Post 556: 'MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS' - A TUNE WORTH PLAYING

It struck me recently that a very good tune to play is Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis. Why?

First, it is a good melody but is rarely heard these days. With or without a vocal, it is a great tune to include in a programme.

Next, if you examine its structure - particularly the chord progression - you will find it is very simple, and therefore a good one for learners to master. And it trains you in so much that will be the basis for more difficult tunes as you progress in your studies.

For example, it is a 32-bar tune, with an AABA structure. You will discover that about 80% of all the traditional jazz tunes we play are based on such a structure.

The Middle Eight uses the chord progression:
III7  -  III7 - VI7  - VI7 - II7  - II7  - V7  - V7.

It is essential to become fluent in improvising over this progression because dozens of our tunes use it for the Middle Eight (sometimes with very slight variations).

The 'A' sections also use essential, basic chord progressions, all beginning with three bars on the tonic chord (I).

So beginners would do very well to practise improvising over this tune. It is an archetype for so much of the music you will have to learn to play in a traditional jazz band. If you can succeed with this tune, you are launched on your career as a jazzman.

I was surprised to discover that this song is well over 100 years old. It was composed in 1904. The music is by Kerry Mills, who also contributed such tunes as At a Georgia Camp Meeting, Whistling Rufus and Redwing to the repertoire that our bands still play. The words are by Andrew Sterling, who collaborated with several well-known composers over a number of years. (He also wrote the words for Wait Till The Sun Shines, Nellie, for example.)

In original performance, it had seven narrative verses (interesting in the context of their time), each followed by the Chorus. But generally it's best these days to forget the verses and work with the very fine Chorus. Here's my attempt to write it out. I hope this helps someone. By the way, it was originally composed - like several of the tunes we play - in waltz time (3/4) but it works very well as a typical jazz number in 4/4.

Finally, here, as a matter of interest, is how the beginning of the first verse looks in the original sheet music:

Post 253: 'IT LOOKS LIKE A BIG TIME TONIGHT'

I was thinking about a tune called It Looks Like a Big Time Tonight. I could remember it vaguely. I think I heard a band play it in Preservation Hall, New Orleans, when I was there about twenty-five years ago.

So I tried YouTube.

Sure enough, up came a spirited recording of this tune, made by Ken Colyer and Acker Bilk a few decades ago.

Then Google led me to the discovery that It Looks Like a Big Time Tonight was written more than a hundred years ago by those distinguished producers of popular music - Gus Kahn and Egbert Von Alstyne. Think of Memories, Goodnight Ladies, Pretty Baby and On the Road to Home Sweet Home.

What a great tune this is for traditional jazz bands - happy, catchy and with a simple harmonic progression - all best played at moderate foot-tapping tempo.

So by ear I worked out a lead sheet for myself. Here's what I came up with. I hope it's about right. There are two sixteen-bar sections; and the best way to play it, I think, is to go through (A) twice, then (B) twice and then return to (A), including for any solos.

Post 168: 'MAGIC IS THE MOONLIGHT' - A GOOD ONE FOR BEGINNERS

I was having a look at Magic is the Moonlight (with music composed in 1930 by Maria Grever) and it occurred to me that this tune has all the ingredients to make it useful for anyone learning to play traditional jazz.

Why?

Well, it has a simple 32-bar a-a-b-a structure, like hundreds of our tunes. The (a) part comprises eight bars taken at only moderate speed and they are virtually the same each time they are played, so the melody is easy to learn. The Middle Eight - the (b) part - is easy too, and is based on a progression of chords with which you need to become familiar and totally at ease as you progress in your playing. On top of all this, the tune is a pleasant one - much enjoyed by audiences.

The wonderful Lasse Collin, whose website I have often praised, has kindly supplied a lead-sheet for this tune. If you look at it carefully, you will see how simple the tune is. Improvising is helped by the fact that you need work only with the major tonic chord in the first four bars of each Section (a). The Middle 8 is essentially a IV - I - II7 - V7 sequence of chords, such as you will encounter in hundreds of tunes.

If you would like to hear a jazz band having a go at this tune, CLICK HERE.

Post 87: BUSKERS' BOOKS AND FAKE BOOKS

I was playing in a traditional jazz band in a Cambridgeshire pub when a young man in the audience told me he was a trumpet player and wanted to learn to play traditional jazz. Could I please lend him 'the music'?

