Introduction to Playing Early Jazz

A PRACTICAL GUIDE
FOR BEGINNERS
OF ALL AGES

by Rick Campbell

1
About the author:
Rick Campbell is a clarinet and
saxophone player in Tigard,
Oregon, whose degree is in Fine and
Applied Arts from the University of
Oregon. He does not have a music
degree, but has played music profes-
sionally since 1960. He has played
and recorded with a number of early
jazz bands, including the Oregon
Jazz Band, Calamity Jazz, and
Columbia Classic Jazz Band. He
was a founder of Dr. Jazz and the
Interns and the Milneburg Jazz
Band. He has also played with a
number of big bands, concert bands,
and with the golden oldies rock
band, Gail Gage and the Fabulous
Fifties Band. As a graphic designer
and photographer, he has had an
opportunity to know and photo-
graph some of the better early jazz
bands of the past twenty years.

On the front cover, the great Bob

Wilber on clarinet and Nicki Parrott
on bass at the 2010 Sacramento
Music Festival.
2
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

4 Foreword

6 Chapter 1. Hey, I want to play that kind of music!

9 Chapter 2. Early jazz as folk music.

13 Chapter 3. Singing through your instrument.

17 Chapter 4. What makes early jazz unique.

19 Chapter 5. An introduction to dixieland songs.

23 Chapter 6. Song lists and resources.

27 Chapter 7. Dixieland styles and skills.

32 Chapter 8. Playing lead in early jazz.

34 Chapter 9. Ensemble roles in early jazz.

37 Chapter 10. Special instrumental jazz effects.

38 Chapter 11. Performance tips, tension and attitude.

39 Chapter 12. Hand signals on stage.

41 Chapter 13. Early jazz rhythms and articulation.

43 Chapter 14. A brief introduction to music theory.

45 Chapter 15. An introduction to scales.

49 Chapter 16. Building basic chords.

53 Chapter 17. Scale and chord daily practice.

Eighth Electronic Edition 69 Chapter 18. Chord progressions and songs.

March 14, 2017
© Copyright 2017, Rick Campbell 76 Chapter 19. Creating extemporaneous harmony lines.
Photos by the author.
85 Chapter 20. Early jazz riffs.
Special thanks to Kevin Yeates of
the Creole Jazz Band for his many 86 Chapter 21. The early jazz solo.
contributions to making this a better
book. 94 Chapter 22. Study, practice, rehearsal.

This ebook may be distributed and 96 Chapter 23. Joining or starting a dixieland band.
used free of charge in the non-profit
cause of teaching early jazz. 99 Resources and Reading
3
FOREWORD What’s in this book?
This book should have been written by a master of jazz-
performance, but I am a journeyman player at best. I have
searched for an introductory how-to book on this subject for
many years without success, so I have had to blaze my own
trail. Over the past twenty years, this book, or one superior to
it, could have saved me many hours in the effort to learn to
play early jazz on my instrument.
Of course, there are hundreds of excellent instrumental
methods going back two centuries, and almost as many
books on contemporary jazz theory, patterns, chords and
exercises. But neither of these genres acknowledge early
jazz, that period from about 1905 to about 1930 which saw
an entirely new type of music suddenly become popular— a
music which endures to this day in many variations.
What will this book teach? This is primarily a resource
book, designed to point the reader in the right directions.
Included are sections on:
• The development of early jazz.
• Developing early jazz ensemble playing skills.
• Developing jazz solo skills.
• Music resources for early jazz compositions.
• Some useful connections to the dixieland world.
• Some recommendations for listening and study.
• Practical tips on performance.
Who is the audience for this book? This book is intended
to help musicians at all levels start to play in an early jazz en-
semble, commonly known as a dixieland band. Some basic
skills at reading music notation are needed. I think it will be
useful to the following:
• Skilled legitimate instrumentalists who would like to ex-
pand their performance abilities.
• High school and college students who are interested in jazz,
but who have a limited outlet for their jazz skills in contem-
porary jazz ensembles.
• Amateur adult instrumentalists who enjoy early jazz, and
who would like to take up their instruments again.
How long will it take to become a jazz player?
It is a never-ending journey.
At the apprentice level, perhaps when you get together
with friends and say, “Let’s start a dixieland band,” the goals
are basic:
• To gain reasonable facility on your instruments, and to be
able to play in tune.
4
• To learn the melody and basic harmonies of the most com-
mon early jazz tunes.
• To begin work on improvising skills.
The length of this first process varies depending on your
fundamental musical aptitude, the amount to time you have
to devote to study and practice each day, and your age. Yes, it
is true that young players progress much more quickly than
mature players.
If you are lucky enough to live near a good jazz teacher,
and can take private lessons, you can get past the apprentice
level very quickly indeed.
Beyond the scope of this book is achieving the status of
journeyman jazz player. To be called to perform in a pro-
fessional early jazz ensemble usually takes some years of
practice and performance. A solid journeyman has very good
command of his or her instrument, knows the early jazz rep-
ertoire, can read music well, and can improvise.
Finally, there are those comparatively few musicians who
have become masters of their instruments in jazz. It is an elu-
sive goal, and the drive to achieve it must be in the individual
player. Artie Shaw said that he retired from music because,
“I got tired of having the clarinet in my face six or seven
hours a day.”
Most of us who play early jazz don’t have that level of
dedication, but you must play and practice daily to see
improvement, and to maintain the skills you already have
gained.
The musical validity of early jazz. When you begin to
study both the written music and recorded music of the jazz
age, there is a surprising degree of substance and sophistica-
tion present. Certainly, the works of W.C. Handy, Ferdinand
“Jelly Roll” Morton, and Eubie Blake are filled with sublime
moments as compositions. And fortunately, you can still
find recordings of bands such as Eddie Condon’s and Billy
Maxted’s that were working six nights a week and who took
the music to a very high level of development.
For the sensitive musician, early jazz can be a gold mine,
with an emotional range from giddy elation to the deep pa-
thos of the blues. That is why the music has survived to this
day, and why it is worth playing again.
However, the last generation of early jazz players is dy-
ing off, and someone must step up to take their place or live
extemporaneous performance of the music will be lost.
I hope this book will be a source of encouragement to the
musicians who “feel it.”

5
CHAPTER 1 Hey, I want to play that kind of music!
Jazz band names If you read the stories of early jazz players, nearly every one
have been italicized mentions a moment when the person suddenly said, “Hey,
throughout this book I want to play that kind of music” after hearing a dixieland
as a guide to sug- band.
gested listening.
For example, George Lewis mentioned his fascination for
street bands and dance halls in New Orleans at a very young
age. Sidney Bechet got his hands on a clarinet before his
teens, and learned by secretly listening to and mimicking
the bands of The Crescent City. Bud Freeman told how he,
Frank Teschemacher, Jimmy McPartland, and other mem-
bers of the “Austin High Gang” bought instruments, and
played along with the records of The New Orleans Rhythm
Kings, wearing out the grooves in the process. Pete Fountain
showed clarinet skill at the age of fourteen, and his father, a
beer truck driver, took him along on deliveries in the summer
so he could hear and meet the New Orleans club musicians. I
remember first thinking I’d like to play dixieland when I saw
Pete Fountain on television in 1957.
I hope the reader has experienced such a moment when
the music grabbed him or her with a powerful magnetism. If
you are lukewarm about early jazz after hearing it, or if you
regard it as just another ethnic style like klezmer and polka
bands, then you will probably be a rather cold and sterile
performer.
If on the other hand, dixieland music “knocks you out”
as it did the famous artists mentioned above, then you will
bring to it the enthusiasm and emotional depth necessary to
be a fine “jazzman.” (My apologies to brilliant female play-
ers such as Bria Skonberg, Claire McKenna, Anat Cohen,
and Anita Thomas, but that is the historic term.)
Learning from professional jazz players. In the begin-
ning days of jazz, players “picked up” the music by listen-
ing, attending late-night jam sessions, and were often taught
one-on-one by the New Orleans masters such as Lorenzo
Tio, Alphonse Picou, and Sidney Bechet. Lore suggests that
these lessons involved ear training, learning songs by rote,
memorizing the established harmonies, and learning how to
improvise. Although most better jazz players could read mu-
sic, that was not the primary focus of a jazz education then.
Learning by listening to recordings. Decades ago, young
players had to seek out records and buy them, a slow and
expensive process. Today, the budding jazz performer has a
vast store of recorded music and videos available from the
6
 iTunes store, on YouTube, on early jazz web sites, plus a
very large selection of CDs which are available from Ama-
zon and other sources. So it is now easy to listen to bands
playing varied styles of music in the early jazz idiom.
Learning from jam sessions. Dixieland jazz preservation
societies still exist around the country. They may bear differ-
ent names, such as “Hot Club,” “New Orleans Jazz Club,” or
“Traditonal Jazz Society,” but you can find a comprehensive
listing in The Syncopated Times, a national newspaper de-
voted to ragtime and jazz music. Most of the these jazz clubs
have one or more open jam sessions for beginning players. I
don’t want to overstate the value of “sitting in” because the
quality of music played in ad hoc jam sessions varies greatly,
from very good to horrid. But it gives the beginning player
Jam sessions are fun, a chance to meet other musicians, and get into the dixieland
but they are a slow
way to develop fun-
loop.
damental jazz skills, Learning by academic study. Until the 1960s most
and may contribute conservatories and college music departments were focused
to embedding bad entirely on classic music and legitimate playing. Playing jazz
habits. of any type was often discouraged by the faculty. Gradually,
these institutions recognized that a few schools around the
country, such as Berklee, North Texas, and Westlake were
turning out well-trained commercial and jazz musicians.
Today, nearly every music school in the United States has a
jazz studies program, including many community colleges.
College departments do an excellent job of teaching instru-
mental technique, music reading, music theory, and jazz solo
skills. However, few of them acknowledge the existence of
early jazz, suggesting instead that jazz began in 1940 at Min-
ton’s when Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie hit the scene
with their be-bop inventions.
If you can find a college music department which actively
encourages early jazz, take advantage of it by all means.
Learning from a private jazz instructor. If you already
have solid technique, and have played in a quality high
school or college ensemble, you have the foundation to make
you a good early jazz instrumentalist. In that case, you un-
derstand your instrument, can read music, have a good tone,
and probably are familiar with basic music theory.
If you are a beginner, or if you are self-taught, then a jazz
instructor can help you achieve your goals much faster. Even
those of us who have have read numerous books on tech-
nique tend to fall into bad habits, and it can help immensely
to have a teacher break those bad habits, identify our weak
points, and point us to those exercises that are going to make

