Set List Liner Notes (10/14/17)

Basin Street Irregulars Set List Liner Notes: October 14, 2017

1. Caravan (1936) is a jazz standard composed by Juan Tizol and Duke Ellington, and first performed by Ellington in 1936. Irving Mills wrote seldom performed lyrics. Its exotic sound interested exotica musicians; There are more than 350 recordings of this song by Duke Ellington's orchestra. Story of the Tune: Origin: 1920-30s Puerto Rico:“Caravan,” is recognized as the first modal jazz tune Tizol played valve trombone in Ellington’s band, he also penned “Perdido” Tizol is perhaps more noted for his bandstand fight with Charles Mingus, getting Mingus kicked out of the orchestra. But his story of this first mpdal tune is interesting and innovative, according to Mercer Ellington: “Well Tizol did the melody, and he said that, you know, he used to hear those unusual melodies, because in Puerto Rico where he studied, they were very poor and they couldn't afford too much music. So in order to make them get more practice and get varied compositions, they'd turn the music upside down. And the result, you get that modal sound that comes from most of the things Tizol's involved in” Summary: Modal jazz invented in the US by a really poor kid from Puerto Rico Tizol effectively turned the jazz world upside down (ii-V-I) --> (I-V-ii).

2. Bye Bye Blues (1925) is a popular and jazz standard written by Fred Hamm, Dave Bennett, Bert Lown, and Chauncey Gray and published in 1925. It has been recorded by many artists, but the best-known recording is one made in 1952 by Les Paul and Mary Ford. It first reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on December 27, 1952 and lasted 5 weeks on the chart, peaking at #5.Our version reflects the popular (1966) version by Brenda Lee. Brenda Lee (born Brenda Mae Tarpley, December 11, 1944) is an American performer and the top-charting solo female vocalist of the 1960s. She sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s, and is ranked fourth in that decade surpassed only by Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Ray Charles. She is perhaps best known in the United States for her 1960 hit "I'm Sorry", and 1958's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", a United States holiday standard for almost 60 years. At 4 ft 9 inches tall (approximately 145 cm), she received the nickname Little Miss Dynamite in 1957 after recording the song "Dynamite" and was one of the earliest pop stars to have a major contemporary international following. Emily has her own style show thru on this tune.

3. So What (1959) is the first track on the album Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. It is one of the best known examples of modal jazz, set in the Dorian mode and consisting of 16 bars of D Dorian, followed by eight bars of E♭ Dorian and another eight of D Dorian. The piano-and-bass introduction for the piece was written by Gil Evans for Bill Evans (no relation) and Paul Chambers on Kind of Blue The use of the double bass to play the main theme makes the piece unusual. The distinctive voicing employed by Bill Evans for the chords that interject the head, from the bottom up three notes at intervals of a perfect fourth followed by a major third, has been given the name "So What chord" by jazz theorists. The departure from bebop is clear from the album's opening tune, "So What," which would emerge as this new sound's anthem. Evans describes it on the album's liner notes as "a simple figure based on 16 measures of one scale, 8 of another & 8 more of the first in free rhythmic style."

4. All Blues (1959) is a jazz composition by Miles Davis first appearing on the influential album Kind of Blue. It is a twelve-bar blues in 6/4; the chord sequence is that of a basic blues and made up entirely of 7th chords, with a ♭VI in the turnaround instead of just the usual V chord. In the song's original key of G this chord is an E♭7. "All Blues" is a modal blues in G mixolydian. A particularly distinctive feature of the piece is the bass line that repeats through the whole piece, except when a V or ♭VI chord is reached (the 9th and 10th bars of a chorus). Further, there is a harmonically similar vamp that is played by the horns (the two saxophones in the case of Kind of Blue) at the beginning and then (usually) continued by the piano under any solos that take place. Each chorus is usually separated by a four-bar vamp which acts as an introduction to the next solo/chorus.

5. Bye Bye Blackbird (1926) by the American composer Ray Henderson and lyricist Mort Dixon. It was the number 16 song of 1926 according to Pop Culture Madness. In 1982, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) posthumously awarded John Coltrane a "Best Jazz Solo Performance" Grammy for the work on his album Bye Bye Blackbird. Recordings of the song often include only the chorus; the verses are far less known. It was also a hit tune for Joe Cocker in 1971. It has been recorded by countless jazz artists and rock musicians. Some tunes are timeless. 

6. It's Too Late (1971). "It's Too Late" is a song from Carole King's 1971 album Tapestry. Toni Stern wrote the lyrics and King wrote the music. It was released as a single in April 1971 and reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. The sadness of the song is emphasized by the music being in a minor key. King builds the melody out of syncopated of rhythmic motifs which are modified and combined over the course of the song, in contrast to many songs in which the rhythmic phrases are simply repeated. The melody is easy to remember by establishing the highest note in the melody by repeating it several times before the melody descends to the tonic. This establishes the highest and lowest notes in the listeners ear, aiding recognition.An important element of the melody from an emotional standpoint is that rather than ending on the tonic, as most songs do to establish a final resolution, "It's Too Late" ends on the mediant, which is related to the tonic but still leaves a sense of inconclusiveness. This effectively contrasts with the lyrics, which imply that the singer has fully accepted the end of the relationship. Toni Stern told author Sheila Weller that she wrote the lyrics in a single day, after her love affair with James Taylor was over. The recording won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1972, and the song is included in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

7. Georgia on Mind (1930) was written by Hoagy Carmichael (music) and Stuart Gorrell (lyrics). The song was first recorded on September 15, 1930, by Hoagy Carmichael and His Orchestra with Bix Beiderbecke on muted cornet, Carmichael on vocals, and Eddie Lang on guitar. The recording was part of Beiderbecke's last recording session. Ray Charles' 1960 recording on The Genius Hits the Road was a major hit, reaching the number one spot for one week in November 1960 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Though "Georgia On My Mind" was a hit single before Charles' recording, the song has now become strongly identified with Charles in the public consciousness. On March 7, 1979, in a symbol of reconciliation in the aftermath of years of activism and national legislation resulting from the Civil Rights Movement, Charles performed the song before the Georgia General Assembly. After this performance, the Assembly adopted it as the state song on April 24. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine named Ray Charles' version of "Georgia on My Mind" the 44th greatest song of all time.

8. All of Me (1931) is a popular song and jazz standard written by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons. The sory goes that Belle Baker had just lost her husband, and, struck by the personal sense of loss conveyed in the lyrics, broke down weeping during a performance. The press picked up the story and before long the song was a hit. It has become one of the most recorded songs of its era including popular versions by Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald just to name a few. This is a very common standard that all jazz musicians are expected to know. It’s also a great tune to shed if you are new to jazz, or if you need to work on your jazz language. This tune is most commonly played in the key of C major: "Easy key, I'm in an Easy Key..."

9. Summertime (1935) is a George Gershwin-composed tune written for the 1935 opera, “Porgy and Bess,” which also became a popular radio show. It was an immediate hit – in 1936 Billie Holiday, reached #11 with the song. Musically, the tune was written by Gershwin to resolve the pentatonic (C Major) scale with A Minor, as compatible chords on the musical scale (musicians...think of the key wheel). The end effect is a distinctly Blues feel that resolves a major phrase with an associated minor key. As with most all jazz standards, the tune has been recorded countless times by many famous jazz and popular musicians alike and each one sounds somewhat different...that's why it's jazz. Our version is a particularly “bluesy” one, largely because of the instrumentation of our band. The sax melody is modeled after a 1953 version by Sarah Vaughan (See “The Columbia Years. Vol. 1), as noted by the long phrasing and vibrato. 

10. Autumn Leaves French Composer Joseph Kosma. The song reached its pinnacle of success when pianist Roger Williams took the tune to #1 on the Pop Charts, the only time a solo pianist has hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, from October 29 – November 25, 1955. In my mind, I hear the the signature scale-diminishing tinkling of piano keys by Williams as a metaphor for the leaves falling at the change of the season, which will be soon upon us (after this recent Central Coast “Summertime”). Musically, the tune is an example of a “Circle of fifths” melodic progression, emphasizing the perfect fifth melodic triad, and a seventh diminished rhythm, which serves to create the unresolved tension in the song, thus providing a bluesy feel. Our version modeled after a particularly jazzed-up version of “Autumn Leaves” by Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis, on Adderley's (1958) “Something Else,” my favorite jazz album of all time. The goal here is to demonstrate how one instrument can sound different, almost like another instrument. Note the blues undertone of the song, again via diminished seventh chords, affording a “bluesy feel” to the tune. In the final chorus, the melody is played with a bit more texture and staccato: Like the Autumn Leaves, crisply descending in the wind.

