[Dixielandjazz] The nature of chord progressions for an Eddie Condon sounding band.

[Graham Martin]

G'day,



I am fairly new to this list and I'll start this topic with a bit of an introduction by saying that I am a trombone player who did his first playing in the heady days of the British Trad Boom before emigrating to Australia. For many years I concentrated on earning a living and did not play. But these days, in semi retirement and when I really should be old enough to know better, I choose to run a Dixieland (Traditional Jazz?) band. I have always loved the music of Eddie Condon and others of that ilk and that is the music I most like to play - WCIM(?). Other styles impinge because the eclectic bunch I have gathered around me have been driven from the straight and narrow by the likes of Chris Barber, Acker Bilk, and Kenny Ball etc. Yep, most of us are Pommies and those were the bands that we grew up with. Personally I was always a fan of the Alex Welsh band - mainly because they were the closest to Eddie Condon.

 

I have read a few topics on this list that discuss chord progressions. I even emailed a couple of tunes to satisfy a request. I had a look at recent chord and lead books that were advertised http://americanmusiccaravan.com/ and although there was only two examples of progressions from which to draw the conclusion I did gather that the progressions were a whisker up on the ones my band is now using. 

 

So, I have some questions with regard to chord progressions.

 

1.     Do the types of chords used in a progression add interest for the listener? Even if they don't know why.

2.     Do the types of chords used date a band - as to the period of jazz they are playing? In other words, did they use different chords in the nineteen twenties, to the nineteen fifties, or the twenty first century, if it comes right down to it?

3.     Do the types of chords used in a progression by the rhythm section influence greatly the lines used by frontline players in the Dixieland ensemble and in their solos?

4.     This is my most important question! If my band is trying to reproduce something like the sound of a 1950's Eddie Condon Band, what type of chord progressions should be used? To qualify this somewhat: To my ear Condon of that decade is more or less the same sound I am hearing played today by musicians like Jon-Erik Kellso, Ed Polcer, Tommy Saunders, Jim Cullum, etc., etc. I will stop at trumpet players because I think you will realise the OKOM that I am talking about. 

 

I guess I'm asking how subtle the chords should be? Obviously I have my own opinions about the answers but I am not all-knowledgeable, being a frontline player.

 

Let us take the example of the first eight bars of 'Indiana'. Here are some chord sequences that I derived from various sources:      

 

 

Version 1 - As commonly performed (According to Dick Hyman!):

|F / Eb7 / |D7 / / / |G7 / / / | / / / / |Gm9 / / / |C7(b9) / / / |F / / / | / / Fmaj7 F7 ||

 

Version 2 - Sheet Music:

|F / Am / |Cm / / / |G7 / / / | / / / / |C7 / / / |Gm7 / C7 / |F / Bb6 / |F / / / ||

 

Version 3 - Bebop

|Fmaj7 / / / |Eb7 / D7 / |G7 / / / | / / / / |Gm7 / / / |Gb7 / / / |F / / / |B9 / / / ||

 

Version 4 - Aussie chord book by Eric Holroyd:

|F / / / |D7 / / / |G7 / / / | / / / / |C7 / / / |F / / / | / / F7 / ||

 

Version 5 - My favourite as extorted from some of my piano playing mates:

|F6 / E7 Eb7 |D9 / / / |G7 / / / | / / / / |Gm7 / / / | C13 / / / |F6 / / / |Cm7 / F9 / ||

 

Regarding Version 5, these are the chords I would prefer to use because they seem to me to produce the 'right' sound. I could not find a chord book or lead sheet that even had those very important passing chords in the first bar from F6 down to D9, but I am positive that is what it is what I am hearing on my Condon recording of the tune. In fact Condon seems to use a lot of passing chords on that four-string guitar of his and they are an essential part of the sound of his rhythm sections. The piano player on many of the session of the decade I am talking was Gene Schroeder, who played with Benny Goodman and was a sophisticated comper and soloist. Bass was often Walter Page - one of the original All-American rhythm section members. Anyway this is the kind of sound I want. And it don't sound like no simple triad and dominant seventh chords to me! But I could be wrong. 

 

I am starting to be unhappy about a decision my own band made a few months back, which was to adopt probably the most commonly-used chord book in Australia as produced by Eric Holroyd http://members.optushome.com.au/eholroyd/ . Eric's approach seems to be to reduce the chords to their utmost simplicity. Other bandleaders I have played with regularly, and who also use the book, say that it is suitable for the many amateur and semi-pro musicians who love their music but perhaps do not have great skills on their chosen instrument - I don't know why I am thinking about banjo players? I talked to Eric about his approach and he said that he produced the book in the first place to ensure that all his own band were at least playing the same chords, not necessarily the right chords. Which explanation is fair enough! BTW, Eric is a very good trumpet player and is a lot like Louis Armstrong, and of course so many other OKOM players, in not needing a very complex chord framework on which to base harmonically complex phrases. Nonetheless, what is going on behind a solo seems to me to make a big difference to the sound of a band. My own band now sounds very 'British Trad' and I think the chord structure is one of the main reasons.

 

So what do you guys think? Maybe just tell me what version of the first eight bars of 'Indiana' is correct for Condon jazz. I hope I have not over-qualified the question. 

  

Graham Martin
Email: grahmartin at bigpond.com
Website: http://tromjazz.netfirms.com