Bandbook - Our Fun Toons Bandbook

 

The Smithy Lane Stompers discovered & concocted a 6 stage method of familiarisation with the traditional jazz & blues toons which seemed to work for some of us ... Teaching The Blues ...

Our very own Bandbook was a collection of fun songs that we tried to play, assembled over 25 years as we indulged ourselves in The Blues and The American Songbook (or were they both the same thing?) ... just an emotional dip into a treasure chest for ancient Bb ers like us ... 

001 Tishomingo Blues - Spencer Williams 1917
G - 32 bars - 2x16 - 12 bar blues with a 4 bar tag including a 2 bar break into the second 16 which had a beguiling 8 bar run in.
Jazz started with The Blues and we started with The Blues, but this wasn't a bog standard 12 bar blues

... 'to resist temptation I just can't refuse' ...

Tishomingo was a one horse town up north in Mississippi near the Alabama border; named after a Chickasaw Chief who was honoured by George Washington for his service.

Recorded - Duke Ellington 1928

Bunk Johnson revived it in 1945

002 Careless Love - Maybe originally from a Scottish folk song
Famously played as a 16 bar Blues by Buddy Bolden. It was bagged by W C Handy in 1926 as 'Loveless Love' with new lyrics ... and it lived on.
C - 16 bars - 'Magnolia' progression = C - C7 - F - Fm = 011 Saints, 114 Lonesome Road, 132 Girl of My Dreams, 185 Red River Valley.
The first harmony move was to the dominant 7th, then the harmonies started moving with a memorable 4 bar flow down from the tonic 7th to the subdominant and subdominant minor. The same pattern occurs in the old chesnut, 'The Saints' ... and many others.
Thanks to my mate Ivan, he has 'named' some the most common chord sequences and helped to sustain misty memories.
Recorded - Bessie Smith 
Rank 787 (Careless) Rank 715 (Loveless) 

003 Old Rugged Cross - George Bennard 1913
A hymn with the chords of The Blues
F - 32 bars AABA with a rousing middle 8.
A country gospel song ever popular with The Salvation Army brass bands. And our Mum's favourite
Inspired by a Monty Sunshine recording with Chris Barber in the 1950s
Played by 'The Accordion Man' in Dennis Potter's 'Pennies from Heaven' from 1978 

004 Just a Closer Walk with Thee - Kenneth Morris 1940
Eternally popular black gospel song from way back. Traditionally played as a dirge and release at the New Orleans funeral parades.
C - 32 bars ABAB'
Notably recorded by the Olympia Brass Band in the James Bond movie 'Live and Let Die' in 1962.
Recorded by Bunk's Brass Band with George Lewis in 1945 during the New Orleans 'renaissance' ... recreating the old music of jazz from 1915.
Rank 781

005 St James Infirmary Blues - Joe Primrose , nom de plume' Irving Mills 1929
Can be traced back to an old English folksong called 'The Unfortunate Rake' 1808, which spawned several versions based on the same story. Bagged by Irving Mills, aka Joe Primrose, 1929.
Dm = 2x8 bars minor blues AB
The story about a soldier who had just come from the infirmary where he saw the corpse of his girlfriend.
... 'laid out on a cold marble table, well I looked and I turned away' ...
Eric Townley speculated that the St James Hospital in London, know to treat leprous maidens, was the origin for the infirmary in the title. The hospital became St James' Palace in 1533!
Vincent Lopez played this song. Lopez was a dance band leader from New York and was a popular broadcaster on radio from 1921; 'Lopez speaking'.
We listened to Bruce Turner with Humph on 'Humph at The Conway' in 1954.
Recorded - Louis Armstrong 1928.
Rank 239.

006 Down by the Riverside - traditional an old old Negro spiritual from before the Civil War, also know as 'Ain't Gonna Study War No More' and 'Gonna Lay Down my Burden'.
A - 32 bars AABA - the same old 32 bar Blues AABA changes to the dominate 7th on the first of bar 5 and then 'the other way' to the subdominant in the middle 8.
Always popular with Dixieland bands.
Recorded by The Fisk University Jubilee Quartet in 1920.
Then by everybody.

007 My Old Kentucky Home - Stephen Foster 1852
A Dixie oddity but at least one Stephen Foster song was appropriate for every repertoire.
G - 32 bars AA'BA' - 'Blues or Apple Tree' progression = C - F - C = 007 My Old Kentucky Home, 077 Bugle Boy March, 083 Marching Through Georgia, 090 When You & I Were Young, Maggie ...
... 'where the birds make music all the day' ...
Foster wrote the first page of The American Song Book when he borrowed from the Afro American negro influence. The second page was not written until the 1880s.
Recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1959 on 'Satchmo Plays King Oliver'. Louis was asked how on earth 'My Old Kentucky Home' got on to the play list, 'Well, Papa Joe may have played it ... you know'.

008 Basin Street Blues - Spencer Williams 1928 with his namesake Clarence Williams, Spencer was a prolific writer of early Blues.
D - 16 bar famous call & response verse - then a 16 bar chorus not a bog standard 12 bar blues but rather an inspiring run round the Circle of 5ths 'Dixie Sequence' without touching the 'blue' subdominant as it 'Jumps up the dial' or the 'Georgia' progression - C - E7 - A7 - D7 - G7 - C = 008 Basin Street Blues, 055 Who’s Sorry Now, 080 All of Me, 116 Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone. Especially popular in 1920s.
Basin Street was the most famous New Orleans thoroughfare in the history of jazz. Running through Storyville from Canal Street past Lulu Whites, Mahogany Hall to 'Congo Square'. Spencer was the nephew of the notorious Lulu White of Mahogany Hall.
The famously recognised verse to the song was written later by Jack Teagarden & Glen Miller and became an obligatory introduction.
... 'won't you come along with me, down the Mississippi' ...
Recorded by Louis Armstrong and his Hot 5 in 1928.
Recorded by Teagarden in 1931 with The Charleston Chasers.
Rank 182

009 When You're Smiling - Mark Fisher & Larry Shay with lyrics by Joe Godwin 1928
C - 32 bars AAAA - 'Dragon' progression = C - Em = 009 When You’re Smiling, 067 You Always Hurt The One You Love, 119 I'm Gonna Sit Right Down & Write Myself a Letter, 164 Apple Blossom Time.
... 'when your smiling the whole world smiles with you' ... 'when you're crying you bring on the rain' 
This song became the 'beer song' at the conclusion of rehearsals and forever a favourite.
We learned that we played the lyrics not the toon.
Louis Armstrong made this a standard from his first recording of it in 1929.
Recorded by Billie Holiday in 1947.
Rank 225

010 Bill Bailey won't you Please Come Home - Hughie Cannon 1902.
An early ragtime number, straight into syncopation, with changes which spawned hundreds of very similar songs. Essential song for improvisers to get to grips with. If you can play 'Bill Bailey' you can play 'em all.
'Over the Waves', 'Washington and Lee Swing', 'Bourbon Street Parade', 'My Little Girl', 'Tiger Rag', 'The Beer Barrel Polka', 'Hindustan', 'Milneberg Jays', 'Oh Ho I Miss You Tonight' ...
All go 'the other way' in the second 16 before the run in.
Bill Bailey was a music teacher in Jackson, Michigan, where Hughie Cannon had a gig at The Whistler Bar. Bill's wife was notorious for giving her husband a hard time.
... 'remember that rainy evening, I threw you out with nothing but a fine tooth comb' ...
Recorded by everybody.
Rank 975.

011 The Saints - When the Saints Go Marching In - Traditional gospel hymn originating in 19th century New Orleans as a funeral march?

Probably the most requested song ever and subsequently not popular with many performers. Everybody knows it as a simple catchy tune with the harmonies starting to move with a memorable 4 bar flow down 'Magnolia' progression C - C7 - F - Fm in the middle 4 bars.

The song was popularised in 1938 by Louis Armstrong, who recorded the song over 40 times during his career.

012 I Can't Give You Anything but Love - Jimmy McHugh 1928 with Dorothy Fields.
From Lew Leslie's 'Blackbirds of 1928'. This team also gave us 'On the Sunnyside of the Street'.
... 'gee I'd like to see you looking swell, Baby, diamond bracelets Woolworths doesn't sell, Baby''
Recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1929.
The Mills Brothers in 1932.
Rank 162.

013 Big Butter and Egg Man - Percy Venable 1926.

Nickname for wealthy farmers from the mid west who came to Chicago for the big spend. May Alix did the running splits at The Sunset Café, Chicago ... and Louis played a perfect solo.

... 'I'm getting tired of working all day, I want somebody who wants me to play' ...

Recorded by Louis Armstrong Hot 5 1926.

014 Make Me a Pallet on the Floor - an exquisite 16 bars in Bb which was on Buddy Bolden's play list. Jelly Roll Morton explained all at The Library of Congress, 'This was one of the early Blues from New Orleans, many years before I was born.

... ''make me a pallet on the floor so your man will never know' ... and so forth and so on'.

The first song our Banjo Player sang in 1993.

W C Handy bagged this song for his 'Atlanta Blues'.

