Assignment #1

Jeremy Hamburger

West End Blues is in my opinion, almost an homage to some classic march

repertoire. The piece featured a 12 bar blues form with an intro that sounded like the trumpet

waking soldiers up in the morning on the battlefield, or summer campers in a classic camp flic.

The line still retains its old Louis Armstrong charm due to its bluesy vocabulary, vocabulary that

wouldn’t be played on the battlegrounds. This intro points to one thing and that’s a soulful

blues played at a nice easy tempo by Louis and his hot 5. After the intro, we transition with a

held out chord into the melody. The melody is followed by 3 choruses and then a final shout

chorus for a total of 5 choruses. When I hear the head of the tune, I imagine a soldier home

from war and down on his luck. The combination of the soul with which the melody is played

and its army band rhythms create a “down on your luck” kind of aura that’s unmistakable

because of Louis’ iconic playing. Louis uses swells constantly in his playing of the melody. He

combines sweet melodies with brash, soulful fills all at once. He often hesitates or anticipates

rhythm to swing as hard as possible. He also ornaments the melody with slides and shakes

among other techniques. In the background, the rhythm section comps while the clarinet and

trombone improvise behind Louis. In the second chorus, Fred Robinson improvises with the

rhythm section backing him alone. They also have added auxiliary percussion. The comping also

features a rolling pattern in the Banjo. Robinson uses held out notes with strong dynamic

contrast and sliding. He generally uses a loud volume and less complex rhythms. The third

chorus features Louis’ voice trading in an informal manner with Jimmy Strong on Clarinet. The

auxiliary percussion is ended and the piano becomes the only accompaniment. Strong has a
swelling and soft tone about him and plays simple rhythms with carefully chosen melodic notes.

Armstrong follows the best he can singing with a light and beautiful sound as to match the

clarinet. The fourth chorus features Earl Hines piano solo which uses trills and fast moving lines

contrasted by hard accented swinging rhythms played with block chords. He then combines the

two and finishes with a pretty laid back line into the last chorus. The accompaniment is only

him playing voicings with his solo. The last chorus is the shout chorus. Louis and Jimmy play the

first three notes of the melody, holding out the third for quite a long time. Robinson plays

background improvisatory lines behind the note. After, all 3 begin improvising with the rhythm

section backing them. The ending is played at a slower conducted tempo and features three

chords played in voicings by the horn players. Between the ending note and the end of the

chorus, there is a slight pause. This creates a dramatic ending. Overall, the 3 horn players sound

very energized and excited during this chorus. It really comes out in their sound when the true

improvisation begins. I feel as though I’ve heard this piece in a new light.

The Potato Head Blues begins with no introduction and immediately, the sounds of the

melody fill my ears. The form of the tune is ABA’ and the different sections are 8 bars each. The

first chorus features the melody of the tune played by Louis accompanied by the clarinet and

trombone improvising and the tuba. Louis has a very driving and energetic tone in this piece,

giving the melody an aura of happiness. His dynamic increases slightly throughout the melody

until the end of the B section where it is at its fullest. He uses rhythms that seem to go quite
nice with the other players so it all sounds very cohesive. The second chorus features Louis

soloing with the tuba and banjo player alone. He begins with a solo line down to a lower

register. His rhythmic concept uses more complex rhythms in patterns making the easier to

listen to. His phrases seem to end within a measure or two. The third chorus features a solo by

clarinetist, Johnny Dodds. Dodds begins his solo with a screaming high note and then proceeds

to stay in that range for a bit. Dodds does not make as much use of dynamic contrast as Louis.

His rhythms and language swing well. Overall, Dodds plays easier rhythms and uses slides only

for important moments. After the solo takes it course, the banjo player comps a few chords as

transitionary material. Louis comes in with a medium range line that’s smooth at first then

features choppier rhythms. The accompaniment is a stop rhythm behind Louis’ solo. The rest of

the players play a chord on the downbeat of measures while Louis fills the space. His dynamics

increase throughout the solo reaching a climax at the end. After Louis’ solo chorus ends he

plays another with more busy rhythms and then held out notes. His tone is notably more

soulful and moves dynamically much more. The band comes back in for half a chorus with a

slightly altered ending. This chorus is the final chorus and features the whole band. The shout

chorus consists of the three horn players improvising in conjunction. They are accompanied by

the rhythm section featuring tuba for its bass voice. All the musicians sound like they’re playing

and listening their hardest at the same time. It seems the improvisation is unique to each

player’s style and yet the three play off each other as if the score was notated through. I think

the shout chorus sounds very wild and yet concise. It’s hard to put a label on excellent

musicianship because the sole reason for the cohesion of the sound is how good the players

truly are. Overall there are 6 choruses throughout the piece, each with its own unique sound
and accompaniment. This piece gives a wide array of styles within a swing sound. Overall, I’d

say that it sounds more like a rag than a march like west end blues. Both pieces have melodies

that Louis bends into his own image. He gives each tune its own personality. These pieces give

way to the organization of a small modern jazz ensemble. They are important for clueing into

the language we use to solo and the patterns in which we play. These pieces provide an

excellent basis for understanding jazz. Without these recordings, jazz may not even exist as it

does today.