Musical Memories

When I was a kid growing up, I never really thought about what my parents were like when they were younger, what they were interested in, and especially what they listened to when they were growing up. My dad when he was working around the house, would have the radio on WWDB, which in the ’80s consisted of talk radio and Sinatra. His brother (my uncle) would occasionally sit in the back yard and play harmonica.

My mom would listen to whatever the kids were listening to, although she had her own favorites, one of whom was Engelbert Humperdinck. She did have an appreciation for Robert Plant, in particular the EP he did of ’50s classics, The Honeydrippers: Volume One.

When I was in college, I was on a Big Band jazz kick, and I’d trade tapes with a kid down the hall. I’d give him punk tapes—Patti Smith, Dead Kennedys, and the compilation “Let Them Eat Jellybeans”, and he gave me Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, and others. I was home one weekend listening to one of the tapes, and my mom heard it and said, “Oh, I saw him…” – growing up in New Jersey, she had seen a lot of the Big Bands that came through , and I had never known.

My dad had a brother who died when I was around 2 years old, so I never knew him. I had always heard that he played the violin, and had a small group that played out, but that was long before my time. One day going through a pile of papers from my parents’ house, I came across some old sheet music. Included in the music were a couple of manuscript books with songs handwritten in the books. One of them had my uncle’s name written on the front (another uncle). Exactly the same type of manuscript books that I’ve used in bands. The books contain a lot of polkas and czardas, which would have been popular in Western Pennsylvania among the mostly eastern European immigrants and their descendants. But the books also contain popular songs such as My Blue Heaven, Stairway to the Stars, A Gal in Calico, The Hut Sut Song, and Sugar Blues.

Were these the songs my uncle played on gigs? When did he play them? After he came back from WWII? The 1950s? 1960s? I don’t know, but I can imagine a small combo: violin, saxophone, probably accordion, maybe trombone, maybe drums, playing at a VFW Hall in Johnstown, or Altoona, maybe even Pittsburgh, mixing the polkas and czardas with the current pop hits.

I wish I had heard them.

St. Louis Blues

A while back I was working on learning St. Louis Blues. I had gotten the sheet music from W. C. Handy’s "Blues: an anthology."  Handy had written the song in 1914, and it is probably his best known song.
St. Louis Blues does not follow what is normally thought of as a “blues.” Handy included a “tango” section. In the early part of the 1900’s tango was hugely popular and Handy included the Latin American rhythm to appeal to the tango craze. However, a lot of the later versions of St. Louis Blues omit the tango rhythm.

W. C. Handy

When I start working on a tune, I like to check out different versions of the song.  It’s easier these days, you can find a lot of different versions on the Internet, ones that are note for note, and ones that twist the song into different forms. It reminds me of a quote from Dave Swarbrick who in the box set Swarb! Is quoted as saying, “you can do anything to music, it doesn’t mind.”  I agree to a point, certain types of music are able to be changed without damaging the underlying components that make the song what it is. Sometimes, it works better than others. I’ve heard versions that are actually better than the original, and I’ve heard versions that don’t even come close to capturing the “essence of the song”.

For St. Louis Blues, here are a couple that I like. The first one is Bessie Smith’s version. I am aware of two versions that Bessie sang. There is one on the Essential Bessie Smith in which she is accompanied by Louis Armstrong on cornet and Fred Longshaw on harmonium (pump organ). The one here is from the 1929 film St. Louis Blues. This is the only known film of Bessie Smith, and in my opinion, Bessie’s versions are the ultimate versions of the song. For just the song, go to part 2.

St Louis Blues Pt. 1 - Bessie Smith

St Louis Blues Pt. 2 - Bessie Smith

The next version by the Mound City Blue Blowers takes a completely different slant on the song. The Blue Blowers were a group based around the comb and paper playing of Red McKenzie. Over the years many famous jazz musicians passed through the Blue Blowers including Eddie Condon, Eddie Lang, Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa, Coleman Hawkins and others. This version was recorded in 1929, the same year as Bessie Smith's, and features an early lineup of the Blue Blowers: Red McKenzie, Jack Bland, Josh Billings and Eddie Condon.

Mound City Blue Blowers

Although St. Louis Blues is a "blues," it has been covered by more jazz musicians and even by bluegrass and western swing musicians.  As a blues song, I am not aware of a lot of versions. It was recorded by Sylvester Weaver and Walter Beasley as a slide guitar duo in 1927, Big Bill Broonzy did a version, and here is an abbreviated slide guitar version by Furry Lewis from his rediscovery period in the 1960’s.

Furry Lewis – St. Louis Blues

Dizzy Gillespie & the Muppets

Lastly here is Dizzy Gillespie on the Muppet Show. I remember watching the Muppets when I was a kid, and I always enjoyed the musical guests. Dizzy was a perfect match for the Muppets.

Henry Thomas

In my post about Steve Goodman, I also mentioned that Henry Thomas was one of the musicians that put me in a good mood.

I don’t know where I first heard Henry Thomas, but three possibilities are Canned Heat’s song “Going up the Country” which uses Thomas’ “Bull Doze Blues” as its blueprint, Taj Mahal’s “Fishing Blues,” which is a reworking of Thomas’ song of the same name, or maybe it was the Grateful Dead’s version of “Don’t Ease Me In”. Hearing those songs got me interested, but hearing the originals is what got me hooked.

Canned Heat - Going up the Country



Henry Thomas - Bull Doze Blues



Taj Mahal - Fishin Blues



Henry Thomas - Fishing Blues



Grateful Dead - Don't Ease Me In



Henry Thomas - Don't Ease Me In

Henry Thomas was an early blues musician. Actually that’s not entirely true. He was a “pre-blues” musician, what is often called a “songster.” A songster was a person who played a variety of genres of music, ranging from ballads, dance tunes, pop songs, ragtime and blues.  You can see this in the nickname Henry Thomas is sometimes called, “Ragtime Texas.” Not much is known about Henry Thomas; he was born around 1874, but it is not known when he died. There are stories that he was seen performing on street corners into the 1950’s.

What we do know for a fact is that between 1924 and 1927, he recorded 23 songs that laid a cornerstone for future musicians, while at the same time showing how the form known as “the blues” came to be.

What is it about those 23 songs that put me in a good mood? Is it the incessant train-like rhythm, the sound of the quills, the way the lyrics from one song show up in another, the vocals? All I know is that when all of those ingredients are combined, it can’t help but put a smile on my face.

For some more information on Henry Thomas check these out

Bio

http://www.cascadeblues.org/History/HenryThomas.htmd

Quills

http://www.sohl.com/Quills/Quills.htm

Guitar and Quill Technique

http://weeniecampbell.com/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=42

(Weenie Campbell has a lot of great information on country blues. I’ve been a long time lurker on that forum)

High Water Everywhere

Song for today. 

Flooding here due to Tropical Storm Lee.

Charley Patton - High Water Everywhere

Steve Goodman

Music affects the emotions, this is a given. The reasons why are not so clear. Personally I find that there are certain pieces, songs, sounds and artists that have a certain effect on me, and I want to mention two artists that put me in a good mood at just about any time: Steve Goodman and Henry Thomas.

Two different types of artists, from different time periods, but whenever I hear them, I can’t help but smile. Oh sure, they both did sad songs, but overwhelmingly their music is happy, upbeat, and joyous. Or at least that’s what I get from it.

Let’s start with Steve Goodman. He was born 1948, and died 1984. The song he is best known for is "The City of New Orleans", which was a hit for Arlo Guthrie, and covered by a number of other artists.


The City of New Orleans

During his life he suffered from and eventually died from leukemia. But enough of the biography, what I get from Goodman, and what I think is the most important thing is fun. You can tell he is enjoying himself. His songs are funny, and his presentation shows that he is having fun performing. He also didn’t take himself too seriously. He could have easily gone down the suffering artist role, he knew he didn’t have much time, but instead of moping, he lived life to the fullest. In the song, "You Better Get It While You Can (The Ballad of Carl Martin)" although he’s talking about the musician Carl Martin, he could just as easily expressing his own outlook on life.

You Better Get it While You Can (The Ballad of Carl Martin)

This one, co-written with John Prine is one of my favorite songs.

John Prine and Steve Goodman - Souvenirs (plus You're the Girl I Love)