Reorded by Merline Johnson in 1937.

Erika Lewis with Tuba Skinny in 2013.

015 By & By - 'We’ll Understand It Better By and By' -  Charles Albert Tindley 1906. Another old Spiritual written by Tindley (1851-1933) who was born a slave and became 'the Father of Gospel Music'. He also wrote 'We Shall Overcome', the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement.

Tindley became a minister of Bainbridge Street Methodist Church, Philadelphia and used his intellectual ability, eloquence, and spiritual singing to amass a congregation of over ten-thousand members.

016 There'll be Some Changes Made - Benton Overstreet 1921 with Billy Higgins. An all Afro American affair.

Infuriating 36 bars ABAB 16 + 16 bars with a 4 bar tag ... but it doesn't make it back to the tonic until bar 31 ... after meandering around the circle of 5ths ... nevertheless intoxicating.

'Salty Dog' progression - 2 or 4 bars on A7 - D7 - G7 - C = 016 There’ll Be Some Changes Made; 050 
At The Jazz Band Ball, 061 Jazz Me Blues,  088 Sweet Georgia Brown. 095 Up A Lazy River.

... 'nobody wants you when you're old & grey, there'll be some changes made today' ...

Ethel Waters recorded it in 1921. Sophie Tucker 1927. Chicago Rhythm Kings 1928. Boswell Sisters 1932. Fats Waller 1934. Art Tatum 1941. Billie Holiday 1959.

Recorded by George Melly in 1972.

Rank 401.

017 Way Down Yonder in New Orleans - Turner Layton 1922 with Henry Cramer. 'A southern song, without a mammy, mule or moon'. The same duo who gave us 026 'After You've Gone'. 

'Pendulum or Sweet Sue' progression - G7 - C = 017 Way Down Yonder in New Orleans, 020 Avalon, 027 I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate, 029 Pretty Baby, 031 South, 074 Willy The Weeper, 118 Memphis Blues, 178 Says My Heart.
Pendulum songs, simple and popular with improvisers.

... 'it's a heaven right here on earth, all those beautiful queens, way down yonder in New Orleans' ...

Recorded by Layton & Johnstone in 1927.

The Andrew Sisters 1950.

Rank 368.

018 Georgia Camp Meeting - Kerry Mills 1898. Before Jazz there was Ragtime, and it was fun dancing The Cakewalks, syncopated struts.

Kerry Mills was a white classically trained academic, cashing in on the Ragtime craze from around 1895 to WWI.

Did Kerry invent the Cakewalk?

We learned the feel of syncopated 'de-dah-de', that 'kicking quaver' that makes ragtime move.

Kerry Mills also wrote 'Red Wing' & 'Meet Me in St Louis Louis' ... and 'Whistling Rufus' which we loved from Chris Barber days, but we couldn't find a lead sheet ... until the moment had passed and by then there were so many other wonderful songs we vowed to play.

019 Bourbon Street Parade - Paul Barbarin 1951. Written during the New Orleans Renaissance as an example of how the 'second line' and the old marching bands influenced jazz. 

Perhaps the most famous street in Nawlins ... Chris Barber signature tune.

The hairs still stand on end every time the trumpet opening cadenza sounds.

'Monty Sunshine' run in = F - Fm - C - A7 - D7 - G7 - C - C = 010 Bill Bailey, 019 Bourbon Street Parade, 026 After You’ve Gone, 028 Shine, 050 At the Jazz Band Ball, 077 Bugle Boy March, 080 All of Me, 091 Running Wild, 093 Chinatown, 150 I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover, 140 Slow Boat to China. Ubiquitous.

020 Avalon - Al Jolson 1920 with Bud De Sylva & Vincent Rose. Avalon, California from the show 'Sinbad'
G - it goes 'the other way' in bar 21 but to Am. Nice for the improvisers, 4 bar slugs taken at pace
Some say in was Puccini but we played jazz 
Recorded - Art Hickman 1921
Red Nichols 1928
Billy Cotton 1933
Benny Goodman Quartet 1937 
Rank 109

021 Bucket's Got a Hole In It - Clarence Williams put it on paper in 1927 ... but it was one in Buddy Bolden's bag from way back.

The original melody can be heard as early as 1914 in the second theme of 'Long Lost Blues' by J Paul Wyer and H Alf Kelley.

A song that was heard everywhere. Joe Oliver played it in Storyville when Louis was a lad. Also heard as 'I Hear You Knockin' but You Can't Come In' and Ken Colyer played it as 'Uptown Bumps' in 1956.

The 'country' lads also played in as their own; Hank Williams, Willie Nelson, Ricky Nelson ...

Bob Dylan had a go on The Bootleg Series Vol 11 The Basement Tapes 1967.

We enjoyed it as an example of the versatility of The Blues in 8 bars.

Kid Ory 1946.

Hank Williams hit in 1949.

Louis Armstrong with Trummy 1960.

022 Ace in the Hole - George Mitchell 1909 with James Dempsey. Not the Cole Porter song from 'Let's Face It'.

It took us time to get the hang of this one. In A natural with a verse and speed change. Rubato and a rollick!

But it's a good yarn and always demanded a vocal.

... 'this town is full of guys who think they're mighty wise just because they know a thing or two' ...

Lonnie Donegan 1959

Bobby Darin 1961

Connie Francis 1968

023 Trouble in Mind - Richard M Jones 1924.

Humph suggested to Elke Brooks that if there had only been six songs ever written this would have been one of them. A classic.

Bertha Chippie Hill with Louis 1926

Georgia White 1936

Bob Wills 1936

Chris Barber 1955

Aretha Franklin 1965

Merle Haggard 1970

Janis Joplin 1975

Johnny Cash 2003

Rank 409.

024 Darktown Strutters Ball - Shelton Brooks 1917. One of the best black songsters. This song was his second masterpiece after 'Some of these Days' and was included in Sophie Tuckers vaudeville show.
'My Old Man' progression = C - D7 - G7 - C = 024 Darktown Strutters Ball, 131 Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None Of My Jelly Roll, 147 Button Up Your Overcoat, 150 I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover, 166 Oh You Beautiful Doll. By far the most popular progression in the American Song Book.
A must play for us as it was the favourite song of The Banjo Player's dad who played a mean alto sax. 
One of the first Jazz recordings by The Original Dixieland Jazz Band from New Orleans
Recorded in New York in 1917 for The Victor Talking Machine Company
Miff Mole 1927
Rank 547  

025 Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me - Carey Morgan 1919 with Arthur Swanstone & Charles McCarron. Carey Morgan also wrote 'Bugle Call Rag' & 'The Broadway Blues'.

Complete with Dave Renton's Patter Chorus -

... 'There are blues you get from wimmin when you see 'em goin' swimmin' And you haven't got a bathing suit yourself.
There are blues you get much quicker when you hide a lot of liquor And your lady goes and swipes it off the shelf' ...

Ted Lewis 1919

Jimmie Noone 1928

Firehouse Five + Two 1949

Sidney Bechet 1952

Humph 1979

026 After You've Gone - Turner Layton 1918 with Henry Cramer. Written 4 years before 017 'Way Down Yonder in New Orleans'.  An American song and one of the most long lived jazz standard. With 'St Louis Blues' (1914) and 'Indiana' (1917) this song makes the top three pre-1920s jazz standards.

ABAC but only 20 bars; 8 + 8 + 2 tag. Starts on the subdominant with a break 7 & 8 ... 'you'll miss the dearest pal you ever had' ... and the finger breaker in bars 15 & 16 ... 'your heart will break like mine and you'll want me only' ...

Bessie Smith 1927. Sophie Tucker 1927. Ruth Etting 1927.

Louis Armstrong 1929.

Mildred Bailey & Benny Goodman also claimed this classic.

Rank 34.

027 Sister Kate - Armand J Piron 1919 with Clarence Williams.

The Olympia Brass Band with Clarence Williams who published the song, but did the young Louis write it ...from bawdy origins?

Must be played with the verse. Proved to be a roguish romp when we played it.

The chord sequence was used for SOL / Gully Low Blues and East St Louis Toodle-oo. An old faithful, always fun ... C7-F three times then the other way to Bb in bar 13.

Played up tempo by everyone, even The Beatles played it in Hamburg in 1962.

... 'all the boys are going wild, over Kate's dancing style' ...

1st recording was by Bessie Smith in 1921.

028 Shine - That's Why They Call Him Shine - Ford Dabney 1910 with Cecil Mack & Lou Brown. Included in a Broadway show, 'His Honor the Barber' in 1911. Perry Bradford suggested the song was written about a guy named Shine who was with George Walker when they were beaten up during the New York City race riot of 1900.

... 'Well, just because my hair is curly And just because my teeth are pearly
Just because I always wear a smile Likes to dress up in the latest style
Just because I'm glad I'm livin' Takes trouble smilin', never whine
Just because my color's shady Slightly different maybe That's why they call me shine' ...

Les sang the PC version ... 'shine away your bluesies' ...

In Rick's Café, Casabanca 1942

Louis Armstrong 1931

Mills Brothers 1932

Benny Goodman 1947

Rank 498.

