[Dixielandjazz] Blue Prelude

[jim at kashprod.com]

We played one of my favorite ballad last night breaking an arrangement that
I have used since learning the song when I was 16.  I original learned
"Blue Prelude" by listening to a recording of Fred Assunto on trombone.
(I've never seen the record since then.  Anyone know what record it is on?) 

Although it was a Dukes of Dixieland recording, it only featured the
trombone playing the melody.  The change last night came from my having
discovered the other day a recording by a female singer with absolutely
great lyrics.  The funniest part of this saga is when I realized it was my
own band on the recording which had been done several years earlier at a
live gig, when a visiting Aussie got up and sang the song with us.  I had
completely forgotten about it!!

Well, the words, I think, are great.  They so very well meet the mood of the
music.  Much in the way the lyrics of "Angel Eyes" or "Trouble in Mind" do.
I tend to stay away from singing songs like this, recognizing that one thing
is to hear a "singer" sing them, and another is to hear a trombonist that
enjoys singing sing them!  I really feel a limitation (of talent) on certain
songs, and try not to overstep.  Nevertheless, I had a go at it last night,
breaking the only traditional connection I really ever had with Fred (by his
arrangement intact all of these years).  

Although (I think) it (the vocal) went off very well, our pianist, who is
Spanish & has no English at all, wanted to know why I would bother to sing
it when the fully instrumental version worked well always.  I tried to
explain the "lyrics/music/mood" connection to him, but not being able to
understand the lyrics, it was all beyond him.  In songs like this one, the
lyrics give you so many hints as to how to play the melody & improvise to
get the most out of the mood intended.

Here are the words, although I am sure there are gobs of variations.
Singing it as the last chorus, after trombone lead first chorus & solos
works so very well with that beautiful "Good.....bye" at the very end.  Our
trumpeter played a fantastic solo on flugelhorn, with the melancholy tone of
that instrument so well fitting the song.

Jim

Let me cry, let me sigh,  'cause I'm leaving,
Let me go 'way, from this lone.some town,
Here I go, now you know, why I'm leaving,
I got the blues, how can I lose, what I have?

All the love I can beg, steal or borrow,
Wouldn't heal all the pain, in my soul.

What is love?  a prelude to sorrow,
With a heartbreak, ahead, for your goal.

Here I go, now you know, why I'm leaving.
I've got the blues. What can I lose? Goodbye!