[Dixielandjazz] Alligator Crawl/Blues

[Butch Thompson]

Very sorry, but I forgot to put in a specific subject line the first time I
sent this.  

BT


Quite right, the Hyman recording of 1928 bears no resemblance to Fats'
"Alligator Crawl."  Whatever confusion has arisen is due to the Parlophone
label Bill Haesler mentioned where the Hot 7 recording of the Waller tune is
titled "Alligator Blues."

Bruce Stangeland's lead sheet really is VERY closely based on the Armstrong
recording, leading me to believe the transcriber was working from a
Parlophone disc.  

NB:  There is a tremendous difference between Armstrong's rendition and
Fats' own version.  Louis takes only Fats' second theme, playing it at a
slower, bluesier tempo than Fats, and bracketing it with blues choruses
instead of Fats' first and third themes.  The opening blues chorus in the
lead sheet we've seen here is a direct transcription of what Louis plays, as
is the second theme, the part Fats actually wrote.

Butch Thompson