The Dog and Gun. The pub belongs to the 'Steamin' Billy' chain, whose management team are keen supporters of live music.

It is a pub that looks after its customers well, with a cosy log fire:

And if offers a good lunch:

With such a pool of musicians, the fans never know who will be in the 'secret' band.

Pete Crebbin often turns up and plays trombone.

The band does not get together to rehearse, so it wisely sticks to familiar, uncomplicated numbers – tunes such as Make Me A Pallet on the Floor, Running Wild, Alexander's Ragtime Band, When You're Smiling, The Girls Go Crazy, Hindustan, Careless Love.

The audience grew over the months and reached a peak of 45 on one Thursday in the summer of 2018, so the bar was crowded.

Band manager Alan eventually had some business cards printed. He became ambitious enough to hope The Secret Jazz Band might attract bookings beyond the confines of the pubs!

The secret is out.
=================
FOOTNOTE
Sadly, as from February 2020 the performances at The Dog and Gun have been discontinued. Ill health and mortality had reduced the audience to a size at which the concerts were no longer viable. But the band continues and accepts gigs elsewhere.

Post 240: WHAT IS THE PAY-RATE FOR PLAYING JAZZ?

Should traditional jazz musicians be paid for giving a performance?

If so, how much? What a thorny question this is.

In New Orleans and Chicago during the 1920s and in England during the 1950s, traditional jazz musicians were young people (mostly men) playing for large, excited young audiences, usually with many of the customers vigorously dancing. Provided that the musicians worked hard and took plenty of gigs, they made a living - enough to support a family. Jazz was their full-time career.

But in the last fifty years, with the oppressive rise of other forms of popular music, only a small number of 'big names' have continued to make a living by playing traditional jazz.

However, traditional jazz has continued to be played by hundreds of amateur musicians, mainly in pubs and clubs. The musicians have had to earn their living from 'day jobs'. Jazz has been to them a wonderful hobby, not a profession. Once a week, they have turned out with their pals to practise their craft in such places as the back-rooms of pubs. The audiences, like the musicians, have grown ever older and their numbers have dwindled.

The kind of chaps I have known in such bands over these years include a plasterer, a dentist, an electrician, two doctors - one of them a heavy-smoker(!), two maths teachers, a laboratory technician, a car dealer, a builder, a construction engineer, a music shop salesman, a school caretaker and a telephone engineer. On one night a week, they would come together and make pretty good music. Their reward? Nothing, other than a 'first drink free' from the bar.

But wait! Being a traditional jazz musician requires hundreds of hours of learning, of practice and of perfecting your art. A competent traditional jazz musician is a highly-skilled craftsman. And you wouldn't expect a highly-skilled craftsman such as a plumber or car mechanic or doctor to spend three hours working for you in return for one glass of beer. So why does this fate befall jazzmen?

Alas, the laws of the market place apply. You can't expect a pub or club to pay musicians a decent fee when there are fewer than 20 paying customers on the premises, as is often the case.

Here in England, the gigs that survived month after month were those where the musicians were happy to play just for the love of it. The gigs that did not last were those where the musicians asked for a fee of, say, £25 or more each and this proved to be unaffordable.

Many of the pub and club musicians of the 1970s and 1980s are still alive and still playing - though long into retirement from their 'day jobs'. So playing traditional jazz has become the major pastime of some elderly pensioners. Some are devoting more time and effort to it than ever and a high standard is being achieved. But there is still no money to be made. Their bread and butter are paid for by their pensions, not by their music.

I recently heard a band playing at a pub in the English Midlands. It was a six-piece and the pianist - now well into his seventies - was a man who in his prime had been famous as one of the best in England. He was still playing brilliantly. But there were only 15 people in the audience. How sad. Money for the band was raised by passing a collecting box among the customers. The bar manager himself made a decent donation. £72 [making £12 for each player] was raised for the band. When the pianist had received his £12 [that's about 19 US dollars or 16 euros], I asked him why a great musician such as himself had been willing to work so hard for so little.

He said playing the music was what he loved and that he would rather do it - even for a sum that would not quite cover his travelling expenses - than sit at home in front of the TV.