11. Rosetta (1939) was a jazz standard written by the great Earl "Fatha" Hines (of whom Count Basie called "The Greatest Piano Player in the World"). The song was considered his anthem and the one he chose to play at the White House in 1976. Musicologist Jeffrey Taylor wrote a 20-page paper onthis one tune. Such unique musical techniques such as a "drooping Fourth," and descending fourth motive provide a constant downward feeling in the tune, Hines repeatedly shifts the harmonies under a single pitch, a striking feature of the tune. The bridge modulates to a Minor iii chord, rather innovative at the time. The chord changes themselves are non-standard and surprisingly beautiful, especially when you play the full chords on piano. It was put to words and made most famous by Anita O' Day in 1958. A moving tune. Rather elegant, like its author. They just don't write tunes like this anymore. 

12, Blue Monk (1954) is a jazz standard written by Thelonious Monk that has become one of his most enduring tunes. First recorded for the album Thelonious Monk Trio, it is a B flat blues. "Blue Monk” by Thelonious Monk was the pianist’s favorite composition, according to Laurent de Wilde in Monk, and he recorded it often. In a 1963 interview when asked to name a record that he plays on that he especially likes his answer is “‘Blue Monk’ with the trio.” He first recorded it on September 22, 1954, with Art Blakey on drums and Percy Heath on bass. The film Jazz on a Summer’s Day features him performing “Blue Monk” at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. According to Thelonious Monk, one of his influences was Ferd “Jelly Roll” Morton. This tune, with its lyrical leaps, chromatic embellishments, and quasi-ragtime syncopations, is certainly suggestive of Morton. The “blues” progression here is an interesting variation in which Monk inserts an extra IV in measure 2 and follows the IV in measure 5 with a diminished seventh chord a half-step higher in measure 6 (being a ct°7 of the tonic, a standard harmonic device). This use of the °7 chord works very nicely with the strongly chromatic nature of the melody. Help us celebrate Thelonious Monk's 100th Birthday.

13. Oh Lord Don’t Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me (1961). Written and sung (a rarity) by Charles Mingus, this tune appeared on the seminal "Mingus Oh Yeah" Album. It never reached any great acclaim, but reflected the signs of the time by cleverly disguising a racial intolerance message into the backdrop of the Red Scare. The tune was famous for the dual horn playing of Yusef Lateef, a sax virtuoso. This is one of Mingus' catchiest tunes, as atonal as it seems at times. Mingus' music defied classification. From the original album liner notes: "Don't let them drop it! Stop it! Be-Bop It! Ventilating concern for the tensions caused by the Cold War, Mingus vocalizes around a decidedly traditional melody which wasfar more expressive than some of the blues lines composed by his contemporaries. Matthew does a good Mingus.  

14. Basin Street Blues (1928)is a song often performed by Dixieland jazz bands, written by Spencer Williams & recorded in 1928 by Louis Armstrong. The verse with the lyric "Won't you come along with me/To the Mississippi..." was later added by Glenn Miller and Jack Teagarden. The Basin Street of the title refers to the main street of Storyville, the red-light district of early 20th-century New Orleans, north of the French Quarter. It became a red light district in 1897. We consider this our theme song. We redid the words a bit to reflect the Central Coast...

15. Jeepers Creepers (1938) is a popular song and jazz standard. The music was written by Harry Warren, and the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, for the 1938 Warner Brothers movie Going Places. It was premiered by Louis Armstrong and has since been covered by many other artists. This song was one featured in the 1938 film Going Places starring Dick Powell, Anita Louise and Ronald Reagan. Louis Armstrong appears in the part of Gabriel, the trainer of a race horse named Jeepers Creepers. Jeepers Creepers is a very wild horse and can only be soothed enough to let someone ride him when Gabriel plays the song "Jeepers Creepers" on his trumpet or sings it to him. Gabriel wrote the song specifically for the horse. (The phrase "jeepers creepers", a slang expression and minced oath euphemism for Jesus Christ, predates both the song and film.). The song and title was featured prominently in the 2001 horror movie Jeepers Creepers when The Creeper is nearby.

16. Ice Cream (1927). AKA "I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream" is a popular song, with words and music by Howard Johnson, Billy Moll, and Robert King. After initial success as a late 1920s novelty song, the tune became a traditional jazz standard, while the lyrics refrain "I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream" has remained a part of popular culture even without the rest of the song, If you grew up in the 70's or before, or maybe even in the 80's, you are probably familiar with the childhood chant about ice scream: I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! You may have shouted it yourself in anticipation of the arrival of the ice cream truck (maybe the Good Humor Man). But you likely had no idea how that expression originally came about. Well, it was, predictably, a commercial slogan for a particular ice cream product. And you probably are quite familiar with this product. It's the Eskimo Pie. However, the iconic Eskimo Pie was originally called the I-Scream bar. Was the I-Scream bar the first of it's kind? Why, yes.

17. Bourbon St. Parade (1955), written by jazz drummer Paul Barbarin (rather later than you would expect), is an example of early marching band music’s influence on New Orleans jazz. It highlights characteristic elements of marching band music. What sets “Bourbon Street Parade” (and other New Orleans marches) apart from traditional marches are the elements of New Orleans jazz that are incorporated into the song: syncopation in the drums (accenting the fourth beat in every other measure), horns freely interpreting the melody, and improvising throughout. There is a strong sense of countermelody here. The tenor sax plays two roles: harmonizing with the alto sax and playing ornate embellishments during pauses in the melody. Then they switch roles. The drums and bass alternate between a 2/4 march feel and a 4/4 swing feel throughout the song to lend variety and interest to groove. Note how the shift in beat makes you move your feet!

18. Down by Riverside (1918). AKA  "Ain't Gonna Study War No More" & "Gonna lay down my burden" is a Negro spiritual song. Its roots date back to before the American Civil War, though it was first published in 1918. The song's central image is of casting off negativity and aggression, and putting on spiritual garb, at the side of a river before crossing it. The image has several meanings: it refers to baptism, which in the Southern Baptist tradition usually involves wearing a white robe and being submerged in a body of water. It also refers to ascending to heaven after death, using the metaphor of the River Jordan, which in the Old Testament was the final passage before the Hebrews entered the Promised Land after their years in the desert. As with many Negro spirituals, the biblical imagery can also be read as a hidden allusion to escaping slavery, with the river representing the Ohio River, which was a border between states where slavery was allowed and prohibited before the American Civil War. The refrain of "ain't gonna study war no more" is a reference to a quotation found in the Old Testament: "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

19. St. James Infirmary (1926) or St. James Infirmary Blues (AKA Those Gambler's Blues) has a fascinating history, one that has been studied much in the past (see Rob Walker's fanatical research here). I will do my best here to summarize. The tune reached acclaim in 1927 when Louis Armstrong took it to #11 on the Top 100 chart. It was penned a year earlier by Irving Mills with the pseudonym "J. Primrose." Mills was a bit of a charlatan who usurped many a musicians' musical rights (e.g., Duke Ellington & Fats Waller). But this was not the origin of the tune. The actual tune "Those Gambler Blues" appends an 2 opening and closing choruses to the words of "St. James Infirmary." It turns out that this tune owed its traditions to oral folk music, and hence has no acknowledged author. "Those Gambler Blues" is associated with a traditional style of folk music known as a "Rake" tune. Such tunes are arrogant boasts told from the perspective of a "playa" of the past. If you heed the words of the tune, "She ain't ever gonna find a sweet man like me," boasts of a man who still places himself first, despite encountering the "cold, sweet, and fair" dead body of his baby. If you listen to Louis Armstrong's words, he sheepishly interjects "braggin'" at the end of this boastful line. In fact the tune is so demeaning and egotistical that it is attributed to the words of Big Joe McKennedy, because surely no singer would support its lyrics. Rakes don't fare well in today's society. The tune itself is a simple one, there are only three chords in the repeated 8-bar blues melody. We noted the similar chord structures and modulated straight into another Saints...

20. When the Saints Go Marching (1923) AKA "The Saints", is an American gospel hymn. Though it originated as a Christian hymn, it is often played by jazz bands. This song was famously recorded on May 13, 1938 by Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra. The origins of this song are unclear. It apparently evolved in the early 1900s from a number of similarly titled gospel songs including "When the Saints Are Marching In" (1896). The first known recorded version was in 1923 by the Paramount Jubilee Singers. Although the title given on the label is "When All the Saints Come Marching In", the group sings the modern lyrics beginning with "When the saints go marching in". No author is shown on the label. Both vocal and instrumental renditions of the song abound. Louis Armstrong was one of the first to make the tune into a nationally known pop tune in the 1930s. Armstrong wrote that his sister told him she thought the secular performance style of the traditional church tune was inappropriate and irreligious.[citation needed] Armstrong was in a New Orleans tradition of turning church numbers into brass band and dance. The song was the inspiration for the name of the National Football League team the New Orleans Saints. The version sung by Fats Domino is used as the team's touchdown song.