Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Blues, Stomps, & Rags #12

  1. #1
    Registered User Ranald's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Ottawa, Canada
    Posts
    1,733

    Default Blues, Stomps, & Rags #12

    This week's blues mandolin player is "Dude" from King David's Jug Band, a group of street musicians from Cincinnati, who recorded a few cuts in two sessions in the late 1920's and 1930. Other band members were "King" David Crockett on guitar, and Sam Jones on vocal & stovepipe -- yes, stovepipe. (I can't help but imagine them being pulled over by the police: "Enough of this 'King David' stuff; what's your real name? "Davey Crockett." "Sure, wise guy, and why the stovepipe?" "It's a musical instrument.") We don't know Dude's real name, but "Pigmeat" Jarrett, an old Cincinnati musician, said of him, "He was the best mandolin player ever been here! Yes indeed, Yeah. There were a lot of mandolin players around, but they couldn't play, not like him." May the same be said of you after your name is forgotten.

    Here is a cut entitled Rising Sun Blues, recorded for Okeh Records in Atlanta, Georgia, on December, 1930 (one source says it was recorded in New York). If connections don't work search "King David's Jug Band RISING SUN BLUES" on YouTube.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udgl...awq1Dc&index=3

    Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
    "I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
    Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.

  2. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Ranald For This Useful Post:


  3. #2
    music with whales Jim Nollman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Friday Harbor WA
    Posts
    1,633

    Default Re: Blues, Stomps, & Rags #12

    can someone please define a stomp.
    Explore some of my published music here.

    —Jim

    Sierra F5 #30 (2005)
    Altman 2-point (2007)
    Portuguese fado cittern (1965)

  4. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Va
    Posts
    2,573

    Default Re: Blues, Stomps, & Rags #12

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Nollman View Post
    can someone please define a stomp.
    When you forcefully and loudly and quickly apply your foot to the floor.

  5. #4
    Registered User Ranald's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Ottawa, Canada
    Posts
    1,733

    Default Re: Blues, Stomps, & Rags #12

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Nollman View Post
    can someone please define a stomp.
    Hi, Jim.

    Considering what's come up in different threads, that the people who created the music generally made neither rules nor definitions for genres of music, here are three attempts to explain the stomp. Otherwise, as with many types of music, it's a matter of listening to stomps (e.g., Blues, Stomps, & Rags #1) till we reach the point where we can say, "Oh, that's what they mean." Perhaps someone on this Forum can provide a more sophisticated and exacting definition.

    Ranald

    From the Oxford Canadian Dictionary:

    stomp
    n. 1. any lively dance involving a heavy stamping step.
    2.(also a stomper) a tune or song with a percussive rhythm and upbeat tempo suitable for such a dance.
    3. a heavy stamping step to the rhythm of such a dance.

    From Rich DelGrosso's Mandolin Blues:

    The "stomp" is just like it sounds. It grew out of the "thump, thump, thump" of the blues described by W.C.Handy. Spirited music invites tapping or stomping feet, so the "stomp," often syncopated like the rag, is accented and driven by heavy feet… Some of the early jazz band leaders would call for a "stomp chorus" lifting the energy of the final chorus of a piece ( p.19).

    For the musically sophisticated, here's an explanation of how stomp is used in jazz:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stomp_progression
    Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
    "I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
    Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •