Jazz in the Making: "Count" Basie, "Sweet Emma," and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band

During the 1930s’ William “Count” Basie was a musician and composer of Jazz music. One of his famous recordings with his orchestra was his “One O’Clock Jump” composition released in 1937. Jazz had become a popular form of music that would strike a high demand in the market. By the 1960s “Sweet Emma” Barrett and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band continued to keep jazz alive through many of their recordings, one of them being “St James Infirmary.” Although both groups are categorized under jazz music, their recordings and music styles are ultimately very different.  

    In “One O’Oclock Jump,” the recording starts off with the piano setting the tone of the music with a very settle rhythm. The clarinet joins with a small solo that gives the music a sense of hype and elevates the mood of the performance. Afterwards, the trumpet brings along a very deep tone in its solo contrasting the high pitch of the clarinet. Immediately following is the saxophone deviating from the melody to spice to the song again. Next, the trumpet continues the dialogue between the instruments with a soft solo, evoking the feeling of a lively and an upbeat tone. Towards the end, all the instruments join in, and the clarinets long with the saxophones begin stressing notes that cause syncopation.

    Mean while in “St James Infirmary” all the instruments start together: the piano, the trumpet, clarinet, the contrabass, and the drums, to name a few. Soon the trumpet and the clarinet begin a dialogue that causes the melody to elevate in tempo, however it comes down to a slower rhythm when the singer takes the lead. At this point in the music, the piano occasionally stresses the keys on the instrument giving an improvisational element to the recording. The music continues to have a constant pace guided by the contrabass and the drums. The clarinet improvises a solo that really just brings out this joyful feeling and gives the recording a step melody, gradually changing in pitch height. The trumpet joins the music providing a deep tone and changing the tempo of the recording. It unexpectedly stresses the pitch of the performance causing the improvisation to sounds like an elephant singing. The piano takes the lead spicing up the song with boogie-woogie style. Afterwards, the clarinet and the trumpet continue their previous dialogue between each other and finishing off the song jubilantly.              

    Count Basie’s recording has a blue progression in C where the piano maintains the melody. The music is played with 12 bars blue and the recording consists of collaborative arrangement between the musicians for improvisation solos that captivate the audience. “One O’Clock Jump” has an accompaniment of the base and the drums as it has a steady texture of notes, and provides a support for the musicians to improvise solos.      Similarly, “Sweet Emma” Barrett and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s recording also as a 12 bar blue progression and the accompaniment of a steady rhythm is kept throughout the music by the contrabass, the drums and the banjo. This allows the musicians to initiate arranged solos and improvise a syncopated melody that deviates from the rhythm. For instance, when the trumpet has its solo, the musician is somewhat out of the time section, bringing to the recording to have unexpected changes in the melody. Ultimately, these alterations contribute to a creative element to the overall music. Although in both “One O’Clock Jump” and “St James Infirmary” the solos are arranged, they still are spontaneous in the sense that the players are conveying what they express in that moment. The musicians may have a general ideal of the notes they want to play, however the solos are never the same each time because the musicians are feeling differently at every performance.          

    Both group of musicians wanted to create something new in Jazz music. The way “Count” Basie And His Orchestra and “Sweet Emma” Barrett and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band composed and arranged their recordings is unprecedented. They may have had similar instruments, but ultimately their melody and styles are so different. Carney mentions in his article “musicians began adapting and transforming ragtime, the blues, music for dancing, and music for marching into something unique” (300-301). Artist like “Count” Basie and “Sweet Emma” Barrett along with the Preservation Hall Jazz wanted to incorporate new elements into Jazz that people had never experienced before. These musicians utilized all different kinds instruments and planned out solo opportunities in their music in order to show that Jazz had no limits when it came to self-expression (303). People responded to Jazz by popularizing its composers and musicians as America’s greatest artists.