7
us better as players and improvisors. It is axiomatic that the
execises in our weak areas, that we hate the most, are the
ones that will give us most improvement.
If you are really lucky, near your home you may find one
of the dixieland masters who are scattered around the coun-
try. This person can become your guru, and pass down the
secrets of early jazz playing that can’t be taught by any book.
Learning from jazz camps. Finally, many local jazz soci-
eties have taken their responsibility for jazz education seri-
ously, and have established “jazz camps.” There are retreats
for both youth and adults in places like Sacramento and
San Diego, California; and New Orleans, Louisiana. These
camps give you a chance to work with some of the best all-
star jazz performers in the country. While travel and lodging
can be costly, some traditional jazz societies provide scholar-
ships for worthy applicants.

Jazz is a universal language which can be

learned and spoken by anyone, from any
culture. Here, the musically excellent Bohém
Ragtime Jazz Band from Hungary performs in
the 2008 Sacramento Jubilee opening parade.

8
CHAPTER 2 Early jazz as folk music.
Every human culture makes music. There seems to be an
innate need to drum on logs and blow through hollowed out
horns and reeds. It is a communal activity, and everyone in
the village can participate.
Early jazz is a folk music which is a mixture of many dif-
ferent musical influences, including European, African, West
Indian, and Spanish. In the folk tradition, music was passed
down orally, by practice and rote learning with families and
mentors. Besides early jazz, two examples of sophisticated
music that developed in this manner are the Klezmer music
of eastern Europe and the Gypsy music of the Balkans and
southern Europe.
Most of the early New Orleans musicians were amateurs,
or part-time players. They also held day jobs as tradesmen
and stevedores. But they were still crazy about playing music
“for every occasion” as their business cards said. Fortunately,
there were cheap used military band instruments from the
reconstruction era available to these musicians.
In New Orleans there was a loose guild or brotherhood of
working musicians who called themselves “musicianers.”
Sidney Bechet frequently used the term to describe play-
ers with a high skill level at popular music who had never
attended a conservatory or school of music. When the young
clarinetist Irving Prestopnik was admitted to conserva-
tory in New Orleans, his friends, including Louis and Leon
Prima, began ridiculing him as Irving “fa-so-la,” a joke on
the solfège pitch names. He took it as his professional music
name, and became Irving Fazola, one of few jazz players
with formal music training.
Today, amateur and part-time players are by far the largest
force keeping dixieland jazz alive, largely because there are
few sustaining jobs for full-time early jazz musicians.
The reality is that we love to get together and play jazz
with a great sense of freedom to make a personal statement,
and interact as joyous, social human beings.
Having said that, it must be noted that there is no one “cor-
rect” way to play dixieland jazz because of the very nature
of its collective freedom. Playing the same compositions will
vary widely in note selection and style from person to person
and from band to band.
Do I have to learn to read music? You may be asking, “If
early jazz is folk music, why do I have to learn to read music
notation?” It is true that some early jazz players did not read
9
much, if any, music. And there are those who feel that non-
readers play with a more original, honest, or expressive style.
However, most early jazz horn players had the ability to read
a lead sheet (melody line with chord symbols) and knew the
associated chord notes. They then played those compositions
with their own expressive style, taking great latitude with the
written notes.
An intrumentalist can learn to play early jazz without any
reading skills, by rehearsing with friends or joining jam ses-
sions. But there are some drawbacks:
• It is a slow process. You need to play it over and over
again until you get it right and memorize it. That may be fine
if you are 14 years old, but if you are 55, you don’t have that
much time, and your aging brain works more slowly.
• It is a painful process. If you are just feeling your way
around on your instrument, you are going to play many ex-
perimental “wrong” notes at first— on melody, on harmony,
on solos. These notes are going to annoy the more experi-
enced players in your group, as well as any audience that
may be present.
• It is difficult to learn new tunes. The beginning player can
probably quickly pick up Just A Closer Walk With Thee in
Concert Bb, but tunes like Copenhagen and Sweet Substitute
are more complex. The player who can read a lead sheet has
a great advantage.
• This book has less value to the non-reader. The exercises
in this book presume a ninth grade high school band reading
level, about at the intermediate method level. Some reading
skills are essential to the most fundamental part of this book:
learning your chords on your instrument.
On a recent jazz cruise, I met an intelligent fellow in his
70s who was attempting to learn jazz clarinet without music
notation. He was able to play banjo, so he knew chord se-
quences by name. And he was able to play the musical saw,
so he had a good ear. But unfortunately, he was unable to
make a connection with these skills to the clarinet, and the
musical result was unfortunately bad. Basic music reading
skills can help the player bridge that gap.
Playfulness in jazz. Just because I recommend learning
to read music does not mean that I want to take away the
inherent playfulness of jazz as a joyous, social folk music
endeavor.
Here’s an old joke: A boy comes home from school and
says, “Dad, I want to be a jazz musician when I grow up.”
The father says, “You will have to choose one or the other.”

10
Like all humor, it hints at an important truth. Jazz musicians
enjoy the music in a playful way, and still can access their
“inner child.” Notice that in Western languages, we “play”
music, not “work” music or “labor” music.
The loose, silly, adolescent approach has been a part of
early jazz from the beginning. In fact, my wife has often
observed that some adult dixieland musicians resemble little
boys with attention deficit disorder (ADD).
This stands in sharp contrast to the high seriousness of
performing concert music, in which absolute fidelity to the
score is essential. If you play ad lib notes in a concert band,
you will probably be asked to leave. If you play interesting
ad lib notes in an early jazz band, you will receive great ap-
plause.
If it is true that many jazz musicians have ADD, that might
explain why they have short attention spans and are easily
bored. That also might explain why early jazz bands were in-
trigued by “freak” solos with unusual intervals and rhythms.
This tendency was carried forward in jazz, first with bebop
in the 1940s, later in avant garde free jazz without predeter-
mined structure, and in contemporary jazz today.
Right notes and wrong notes. Some writers have sug-
gested that there are no “wrong notes” in jazz. That may
be true in contemporary jazz, but I would prefer a different
definition for early jazz: If you play a note that makes your
audience and band members wince, it is probably the wrong
note for that time and place. If your audience finds a note
that you are playing stressful or even painful, move off it
one half step until you find a note that fits better within the
chords. If you have any doubt, just look at the faces of your
audience or band mates: they will tell you if it is a “bad” note
instantly.
Most early jazz compositions (not all) use simple chords
and chord sequences that are familiar and comfortable to
audiences which might also enjoy Appalachian folk music,
Scots/Irish folk music, Bluegrass, Early Country music, and
Classical music up to about 1850.
Over the past five centuries, musical audiences have
become gradually more tolerant of complex chords, but for
our purposes in starting to play jazz, the players need to learn
primarily major and minor triads in a few standard jazz keys,
plus the addition of the dominant seventh to these triads.
Later, you can learn the diminished chords, sixth chords,
ninth chords, and major seventh chords that are also found in
early jazz compositions.

11
 My goal in this book is not to make the jazz player a slave
to the practice of chords, scales, and etudes. If you like to
play the your instrument, then daily practice can be a joy.
This is especially true if you can relate musical exercises
directly to the early jazz compositions you are learning.
The payback for your study and practice time is that you
will then be able to join a jam session or play with a band,
play notes that your audience considers “right” and receive
their warm, positive response.
If playing jazz becomes a serious chore and a source of
tension or anxiety, then you are not doing it right.

These guys are having fun! Although they

are all consummate and versatile musicians,
every show of the The Black Dogs Jazz Band
is a galloping tour de force. Show here at the
2011 Sacramento Jubilee. From left to right:
Dave Gannett, tuba; Bob Leary, guitar, banjo,
and vocals; Jim Buchmann, reeds; Tom Hook,
leader, piano and vocals.

12
CHAPTER 3 Singing through your instrument.
First, let us clarify what we are doing when we play jazz on
a musical instrument. We are not operating a mechanical
device, blowing in air and pressing key work, as one might
operate an old pump organ. We are singing through the
instrument.
The voice was the first human instrument, and a great deal
of the brain, primarily the outer cerebral cortex, is devoted to
speech. We can look upon singing as another dimension of
speaking which places more emphasis on pitch than normal
conversation does. (At least this is true in the West; many
Asian languages are more pitch and inflection sensitive.)
So if you are preparing to make a tone on a wind instru-
ment, it is helpful if you can sing it first, or “pre-hear” it. The
ideal jazz horn player would have a background in solfège
and choral music. Such a background gives a heightened
sensitivity to intervals, pitch, and intonation.
The beginning horn player begins to develop a spe-
cial sense of what note he is about to play, perhaps partly
throught muscle memory of the throat and embouchure, and
perhaps partly through inaudible vibrations which are felt
or “heard” before the tone sounds. Beginning band teach-
ers have to endure this process until young wind players can
reliably play the note they intended.
Advanced players develop this sixth sense so well that it
becomes automatic. When they initiate a tone, it comes out
precisely on pitch. As skill grows, the horn player can also
control not only the volume and pitch of the tone, but also
the character of the sound through subtle changes in breath
pressure, oral cavity shape, lip and tongue placement.
Ear training. If you already have a good ear, you are on
your way. Many early jazz players, including Sidney Bechet
and Wild Bill Davision, were able to play a melody flaw-
lessly after hearing it once, and were also able the hear the
underlying chord structure. Musicians call this ability “big
ears.”
Good jazz musicians If you have trouble hearing intervals and chords, there are
have “big ears,” a number of ways to improve your abilities through practice
which means they can and study.
hear intervals, melo-
dies, harmonies, and 1. Ear training classes. You local community college
chord sequences. probably offers classes in ear training or selfège. This is a
structured way to help you understand the musical tones you
are hearing.
2. Ear training CDs. Today there are a number of ear
13
 training methods with books and CDs available on the web
or at your local music store. They offer a relatively inexpen-
sive way to learn at home at your own pace.
3. Join a choral group. Multi-part singing is an excellent
way to improve your sense of pitch and to learn harmonies.
Joining a high school or college choir, singing in a church or
community choir, or singing with a barbershop group, will
all prove valuable.
4. Instrumental etudes. The better method books include
etudes in thirds and fourths. Studing these intervals especial-
ly will help you hear and play appropriate harmonies.
5. The cat and mouse game. Jim Buchmann uses what he
calls the “cat and mouse game” to teach younger students.
The instructor plays a series of notes, and then the student
repeats them on his or her instrument. As the game contin-
ues, the patterns become more complex and the intervals get
wider. This improves your ability to play what you hear on
your instrument.
6. Trading fours. When you are rehearsing with your
band, you can also practice the common jazz technique of
alternating solos, usually in four-bar phrases. In this case,
I recommend that the second player tries to mimic the first
player as closely as possible.
7. Transcribing. Michael Miller’s book The Complete
Idiot’s Guide to Music Theory has excellent chapters on ear
training and on transcribing music. While difficult at first for
most of us, this turns out to be a most useful skill, both in
learning solos,
More about the brain and music. The brain is a remark-
able computer, with vastly more parallel processing power
An awkward title, but
than any computer yet built. Scientists are still astonished
a very useful book
for the beginning jazz at how the brain can arrive at so many answers with such
musician. speed, compact size, and minimal energy use.
This raises the question of whether there is a genetic com-
ponent to musical talent, that is, whether gifted musicians
have a special DNA that others do not. The noted conductor
and violinist Eduoard Schmeider, who was a child prodigy
on violin in Russia, took to the violin easily and naturally at
an early age. He, and others, feel strongly that there is a ge-
netic music memory that is enherited. However, researchers
have not been able to identify a specific gene which confirms
this.
For the rest of us without special gifts, our challenge is to
develop our brain and related insrument playing body parts
to the maximum level possible.

14
 There is also a reasonable question whether the playing of
jazz and improvising are special genetic skills. I mention this
because we have all known brilliant, conservatory trained
musicians who could not feel the jazz “swing” beat, and who
were terrified at attempting improvisation.
Scientists have learned some important facts about how
the brain works that can inform our approach to playing jazz
clarinet. Most important, the cerebral cortex seems to consist
of a network of interlinked cells which have both memory
and processing capability. Called “parallel processing” in
computer speak, this allows the brain to arrive at answers
quickly using many simultaneous connections.
Some of what we learn in music is accessible to the con-
cious mind, and much more of that knowledge resides in
the subconcious. In a perfect world, we musicians should
strive to let the subconcious take over and “let the music play
itself.”
For those who wish to do more reading on this subject, I
recommend The Two Second Advantage by Vivek Ranadive
and Kevin Maney, and Music, The Brain, and Ecstasy by
Robert Jourdain.
The important point here for beginning jazz instrumental-
ists is that 1) playing the instrument well is a challenging
discipline in itself, and 2) creating jazz harmonies and solos
in real time is an even more complex event that somehow is
guided by the parallel processing abilites of the brain.
I say “somehow” because neither scientists nor music
instructors know exactly how it happens.
Some people come to it easily, as is the case when at the
age of twelve, violinist Stephane Grappelli first heard a re-
cording of Joe Venuti playing jazz. He said, “I can do that!”
rushed home, took his violin out of the case, and suddenly
began his career as a precocious jazz violinist.
Others of us study our instrument, study our chords and
scales, analyze jazz compositions and practice assiduously to
achieve gradual improvement. Do we lack something in our
DNA? Perhaps if we get great pleasure from playing jazz, it
does not matter.
The role of tension and fear. There are few artistic or
athletic activities that can be performed at the highest level
when the performer is tense, distracted, angry, or fearful.
That is certainly true when playing jazz. The emotions can
interfere with the performer’s ability to easily access those
brain cells which guide the performance.
For the horn player, this may result in a tendency to grip

15
the horn too tightly, resulting in arm and neck pain; a failure
to breathe, resulting in running out of air on long notes or
phrases; a tendency to compress the embouchure, resulting
in a pinched tone; a tendency to forget one’s part or to play
wrong notes in phrases that one normally plays well; and of
course, the bane of all clarinetists: squeaks.
As I stress in a later chapter, relaxation is essential. A state
of centered focus will allow the performer to use the large
amount of subconcious information that is packed in the
brain from years of listening, practice and performance.
Technique is useful. For those readers who have the idea
that early jazz can be played intuitively with much gusto and
few technical skills, remember what my clarinet teacher Jim
Buchmann once told me, “Technique is not an end in itself
when playing jazz clarinet, but you can never have too much
technique.”

It doesn’t matter if you play clarinet or violin if

you can hear the music. Here, clarinetist Bob
Draga trades four bar phrases with violinist
Tom Rigney at the Sacramento Jubilee. The
music just flows naturally from jazz musicians
of this caliber.
16
CHAPTER 4 What makes early jazz unique?
Early jazz is folk music. No single person invented it. Early
jazz, initially just called “jass” or “jazz,” was a fusion of
all the types of music played around New Orleans, as men-
tioned in an earlier chapter.
What makes it different from Western academic (or classi-
cal music) is the degree of freedom given to the players.

