Post by don jordan on Jun 10, 2006 16:14:50 GMT 10
Captain - I'm very happy to post some more of Len Barnard's information on early jazz forms. I have his first three articles under the heading "The Jazz Workshop", which appeared in issues 104, 105 and 106 (and also another one in issue 109) of "Jazz Notes" , which was a magazine edited and published "monthly" by Neville Sherburn of Swaggie Records. These issues come from 1960 and Len's column was obviously continued in subsequent editions, but I don't have them. You could probably find them in the Victorian Jazz Archives.
Johnny - there are times when I may be inaccurate, but to say that what I posted on May 25 is "highly inaccurate" is itself highly inaccurate. I don't mind my mistakes being pointed out, but I'd prefer that it be done with a sense of proportion.
St. Louis Blues does indeed have a blues form as the chorus - I was thinking of Basin Street Blues, but my brain to fingers connection took a wrong turning!
Len Barnard first talks about three blues forms. I'll have to ask you to accept that this site doesn't allow me to put spaces between bars, so you'll have to just count along as you go. / obviously is a beat on which a chord is repeated and - is a one-beat rest. + is an augmented chord, o a diminished chord and m is a minor chord.
Simple Blues
Bb / / / Bb / / / Bb / / / Bb7 / / /
Eb7 / / / Eb7 / / / Bb / / / Bb / / /
F7 / / / F7 / / / Bb / / / Bb / / /
Ferd Morton type blues
Bb / / / Eb9 / / / Bb / / / Bb7 / / /
Eb / / / Ebm / / / Bb / D7 / G7 / / /
C7 / / / F7 / / / Bb / Eb7 / Bb / / /
Archaic blues
Bb / / / Eb7 / / / Bb / / / Bb7 / Bb+ /
Eb7 / / / Eb7 / / / Bb / / / Bb / Bbo /
F7 / / / Eb7 / F7 / Bb / / / Bb / / /
He gives progressions for the "Original Dixieland One-step", "Fidgetty Feet", "Sidewalk Blues", "1919 March" and "Grace and Beauty Rag" in issue no. 105.
In 106 he continues on from the Stomp progression with:
Cyclic form
D7 / / / D7 / / / G7 / / / G7 / / /
C7 / / / C7 / / / F - - - - - - -
D7 / / / D7 / / / G7 / / / G7 / / /
C7 / / / C7 / / / F / / / F / / /
Rag form
F / / / F / / / F / / / F / / /
F / / / F / / / C7 / / / C7 / / /
C7 / / / C7 / / / C7 / / / C7 / / /
C7 / / / C7 / / / F / / / F / / /
F / / / F / / / F / / / F / / /
F7 / / / F7 / / / Bb / / / Bb / / /
Bb / / / Fm / / / F / / / D7 / / /
G7 / / / C7 / / / F / / / F / / /
Shout form
Bb7 / / / Bb7 / / / F / / / F / / /
C7 / / / C7 / / / F / / / F7 / / /
Bb7 / / / Bb7 / / / F / / / F / / /
C7 / / / C7 / / / F / / / F / / /
He then gives the chords of "Chicago Buzz" to illustrate how the above forms were changed, inter-mixed and adjusted to suit the requirements of many compositions. In issue 109 he gives the chords of "Cake Walking Babies from Home" and "Livin' High" (a Clarence Williams tune).
If anyone would like a photocopy of these articles, email me with your postal address and I'll happily send them.
BTW, I entirely agree with the spirit of Johnny's post of May 25. I first heard jazz only 25 years after Louis Armstrong recorded his Hot Five and Hot Seven sides. I was lucky with both jazz and classical music. Benny Goodman's big band with Charlie Christian really got me going into jazz, and Stravinsky's "Petrouchska" (courtesy of the Borovansky Ballet) pierced my heart with joy. From those starting points I was able to move both forwards and backwards and enjoy the whole range of both musics. I could never understand the "mouldy fig" versus "modernists" polarizations. When I first heard Bird and Diz (not all that long after the Goodman epiphany) I could make neither head nor tail of it. However, I persevered and took it out every 6 months and played it through (it was a 10" LP on the Clef label), shook my head and put it back in the cupboard. Then, one day, I heard this wonderful, beautiful, exciting, sad, emotional, swinging music that took my breath away. My ears and brain had "learnt" the language. No holding me then!
I still remember the day I first heard "Giant Steps" on Eric Child's Saturday morning jazz program ( I was in the back yard at home in Mornington), just as I remember the day I first heard the Ellington LP with "Koko" on it, and the Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band (the same day for these two). I couldn't stop discovering all this marvellous music and these wonderful players (ditto for classical music, too).