029 Pretty Baby - Tony Jackson 1916 with Egbert Van Alstyne & Gus Kahn. Jelly Roll's rival on the piano.

A jaunty little rhythm song written during the Ragtime era. The secret for this song was to play it smooth and forget the jerky ragtime.

Rumoured to be an older bawdy song about Jackson's male lover but was 'rewritten' by van Alstyne & Kahn and thus secured its place on Broadway in 1916 in 'A World of Pleasure' and 'The Passing Show' ... and came to London in the musical 'Houp La'

... 'won't you come and let me rock you in my cradle of love' ...

Later a well remembered advertising jingle?  The song also inspired the 1978 film 'Pretty Baby'

Doris Day 1947 'Young Man with a Horn'.

Al Jolson 1948

Dean Martin 1952

030 Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight - Theo Metz 1896 with Joe Hayden

Advertising the McIntyre & Heath minstrel show in Old Town, Louisiana. There was some debate about how the definite article 'the' found its way into the title. Or was it first sung by Mama Lou at Babe Connor's brothel in 1893 in St Louis?

This was another Ragtime song. It had an irresistible rhythm and was adopted as a rallying song during the Spanish American war in 1898 and became Theodor Roosevelt's Campaign song.

The Boy Scouts had their own lyrics for their camp fire song -

... 'Late last night when we were all in bed, Mrs O'Leary left her lantern in the shed
Well, the cow kicked it over, and this is what they said: 'There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight!' ...

Bessie Smith 1927

Miff Mole's Molers 1927

031 South - Benny Moten 1924 with Thamon Hayes.

Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra recorded this 'circular rhythm' in 1924 and again recorded in 1928, when it became a national hit. It was Moten's most popular composition and we loved it. Thamon Hayes was a fine trombonist who help Moten with compositions for the band.

This song was a big jukebox hit in the late 1940s. Originally an instrumental but Ray Charles later wrote lyrics for the tune.

... 'down below that old Dixon Line, where the sun is happy to shine' ...

Moten was influenced by the sophisticated Fletcher Henderson but their style was hard stomping swing.

Extremely popular part of Kansas City jazz in the 1920s. Moten continued to be one of Victor's most popular orchestras through the 1930s.

Rank 849.

032 Ice Cream - Howard Johnson 1927 with Billy Moll & Robert King.

Novelty comic song ...'I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream' ... banal but fun.

Especially when you swing those pentatonic scales.

In 1944 Bill William Russell recorded George Lewis & Jim Robinson for his own label. The story goes that Robinson cut loose with an unexpectedly virtuosic performance. The side was issued under the 'Jim Robinson' name.

The song became a standard and widely imitated, including Chris Barber in 1954. Pat Halcox invented his own lyrics, which are now better known than the original version!

... 'And has he Olá and Pepsi-Cola, then everybody is drinking Coca-Cola' ...

033 Margie - Con Conrad & J Russel Robinson 1920 with lyrics by Benny Davis.

Pianist Con Conrad and Benny Davis were vaudeville performers and J Russel Robinson a ragtime pianist. The latter a member of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.

The song was introduced by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band recording in 1920.

The song was was named after the five year old daughter of singer Eddie Cantor who popularised the song in his 1921 recording. Top of the pops for five weeks.

The song has been endlessly recorded - Bix Beiderbecke, Cab Calloway, Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Mercer, Dave Brubeck, Ray Charles, Erroll Garner, Al Hirt, Claude Hopkins, Ted Lewis, Jimmie Lunceford, Shelly Manne, Oscar Peterson, Benny Goodman, Django Reinhardt, Don Redman, Fats Domino, Charlie Shavers, Jimmy Smith, Jo Stafford, Joe Venuti, and Slim Whitman.

It seems everyone loves it ... a I-IV song which works.

Rank 268.

034 Alexander's Ragtime Band - Irving Berlin 1911.

Our first Berlin song, and his first hit and his most famous.

Was Berlin writing about the real New Orleans band of Alexander Joseph Watzke? ... 'the best band in the land' ...

... 'and they can play the bugle calls like you've never heard before' ...

... 'and if you care to hear the Swanee River played in Ragtime' ... magic

Popularised by Emma Carus in the Ziegfeld Follies from 1907. And Al Jolson got onto it.

Bessie Smith 1927

Louis Armstrong 1937

Johnnie Ray 1954

Rank 578.

035 Dr Jazz - Joe Oliver 1926 with Walter Melrose.

Most famously recorded by Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers in 1926. Classic recordings of the perfect balance of New Orleans ensembles ... with 'Black Bottom Stomp' and 'The Chant' this was bestest.

Pat Fields sang this with The Wall City Jazz Men and this was our choice. 

The electric breaks ... 'when I'm trouble bound and mixed, he's the guy that gets me fixed' ...

Rex Harris introduced us to Dr Jazz - 'a demonstration of jazz in both conception and performance and it would be difficult to find another example which shows all the ingredients so deftly interwoven'. Joie de vivre!

036 Tin Roof Blues - Paul Mares, Ben Pollack, Mel Stitzel, George Brunies and Leon Roppolo with lyrics by Walter Melrose.

New Orleans Rhythm Kings first recorded the song in 1923.

The Tin Roof Café was a dance hall on Washington Avenue, New Orleans.

Was this our first visit to the white Dixielanders who proved they could play.

It became our banker as a Blues in Bb.
Also recorded by Jelly Roll Morton in 1924, Joe 'King' Oliver and His Dixie Syncopators in 1928, Wingy Manone, Sidney Bechet ... and Ted Heath in 1959.

Recorded by Jo Stafford in 1954 as 'Make Love to Me'.

Rank 614.

037 I Ain't got Nobody - Spencer Williams 1915.

Another 'early' song from Spencer Williams, with that never to be forgotten 1st phrase. Ragtime pianist Charles Warfield (1878–1955) claimed to have written this song in 1914.

... 'and nobody cares for me' ...

A well worn early standard.
Bessie Smith 1926, Ruth Etting 1926, Sophie Tucker 1927, Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra 1927, Ted Lewis 1928, Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong 1929, Mills Brothers 1931.
Louis Prima in 1956 paired with 051 'Just a Gigolo'

Rank 415.

038 Muskrat Ramble - Kid Ory 1926.

Ex French toon with 'flavour' by Kid Ory popularised in 1926 when recorded by Louis Armstrong & his Hot Five.

The tune has 2 x 16 bar ensemble sections, followed by 16 bars for solos. There was a famous 2 bar trombone tag which Ory played and is nearly always copied today.

The title was made up by Lil Hardin at the 1926 recording session. Armstrong, as was usual, claimed he wrote the tune and Ory only named it. Sidney Bechet remembered it as originally an old Buddy Bolden tune called 'The Old Cow Died and the Old Man Cried' ... and later Ray Gilbert wrote some lyrics and added his name. Take your pick ... but it was a fun 'bone tune and many still play it. 

Ory, and his daughter Babette, became embroiled in copyright and royalty issues and he claimed to have never received his just rewards for a very popular song.

The Bobcats in 1951 played a superb Dixieland version with Eddie Miller on tenor..

Rank 342.

039 World is Waiting for the Sunrise - Ernst Seitz with Eugene Lockhart 1919.

Often introduced with a rollicking banjo solo
Recorded - Benny Goodman at unbelievable tempos
Django Reinhardt 1949 
Les Paul & Mary Ford 1955 
The Beatles 1960 
Rank 874

040 Back Home again in Indiana - James F Hanley & Ballard MacDonald 1917.

Backed with 024 'Darktown Strutters Ball' from the first recordings of The Original Dixieland Jazz Band in New York in 1917 ... two beauties
Played several times a night in Reisenweber's Café, New Yok in 1918.
Fabulous song to play we always loved it. Modern jazzmen used the sequence for 'Donna Lee'.
... 'when I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash' ...
The song borrowed from the roaring success of 'On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away' by Paul Dresser from 1897 
Recorded - Louis Armstrong and the All Stars
Red Nichols 1929
Rank 41

041 Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans - Louis Alter  with Eddie DeLange 1947. From the movie 'New Orleans' 1947.

PanAm pilot's lament.

Louis Armstrong with Billie Holiday 1947

Eddie Condon 1951

Fats Domino 1958

Rank 687.

042 Someday Sweetheart - John & Ben Spikes 1919.

... 'Someday, sweetheart, you may be sorry, for what you've done to my poor heart' ...

This song was a favourite with everyone ... but the only hit the Spike Brothers wrote.

Alberta Hunter 1921 (alias May Alix)

Jelly Roll Morton 1923

Sophie Tucker 1924

King Oliver 1926

Bing Crosby 1934

Mildred Bailey 1935

Rank 364.

043 Home - When Shadows Fall - Harry Clarkson, Geoffrey Clarkson and Peter van Steeden in 1931.

We only played this tune because Louis played it.

Paul Whiteman 1931 with Mildred Bailey

044 Beale Street Blues - W C Handy 1916. Born in Alabama the son of a pastor. Handy settled in Memphis in 1909 and played the clubs of Beale Street ... the famous road in downtown Memphis.