Academic music structure: European popular music began

as folk music. In the middle ages, it included the story bal-
lads and ditties of the day, and was generally performed by
roving troubadors, or jongleurs, who entertained at fairs,
festivals, and local inns. During Lent, music was forbidden,
so the troubadors converged on southern France, and held
camp-outs where they sang and played together, and taught
each other new songs. Little of this music was written down,
so even though it still exists as European folk music, we are
not sure of the performance keys and tuning of instruments
five hundred years ago.
Church music was also evolving gradually in chants and
plainsongs, although it did not have modern harmonies or
part singing.
As Western music matured during and after the renais-
sance, music schools started, and teachers began to work out
many practical and theoretical problems, including:
• Music notation.
• The naming and sequence of chords.
• Agreement of standardized pitch (typically A = 440
cycles per second in much of the world.)
• Standardization on the twelve tone scale with “equal tem-
perament,” so that harpsichords, pianos, and organs could
play in any key.
• Development and standardizaton of musical instruments.
Western music then became more professional and spe-
cialized. No longer did the musician just make up his own
music and words and sing them while playing the lute.
In Bach and Mozart’s time, it was still expected that key-
board players learn to improvise, playing variations on a
theme in real time. However, this particular art seems to have
been forgotten in the modern conservatory of music.
Academic music specialization today looks like this:
• Composers invent new musical themes.
• Arrangers or orchestrators arrange the music into a
detailed written music score and parts.
17
 • Conductors or directors interpret the score and tell the
musicians how the music is to be played.
• Musicians and/or singers, all well trained in musical
technique and music reading, perform the piece.
It is also implicit that orchestras and concert bands will
rehearse diligently so that every performance will be letter
perfect, and all performances will be exactly the same.

Early jazz structure. When you watch an early jazz band

perform, you often find that there is no conductor out front,
and that the musicians are not reading music.
If you watch the same jazz band several times, you will
notice that performances vary considerably– the same song
may be played with different tempos, harmonies, dynamics,
and solos. Every performance is different.
As we will discuss in detail later, all the musicians in an
early jazz band have a great deal of freedom to create the
music as they perform it. That means, to some degree, an
early jazz player wears the hats of composer, arranger, direc-
tor and musician. For example, the leader might call “Bb
Blues.” This is not a song, but means that the band will make
up melody and horn harmonies over 12 bar blues chords.
The two characteristics that make early jazz unique when
compared to academic Western music are:
1. Collective harmonization and improvisation. In the
typical early jazz band, players themselves select harmony
notes and countermelodies. The more skilled and experi-
enced the players, the better the musical result.
To many trained musicians this presents a huge level of
risk and fear. A jazz ensemble is going to perform without
knowing exactly how it will sound!
We must acknowledge that experienced early jazz players
do memorize or work out standard harmony parts and solos,
so their performances are not totally new each time.
2. Extemporaneous solos. Typically, every player in an
early jazz band is expected to be able to take an improvised
solo. At least, the solo should sound improvised on the spot,
even if the player has developed and carefully improved it
after many years of performing.
As we note elsewhere, these two special characteristics
don’t apply to a hot jazz band which reads all its arrange-
ments and solos. These bands are in a separate category: they
sound something like an extemporaneous jazz band, but their
performances are written, orchestrated, and performed much
like a concert band.

18
CHAPTER 5 An introduction to dixieland songs.
The names of bands, So what is the dixieland repertoire? I first asked that question
songs, and musical myself twenty years ago when I became interested in early
terms you will want to jazz, and there is no short, neat answer. It reminds me of the
further research are Supreme Court Justice, who said when ruling on pornogra-
italicized throughout
this book.
phy, “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it.”
In this introduction, I am presuming that the reader knows
nothing about the music called “dixieland” and so I will try
to give a brief overview and orientation. Even the term “dix-
ieland” is disliked by many musicians, who would prefer to
call it Traditional Jazz (Trad Jazz in the UK), Early Jazz, or
Classic Jazz. Unfortunately, none of these names has stuck.
But if you say, “I’ll be playing dixieland on Thursday night”
almost everyone has a hazy concept of what style music they
will hear.
For many years between 1900 and 1920, the African
American and Creole musicians of New Orleans simply said
they were playing ragtime, or “ragging it.”
With the success of Tom Brown’s Jass Band from Dixie-
land in 1916, and with the first recordings of the Original
Dixieland Jazz Band in 1917, the term “dixieland” came to
define the genre.
What types of compositions are played? An extensive
list of popular dixieland tunes is provided in the next chapter.
When I first entered the world of early jazz, I was puzzled,
Perhaps by luck, the because the accepted “dixieland standards” were so varied—
Original Dixieland in tone, in structure, in style. I later found that the reason is
Jazz Band was the
that dixieland is a melting pot music, and has borrowed from
first to record in
1917, ushering in the many sources. Here’s my brief analysis of the types of music
jazz craze. one might encounter at a typical dixieland jazz festival.
• Ragtime. This music began as multi-strain piano com-
positions at the turn of the 19th century. Dixieland favorites
include The Entertainer and Twelfth Street Rag.
• Cakewalks, One-Steps, Two-Steps. Pieces such as Cre-
ole Belles and At A Georgia Camp Meeting are evocative of
fast dance music played before the turn of the century.
• Hymns, Spirituals, Gospel. Dixieland is the only popu-
lar music that gets away with “jazzing up” church music.
It is done with a degree of respect and joy, and fits in the
Southern revival tradition and African-American Gospel
music. The dixieland player will learn tunes such as Amazing
Grace, Bye and Bye, and The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
• Folk Songs and Ballads. Perhaps the two most popular
of the ancient ballads are Frankie and Johnny and St. James
19
 Infirmary Blues.
• Marches. The dixieland “Second Line” parade comes
out of the New Orleans street brass band tradition, and
includes multi-strain compositions such as High Society,
Under the Double Eagle, and 1919.
• The Blues. The blues spring from the African oral tra-
dition, and most often are based on the 12-bar blues of the
Mississippi Delta, although there are also 16- and 8-bar
variations. True early blues include Mecca Flat Blues, Care-
less Love, Empty Bed Blues, Atlanta Blues, Dallas Blues, and
St. Louis Blues (1st and 3rd strains). Many of the other tunes
with “blues” in the title are more sophisticated compositions
that had the appellation tacked on to help them sell sheet
music and records during the jazz age.
• Novelty Songs. Dixieland folks have always enjoyed
lighthearted nonsense songs, ranging from Ice Cream to
Auntie Skinner’s Chicken Dinner.
• Early Jazz Original Compositions, 1900-1940. The
compositions of Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Clarence
Williams, Kid Ory, Louis and Lillian Armstrong, the New
Orleans Rhythm Kings, and The Original Dixieland Jazz
Band form the core of the classic jazz band repertoire. The
dixieland clarinet player needs to become familiar with tunes
like Original Dixieland One Step, Fidgety Feet, Copenha-
gen, Milenburg Joys, Muskrat Ramble, Dippermouth Blues,
Struttin’ With Some Barbeque, Tin Roof Blues, and Sister
Clarence Williams,
born in New Orleans, Kate to be considered a true dixieland player.
became one of the • Popular Songs of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. Dixieland
most prolific early bands have also always jazzed up the popular songs of their
jazz composers. era from Tin Pan Alley and Broadway, so you will hear Ain’t
Misbehavin’, Oh Lady Be Good, Bye Bye Blackbird, All of
Me, Chicago, Margie and almost any other popular tune that
was ever a hit, from Bill Bailey to What a Wonderful World.
There was a great fascination with faraway places in the
1920s, so we also have a subcategory of exotica in dixieland,
including The Sheik of Araby, Hindustan, San, China Boy,
and Limehouse Blues.
Music is a reflection of its times, and during the ’Teens
and 20s there were tunes that portrayed Black people as
natural musicians and dancers. To America’s credit, these
have mostly been filed away as embarrassments. However,
you will still hear Irving Berlin’s Alexander’s Ragtime Band
(1911) and Bing Crosby’s hit, Mississippi Mud (1927), in-
nocently played by dixieland bands with no malice intended.
• Revival Jazz Compositions, 1941-1960. Especially in

20
 the West Coast Jazz Revival, musicians such as Lu Watters
and Turk Murphy wrote a series of “new old” tunes such as
Big Bear Stomp, Annie Street Rock, and Emperor Norton’s
Hunch.
• Nostalgia Songs. The first wave of dixieland nostalgia
songs were about the joys of living in the Old South, some
perhaps intentionally ironic, such as Swanee, South, Dear
Old Southland, and When It’s Sleepy Time Down South. To-
day, as the dixieland audience ages, reminiscing songs such
as Radio, Saloon, Barefoot Days, and Old Bones have come
into vogue.
• New Compositions in the Early Jazz style. Of course,
George Gershwin’s there’s nothing to keep a contemporary composer from writ-
first hit was a ing songs that feel much earlier. So dixieland bands may also
dixie nostalgia song play recent material such as Why Don’t You Come Down to
made famous by Al New Orleans (1991), A Wink and a Smile (1993), Miss Ce-
Jolson. George took lie’s Blues (1985), Bring Me Sunshine (1966) and Hang On
the money, but never
mentioned it again.
Little Tomato (2004).
Whew! That’s quite a range of material. As the reader can
see, there is no single type of “dixieland song.” Their only
common feature is that they are typically written in 4/4 or
2/4 time signatures. Histories report that early jazz bands
did play waltzes for dancing, but in recent history, most jazz
leaders resist unless requested by persistent dancers.
Structure and standard keys. Because many dixieland
compositions have been passed down by rote, or learned
from records, many players can only negotiate them in the
“standard keys.”
We will talk later in detail about the chord structure of dix-
ieland tunes. But for now it is worth noting that most of them
have their tonal center near concert Bb. That places the Bb
instruments (clarinet, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone,
bass saxophone, cornet, and trumpet) in their comfortable
home key of C.
In descending order, the most common dixieland major
keys have historically been:
Concert Bb (two flats, very common)
Concert F (one flat, very common)
Concert Eb (three flats, common)
Concert Ab (four flats, common)
Concert C (no sharps or flats, relatively rare)
Concert G (one sharp, seldom used today)
You will also find entire songs, or strains of songs, which
are in the relative minor of the above keys.
Some of the multi-strain compositions in the dixieland

