[Dixielandjazz] Singin' the Blues

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi Folks,

I'll chip in while this is an active thread: I've always heard the 
melody of Singin' the Blues as a natural for trombone lead - it sits in 
a very mellow part of the trombone's range and it's easy-going phrasing 
lends itself to smears and the general "playing around with pitch" that 
comes so easily to the trombone. Then there's Bix's classic solo which 
has almost become part of the piece, so I put the two together, voiced 
the solo up for 5 horns and left most of the rest to our fine trombonist 
Phil O'Malley in an arrangement which typifies my Classic Jazz Orch's 
approach to early jazz material: plenty of space for soloists to express 
themselves and plenty of cross-references to iconic recordings - 
entirely recognisable but not quite as you heard them on your treasured 
records. Here's a link to a video from the 2012 Edinburgh Jazz Festival:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzDVvtC2D8o

There's also a studio recording (audio only) from one of our  CDs at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQastyXi7hk*
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I hope you enjoy them.

Cheers,
Ken
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