Of course, it's not all bad news. Occasionally bands attract bookings that bring in more than enough money to cover travel and related expenses. Bands can and do charge more for weddings, where they have to be flexible about timing, music styles, costumes and venues; and where they will often have to shrink into the role of 'pleasant background music' during a drinks reception.  And there are in England still plenty of rich people who like to give garden parties. Jazz bands are sometimes invited to play and of course can expect an appropriate fee.

There are also jazz festivals. I have spoken to several musicians who have played at these and what I learned is this. The headline acts can attract quite a high fee. But most of the other bands taking part - though reasonably well rewarded - end up out of pocket after forking out for travel expenses and at least one night's hotel bill. So musicians who play at the festivals tend to do so for the prestige and for the camaraderie with other traditional jazz groups.

One of the very best bands in England has a leader who - when asked to quote for a 'serious' gig - replies '£450 negotiable'. [This is to cover his six-piece band.]

I think this is quite clever. He is saying in effect, 'We would like to receive £450 but if you can't raise that amount and want to offer us - say - £300, we may possibly accept it.'

That would give each of his players £50 [79 US dollars or 70 euros] - not too bad, perhaps, but no great reward for giving up a day of your life to travel 50 miles to the venue and working hard for three hours when you get there.

Sometimes a person who wants to book a jazz band (perhaps for a wedding) has no idea how to find one, so he approaches an agency. Through the agency, he books a band. The agency adds its own commission (typically 25% more than the band would normally charge). So it's not a good deal financially for the customer; and it puts the band at the disadvantage of having to communicate through a third party with the client - and perhaps having to wait for quite a while after the event to be paid. However, ultimately the arrangement benefits the customer, the band and the agent.

Should traditional jazz bands register with such agents? On the whole, I think they should, provided that the agency is reputable. From what I have observed, the best agencies are small businesses (a husband and wife, for example) and they set up very effective interactive web-sites with plenty of information about the artists available - usually including videos. The agencies also advertise in Yellow Pages. They supply very detailed contracts for both the booker and the band to sign: this ensures clearer and firmer arrangements than those under which most bands usually operate. For example, the contract may stipulate how the band should dress, what breaks the band will be allowed to take, and whether drinks and other refreshments will be supplied to the musicians.

A flourishing agency will represent many musicians and other entertainers - not just from jazz - so it is the size of its portfolio that keeps the agency in business.

A typical traditional jazz band in England will not get many bookings through its agent (perhaps half a dozen in a good year) but they may be its only lucrative gigs.

If you are a jazz band looking for an agent, do not assume the agency will automatically take you on. The agency has its own reputation to consider. It will need first to be convinced that your band is good, smart, well-behaved and reliable. But once a band has been accepted and a rapport has been established, the relationship between the band and the agent is likely to benefit both sides for years to come.

Several bandleaders have told me they frequently receive invitations to play for nothing at events which are 'for charity'. The bandleaders regard this as unreasonable. Would you expect six plumbers to travel a considerable distance and then work for three hours 'for charity'? Or six doctors? Or six bus drivers? So why make such a request to six musicians?

This is not to say that bands are unwilling to play once or twice a year free of charge in aid of good causes. Most of them undertake an occasional engagement of this kind - but it is for a cause of their own choice. An example is the Prostaid Cancer Fund-Raising Jazz Day in Leicester, England, when bands throughout the day play for nothing. This annual event was started as a tribute to a local popular jazz musician, who died of prostate cancer.

I'm not arguing that traditional jazz musicians should be paid more, even though I think they deserve more than they get. (You could say the same about people in many other jobs.) I am simply describing how things are.

I must finally mention the horrible 'Pay To Play' system. The Musicians' Union is vehemently opposed to this; and rightly too. What happens is that a venue invites a band to come along and play and then reveals that it expects THE BAND TO PAY for the privilege of 'hiring the floor space' on which to perform! I have come across only two examples of this and I'm pleased to say the bands firmly refused the invitations.
----------------------------
I have received this email in response to the above by a man I greatly respect and admire, Fred Burnett.