I started playing jazz in a trad band, after I had learnt trombone in a brass band. Since then I've played in Dixieland bands, swing and modern big bands, free music groups, and have my own swing sextet (Swing'n'Jazz), Jay and Kai-type quintet (Lazybones), tenor and trombone quintet (Quince Jam) and hard bop sextet (Miles Tones/Milestones). I've played in brass bands, pit bands for shows and a symphony orchestra. I have a brass quintet (Windjammer) that, sadly, has not played for a long time.
I've been very fortunate to have lessons with Dennis Wick and Jim Fulkerson (the latter a pioneering player and composer in the 'serious music' field who was artist-in-residence at the VCA around 1978), and with some other great players and teachers.
As I look back, my greatest sadness is that music has been 'on-and-off' for me throughout my life. I never had the confidence or awareness to cut loose from everything else and live the 'jazz life', and I'll always regret that. My work as a civil engineer and academic, and my family, left me often in a three-way cleft stick and, when it all became too much (as it did every few years), music was always the one that I chose to let go. I see now that it didn't have to be the one to go, but it seemed that way at the time(s).
Even now, I feel that I am only beginning to have the confidence to really step out and play what I feel and what I can without worrying too much about what others will think. "I wasted time and now doth time waste me" as Shakespeare's Richard II said. For any who have ears to hear, take note. Your life is your own and while you should do the best with your responsibilities, ultimately you will have to look back and decide whether you have done what you love and what gives most joy and comfort to others. That said, there are no easy answers to the question of life.
I wanted to start a new thread starting with what I've just written, asking again "Who really, really wants to play music for love?". I believe that music exists for itself alone, and that a life spent in music can be entirely fulfilling, regardless of how you take care of the rent. When I had a paying career, I could sometimes afford to subsidise the guys in the bands a bit, as I think it wrong to ask people who depend on music for a living to play for nothing (or next-to). I can't do that now. The music I want to play is no longer "commercial" and won't attract more than small 'crowds'. However, the people I want to play to constitute a small minority of our society, too, and I know they want to hear music of power, sweetness, depth and universality, and will come.
My question therefore also extends to "Where can we play this music and how can we pay for the venue?". Are there people out there who want to join me in this? Who want to give everything they can without hope of great reward, just for the deep and abiding satisfaction of playing music to the best of their ability to people who will appreciate it?
I couldn't work out how to start a new thread, and I've asked Mark to show me. Perhaps that will be a better place to continue this (if anyone wants to).
Johnny - there are times when I may be inaccurate, but to say that what I posted on May 25 is "highly inaccurate" is itself highly inaccurate. I don't mind my mistakes being pointed out, but I'd prefer that it be done with a sense of proportion.
St. Louis Blues does indeed have a blues form as the chorus - I was thinking of Basin Street Blues, but my brain to fingers connection took a wrong turning!Len Barnard first talks about three blues forms. I'll have to ask you to accept that this site doesn't allow me to put spaces between bars, so you'll have to just count along as you go. / obviously is a beat on which a chord is repeated and - is a one-beat rest. + is an augmented chord, o a diminished chord and m is a minor chord.
Simple Blues
Bb / / / Bb / / / Bb / / / Bb7 / / /
Eb7 / / / Eb7 / / / Bb / / / Bb / / /
F7 / / / F7 / / / Bb / / / Bb / / /
Ferd Morton type blues
Bb / / / Eb9 / / / Bb / / / Bb7 / / /
Eb / / / Ebm / / / Bb / D7 / G7 / / /
C7 / / / F7 / / / Bb / Eb7 / Bb / / /
Archaic blues
Bb / / / Eb7 / / / Bb / / / Bb7 / Bb+ /
Eb7 / / / Eb7 / / / Bb / / / Bb / Bbo /
F7 / / / Eb7 / F7 / Bb / / / Bb / / /
He gives progressions for the "Original Dixieland One-step", "Fidgetty Feet", "Sidewalk Blues", "1919 March" and "Grace and Beauty Rag" in issue no. 105.
