[Dixielandjazz] Tailgate Ramble--with a bridge?

[Charles Suhor]

Since the start of the Tailgate Ramble strand, the tune has been running
through my mind, and I'm thinking that a bridge--an interlude, really, of
16 bars--was played by some bands, notably Sharkey Bonano, in live
performances in the late 40s-early 50s. The bridge didn't have words so it
wasn't likely in the Manone or Mercer vocal recordings. But it gave a nice
relief to what was, as several DJMLers have noted, essentially an 8-bar
song repeated 3 times in the vocal stanzas.

When guys took choruses they probably did 16 bars (2 sets of 8); I don't
think they jammed on the bridge/interlude. It was kind of march-like,
played after 16 bars, so that it felt good going back to the main strain.
This gave the entire piece a total of 32 bars and an a-a-b-a pattern.

If Sharkey's Kings of Dixieland recorded Tailgate Ramble on the Capitol or
Bandwagon sessions, the bridge might show up. The Dukes made a recording of
it, Bill Haesler says, and since they began as a copy of Sharkey's Kings,
the bridge/interval might be found there.

Charlie Suhor