Old Jazz Songs You'd Share

[Soandso]

Early Jazz musicians were often exceptional and examples of their playing deserves wider exposure to young listeners. Feel welcome to post any favorite recordings and comments; I'll start with screen shots of songs that Qobuz hosts as they are generally clearly listenable versions.

New Orleans was one incubator of what became popularly called Jazz. That original style was no longer dominant by the late 1920s (around 1928) although in the late 1940s a Dixieland revival arose. The New Orleans band averaged 6 musicians of which 1/2 played rhythm instruments; whereas an old New Orleans parade/marching around the streets band averaged 8 horn players for every 2 rhythmic drummers. I will not be limiting myself, or inferring others posting should, to just New Orleans/Dixieland music.

 

[Soandso]

Two exceptional bygone musicians we'll never hear are Freddy Keppard and Buddy Bolden. Keppard rejected offers to record so others couldn't copy his playing or music compositions. "Jelly Roll" Morton recalled Keppard as: "... his reach was so exceptional ... great imagination and more tone than anybody."

Buddy Bolden's contribution is much more formative when his early parading and marching band (Bolden's Brass Band) in 1893 segued into Buddy Bolden's Ragtime Band performing at halls and picnics adding blues (around since 1870s) and rags (ragtime) into their repertoire. His tuba player Wallace "Colley" Collins recalled: "He'd take 1 note and put 2 or 3 to it.... After he'd got it down he'd teach others their part....They had lots of band fellows who could play like that after Bolden gave 'em the idea."

What Bolden was getting to was a modification of the New Orleans street parade polyphony style that itself wasn't tied to harmony. Bolden introduced the "hot" musical attack coming in on pitch loud, promptly reducing the note's level of volume to cut off while certain bandmates could come in introducing their own "call" and "response" notes. Pitch tonal variations were used to create musical accents to the rhythm. The generated multiple musical lines being not always tethered to melodic chords and having layered harmonics plays out in New Orleans jazz such that when heard the listener isn't fixated on a single musical pattern since more than one musician introduced their harmonic pattern. It's effect being how the beat is there and yet the polyphonic counterpoint keeps the song from getting tedious to the listener. As above bandmate "Colley" said about Bolden: "He had the town by storm and when people heard 'Bolden' then you couldn't get in the place without you go early."

 

[Soandso]

My posts won't be attempts to chronologically deal with old jazz. Since mentioned New Orleans style revivals previously here are just 2 examples of several to come. The revivalist musicians may not have even known the New Orleans musicians they adored although the 2nd screen shot song (which dates from the last stylistic revival in the 1960s) was led by a famous real old timer clarinetist. As for the 1st song it refers to a place where dancing was allowed called the Tin Roof Café in New Orleans.

 

[RPG]

Cool! Also, you might consider moving this to the Music Reviews and Discussion section where, I'd think, more people would get to see and enjoy your insights.

 

[Soandso]

… consider moving this to the Music Reviews and Discussion section ….

Thanks, I'll see if can figure out how to do what you suggest!

 

[Snarfie]

It i'm correct written in 1951 this performance 1959. Jamal’s minimalist playing, combined with delicate bass and drums, creates a relaxed, intimate, and sophisticated atmosphere. His performance focuses on dynamics (sometimes he is whispering with his play), interaction, and musical conversation it is sooo good. For what ever reason it does me think about his later Rossiter Road Album guess the same sort of dynamics & musical conversation it is gorgeous.

 

[Soandso]

As mentioned back in post #1 (2nd paragraph) there was an early shift in developing jazz tastes away from the New Orleans/Dixieland style of polyphony which submerged musical tension in a blend of sounds. Next popularity increased for so-called hot musical lines varying tone, rhythm and using harmonic patterns as springboards for improvising melody. Hot music deployed changes and re-formatted attacks which elicited excitement more-so than polyphony had done for white listeners who were used to diatonic music; hot music wasn't just about really fast playing as some white music critics/fans back then thought. [ Historically before the labelling of jazz took hold the description ragtime (at least in New Orleans until the late 1910s) covered hot music. For a while hot music was the name for what became widely called jazz - some notable African-American musicians would object to the appellation jazz.]

Below are 2 songs by Louis Armstrong from his Hot Five and Hot Seven recording period (1925-1928); for example the 1st is rich in polyphony and the 2nd is not. Armstrong became the premier jazz exponent when he moved on from his native New Orleans polyphony.

 

[Waxx]

The biggest name in Europe in early jazz is certainly the Belgian (Manouche) Django Reinhardt. Born in Courcelles near Charleroi and Belgian nationality, but he spend most of his live in Paris (as Belgium was not ready for his music yet at that time). He was an Manouche (a Sinti-Romani Gypsy) and so looked down on by most in Europe at that time (and still), but was revolutionairy in combining his own gypsy music with Belgian farmers folk and swingjazz, and so created the first European form of jazz, the " jazz tsigane" (gipsy jazz) in the 1930's with his band the "Quintette du Hot Club de France".

He was that good and popular that even the nazi's during WWII saved him (altough Gypsies were also send to concentration camps). He lived a quiet rock"n roll live and died young in 1953 from a brain infarct. There are very few video fragments of him, but his recordings are absolute classics and highly influential for all guitarist (any style) that came after him.

Django in a short film about jazz from the 1930's

His biggest hit from 1937

 

[Soandso]

Boogie woogie music of the mid-1910s was still being called ragtime. The period of 1896 to 1917 was the high point in popularity of ragtime which from earlier by 1885 adapted the then popular dances of quadrille and mazurka rhythmic meter of 3/4 or 6/4 and played it in western African 2/4 and 4/4 time which therefore "ragged" their European beats. Boogie was an old name for the devil ("The boogie man"). The musical appellation of the phrase Boogie Woogie occurred in the late 1920s.