Unfortunately, it's not that simple. The 'music' has to be inside your head. It takes months to build up a repertoire and much of your learning may have to come from picking tunes up by ear, as many of the old-time tunes are virtually unobtainable in sheet music form.

But a good starting tactic is to buy some busker's books (also called fake books).

They do not contain piano-type music, with two staves. They simply give you what is known as a lead-sheet - the melody line and the chord sequence.

That's all you and your band should need. Provided that you are all working to the same melody and chord pattern, you can improvise to your heart's content and also work out - if you like - a 'head arrangement' (i.e. a plan for who will do what, and when).

Of course, these books have their limitations. They sometimes leave out the Verse of a song, giving you only the Chorus. That's all right if you want to play only the Chorus; but it's irritating if you want to include the Verse, to provide some contrast or variety.

And with more complex old tunes (such as rags with three or more themes), it is annoying if the fake book gives only one theme and omits the rest.

Another warning: there are so many busker's books on the market. Do not waste money on chunky books that claim to contain 500 or 1000 tunes if there are not more than four or five tunes in them that you will ever be likely to play with a traditional jazz band. There are many such books available. Don't be fooled by the bulk.

Over many years, I have built up a bunch of fake books. They can be quite expensive when new; but I have noticed recently that plenty of them are available on internet auctions, so you should now be able to pick some up cheaply. Simply type 'Buskers' Books' or 'Fake Books' into your search.

After that, there are also resources on the internet where you can freely download the music for some of the rarer old jazz tunes.

For an example of dozens of tunes generously provided by a very remarkable Swedish gentleman - a musician and artist named Lasse Collin - go to this website:
  http://cjam.lassecollin.se/

It is also possible - if you search - to find downloadable books of tunes, sometimes generously provided by particular bands.

Also be warned that, when you come to play a tune with other players, you may find the band uses a version with slightly different chords or melody notes from those in your fakebook. They may even use a different key. So be prepared to adapt.
============

21 May 2013

Post 82: JUST A LITTLE HELP WITH MIDDLE EIGHTS

Hundreds of the songs (not counting the 12-bar blues) played by traditional jazz bands are structured in 32 bars. Sometimes there is a pattern of two sets of sixteen bars – each of the sixteen starting with similar notes.

But many tunes have a ‘middle eight’ – so-called but not really middle because they are actually the third of four sets set of eight bars. The tunes often have an A – A – B – A structure, in which the three A sections (each of eight bars) are very similar in melody and harmonic progression, while the B section (sometimes called the ‘release’ or ‘bridge’) has a contrasting melody and harmonic structure.

For the musicians, it is a tough job learning all these chord progressions and the middle eights can be particularly tricky and easily forgotten.

Fortunately there are some recurring patterns and it helps a little to familiarise yourself with these. Here are three of them. Please note: most tunes listed below have their own slight variations within these structures.

Suzie Middle Eight Pattern

Based on these chords of the Home Key:

 I   |   I^7th  |  IV   |   IV   |   II^7th   |    II^7th  |   V^7th |    V^7th 

Examples:

All Alone by the Telephone

Are You Lonesome Tonight?

Big Butter and Egg Man

Coquette

Darkness on the Delta

Honeysuckle Rose

I Had Someone Else Before I Had You

I’m Alone Because I Love You

I’m Confessin’ That I Love You

If You Knew Suzie

Just Squeeze Me

Move the Body Over

Some Day Sweetheart

That Certain Party

The Best Things in Life and Free

We’ll Meet Again

When I Leave the World Behind

You Always Hurt the One You Love

You’re the Cream in My Coffee

Girl of My Dreams Middle Eight Pattern

Based on these chords of the Home Key:

 III^7th  |  III^7th  | VI^7th |  VI^7th  |  II^7th  | II^7th  | V^7th |  V^7th 

Examples:

Do  Your Duty
Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue

Girl of My Dreams

Give it Up

Hometown

I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love with Me

Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall

Kansas City Kitty
Love Letters in the Sand
Please Don’t Talk About Me

Side By Side

Stevedore Stomp

Ice Cream Middle Eight Pattern

Based on these chords of the Home Key:

 IV  |   IV  |   I   |    I  |    II^7th   |   II^7th   |   V^7th   |   V^7th 

Examples:

Blue Turning Grey

Don’t Sweetheart Me

Exactly Like You

I Like Bananas Because They Have No Bones

Ice Cream

Monday Date

Painting the Clouds with Sunshine

San Jacinto Stomp
Sentimental Journey

There’s an Old Mill By the Stream

When the Moon Comes over the Mountain

29 March 2013

Post 29: IMPROVISING YOUR FIRST JAZZ SOLO

This post is aimed at any beginner trying to play traditional jazz and wanting to get established in a band. So I apologise to the many readers who will not find this topic of interest.

