[Dixielandjazz] Dr. Jazz

[Elazar Brandt]

Shalom Jazz Fans,

For our fledgling players out there, which we all were once, I never met a tune
that couldn't be played and sung in either C or F. I've played in some banjo
bands that transpose all the tunes to the nearest one or the other. And I've
heard it said that Buddy Bolden used to play everything in B-flat (C on his
trumpet). If you're new, or playing just for fun, you can make music without
worrying too much about all those pesky extra scratchings on the music sheet.
They don't call 'em "accidentals" for nothing. More musical disasters have been
caused by those nasty sharps and flats ... ("Oops. Whaddya know! It's D-flat in
this key!") Or don't use a sheet at all. It's great ear training to figure out
the tune yourself without the written notes.

On the other hand, if you're going to get serious enough to play with others,
it's good to get to know all the keys and to be able to transpose the songs from
one to another. I've found it's also good to learn standard songs in the
standard keys. Each key has its own subtle "personality", and some songs just
sound better in certain keys. (Maybe someone who knows more than I do could
explain this phenomenon.)

But also, you can avoid unpleasant surprises like what happened to me. I was
invited to sing with a band in Prague, and they asked me to name a tune, so I
asked for "Ain't Misbehavin'". I am on the bandstand, microphone in hand, and
the band is playing the intro, when I realize I can't find the beginning note in
my head. I learned the tune in C, but the standard key is E-flat, and the band
was in E-flat -- too high for me to sing, which is why I moved it down to C.
Oops. I performed the world's fastest rearrangement to accommodate my vocal
range, dove into the tune, and somehow it worked. Amazing what you can get away
with in jazz.

Elazar
Ministry of Jazz
Doctor Jazz Band
Jerusalem, Israel
<www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz>
Tel: +972-2-679-2537