Essay by Karla Barahona posted on Oct 29 

Evolution of Jazz Through Mack's Rhythm and St. James Infirmary

Ann Marie Bowlus

October 29, 2009

AMST 80f

Ben Carson

Evolution of Jazz: a combination of cultures

The development of jazz takes place between the years 1921 to 1934, after which is when the evolution of swing appears. It is important to realize the historical environment in which jazz was created and the impact it had on American popular culture. Before swing, commercial record stores would categorize almost every black musician as a blues or jazz musician despite the fact that many white musicians were adopting similar improvisation techniques associated with jazz traditions.

Bennie Molten and His Orchestra performance of Mack’s Rhythm by Count Basie in 1928 allows the listener to feel the development of swing and jazz. Already this piece has a very up beat sound. First instrument to break off into a lively improvisation is the trumpet. In this solo the musician expresses himself in a freer sense by playing in the moment. This solo embodies the idea of swinging, the act of inspiring a “visceral response from the listener.” Shortly after the trumpet, the saxophone jumps into his solo. While the saxophone changes the beat to a less dramatic, fuller tone, which is then followed by the even more up beat cheery clarinet. The saxophone’s final solo lets the listener into the mind of the musician with his final improvisation, which is then followed by the simply happy addition of the piano.

This song appears earlier in the evolution of jazz, which explains the big band aspect of the performance. The time period also shows the development of swing out of it jazz roots. The Great Depression had yet to develop and youths were listening to more lively music. In the article The Tempo of the Times that is found in Swing Changes: Big-Band Jazz in New Deal America, swing is perceived as the natural development of the youth. While many Americans were fearful of what swing might mean morally, “swing served as a cultural bridge in the larger society,” (Stowe 95). Swing provided a universal culture for young Americans to gather around. While this song played earlier in the development of swing, a transformation of musical genre is felt in this piece.  

Both jazz and swing manage to confront racial and social confrontations. 

Art Hodes and Sidney Bechet’s Hot Five version of St. James Infirmary produced in 1967 expresses a form of jazz in one of its most developed stage.

The piece’s introduction begins with the brass bellowing together to create a dark melancholy mood. Then Hodes goes off the tone set by the brass creating his own solo. As Hodes continues singing, he utilizes syncopation to emphasize his voice and the beat of the trumpet. As soon as he cries, “let her go” the trumpet follows behind his voice faintly developing into an improvisation. This trumpet compliments his voice but straying away from the melody. Once he concludes on “promise land” the trumpet breaks out in a dramatic fashion and continues to have almost a response call between the other instruments before returning back to the melody. The texture of this piece feels like one large improvisation that leads the listener to feel heavy hearted with emotions such as sadness and suffering.

Due to the time period, this song is a bit more developed to the jazz standards. In New Orleans and the Creation of Early Jazz, Sidney Bechet is mentioned as a key musician in the national popularization of jazz. His style not only came from the combination of ragtime and blues, but from the exposure to Creole, New Orleans and Chicago music culture.  Before Bechet jazz had yet to dissimilate into American mass culture, until he “brought the proto-commercial folk music of New Orleans into the national musical culture,” (Carney 307). While Bechet’s music was not picked up in the New Orleans jazz scene, Chicago welcomed the new interpretation of jazz. During a time of race riots, Midwesterners wanted to find a new identity; something more authentic or different.  

Carney, Court. 2006. “New Orleans and the Creation of Early Jazz.”In Popular Music and Society, 29/3.299-315.

Stowe, David. 1998. “Tempo of the Time.”In Swing Changes: Big Band Jazz in New Deal America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

St. James Infirmary & Mack’s Rhythm Comparison

  The two songs that are going to be analyzed are Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven’s arrangement of “St. James Infirmary” and Bennie Moten and His Orchestra’s “Mack’s Rhythm.” Both of these songs are significantly different due to the varying melodies, tone of the songs, and messages that these songs put forth.

