[Dixielandjazz] Muskrat Ramble

[Steve Barbone]

Graham Martin asks how others play Muskrat Ramble. Here is how Barbone
Street Does It:

Song has Three 16 bar parts. (Three strains). We

A begins our "In chorus" ensemble which we call the "verse".

B continues our ensemble in chorus we call B the "chorus". This is the
"chorus" Country Joe MacDonald stole for his anti war song in 1964 ("For
it's 1,2,3, what're we fightin for")

C is a trombone break chorus punctuated by the trombone downslide growl.

We play A, followed by B as ensemble. (32 bars)

Then we go to solos which are always on A.

Usually after the first solo, we go to the break chorus C, but sometimes we
delay it untill after the 2nd solo, depending upon where the trombone solo
is. (we vary the sequences but the actual trombone solo is on "A" also)

Then back to solos in A. Then at end of solos, we go back to A as ensemble,
followed by B as ensemble followed by the break chorus C and the trombone
tag at the end. 

They way we play and I hear it, the chord changes for A and C are identical.

Now, in looking at Tex Wyndham's chord chart for the tune, he shows only an
A Strain and a B Strain. Both 16 bars long, with a note that the solos are
on A. Plus another note that the Break Chorus is played "on call" (which
means when he signals it, and is on  the A strain chords. Since his charts
have no melodic lead lines, there was no necessity to chart the "C" strain
since he believes the chords are identical to those in "A".

Tex diagrammed all of his chord charts from original sheet music where
possible and I accept that what he diagrammed is correct for Muskrat
assuming that the sheet music was accurate. (not always the case if it is a
difficult tune, but Muskrat is fairly simple)

Is what we do with the tune politically correct? Well, that doesn't matter
to us, but if it does to you, you might try and find an early copy of Ory's
sheet music which might be more accurate than an early 3 minute record take
by Louis Armstrong. Surely the tune, when played by Ory or Pops live would
have been much longer and probably very different.

Or, you might diagram what Armstrong does with the tune on "Ambassador
Satch" which is very different from what you play now.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone