[Dixielandjazz] (no subject)

[Martin Jelsema]

Commenting on Jump Blues, there was a Chicago outfit in the mid-1930's -
Harlem Hamfats - that were playing, and some say originated, jump blues.
There was also a long tradition of small Chicago piano, guitar, drum
sessions by Big Bill Broonzy, Little Brother Montgomery, Big Maceo and
Washboard Sam that performed some up-tempo blues as part of their
repertoire. Memphis Minnie and the jug bands from the Memphis area certainly
were precursors of jump blues as well. Then there's Sammy Price from Texas,
Slim Gaillard w Slam Stewart, the Spirits of Rhythm and, yes Wingy Manone in
the late 1930's.

 

Now I'm not old enough to remember those bands and musicians, so thank God
for re-issue programs and A&R men who knew good stuff when they heard it. 

 

Thinking of "chicken songs", I remember as a boy hearing and loving The
Chicken Reel. "The farmers had a dance they all like to do. It really is a
killer though it never was new. They got it from the barnyard away before
the Greeks from the hens in the barnyard a-peckin' with their beaks."
(That's from memory, so why can't I remember my wife's birthday?)

 

Then there's more foul music - The Duck's Yas, Yas, Yas. (forgive the pun -
I won't quote those lyrics ;o)

 

Martin Jelsema

Signature Strategies

303-242-5975

 

 

 

Hi Dan:

 

This song and hundreds like it emerged after WW 2 as a "Jump Blues" 

genre.

Popular OKOM performers in the genre were Louis Jordan and Louis Prima.

 

They were a precursor to Rock & Roll and us old farts on the list remember
well the power of jump blues, the DANCE MUSIC OF THE LATE 1940s THROUGH THE
50s. Yep, Dixieland was art music, played now for listening and so the kids
danced to Jump Blues.

 

"Who could forget the power and feeling of "Big Joe" Turner, Louis Jordan,
Wynonie Harris, Roy Brown, T-Bone Walker, Louis Prima and B.B. King. It was
a happening' thang. JUMP had it all - it was (and is) able to blend many
different musical styles, colors & textures. It is a canvas upon which one
is able to paint clear and pure, color with tone. Many, were the times that
the great artists from the orchestras of Count Basie and Duke Ellington
would sit in on these small combo settings during recording sessions. 

Surely

this was due to their love for the simplicity, purity and clarity of the
Jump sound. One artist that was a part of that era is tenor sax player "Big
Jay" McNeely."

 

It derived in part, from the Kansas City Sound of the late 30s, early 40s.

 

Then, of course, in the 50s, ELVIS picked up on Jump Blues. It is what he
sings on his first recordings. And Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys made it
a country thang. Etc., etc., etc.

 

Yep, Jump Blues. If the old farts (like Pat Ladd and me) on the list who
were older than 15 in 1950, (Pat and I were older) don't remember jump
blues, and "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens", they must have either been
nerds, or without a radio or TV.

 

So much music, so little time.

 

Cheers,

Steve Barbone

 

 

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