But, judging from many emails I have received,  I believe that the effort of writing it will be worthwhile.

O.K. You can play your instrument reasonably well and you have learned a few tunes. You have joined a band - maybe of fellow beginners, maybe an established band. Within the tunes you play, you will be expected occasionally to take 'solo' choruses.

Doing this at first can be a daunting experience. However hard you try, you are likely to play some 'wrong' and ugly-sounding notes. But don't worry. Your fellow musicians will support you. Stick at it and you will gradually improve.

The better prepared you are, the easier it will be. Get to know the correct notes of the tune well. Master keys and scales and be very conscious of the key in which you are playing. If possible, memorise the tune's chord sequence too.

Keep things simple when you first take a solo. It may help to do little more than play the melody, with minimal decoration.

Let's say you are going to improvise a Chorus on The Darktown Strutters Ball in the key of C.

Right, you know the first four bars go like this:

So you could play close to the melody but quite effectively, for example:

You are keeping in mind the chord structure of these bars, so you are using notes largely running through those chords. By the way, the 'passing' A7 chord is there in Bar 2 but when improvising you need not worry too much about that.

With a little experience, you can later start to be more adventurous. You can get away from the melody but still be in harmony with it and keeping on the chords. For example, if you know the first chord of a tune, it's often a good idea to begin your improvisation on the flattened third, going immediately from it to the third. So note how Eb and E are used in Bar 1 below.

In your anxiety, you may want to make sure that you are playing something on every beat of every bar. But good improvised solos often include little breaks - moments of silence. These can be specially effective on the first beat or two of the bar (as in Bar 3 here) and they give you time to 'feel' the chord and make sure you are on it.

That is simple enough but it runs nicely down through the C chord (Bars 1 and 2) and the D7 chord (Bars 3 and 4) and sounds effective.

The Chorus of The Darktown Strutters Ball actually comprises 20 bars, of which I have dealt with only the first four.

So you will have to treat the other 16 bars in the same way. But I hope I have given some ideas on how to get going.

As your confidence increases, try to be more relaxed. Allow for those moments of silence I have mentioned. This is easier said than done; and you must not be relaxed to the point of becoming casual. If you do so, you will make mistakes. But try not to be rushed. Listen to the other members of the band as you play: doing so will help to avoid playing those 'ugly' notes.

1 March 2013

Post 1: JAZZ IMPROVISING - A TIP FOR BEGINNERS

Many of the standard tunes we play consist of 32 bars.

Normally their structure is EITHER 16 bars + 16 bars (with the beginnings of each batch of bars being almost identical) OR 4 sets of eight bars in the form called a-a-b-a, in which all the 'a' sections are nearly identical but the 'b' (the 'Bridge' or 'Middle Eight') provides a contrast.

Taking the first type (16 + 16) you will usually find that the first 16 bars end with two bars (sometimes only one) on the chord of the dominant 7th. For example, in the key of C, this would be the chord G7. The dominant 7th leads beautifully back to the tonic to start the second 16.

Now, when you are improvising over that dominant 7th chord, make sure you highlight the 7th within that chord. You will find this very effective. So, if you are on a G7 chord, the note to highlight is the seventh within that chord - which is F natural.

Let's say the key is C and you have two bars at the end of the first 16 which are based on the G7 chord. Here's how your improvisation might go. Note that I have highlighted the F naturals in green.

As you move into Bar 17, this will slide you neatly on to the C chord.

Now let's take the second type (a-a-b-a). Here, the dominant 7th is likely to come at the end of the 'b' section. It may occupy two bars or - quite often - just one. Assuming you have one bar to play with and that we are again in the key of C, your improvisation could be something on these lines:

Note the lingering on the important F natural before sliding  back to the tonic for the final run-through of Section 'a'.

To hear how well this works in practice, listen to the improvisations of great, fluent players - Chloe Feoranzo, for example. Notice how she nudges that 7th when it appears in these positions.

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

The book 'Playing Traditional Jazz' by Pops Coffee is available from Amazon.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)