Arrangements for trad new orleans jazz

[Woody Turner]

Recently I received a CD reissue of an LP of the great trumpet player and band leader Percy Humphrey, recorded in 1972. Great stuff. It got me thinking about the possibility of moving from the largely wind sound of traditional New Orleans jazz--trumpet, trombone, clarinet, tuba--toward a mostly string band sound for this music--essentially what the Hot Club (Django, Grappelli, etc.) did in the 30s with mainstream jazz. Will Patton has devised a great formula for insinuating the mandolin into gypsy jazz, although he sometimes uses the clarinet and reeds (accordian). So, has anyone tried such a transmutation with mandos (possibly including dola and cello), guitars, and fiddles, as well as the usual tenor banjo and bass for this type of polyphonic improvisation?

[Gary S]

I am working on "Panama". I am pulling my ideas from Preservation Hall(the Humphry bros), and a Kid Ory recording. I also play "Thats a Plenty" another war horse from the New Orleans Jazz repertoire. Jethro Burns did a great mandolin version of this on "Swing Low Sweet Mandolin"
Gary

[Gary S]

You will also need to play in the flatted keys a lot.
Bb, Eb and Ab.

[Mario Proulx]

You will also need to play in the flatted keys a lot.
Bb, Eb and Ab.

Correct, and the reasoning behind my new jazz mandolin! (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=15;t=54162)

[Woody Turner]

So Gary, are you writing and playing, or just playing? By/for yourself or ensemble?

Mario, did you ever post sound clips of the B-flat?

[Paul Kotapish]

Woody,

Check out this thread on the Six-and-Seven-Eighths String Band, a New Orleans ensemble that played trad horn arrangements on string-band instruments, with mando taking the clarinet or cornet parts, the slide guitar taking the trombone lines, and the guitar and bass rounding out the bottom. They were fabulous and a lot of fun. They were also one of the major inspirations for the wonderful Cheap Suit Serenaders.

Check them out. You'll be pleased.

6 & 7/8 String Band Thread (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=4;t=55437)

[Gary S]

Woody,
I agree with Paul. Check out the 6 and 7/8ths String Band. I have spent a lot of time trying to decipher their material. I also like to learn by listening to other instruments. It allows me to be inventive in my articulation. Percy and Willie Humphrey (Preservation Hall Jazz Band)are great players and are masters of the New Orleans "weave" of sound. You cant go wrong with Louis Armstrongs Hot 5 and 7 recordings as well.

I do not know how to read music. The "Amazing Slow Downer" has become my best friend as of recently.I do have a few of my own tunes, though they are not written down.
Gary

[Woody Turner]

Gary and Paul--


Thanks for leading me to 6 & 7/8 and Cheap Suit Serenaders. What fun! Sorry, I didn't realize that the subject had been up on the Cafe board so recently. Anyway, I'm happy to see how people have been experimenting over the years. I'd heard about Crumb's music but had never listened to any before.

What I didn't really hear in the clips from 6 & 7/8 and Cheap Suit--and this is by no means a criticsm--is the well-defined counterpoint that you hear from Preservation Hall. I'd love to find a fiddler with Grappelli's brilliance taking on the clarinet role, maybe with a Jerry Douglas stand-in serving up the trombone part. Maybe fill out the ensemble with a lead mandolinist/mandolist, guitar, tenor banjo, dog house bass, and light percussion.
Who knows, maybe one day's I'll find it all in one place.

[Smiley Pockets]

Glad to see the 6 and 7/8s get a little more screen time here. The mandolin player, Bill Kleppinger, was the dominant voice in most of their recordings, but as I've tried to learn some of their tunes, it gets very difficult to hear if it's the National Guitar or the mando at times. So they did have some very nice Dixie Land style "weaving" going on. Also almost everything they did they transposed to string friendly keys like G and C and got away from the flat keys that wind instruments like. While I guess you could consider this cheating or non traditional, it let them use some beautiful open string techniques.


http://www.myspace.com/billfossmusic

[Paul Kotapish]

Here's an very useful resource of transcriptions and midi files of some well-known solos by great trumpet players of the swing era. Much of it is a little later than what you are interested in, but the Bix Beiderbeck and Louis Armstrong solos should be of interest. The (somewhat mechanical-sounding) midi files make it easy to hear the precise lines and changes in a simple setting.

http://pubcs.free.fr/jg....sh.html (http://pubcs.free.fr/jg/jazz_trumpet_transcriptions_jacques_gilbert_englis h.html)

[Woody Turner]

It's not surprising that 6 & 7/8 changed the key to fit their instruments better. Because I play mainly mandola, B flat (fingered like an F on mandolin) is not such a problem.

Thanks for the great link, Paul. I've already downloaded a useful score from it.

[Mario Proulx]

did you ever post sound clips of the B-flat?

Sorry, never did. I'll see if I can find time today or tomorrow to setup my mic and mixing board and do some samples.