             In “St. James Infirmary” it is quick to notice that after a short intro, the form of the whole song is A A’ B A.  After 8 bars of this melody, there is a 4 bar piano solo. This short solo gives off a melancholy feeling, setting the mood for the song’s gloomy lyrics. It is also played softly, as if it is building up to something important. The solo does seem as if it is planned, due to it’s the wholeness that it gives off.  Louis Armstrong then starts singing the melody, with the piano playing different notes in the background but staying in the same key. The piano in the back definitely uses syncopation, giving the song a nice contrast. After the singing, a trombone begins to loudly play the melody of the song, while an alto saxophone is playing along with it. This part of the song seems exactly like the previous bars, but the trombone as the voice and the saxophone contrasting the melody just as the piano did. Syncopation is so skillfully used that it could sound like an improvisation to someone, but it just fits with the song too much to sound like it was on the created on the spot.

             This song was a remake of the English Folksong, and now it is a popular Jazz standard. This song does fit into the evolution of jazz by having something an ordinary person can relate to. There are multiple interpretations of this song, however, the one that fits this time would be how in the 1920s city life was so popular but not the best lifestyle to live by.  This was also the time of the when jazz started to boom, as Carney stated in his article “New Orleans and the Creation of Early Jazz,” and with a theme that almost everyone can relate to it is easy to see why this song became popular.

             In Bennie Moten’s “Mack’s Rhythm,” the form of the song’s melody is A A’ B C. The tone of this song differs from the first song analyzed because it has a cheery tone with an upbeat tempo.  This song does not totally stick by is melody throughout the whole song due to several improvisation solos.  The melody is set in the beginning of the song then there are multiple improvisations one after the other, played by instruments such as the trumpet, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone and piano. This was a very enjoyable and exciting song because it seemed as if each instrument’s improvisation tried to sound better than the one before it. Nearing the end of all the instruments play the melody of the song and end the piece all together. This song is a perfect song to display the versatility and potential that jazz music has through the catchy tune and heavy improvisation.

             Being composed in 1928, this was when jazz already was known throughout the country and everyone was listening to it. Bennie Moten had multiple popular songs, all being fun songs to listen to and watch being performed.  Moten’s pieces were formed with an orchestra, where around the 1930’s jazz orchestras were at the top of their games.  This arrangement might have contributed to jazz’s broader appeal by being a song the upper class can enjoy.  With jazz being an established form of music, it began to leave its personable blues feel and started to become songs with many improvisations around a quick melody.

From New Orleans to Kansas City

King Oliver’s “St. James Infirmary” and Count Bessie and His Orchestra’s “Honeysuckle Rose” differ dramatically. King Oliver begins his song with a short, scripted approach before having the individual instruments break into their respected improvisation solos. As Court Carney discusses in his article “New Orleans and the creation of Early Jazz” Oliver always approached improvisations with an organized and steady sense. While the improvisations carried a level of spontaneity and flair, overall they were short and always led back into the melody carrying itself throughout the song. Also, the solos were always greeted with an accompaniment from either the drums or the trombone. This collaboration adds layers to the music, giving the listener a deeper blend of sound. Oliver adds color and substance to the harmonies of his music by drawing focus on the sounds of multiple instruments at once, allowing for the melodies to play off one another. This differs greatly from Count Bessie and His Orchestra’s track, in which the song opens with a nearly minute long piano solo, which lacks any accompaniment. After the improvisation, short interludes by the band set up the next solo artist for his improvisation, unlike King Oliver, in which the improvisations seemed to set up the parts in which the band played together.

For one, while both songs include use of trumpets, saxophones and pianos, only King Oliver chose to use a harmonica. Oliver was a New Orleans resident, but he was born in Aben, Louisiana.  The use of the harmonica does not dilute the legitimacy of the overall jazz feel of the song. Rather, this choice possibly adds a new feel to a jazz song, granting itself representation of a rural background by embracing folk influences. This use of the harmonica also demonstrates the rural/urban divide, and shows that the “country” and “city” styles and influences can be integrated into one concise sound. On the other hand, Count Bessie and His Orchestra comprise the standard big band atmosphere. This can be distinguished in the interludes between improvisational solos in where all the instruments join together to embrace the melody.