In 1903, waiting for a train at Tutwiler, Mississippi Delta, Handy told the tale of how he met the Blues -

'A lean loose-jointed Negro had commenced plunking a guitar beside me while I slept ... as he played, he pressed a knife on the strings of the guitar in a manner popularized by Hawaiian guitarists who used steel bars ... the singer repeated the line three times, accompanying himself on the guitar with the weirdest music I had ever heard'

We have to thank Handy, he not only heard the 'weird' Blues he wrote them down as best he could and introduced the world to this new music.

Handy's popular music publications were formalisations of the sounds he heard on the Delta.

Recorded by Ottilie Patterson in 1958.

Rank 463

045 Nobody's Sweetheart - music by Billy Meyers & Elmer Schoebel, lyrics by Gus Kahn & Ernie Erdman 1924. A jazz and pop standard. Introduced by Ted Lewis in the Broadway revue 'The Passing Show' 1923.
'Small jump up the dial or Ja Da' progression = C - A7 - D7 ... same as and 'Coney Island Washboard'
 'Nobody's Sweetheart' was the first song the Banjo Player called for on his first 'sit in' ... confident after our semi successful reheasal band renditions.
Recorded by -
Isham Jones (1924)
Red Nichols (1928)
Paul Whiteman (1930)
Cab Calloway (1931)
The Mills Brothers (1931) 
Rank 843

046 Canal Street Blues - a swinging blues with no vocal, one of the King Oliver classics. 12 bar blues in F with a 4 bar intro and two swingin' strains for relaxed rapt attention. We play a 4 bar piano introduction which provides a nuance all of our own. We never tire of enjoying this eternal favourite.  
Everyone should play this and try and sound like the Creole Jazz Band.

047 Royal Garden Blues - Clarance Williams & Spencer Williams 1919.
The jazz standard popularized by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and recorded by Bix’s first Wolverines band, in a better version he leads the Gang with great confidence and panache.
Perhaps the first riffing pop song? The 'A' strain in F major leads to 'the breaks' which have to be fluent before a 'nice' modulation to Bb and the 'B' strain. A 12 bar blues with added interest.
Rank 204

048 Mood Indigo - Duke Ellington 1930 with Barney Bigard & Irving Mills.

Sung by Ivie Anderson in 1940. Was this our first and finest Ellington toon that we played. We loved it.

Rank 161

 

 

049 Higher Ground - Charles Gabriel 1926.
The Banjo Player claimed that on these simple hymn toons there was always a real oppotyuinity to get a riff going .

 

 

050 At the Jazz Band Ball -

Rank 413

 

 

 

051 Just a Gigolo -

Rank 583

 

052 Hindustan - with the Devil chord.

 

 

 

 

053 Just a Little While to Stay Here -

 

 

 

054 Whispering -  a strong professional piece 

Dr John Davies' favourite which was a regular Thursday nite blast.
Rank 540

 

 

 

055 Who's Sorry Now - Ted Synder 1923 with Bert Kalmer & Harry Ruby.

32 bars ABA'C, a trip round the circle until the distinctive change to subdominant mood in bar 23
... 'I tried to warn you someHOW, you had your way now you must pay' ... 
Recorded - Isham Jones it in 1923
Red Nichols 1929
Connie Francis in 1958
Rank 454

056 Lord Lord Lord -

 

 

 

057 Sweet Lorraine -

 

 

 

 

Rank 37

 

058 Black and Blue - Fats Waller 1929 with Andy Razaf.

 

 

 

 

 

Rank 432

 

059 's Wonderful - George & Ira Gershwin 1927.
From 'Funny Face'.

Rank 98

 

 

060 Wabash Blues - Fred Meinkin with Dave Ringle 1921
F - 32 bars ABAB' goes the other way in bar 5 and surprizes with that infamous 'Hindustan' Db7 chord in bar 9.
Recorded - Isham Jones hit in 1921  
The Coon Sanders Nighthawks Orchestra Kansas City 1927
Carleton Coon and Joe Sanders formed the Orchestra  in 1919 and peaked 1926/1932. Coon born Rochester, Minnesota 1893 Sanders born Kansas 1896. They were pioneer broadcasters over Radio from the Muehlbach Hotel, KC. The Nighthawks Club was formed for fans of the great music. Their reputation from the broadcasts spread from coast to coast and many records were made for Victor. The Orchestra's popularity showed no signs of abating and their contract with MCA had another 15 years to run in the spring of 1932 when disaster struck. Carelton Coon passed away.
Charleston Chasers Red Nichols 1927
Ellington, Hodges, 'Sweets' Edison 'Back to Back' 1959

061 Jazz Me Blues - Tom Delaney 1921
Although the ODJB firstly played this it was aways Bix Biederbecke's toon ... and hopeless for us to try and play anything like.
This one never took off
Rank 380

062 Ain't Misbehavin' - Fats Waller with Andy Razaf 1929

Rhythm ballad with nice 'spill overs' in the bar 4s ... 'I'm happy on the shelf' ... 'just you I'm thinking of' ... 'me & my radio' ...

From 'Hot Chocolates' at Connie's Inn in Harlem with Louis as Musical Director, during the stride piano age ... but Louis played it as a trumpet solo.
Recorded - Louis Armstrong - Bill Bojangles Robinson - Gene Austin - Ruth Etting - Fats Waller 1943
Rank 32

063 Bye Bye Blues - Dave Bennett with Fred Hamm 1925
'Hindustan chord' or 'Bye Bye Blues' progression = C - Ab - C - A = 063 Bye Bye Blues.
A wistful effect.
Rank 499

064 Some of These Days - Shelton Brooks 1910.
A landmark rhythm ballard for 1910, ABCD, it tested our memories but was a big hit.  Starting off in the relative minor it goes 'the other way', like so many others in bar 19, and lingers there until the run in.
Perhaps his best, made famous by the last of the red hot Mamas; Sophie Tucker.
Remembered by Tommy Jones at The Mill, Chester.
Recorded by Sophie Tucker 1927.
Rank 405

065 Have You Ever been Lonely - Peter De Rose, Billy Hill 1932


 

066 Baby won't You Please Come Home - Clarence Williams 1919 with Charles Warfield.
The Banjo Players perpetual choice. Improvisers love to take liberties with this song, just like 071 'Buddy Bolden's Blues' ... it's has a natural flow all of its own.
... 'I have tried in vain, nev-er no, more to call your name' ...

Recorded - Bessie Smith 1923 - McKinney's Cotton Pickers 1930.
Rank 205

067 You Always Hurt the One You Love - Alan Roberts, Doris Fisher 1944
First heard and loved by George Lewis
A 'Bill Bailey' song

068 Sheik of Araby - Ted Synder, Harry Smith 1921
'with no pants on' fun song




Rank 165

069 Old Fashioned Love - James P Johnson 1923.
Always registered as incongruous for James P and his rollockin' stride. But we enjoyed it.

070 Four or Five Times - Byron Gray 1927
Jimmie Noone at The Apex Club. We could feel the atmosphere in the Club but could never find the relaxed Noone licks!



Rank 741.

071 Buddy Bolden's Blues - Jelly Roll Morton from way back ...
Played by Bolden ... after midnite in Funky Butt Hall. Our first recording of this came out of the blue.
'Where did that come from'? 

072 Melancholy Blues - Walter Melrose, Marty Bloom 1927
Purchased with pocket money from Gorst & Oaks in Northwith 'town'. Parlophone Rhythm Style Series Hot Seven and Johnny Dodds ...
We played it our way, of course, and nothing like.

073 Sugar Blues -
Clyde McCoy with his plunger made this his own

Rank 791.

074 Willie the Weeper - 
Nothing beats the Hot 7 version ... out of this world.

 

075 When You Wore a Tulip -
Chris Barber recorded a fun version of this song, and we always enjoyed the hot swing.

076 Old Spinning Wheel - 
A typical parlour song, don't no why we choose this one. It was different?

077 Bugle Boy March -
Back to a good romp.


 

078 Hard Hearted Hannah -
We loved the lyrics that made the song.

079 Glory of Love -
ex 'Pennies from Heaven' loverly!

Rank 897

080 All of Me -
We recorded this with Ernst Neukamm in Germany, and one of our favourites ever since.


Rank 71 

081 You are My Sunshine -
The favourite of our Celtic Strummer, 'let's go'! 

Rank 919  

082 House of the Rising Sun -  by who knows? with lyrics by Robert Winslow Gordon 1925. But old miners were singing it around 1900, from an old English ballad 'The Unfortunate Rake' aka 'St James Infirmery'?
Alan Lomax bagged it and claimed 'The Rising Sun' was a bawdy house in two old traditional English songs ... and was a name for modern English pubs!
'There is a house in New Orleans, it's called the Rising Sun
It's been the ruin of many poor girl
Great God, and I for one'.
The oldest known recording of the song, under the title 'Rising Sun Blues' was by Appalachia artists in 1933.
Dm - 8 bar minor blues -
Big trouble with this one, was it a waltz in 6/8 or was it in four? Did we think 'The Animals' from Newcastle in 1964 ... or a traditional folk song from the South 'Rising Sun Blues'. We eventually just played it just like 'St James' and had some fun.
Recorded - Woody Guthrie 1941 - Josh White 1942 - Leadbelly 1948 - Pete Seeger 1958 - Bob Dylan 1961 - Nina Simone 1962

083 Marching Through Georgia - Henry Clay Work 1865. Who also wrote 'Grandfathers Clock' 1875.
Bongo, our drummer's favourite.