 

[Michou]

Sidney Bechet needs little introduction: a founding father of jazz who began on clarinet but became legendary for his intense, vibrato-rich soprano sax sound, one of the most distinctive voices in early jazz.

After years of battling segregation in the U.S., Bechet settled in France in the early '50s, where he was treated as a major artist rather than simply a "Black musician." He quickly became a cultural icon there, with French audiences embracing his music and giving him the recognition that was often denied to Black musicians in America at the time, without the racial barriers he faced back home.

This track, recorded in Paris on January 18, 1952 with Claude Luter's orchestra for Vogue, is one of his signature tunes. It's slow, lyrical, and deeply romantic, New Orleans jazz at its most tender. If you've seen Midnight in Paris, you may recognise it from the film.

A few days later, Bechet recorded another of his most famous compositions, Petite Fleur. The tune became a global hit in 1959 via Chris Barber's Jazz Band, featuring Monty Sunshine's famous clarinet solo, reaching No. 3 in the UK, No. 5 on the US Hot 100, and topping charts across Europe. With worldwide sales estimated in the tens of millions, it became one of the best-known jazz melodies ever recorded.

 

[Michou]

Fats Waller – Jitterbug Waltz (1942)

Thomas "Fats" Waller is mostly remembered for his stride piano and lively personality, but Jitterbug Waltz shows another side of him: a beautiful, surprisingly sophisticated jazz waltz with a melody that stays with you.

Written and recorded in 1942, it has that wonderful mix of elegance and swing that makes early jazz so appealing. Waller’s playing is full of character, but the composition itself is the real star here.

This original recording is especially interesting because Waller plays Hammond organ rather than piano, creating a unique sound for the period while still retaining his unmistakable rhythmic feel.

And if you enjoy this tune, Vince Guaraldi’s cover is also worth hearing. He gives it a more relaxed, intimate West Coast jazz feel, and it is a lovely interpretation. No less remarkable is Eric Dolphy’s version, which takes the piece in a completely different direction with his unique, adventurous voice. Other notable recordings include those by Bill Evans, Erroll Garner and Wynton Marsalis, each bringing their own personality to this wonderful composition.

 

[Soandso]

Sidney Bechet … a founding father of jazz …

Sidney Bechet was born in New Orleans where the cornet was typically the instrument which produced the lead African influenced musical "call" while the musical "response" was given by the clarinet (or trombone). He was an important innovator who brought the clarinet into appreciation as another jazz lead instrument. There is (see below) a recoding he made playing the piano which I wrote about elsewhere.

And here below is a screen shot of a compilation record which has a different poignant song he recorded.

 

[Soandso]

Fats Waller … in 1942….

A posted elsewhere on ASR:

 

[Michou]

Sidney Bechet was born in New Orleans where the cornet was typically the instrument which produced the lead African influenced musical "call" while the musical "response" was given by the clarinet (or trombone). He was an important innovator who brought the clarinet into appreciation as another jazz lead instrument. There is (see below) a recoding he made playing the piano which I wrote about elsewhere.

View attachment 548681
And here below is a screen shot of a compilation record which has a different poignant song he recorded.

View attachment 548682

 

[Waxx]

Another key person is the pianist Jimmy Yancey (1895-1951) from Chicago, with his "boogie woogie". He did not record until 1939 but toured the whole US and Europe extensifly since 1915 and was hugly popular. It's a more bluesy style, but it was hugly infuencial on jazz, and also rythem & blues and rock'n roll.

 

[Soandso]

"Bunk" Johnson was another early New Orleans jazz talent. Unfortunately he missed it's commercialization falling back on manual labor and enduring poverty. He was rediscovered so to speak and provided with dentures so could record again getting mixed reviews. Back when the saxophone started being played in big bands' riffs of rhythm he decried the instrument's inclusion saying: "It just runs up and down stairs with no place to go."

 

[Soandso]

Stride was a hot piano style of "ragging" with fast removal of finger pressure on piano keys which left listeners the impression of having heard an imperious (hit it and quit it; "hot") note. Any struck notes' volume that was sustained was not accompanied by using the piano's foot pedals to extend the notes' tone. Deliberate stretching out of tone was done via trills and some musicians' styles included drumming upon the piano key. Foot pedals were utilized to generate rhythm and for counterpoint of the beat.

James P. Johnson became known for the ability to play exceptionally fast while retaining musical clarity. In the seminal jazz period the majority of U.S.A. residents didn't readily hear it played. What was common before jazz recordings appeared was published piano sheet music of ragtime songs which were bought by families (who could afford it) to then play that song on someone's available home piano and roll back the rug for some dancing. Hot style pianists being recorded introduced such fast techniques that amateur pianists could no longer effectively play the latest trending piano songs and instead of buying sheet music started to collect piano rolls and records. Among those who contributed significantly to the public's buying of jazz records for home listening/dancing was J.P. Johnson.

 

[Soandso]

… pianist Jimmy Yancey (1895-1951) from Chicago ….

In the 1920s Chicago residences were scenes of apartment parties which some African-Americans hosted as "rent parties" to raise a rent payment by selling illicit alcohol and providing some free food accompanied by some piano music. These were promoted by word of mouth using the nickname "skiffle" or by some places as "shakes"; in time the repeal of USA's alcohol prohibition would have the effect of ending the number of such gatherings.

Jimmy Yancey's song THE FIVES (a song sometimes recorded by others as "The Five O'Clock Blues") is about how the weekend rent party attendees that came on Friday after their workday or Saturday who had stayed at the place through the weekend drinking, eating and napping there had to go to work come Monday. Versions of this song would be played by the house pianist at 5 o'clock on Monday morning to help those overhung men wake up and go to work in time.

 

[Soandso]

 

[Soandso]