Another key difference relates to the tempo of the music. “St. James Infirmary” contains improvisations that flow with a slower, “catwalk” approach while “Honeysuckle Rose” captures the audience with its fast, upbeat tempo. This seems to reflect King Oliver’s desire for careful organization within his music, while Count Bessie tended to encompass a style full of excitement, leaving the listener curious for what they would hear next. The tempos also reflect the attitude of the common listener of the song in the early 1930’s. Count Bessie’s music was part of a growing dance revolution, in which big bands would set the mood while thousands of young, inspired jazz lovers would light up the dance floors. As David Stowe describes in his article “The Tempo of the Time” the dancing became as a part of the jazz movement as the music did. The incendiary tempo must be connected to the movement of the big band at the time in order to see how the song reflected the early jazz era.

One key similarity between the songs is the essence of the trombone in the blending of the music. While both King Oliver and Count Bessie and His Orchestra have the trombone do a solo, they also use it as a backbone for their bands in order to blend the sounds of the band together. The trombone possesses the ability to help the different sounds come together into one uniform melody, as the voices of a choir blend to create a single, recognizable sound. Both tracks execute this very efficiently. 

From Blues To Swing

The two compositions that have been chosen for this comparative analysis are Sydney Bechet’s version of St. Louis Blues, and Ella Fitzgerald’s version of I Aint got Noting but the Blues. The compositions were recorded a decade apart, with the St. Louis Blues obviously representing the blues era, and Aint got Nothin but the Blues is more based around swing.

 The form of the St. Louis Blues is rather typical of blues music, and to start with, encompasses the style of the Argentinian Tango. On a basic level, from listening to the composition which has no lyrics, with a set of lyrics to read allows the analytic breakdown of the form of the composition. This piece in particular seems to be in the form of A A’ B. The melody starts off, and the first line of music is played (A), then the second line starts, the melody is altered slightly to start with but the line finishes the same (A’), the melody then completely changes in the third line, completely contrasting with the previous two lines, although it remains in the same key (B). This, as stated earlier, is verified when looking at the piece’s lyrics, which are in sets of threes.

 This composition combines both sections of planned and improvised music, put together in a way that blends the two very well. St. Louis Blues starts of with planned music, and then the first verse, also planned, is played. However, each instrument that plays afterwards is playing improvised music. These improvised sections of the composition take on a different melodic form, with many notes being played in a syncopated manner. 

 Swinging the Blues differs from St. Louis Blues. There are lyrics present in this composition for example, and the form, melody and use of improvisation also vary. The melody remains fairly unaltered throughout, and combined with the lyrics offer the form of A A’ A B. This differs from the St. Louis Blues in two ways; a different form, and the addition of the lyrics themselves. The first 3 lines follow a similar melody, with a slight differential setting apart the middle A’. It is the fourth line that differs completely from the previous three, placing it in the B category. The fourth Ella’s voice keeps in tune with the music, making it seem like it is just another instrument. 

 One example when it was clear that the music was not improvised was when Ella sings “when the trumpets flair up,” and the trumpets then flair up, as if responding to her in conversation. The whole musical accompaniment seems to be pre-planned apart from the saxophone at the beginning, and during the second half of the composition, when the piano starts to liven up. The saxophone seems to be singing in its own way, offering a vocal substitute which deviates from the melody. With regards to the piano, in the last third of the piece, the piano becomes more lively and syncopated, traits of potential improvisation. Therefore, both St Louis Blues and I Aint got Nothing but the Blues differ in various aspects, even though they are both forms of blues.

 Ella Fitzgerald interprets the song differently from its original form, by Duke Ellington. Ellington was a more straight-faced musician, whereas Fitzgerald gives her composition more textural richness and diversity. She achieves this through a more varied pitch, especially in her voice, and an altered, more lively melody, even singing on a slightly more syncopated level. This could in fact have contributed to the piece’s appeal as popular music, as it sounds more refined overall than the original. It could be argued that this also shows how jazz had been evolving throughout the era, towards a more mainstream target market. This remains true for Sydney Bechet’s St. Louis Blues, which could also be argued to be marketed as popular music. For example, Django Reinhardt’s version of the same piece lends itself much more to traditional instruments of the pre-war country blues, which would have spoken much more effectively to the communities in which they were formed. This composition however, again, sounds much more polished and mainstream, making it easier to break into mainstream popularity.