084 Cup of Coffee - Joseph Meyer with Billy Rose & Al Dubin 1926
Gertrude Lawrence & Jack Buchanan in the show Charlot's Revue New York 1926
Bagged byDubin from 'A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread and Thou' from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
C - 32 bars AABA - a strong middle 8 goes the other way to F at the start then round the dial to G7
Our first sax recording, really satisfying and enjoyable. We liked the sound, but we would say that would't we?
We remembered Alan Sheppard playing the at The Boathouse, Parkgate ... made a real meal out of his vocal with his tenor for the girls
Recorded - Jack Hylton 1926 bounced nicely with a vocal by Jack

085 Give Me Your Telephone Number -
Higgy and His Six Hicks, great recording ever since the first hearing. They don't play 'em like this anymore ... The Busker loved it.
Recorded -
 

086 You'd be so Nice to Come Home To - Cole Porter 1942. Wrote his own lyrics.
A rich boy from the midwest with a homosexual bent, from Boarding School and Yale.

 

087 St Louis Blues - W C Handy 1914.
He published blues lines from the songs he heard & played ... and this was his most famous ... with a 'Spanish tinge'.
Recorded by everyone.
Rank 20.

 

088 Sweet Georgia Brown - Maceo Pinkard 1925 with Ben Bernie & Ken Casey. 
Aways a good bet.



Rank 16.

089 Alabama Jubilee -

090 When You & I were Young Maggie -

091 Runnin' Wild -


Rank 482.

092 Georgia Grind - Ford Dabney

093 Chinatown -


Rank 703

094 As Time Goes By - Herman Humpfeld 1931.
Originally written for the Broadway musical 'Everybody's Welcome' which everybody has forgotten but nobody has forgotten 'Casablanca' and Rick's Café in 1942.
Rudy Vallée modeled his jazz crooning style on saxophone phrasing from 1929. He recorded this standard in 1943.
We played this one for the Millennium. Emotionally off the chart. Suggested by Jim 'Supersax' Truman.
Rank 266.

095 Lazy River -


Rank 682.

096 Easter Parade - Irving Berlin




Rank 661

097 Stormy Weather - Harold Arlen & Ted Koehler 1933

From 'Cotton Club Parade' sung by Ethel Waters. So emotional and who could forget those added bars. It took a long time to record this, we never thought we'd do it, but well worth while in the end 😉
Recorded - Ambose 1933 - Lena Horne 1943 - Ben Webster 1965 - Ella 1975
Rank 106

098 My Blue Heaven - ex 'Pennies from Heaven' loverly!



Rank 406 

099 Corrine Corrina - Bo Carter not copyrighted until 1932
C - 12 bar blues in Bb ... this became one of our banker warm up
Blind Lemon Jefferson and several of the early blues howlers recorded it
Recorded - Bo Carter 1928 - Wilbur Sweatman - Red Nichols 1930 - Cab Calloway 1931 - Art Tatum 1941 - Big Joe Turner 1957 - Gearge Lewis & Acker Bilk 1965 - Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton 2011

100 Smithy Lane Blues - ex john p birchall ?

101 Sleepy Time Gal -    



 

102 Five Foot Two Eyes of Blue -



 

103 Washington & Lee Swing -

104 Bobby Shafto -

105 Saratoga Swing -

 

106 Yellow Dog Blues - W C Handy 1914. 
Each song told a 'story' ... this railroad tale identified the whereabouts of a lover ... 'goin' where The Southern cross The Dog'.

Recorded - Bessie Smith

107 See See Rider -


Rank 468

 

108 'bama Mines -

109 Yes Sir that's My Baby -

 

110 Don't You Feel My Leg -

111 Bye Bye Blackbird -



 

112 Nagasaki -



Rank 617 

113 Dallas Blues -



Rank 126 

114 Lonesome Road -
Magnolia' progression = C - C7 - F - Fm = 114 Lonesome Road, 132 Girl of My Dreams


Rank 574 

115 Got a Date withan Angel - 1st Al Bowlly toon

116 Please Don't Talk about Me -


Rank 634 

117 When My Dreanboat Comes Home -

118 Memphis Blues - W C Handy 1911. The song that made Handy's reputation with the help of Vernon & Irene Castle and their dance craze with Jim Europe.
Recorded by Jim Europe in 1919.


Rank 725 

119 I'm Gonna Sit Right Down - Fats Waller


Rank 515 

120 In the Good Old Summertime -



 

121 Breeze - culled from Kirkubright Jazz Festival.



 

122 Algiers Strut -

123 Happy Go Lucky You - 2nd Al Bowlly toon

124 Swing Low Sweet Chariot - Wallace Willis 1865 an Indian songster who lived near the Red River in Oklahoma which reminded him of the Jordan.
Recorded by The Fisk University Jubilee Singers ... and enjoyed by the rugby union gang from Twickers.
Big disappointment for us, we got it to swing ... the mood was AWOL.
Rank 478  

125 Blue Turning Grey Over You -


Rank 744 

126 Bogalusa Strut -




 

127 Cake Walkin' Babies from Home -


 

128 Rosetta - Earl Hines Henri Woode
from Keith Nichols and Tuesday nights with Jilly.




Rank 203  

129 Rudolph - Johnny Marks wrote the music 1949 from brother-in-law Bob May's children's story ... being different was always blessing!
'Rudolph the red nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose
and it you ever saw it you would even say it glows
all of the other reindeer used to laugh & call him names
they never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games
then one foggy Christmas Eve Stanta came to say
Rudolph with your nose so bright will you pull my sleigh tonite
then how the reindeer loved him as they shouted out with glee
Rudolph the red nosed reindeer you'll go down in his-tor-y'
We remember this playing endlessly on steam radio, Gill counted 14 times Christmas 1950, made no 1 UK Top Twenty 25 Nov 1950
crass & banal maybe but catchy & fun 
D - 32 bars - AABA goes the other way at the start of the middle 8 
requested Christmas toon for Chris ... but we were not very successful
Recorded - Gene Autry the singing cowboy
Rank 981  

130 Jingle Bells - J S Pierpoit 1857
G - 16 bar verse with rollicking 16 bar chorus
2nd requested Christmas toon for Chris ... and again not our cup of tea

131 I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None of this Jelly Roll - Clarence Williams, Spencer Williams 1919
C - 32 bars ABAC 1st 16 bars goes round the loop to 'hang' on the G7 before the A repeat with a E7 interlude then the other way for the last 8 bars with a run down
A lovely bounce, different and great fun to play ... definitely a favourite, thinks we liked the words and the triple negatives ...    
Many recordings -

132 Girl of My Dreams - Sunny Clapp 1927  
C - 32 bars AABA goes the other way in bar 3 F Fm with an easy E7 Am D7 G7 middle 8

133 Heart of My Heart - Ben Ryan 1926
G - 32 bars - AB'AB

The Gang goes with a real swing impossible to mess up ... glorious
Recorded -
Max Bygraves  
Frankie Lane

134 Barefoot Days - Al Wilson, James A Brennan 1923
G - 32 bars - ABAC bar 15 2 bar break makes the motor, then the A repeat with a B7 interlude (rather like I Ain't gonna Give Nobody) before the run in
from Colin's youth in Ellesmere Port a great discovery when Bill Smith's dad's left hand had a good stride but he never touched the piano keys
Recorded - Big Ben Banjo Band - 'don't take your shoes off'

135 You're Driving Me Crazy -
F - 32 bars - AABA
appauling but we couldn't get the middle 8 had to fake it to make a nice job
tribute to Whispering Paul McDowell and The Temperance Seven RIP
Recorded - Guy Lombardo 1930
Rank 243

136 Hesitatin' Blues - W C Handy 1915

Velma Middleton and Louis

 

 

137 Oh You Beautiful Doll -

The first published 12 bar Blues

 

 

138 Goin' Home - Ken Colyer 
12 bar blues -
Signature toon from the Parade Jazzmen at the Boathouse, Parkgate
Recorded Chris Barber 19??

