[Dixielandjazz] West End Blues "cadenza"

[Anton Crouch]

Hello all

It's time to be picky, picky, picky  :-)

Strictly speaking, since it is played at the start of the performance, 
Louis Armstrong's intro to "West End Blues" is not a cadenza.

Grove has: "A virtuoso passage inserted near the end of a concerto 
movement or aria, usually indicated by the appearance of a fermata over 
an inconclusive chord such as the tonic 6-4. Cadenzas may either be 
improvised by a performer or written out by the composer; in the latter 
case the cadenza is often an important structural part of the movement. 
In a broad sense the term ‘cadenza’ can refer to simple ornaments on the 
penultimate note of a cadence, or to any accumulation of elaborate 
embellishments inserted near the end of a section or at fermata points."

"Toccata", in the 17th century sense would be a better description. If 
that's too heavy, "flourish" will do.

Pedantically yours,
Anton