Hi Ivan

Interesting blog about payment to musicians.

Not sure it’s fair to compare trad jazz musicians with doctors or plumbers.  You mention two doctors who you have known could play jazz, but how many full time experienced jazz musicians have you known that could do the job of a doctor or fix their own plumbing?

"A competent traditional jazz musician is a highly-skilled craftsman."  So tell me?  How would you describe a competent brass band musician, and how much do they get paid? How much does a  skilled St John’s Ambulance volunteer get at a football match, or a cave rescue or mountain rescue member get?  Surely they are as skilled in their own field as a musician, they turn out in all weathers and face incredible danger too.

Is it fair even to compare hobby musicians with full time professionals?  I’m reminded of a band leader who was complaining to his wife about how much they’d been offered for a gig, so she turned round and said, “You only do it for a hobby, if you were playing a round of golf and someone stuck a tenner in your pocket for doing it, you’d be over the moon!”.

How many full time professional musicians whose livelihood depends on music lose work, because some people on Company pensions plus old age pensions do it for a hobby and can undercut them and do it for beer money? 

I’m not trying to state an opinion one way or the other, I’ve no axe to grind, and I’m not a musician, but just trying to show that there’s more to it than a simple comparison of a part time musician and a highly paid full time professional worker.

Fred

Post 54: A NEW AUDIENCE FOR OUR MUSIC?

Regular readers will know I frequently bemoan the fact that - where I live in England (and I believe in many other parts of the world) - most of the audiences for traditional jazz concerts consist of people aged 75 and above. 

The musicians, too, are mostly in that same age category.

It is no surprise that we see the audiences gradually dwindling; and the bands struggling to survive as the musicians retire or die. Venues and festivals are not as numerous as they once were.

However, one of my optimistic musician friends recently made an interesting point in a discussion with me. I think it is worth passing on.

He claims to have noticed that quite a few people, after retiring from their jobs, look for ways of keeping themselves amused and entertained in their retirement. Some of them discover - to their surprise - that traditional jazz bands are playing lunchtime concerts in pubs near where they live. After giving the music a try, they find they very much enjoy going out for a pub lunch with such musical entertainment. Still aged in their 60s, they become 'regulars', replacing the older disappearing members of the audience.

I hope my friend is right. I go to four or five pub lunchtime sessions every month and I must say I too have met just a few people in this 'new audience' category.

Of course, there is still the problem that we also need to maintain the supply of musicians, but perhaps there are also some promising amateurs who will soon retire from their day jobs and think about taking up traditional jazz playing as a hobby.

Post 35: SETTING THE TEMPO

Listening to bands in pubs and clubs, and watching videos of performances on YouTube, I have noticed that so many bands have difficulty with setting and keeping to a suitable tempo.

The worst problem (very common) is that bands start an up-tempo tune quickly and then, as the performance develops, gradually slow down. The result is that the music begins to drag and sound weary. I think the reason for this may partly be that so many musicians are growing old and have lost the vigour they once had. But I wish they would be aware of this and take more care.

The reverse sometimes happens: a tune speeds up as it is played. This can put one or two of the players into difficulties.

However, speeding up is by no means as bad as slowing down and can even be deliberate and exciting, especially if building to a special 'out' chorus. The Ken Colyer Band used to be noted for this and they themselves described it as 'controlled acceleration'.

With slower tunes, such as many ballads, there is less of a problem, though I sometimes find bands take a tune too slowly and it begins to drag.

When there is a singer, it is important that the tempo should be one the singer is comfortable with, so it helps to ask the singer to give an indication of the tempo desired or even to count the song in.

As in so many aspects of traditional jazz performance, that great young band Tuba Skinny are setting an example to us all. Notice how much trouble they take to get the tempo right. This is often done with much foot-tapping before the tune begins, while they (especially Shaye the cornet player) test the tune inside their heads just before starting; and they always keep the tempo under control throughout the performance, with rigid discipline from the rhythm section.

This aspect of their playing rewards study.  For a typical example (and a good tune - Deep Henderson),
CLICK ON HERE.

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