 

139 Somebody Stole My Gal - Leo Wood (1882-1929) songwriter & lyricist 1918
Wood's was best remembered song
Billy Cotton signature tune ... 'Wakey Wakey'!
Also the Paul Whiteman jazz standard 'Wang Wang Blues' and 091 'Runnin' Wild'

Rank 593  

140 On a Slow Boat to China - Frank Loesser 1948
Frank was steeped in classical music. Lyrics first then songs. From Tin Pan Alley to Hollywood to Broadway
Initially he had 'a rendezvous with failure'. Then came 'Two Sleepy People' and 'Heart & Soul' with Hoagy, 'Slow Boat to China' 1948, 'Baby it's Cold Outside' 1949
 - 32 bars - ABAC - with a bluesy move to Dm in bar 3 rather than F in bar 7 ... then repeats the Dm move before coming home and a usual A7, D7 & G7 before the repeat and final 8 bar 'Monty Sunshine' run in.Was 'Slow Boat' song a bizarre selection for jazz improvisation? In 1948 jazzers were playing standards in The Great American Songbook with the typical Blues and 'Rhythm' changes but Loesser's 'Slow Boat' was a pop song of the day and very different but nice
Why did Sonny Rollins bother with a pop song?
Recorded - 
Benny Goodman in 1948
Charlie Parker in 1949
Sonny Rollins in 1951
Rosemary Clooney & Bing Crosby in 1958
Fats Domino and Paul McCartney 
Rank 630   

141 It's Only a Paper Moon - Harold Arlen with Yip Harburg & Billy Rose 1933 
 The song has long endured as a popular vehicle for jazz improvisations. The bluesy Arlen melodic line follows the Blues changes to the subdominant then the dominant in the first 4 bars, repeated 4 times to a neat middle 8 which takes us back to the tonic 3 times before a turnaround to the main theme. No wonder improvisers loved it
Recorded -
Paul Whiteman in 1933
Nat King Cole in 1944
Ella Fitzgerald in 1945  
and almost everyone else including Ian Wheeler with Chris Barber 1961
Rank 154

142 Dinah - Harry Akst with Sam Lewis & Joe Young 1925
Relaxed without pretensions 
... 'every night, my how I, shake with fright, because my, Dinah might, change her mind about me' ...
Recorded -
The Mills Brothers 19??
Rank 134

143 Is it True what they Say about Dixie - Irving Caeser, Sammy Lerner & Gerald Marks 1936
big Al's song
Recorded -
 

144 At a Dixie Roadside Diner - Hoagy Carmichael 1940
a little known gem from Hoagy with a stange unlikely appeal but we always wanted to play this one
and picked up by Ellington who had impeccable taste
Recorded -

145 Franklin Street Blues - Louis Dumaine's Jazzola Eight, New Orleans, 5 March 1927 and Bunk Johnson 1949
Raw New Orleans up town blues as near to the authentic original as we can get ... slow drag after midnight music ...  
George Lewis was playing Burgundy Street Blues licks.
we played lots of blues and Bunk's importance to the New Orleans Revival placed this one on the list

Acker's favourite
Recorded - Acker Bilk 19??
 

146 Summertime - George & Ira Gershwin 1935
from 'Porgy & Bess' a mould breaking folk opera. Summertime was no 32 bar cliché but a minor Blues like no other. Rhythms of the cotton fields. Gershwin lived in Catfish Row, South Carolina. He was into jazz, they were all a continuity.
Summertime was difficult to play because it was different.
But we were happy we played it, it was a real Blues
Recorded - Sidney Bechet 19??
Rank 3 

147 Button Up Your Overcoat - Ray Henderson  with B G DeSylva & Lew Brown 1928
from 'Follow Thru' 1928 
This gang also wrote; 'The Best Things in Life are Free', 'You're the Cream in My Coffee', 'Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries', 'You are My Lucky Star', 'Birth of the Blues'
Easy to sing and remember, a gem of economy.
Recorded - Ruth Etting 1928
Paul Whiteman 1929
Gordon MacRae 1956 in 'The Best Things in Life are Free'
Connie Francis 1968

148 Ain't She Sweet -

Recorded -
Rank 650 

149 Chimes Blues - Lil Hardin
one for our piano player ... but it didn't appeal? 






Recorded - Chris Barber 19??

150 I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover - Harry Woods with Mort Dixon

151 Alcoholic Blues - Albert Von Tilzer with Edward Laska 1919
G - 12 bar blues
after the joy of 'Roll Along Prairie Moon' from 'Pennies from Heaven' we embarked on an Von Tilzer kick
born Albert Gumminski, in Indianapolis, Indiana, of Polish Jewish immigrants. Took his mother's maiden name Tilzer. His older brother Harry Von Tilzer ran a publishing business and wrote 'Bird in a Gilded Cage'. His biggest hit was 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game'. He wrote many other songs - 'Alcoholic Blues', 'Au Revoir but Not Good Bye, Soldier Boy', 'Chili Bean', 'Don't Take My Darling Boy Away', 'Honey Boy', 'I May Be Gone for a Long, Long Time', 'In Apple Blossom Time', 'I'm Glad I'm Married', 'I'm the Lonesomest Gal in Town', 'I Used to Love You but It's All Over Now', 'The Moon has His Eye on You', 'My Cutie's Due at Two-to-Two', 'My Little Girl', 'Oh By Jingo!', 'Oh How She Could Yacki-Hacki, Wicki-Wacki, Woo' 'Put on Your Slippers and Fill Up Your Pipe, You're Not Going Bye-Bye Tonight', 'Put Your Arms Around Me Honey', 'Roll Along, Prairie Moon', 'Tell Me with Your Eyes', 'Wait Till You Get Them Up in the Air, Boys'
Recorded - The Louisiana Five

152 Apex Blues - Jimmie Noone, Earl Hines & Joe Poston 1928
F - 12 bar blues - ABC with a twiggly 1st strain
The coziest night club in Chicago at The Apex Club with Earl Hines & Joe Postan
 Recorded -

153 Back o' Town Blues - Louis Armstrong with Jack Teagarden
 

154 Biscuit Roller - Georgia White with Richard M Jones 1937
Erika Lewis, an old blues from Georgia White, 'See if you can figure what it's all about'?

155 Camp Meeting Blues - Joe Oliver & Lil Hardin 1923


Purloined by Duke Ellington for 'Creole Love Call'

156 Dream Blues - Ma Rainey 1924


Simplest of slow 12 bar Blues in Bb for you to make your own.
Does it finish on the third?

157 Dead Man Blues - Jelly Roll Morton 1926
with the 'Flee as a Bird' introduction dirge
with the memorable clarinet trio

158 Working Man Blues - Joe Oliver & Lil Hardin 1923
The Creole Jazz Band

159 Jackass Blues - Art Kassel & Mel Stitzel 1926
another played by Joe Oliver
 

160 Texas Moaner Blues - Clarence Williams & Fay Barnes 1924
slow slow Louis & Sidney
Clara Smith 

161 Joe Turner Blues - W C Handy 1915
In 1915, Pace & Handy published another piece with some unique origins, the Joe Turner Blues. Though the musical origins were still strong traditional blues, the idea for the music and lyrics came from Joe Turner (or Turney) who was the brother of Peter Turney, (1827 – 1903) Governor of Tennessee from 1893 to 1897. It was Joe's task to move convicts from Memphis to the State Penitentiary in Nashville. Joe was not popular with the African Americans for obvious reasons and the music and Lyrics lament his arrival. Over the years the song was often incorrectly attributed to have been inspired by the blues singer Big Joe Turner. Though Big Joe did eventually record the song in 1941, he was only five when the piece was published.
Prototype for them all.

162 You're Dancing on My Heart - George W Meyer & Al Bryan 1932

the gang wouldn't let me play this one ... it was not Victor Silvester strick tempo we enjoyed it but rather the 'modern' British Dance Band Music of the 1930s this was Ma & Pa music from the streaming steam radio of our youth
Victor Silvester signature toon 19

163 Roll Along Prairie Moon - Albert Von Tilzer with Ted Fio Rito & Harry McPherson 1935
Arthur Parker on the road in his Morris 8 in Dennis Potter's 'Pennies from Heaven' which we remembered from suberb TV in 1978. This was the song that reintroduced us to British Dance Band Music of the 1930s and our first from Dennis Potter's 'Pennies from Heaven' magic!
Recorded - Harry Roy 1935 with Bill Currie
Jack Jackson & His Orchestra

164 Apple Blossom Time - Albert Von Tilzer 1920 with Neville Fleeson 
Petrine's favourite from The Fox & Barrel
Andrew Sisters 19??

165 Dapper Dan - Albert Von Tilzer with Lew Brown 1921
Different 

166 Pennies from Heaven - Johnny Burke 1936 with Arthur Johnston. 

another from Dennis Potter's 'Pennies from Heaven' magic!
... 'so when you hear it thunder, don't run under a tree, there'll be pennies from heaven for you & me' ...
Sung by Arthur Tracy, 'The Street Singer'
Bing Crosby  
Rank 81  

167 Down Sunnyside Lane - Jimmy Campbell 1931 with Reg Connelly  

another from 'Pennies from Heaven' magic!


Jack Payne & BBC Dance Orchestra

168 Painting the Clouds with Sunshine - Joe Burke 1929. 
another from 'Pennies from Heaven' magic!
Joe Burke (1884-1950) from Philadelphia, a silent movie pianist. He wrote this song with Al Dubin for 'Gold Diggers of Broadway' in 1929
Many hits different lyricists. 'Oh How I Miss You Tonight' (1924), 'Tiptoe Through the Tulips' (1929), 'Carolina Moon' (1929), 'Moon Over Miami' (1935), 'It Looks Like Rain in Cherry Blossom Lane' (1937) and 'Rambling Rose' (1948)
Milneberg Boys & Derek Galloway. ex 'Pennies from Heaven' loverly!