In 106 he continues on from the Stomp progression with:
Cyclic form
D7 / / / D7 / / / G7 / / / G7 / / /
C7 / / / C7 / / / F - - - - - - -
D7 / / / D7 / / / G7 / / / G7 / / /
C7 / / / C7 / / / F / / / F / / /
Rag form
F / / / F / / / F / / / F / / /
F / / / F / / / C7 / / / C7 / / /
C7 / / / C7 / / / C7 / / / C7 / / /
C7 / / / C7 / / / F / / / F / / /
F / / / F / / / F / / / F / / /
F7 / / / F7 / / / Bb / / / Bb / / /
Bb / / / Fm / / / F / / / D7 / / /
G7 / / / C7 / / / F / / / F / / /
Shout form
Bb7 / / / Bb7 / / / F / / / F / / /
C7 / / / C7 / / / F / / / F7 / / /
Bb7 / / / Bb7 / / / F / / / F / / /
C7 / / / C7 / / / F / / / F / / /
He then gives the chords of "Chicago Buzz" to illustrate how the above forms were changed, inter-mixed and adjusted to suit the requirements of many compositions. In issue 109 he gives the chords of "Cake Walking Babies from Home" and "Livin' High" (a Clarence Williams tune).
If anyone would like a photocopy of these articles, email me with your postal address and I'll happily send them.
BTW, I entirely agree with the spirit of Johnny's post of May 25. I first heard jazz only 25 years after Louis Armstrong recorded his Hot Five and Hot Seven sides. I was lucky with both jazz and classical music. Benny Goodman's big band with Charlie Christian really got me going into jazz, and Stravinsky's "Petrouchska" (courtesy of the Borovansky Ballet) pierced my heart with joy. From those starting points I was able to move both forwards and backwards and enjoy the whole range of both musics. I could never understand the "mouldy fig" versus "modernists" polarizations. When I first heard Bird and Diz (not all that long after the Goodman epiphany) I could make neither head nor tail of it. However, I persevered and took it out every 6 months and played it through (it was a 10" LP on the Clef label), shook my head and put it back in the cupboard. Then, one day, I heard this wonderful, beautiful, exciting, sad, emotional, swinging music that took my breath away. My ears and brain had "learnt" the language. No holding me then!
I still remember the day I first heard "Giant Steps" on Eric Child's Saturday morning jazz program ( I was in the back yard at home in Mornington), just as I remember the day I first heard the Ellington LP with "Koko" on it, and the Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band (the same day for these two). I couldn't stop discovering all this marvellous music and these wonderful players (ditto for classical music, too).
I started playing jazz in a trad band, after I had learnt trombone in a brass band. Since then I've played in Dixieland bands, swing and modern big bands, free music groups, and have my own swing sextet (Swing'n'Jazz), Jay and Kai-type quintet (Lazybones), tenor and trombone quintet (Quince Jam) and hard bop sextet (Miles Tones/Milestones). I've played in brass bands, pit bands for shows and a symphony orchestra. I have a brass quintet (Windjammer) that, sadly, has not played for a long time.
I've been very fortunate to have lessons with Dennis Wick and Jim Fulkerson (the latter a pioneering player and composer in the 'serious music' field who was artist-in-residence at the VCA around 1978), and with some other great players and teachers.
As I look back, my greatest sadness is that music has been 'on-and-off' for me throughout my life. I never had the confidence or awareness to cut loose from everything else and live the 'jazz life', and I'll always regret that. My work as a civil engineer and academic, and my family, left me often in a three-way cleft stick and, when it all became too much (as it did every few years), music was always the one that I chose to let go. I see now that it didn't have to be the one to go, but it seemed that way at the time(s).
Even now, I feel that I am only beginning to have the confidence to really step out and play what I feel and what I can without worrying too much about what others will think. "I wasted time and now doth time waste me" as Shakespeare's Richard II said. For any who have ears to hear, take note. Your life is your own and while you should do the best with your responsibilities, ultimately you will have to look back and decide whether you have done what you love and what gives most joy and comfort to others. That said, there are no easy answers to the question of life.
I wanted to start a new thread starting with what I've just written, asking again "Who really, really wants to play music for love?". I believe that music exists for itself alone, and that a life spent in music can be entirely fulfilling, regardless of how you take care of the rent. When I had a paying career, I could sometimes afford to subsidise the guys in the bands a bit, as I think it wrong to ask people who depend on music for a living to play for nothing (or next-to). I can't do that now. The music I want to play is no longer "commercial" and won't attract more than small 'crowds'. However, the people I want to play to constitute a small minority of our society, too, and I know they want to hear music of power, sweetness, depth and universality, and will come.
My question therefore also extends to "Where can we play this music and how can we pay for the venue?". Are there people out there who want to join me in this? Who want to give everything they can without hope of great reward, just for the deep and abiding satisfaction of playing music to the best of their ability to people who will appreciate it?
I couldn't work out how to start a new thread, and I've asked Mark to show me. Perhaps that will be a better place to continue this (if anyone wants to).