169 Love is the Sweetest Thing - Ray Noble 19??.

Who was Peter Skellern from Bury?
another from 'Pennies from Heaven' magic!
Al Bowlly.
Recorded - Jack Payne 1932

170 Clouds will Soon Roll By - Harry Woods 19 with Billy Hill

yet another beauty from 'Pennies from Heaven' loverly!
Elsie Carlisle with Bert Ambrose and His Orchestra

171 On the Sunny Side of the Street - Jimmy McHugh with Dorothy Fields 1930 

Also gave us ' I Can't Give You Anything but Love' in 1929 


 Rank 55 

172 Blue Moon - Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart 1934
Probably their most popular song ... but not their best
G - AABA - just ... Em7-Am7-D7-G ... again and again ... and again!
Until relief in bar 21 ... 'I heard somebody whisper please adore me and when I looked the moon had turned to gold' ...
One of the few R & H songs that became popular from radio and not Broadway or Hollywood  

Rank 94

173 Keeping Out of Mischief Now - Fats Waller with Andy Razaf 1932   

Fats nice with some difficulty

174 I've got a Feeling I'm Falling - Fats Waller with Andy Razaf 1934
 
Fats nice with some difficulty
Recorded - Annette Hanshaw 1929

175 It's a Sin to Tell a Lie -

Jimmy Rushing superb LP from way back
flowed nicely after two difficult Fats toons
 

176 Life Begins at Oxford Circus - Lawrence Wright Joe Gilbert 1935
D - ABCD -
another from 'Pennies from Heaven' magic!
Frederick Lawrence Wright (1888–1964) was a British music publisher, founder of the Melody Maker and had a story to tell.
In 1906 he was selling music from a market stall in Leicester with the enthusiasm of 'Arthur Parker'.
Jack Hylton Show Band @ The London Palladium

177 - We'll Make Hay While the Sun Shines - Nacio Herb Brown with Arthur Freed 1933 

  another from 'Pennies from Heaven' magic!
Billy Merrin and His Commanders

178 Says My Heart  - Burton Lane with Frank Loesser 1938

 another from 'Pennies from Heaven' magic!

... 'it's romance take a chance, says my heart' ...
Lou Levy & His Orchestra.
Ambrose & His Orchestra 1938
Billie Holiday 1938
Mildred Bailey 1938
Andrews Sisters 1938

179 Moon Got in My Eyes - Johnny Burke with Arthur Johnston 1937


BingCrosby
Mildred Bailey
Carroll Gibbons / Savoy Hotel Orpheans

180 Whistling in the Dark - Dana Suesse 19??


ex 'Pennies from Heaven' loverly!
Bert Ambrose & His Orchestra

181 Kansas City Kitty - Walter Donaldson with Edgar Leslie 1929
G - AABA -

ex Ray Andrew in Perth, Oz

182 Sentimental Journey - Les Brown & Ben Homer with lyrics Bud Green 1944
D -
 Les Brown & His Band of Renown with Doris Day. (with 'I wanna go home'!)
Played by the Dennis Williams Quintet in the dark at Clemences in 1959  
We recalled Miss Jones needed a song, 'please play that lovely one that goes down in semitones'
Frank Sinatra, Glen Miller, Andrew Sisters, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Shore, Doris Day, Willie Nelson, Fats Domino, Ray Charles, Silvan Zingg, Acker Bilk, The Platters, Ringo Starr, Amy Winehouse ... Conway Twitty recorded a Rock 'n' Roll version in 1959
The Platters recorded it in 1963.
Rank 792

183 I Got Rhythm - George & Ira Gershwin 1930  
From 'Girl Crazy'  
George & Ira Gershwin wrote for the unforgettable Fred Astaire & Ginger Rodgers dance movies 
Learn to play 'I Got Rhythm' and you can play jazz standards! Ad Nauseum with the 4 square middle 8?
In Bb bars 1-2 and 3-4 turnarounds back to Bb. Then in bars 5-6 the song goes the other way, from I7, Bb7 to the IV, Eb, and IVm, Ebm. Bars 7-8 another turnaround. Repeated with a middle 8 circle of 5ths, 2 bars D7 to G7 to C7 to F7.
The VI-IIm-V7-I, turnaround magic as the b7th of the chord drops a semitone to the 3rd of the change.
We learned that variations of the two note melodies formed on the 2-3, 5-6, 1-2 of the scale could be played through the ubiquitous II-V-I chord changes.
Rank 73  

184 It Had to Be You - Isham Jones & Gus Khan 1924 
G - ABAC ... with a fabulous move in G = B7 / Em in the B section then repeated in the 8 bar run in ... a trick repeated in another of his hits from the same year - '205 I'll See You in My Dreams' ... no wonder these songs became jazz standards !
Rank 361  

185 Red River Valley -
old old song ?
some country music with the singing cowboy
easy and relaxed

186 Mack the Knife - Kurt Weill 1928

on the list 'cos the boys sang it ... and Louis ... but not sure it was us
A German classicist who reinvented himself in American pop. The Threepenny Opera included this sardonic song was written in Germany in 1928 resuscitated on Off-Broadway in 1954.
Weil left Germany in 1933 and wrote 'Lady in the Dark' in 1941 with Ira Gershwin, famous for dream sequences with a shrink in a fantasy world. 
Louis Armstrong recorded the song in 1956 
Bobby Darin in 1959  
Rank 110  

187 At Sundown - Walter Donaldson 1927

With that corny chord run down.
Roy Potts request at The Bridge Inn, Chester ... 'not played it for ages but it will all come flooding back'. Strange musical memory ... for some people!     

188 Out of Nowhere - Johnny 'Body & Soul' Green 1931 

Surprising but 'interesting' harmonies with a 'flowing' melodic line. 
Benny Carter muted trumpet classic with the majestic Hawkins & Django in Paris 28 April 1937. Hawkins’ solo on this tune was so well done that jazz historian Chris Tyle suggested ''Out of Nowhere' is great from the start, with an intro by Reinhardt and Carter on muted trumpet plays the first chorus, punctuated by Django. The next two choruses are Hawkins at his best. It’s no wonder that tenor saxophonists shied away from recording this song. There was another tenor player to attempt this tune until Don Byas in 1945'.   
As the melody flows so smoothly improvising on this strange sequence a real challenge for us?

But why did this chord sequence become a jazz standard?
 Same chord sequence - Alexander Courage 'Theme from Star Trek' - Gerry Mulligan 'Roundhouse' - Tadd Dameron 'Casbah' - Fats Navarro 'Nostalgia' - Gigi Gryce 'Sans Souci' - Lennie Tristano '317 East 32nd Street'.
And endless recordings -
Ella Fitzgerald 1939 - Le-na Horne with Teddy Wilson 1941 - Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey 1942 - George Shearing 1942 - Don Byas 1945 - Bunk Johnson 1947 - Charlie Parker 1947 - Sidney Bechet 1949 - Stan Getz 1950 - Dave Brubeck with Paul Desmond 1954 - Vic Damone 1959 - Patti Page 1956 - Russell Garcia 1958 - Anthony Perkins 1958 - Sonny Stitt Quintet 1982 ... Art Tatum ... Django Reinhardt ... 

Bing Crosby's first solo No 1 hit in 1931.

189 Hands Across the Table - Mitchell Parish with Jean Delettre 1935  
F - 16 bars - ABAB' -

another from 'Pennies from Heaven' magic!
Henry Hall

190 Tiger Rag - Nick La Rocca  

Tour de force ...
every Dixielander played this
we loved playing it 

191 Georgia - Hoagy Carmichael

We had to play this one

Recorded - Ray Charles

192 I'm Blue & Lonesome - Georgia White
wonderful Erika Lewis


 

193 Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams -

194 Struttin with Some Barbecue - Lil Hardin one of her best.
Starts on that major 7th which Terry Perry asked me to play to test my ear and my singing!
Dennis Gracey played it with Digby Fairwether in Parkgate

 

195 I Guess I'll have to Change My Plan - Arthur Schwartz & Howard Dietz

Schwartz, a lad from Brooklyn who taught himself harmonica and played piano for the silent movies ... wot a skill? Graduated in English & Law in 1924 and went to the bar. Friends Lorentz Hart & George Gershwin encouraged his love of song writing. In 1929 he persuaded Dietz to work with him and 'I Guess' was launched in the Broadway reiew 'The Little Show' ... the song became a hit 3 years later when Rudy Valée recorded it. Unforgetable in 'The Band Wagon' with Fred Astaire in 1931. 
Proposed as ‘a topical gem’ during the 2020 lockdown.
No 195 a rather simple 20 bar ditty ... which ‘goes the other way’ in bar 13 (anticipated a bar earlier) ... ‘that I tried to reach the moon but when I got there’ ... no middle 8 but a magical moment ... otherwise the song urges your contribution in C major.
1941 Ray Noble with Al Bowlly made it 'bounce'. 1956 Lester Young classic from Glasgow Rhythm Club.
Also wrote 'A Gal in Calico' in 1948 and 'Dancing in the Dark' in 1931.

196 Save It Pretty Mama - Don Redman
writes for Louis and The Savoy Ballroom 5.

An unusual one for Smithy Lane Stompers.

197 Blueberry Hill - Al Lewis, Larry Stock & Vincent Rose 1940

Always remembered as Fats Domino's own. We played it as a tribute to Fats when died in 2015. 
Louis recorded a great version ... everybody knows this one.

198 'tain't No Sin to Take Off your Skin - Walter Donaldson Edgar Leslie 1929
F - 32 bars - A A B A
Our Halloween fun song.
Always wanted to play this, but in the early days we had great trouble finding this lead sheet.
The song didn't feature in our 'Blue Book' bible.

Chris Barber 195?

 

199 Roseroom - Art Hickman with Harry Williams 1917 
G - 32 bars - A B A B
Art Hickman the father of swing, this was the first 'stock' arrangemnet for swing sections playing.
Ragtime was fading as thirty-two-bar standards and twelve-bar blues songs proliferated.
Alec Wilder called the song 'definitely ahead of its time' ...
Ellington used the chord progression in 'In a Mellow Tone' 1939  
We bagged it from Keith Nichols during our Tuesday nights with Jilly way back in 2000   
Recorded by Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson & Django
Rank 199

 

 

200 China Boy - Dick Winfree & Boulje 1922
We will always remeber Terry Perry with The Parade Jazz Band at Parkgate. 1922 popular song written by Phil Boutelje and Dick Winfree. Winfree was a member of the west coast dance band led by Art Hickman, and Boutelje was a pianist and author who arranged for and played with Paul Whiteman.
Introduced in vaudeville by Henry E Murtagh and became very popular with Dixieland groups, such as the McKenzie/Condon Chicagoans, Stephane Grappelli’s Hot Four, and Muggsy Spanier. Popularized by Paul Whiteman 1929 recording with Bix. A jazz standard recorded by Louis Armstrong, Mildred Bailey, Sidney Bechet, Gene Kardos, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Isham Jones, Red Nichols, Charlie Parker, Oscar Peterson, Django Reinhardt and Fats Waller.
Revived by Benny Goodman’s trio in 1935 and performed by Goodman’s big band at their famous Carnegie Hall Concert in 1938. Teddy Wilson recorded it as a piano solo in 1941. The song appeared in the 1940 film Strike Up the Band and in 1955’s The Benny Goodman Story.

201 Kiss to Build a Dream On - Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby and Oscar Hammerstein II. In 1935, Kalmar and Ruby wrote a song called 'Moonlight on the Meadow' for the Marx Brothers film 'A Night at the Opera' but the song was not used. Hammerstein later adapted the lyrics to be 'A Kiss to Build a Dream On' and it was recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1951.
Rod Stewart 2004.

202 Magnolia's Wedding Day - Jimmy McHugh & Dorothy Fields
We remembered the fun of Chris Barber's recording of September 25th 1955 on the Echoes of Harlem album. But this great novelty song was originaly from Lew Leslie's Broadway show Blackbirds of 1928. Best known for '012 I can't Give You Anything but Love'. But this comedy routine - 'Magnolia's Wedding Day' had staying power of fun. The show was built around Florence Mills after her success in the hit 1926 show  'Blackbirds' in London. Florence died in 1927 before rehearsals and Adelaide Hall replace her. Blackbirds of 1928 was a hit, the longest running all-black show on Broadway, with Bill Bojangles Robinson, Tim Moore and Aida Ward, with music by McHugh and lyrics by Fields. The hit songs 'Diga Diga Do', 'Bandanna Babies' and 'I Must Have That Man' ... sung by Adelaide.  

203 My Memphis Baby - Narvin Kimball with Harry Godwin 1966
an old New Orleans stalwart and a fine romp
F - 32 bars - Bill Bailey toon away from that heavy downbeat
Made her own by Sarah Spencer at The Fox & Barrel, we bought a super CD and message and thoroughly enjoyed the music, perhaps the best we heard at The Fox although Warren Latham's baritoned always motored!
Reorded - Black Eagle Jazz Band 1996
Sarah Spencer 1999 

204 While We danced at the Mardi Gras - Alfred Opler with Johnny Mercer 1931
D - 32 bars - Bill Bailey toon


Recorded - Pete Fountain & Al Hirt 2013

205 I'll See You in My Dreams - Isham Jones with Gus Khan 1924
G - ABAC ... with that magnificent final 8 in G - E7 / E7 / B7 / Em then C / D7 / G / G ... a trick repeated in another of his hits from the same year - '184 It Had to be You'
... no wonder these songs became jazz standards !
Recorded - Fletcher Henderson 1925 with Louis
Arkansas Travellers (Red Nichols) 1925
Django Reihardt 1939

206 Beautiful Dreamer - Stephen Foster 1860
Nice one, we never played it in 3 ... moved it to 4/4 and enjoyed the swing.
Tuba Skinny played it on Royal Street, New Orleans in 2019 ...

 

 

207 Deed I Do -  Fred Rose Walter Hirsch 1926
All time jazz standard. Rose also wrote 'Deep Henderson'. Eighth notes to dotted quarters.
And a superb version by Sid 'The Fabulous Mr Phillips' in 1958 .... swapping 2 bars with his baritone ... played by himself! Sort of 'arranged Dixieland'. Sid Phillips polished the Ambrose success and often said 'my religion is cricket' ... a man to revere ...
Recorded - Stan Greening (1888-1971) banjo 1927 ...
Who? The Stan Greening Dance Orcestra and The Edison Bell Dance Orcestra ... included Ted Heath!
Jack Payne @ Hotel Cecil 1927
Ambrose revived it arranged by Sid Phillips 1937
Royal Navy Blue Mariners    
Geraldo with Ted Heath again & Alfie Noakes 1944

208 By The Light of the Silvery Moon - Gus Edwards with Edward Madden 1909
performed by Lillian Lorraine in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1909
one of a series of moon related Tin Pan Alley toons with romantic ambiance
C - 18 bars - ABAC + 2 bar tag
Doris Day made the film in 1953, same year as 'Calamity Jane' and 'Deadwood Stage', 'Just Blown in from the Windy City' & 'Black Hills of Dakota' ... wow!
Recorded - Ray Noble vocal by Snooky Lanson 1941 minor chart hit in 1942 and 1944 - Bing Crosby 1942 - Fats Waller with The Deep River Boys 1942 - Gene Vincent 1958 - Little Richard 1959 - Burl Ives 1964 - Ray Charles 1966

209 Moonlight Bay - Percy Wenrich with Edward Madden 1912
often sung as a barbershop quartet style
C - 16 bars ABAB
Recorded - Glenn Miller 1937 with a special swing arrangement by Miller - Mills Brothers 1940 - Doris Day  in the musical film On Moonlight Bay 1951 - Bing Crosby 1951 - The Beatles with Morecombe & Wise 1963

210 Alice Blue Gown - Harry Tierney with Joseph McCarthy 1919
Theodore Roosevelt's daughter named Alice wore the gown that inspired this song for all 'primpers' ... from the Broadway musical Irene
D - 32 bars - ABA'C ... going to an Em for the last 8 
a perennial favourite ... and we know why
Not to be confused with Ross Parker's 'The Girl in Alice Blue Gown' a different song recorded by Lew Stone with Al Bowlly 1938 and Henry Hall & Bill Cotton
Recorded - ODJB in London 1920 - Red Nichols 1929 - Duke Ellington - Ben Pollack with the 'pic a rib' boys & Muggsy 1937 - Judy Garland 1940 - Glenn Miller 1940 - Muggsy 1944 - Frank Sinatra 1940 - Jo Stafford 1997 - Andy Schumm and his Gang 2011 

 

 

220 Continental - Con Conrad 1934 with Herbert Magidson.

From the film 'The Gay Divorce'. Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers. Remembered from Clems.

Wonderful long repeated phrases with big contrast middle 8.

... 'it has a passion, the continental, an invitation to moonlight and romance' ...

Harry James & Rosemary Clooney 1952.

Rank 906

220 When it's Sleepy Time Down South -

220 You've Got Me Crying Again - Isham Jones / Charles Newman.  ex 'Pennies from Heaven' loverly!

Bert Ambrose & His Orchestra

220 You Couldn't Be Cuter - Jerome Kern.  ex 'Pennies from Heaven' loverly!

Lew Stone & His Orchestra

220 Just Let Me Look at You - Jerome Kern 19 with Dorothy Fields.  ex 'Pennies from Heaven' loverly!

Lew Stone & His Orchestra

220 Anything Goes - Cole Porter 1934 - 'In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking, now, heaven knows, anything goes'.  ex 'Pennies from Heaven' loverly!

Rank 754

220 Yes, My Baby Said Yes - Con Conrad 1931 with Cliff Friend.  ex 'Pennies from Heaven' loverly!
Bert Ambrose & His Orchestra with Sam Brown.

220 Better Think Twice -  ex 'Pennies from Heaven' loverly!
Carroll Gibbons / Savoy Hotel Orpheans 

 

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