21
repertoire change keys from strain to strain, for example:
Original Dixieland One Step, Tiger Rag, Fidgety Feet,
Concert Bb/Eb/Ab
Yellow Dog Blues, Beale Street Blues, King Porter Stomp,
High Society, Concert Bb/Eb
That’s A Plenty, Concert Dm/Bb
Panama, Concert Eb/Ab
Wolverine Blues, Concert Bb/Eb/Bb.
The prepared dixieland player is going to be familiar with
these compositions in the standard keys.
Singer’s keys. When sheet music was prepared for jazz
standards, words were added, and the songs were usu-
ally pitched for a soprano or tenor voice. So when alto and
baritone voices sing the same song, it needs to be transposed
down several steps. This can create many problems for a
band. I can only recommend that you rehearse with the
singer, perhaps write out transposed charts, and learn the
songs in the unusual keys.
In a jam session, unfamiliar “singer’s keys” can cause out-
right trainwrecks, so if you are uncomfortable, just lay out
and let the rhythm section deal with it. Another option is to
let the vocalist sing one chorus and modulate to the standard
band key for the rest of the song.

Backing vocalists is a special skill, because

singers prefer their own keys and arrange-
ments. Here, the jazz legend Pat Yankee is
shown singing with the Frisco Jazz Band in
2008 at the Sacramento Jubilee.

22
CHAPTER 6 Song lists and resources.
Having reviewed and categorized the many types of compo-
sitions played by dixieland bands, the next question is where
to find them. There are not many legally published sheet
music resources that are still in print today, but thanks to the
internet, you should be able to access almost any song ever
written, some through legitimate sources and some through
underground sources. Be sure to read the notes on copyright
law at the end of this chapter.
Original piano sheet music. One hundred years ago, most
of the revenues from songwriting came from sheet music
sales. The composer turned over his musical sketch to the
publishing company, which polished it up and arranged it for
piano.
While the original sheet music is the best authority on a
song, there are some drawbacks for Bb horn players. They
are written in the concert key so they must be transposed by
the player, either manually or on the fly. Many early piano
charts often to do not include chord symbols, although some
have guitar tabulature above the staff.
There are vast amounts of old piano sheet music available
at low prices, but it serves mainly as a starting point for the
dixieland band to write out a lead sheet (melody with chords)
or a complete arrangement.
Another problem encountered with published sheet music
is that dixieland bands have modified songs over the years,
or have learned them by ear, so that the melody and chords
that are traditionally played today can be quite different than
the original. A good example is the sheet music of Tin Roof
Blues, which has a more intricate melody line than the com-
mon fake book version.
Written dixieland arrangements. The advantage of writ-
ten arrangments, transposed for each instrument, is that they
allow a group of reading musicians to quickly produce music
which resembles dixieland. The effectiveness of their perfor-
mance will depend on their ability to play in the jazz idiom,
and to develop a “swing” feel as discussed in a later chapter.
Most collections of dixieland standards from major pubish-
ers, such as Authentic Dixieland Original Arrangements for
Dixieland Band, The Big 3 Music Corporation, NY, NY. are
out of print, but you may still be able to find them from used
music dealers. You may also now purchase affordable and
very good arrangements at Simply Early Jazz (www.simply-
earlyjazz.com). These charts will allow a reading dixieland
23
 band to quickly develop a basic performance repertoire.
There are other smaller arrangers who sell their own
dixieland arrangements directly, and they can be located in
the classified section of The Syncopated Times newspaper or
through a web search.
Fake Books. In the 1940s, almost every piano player kept
an illegal fake book hidden under the bench. These collec-
tions had small lead sheets (melody, chords, words) of nearly
every popular song, so the pianist could play requests.
Unfortunately, most of these books still violate copy-
right laws, and therefore, I cannot direct you to the excel-
lent Firehouse Fake Book or any of the dozens of others of
lesser quality. Because these books were never authorized or
reviewed by the original publishers, they often have errors in
notes and chords.
Fortunately, there are now some legal early jazz lead sheet
collections such as The Real Dixieland Book, Hal Leonard
publisher, which are readily available from your local book-
seller or from Amazon.com.
Internet resources. There are now many excellent ways
to access dixieland music on the web. For example, you
can check the University of Chicago Library, Guide to the
Charles B. Anderson Fake Books Collection 1870-1998, and
obtain lead sheets for many obscure compositions.
Fake Book Version 2.2
The Creole Jazz Band has compiled The Creole Jazz Band
† C treble
Fake Books with copyright-free tunes written before 1923.
They are available at www.creolejazzband.com for free
This fake book series download in C, Bb, Eb, F, Treble Clef and C Bass Clef ver-
is a good place to
start because all sions.
songs are copyright- As mentioned above Simply Early Jazz offers a growing
free, and the books list of early jazz arrangements at www.simplyearlyjazz.com.
are a free download. Another excellent networking source is to join the Dix-
ieland Jazz Mailing List or DJML at www.islandnet.
com/~djml.
Facebook users should see Dixieland Jazz and Our Kind of
Music.
A Beginning Song List. The list on the following pages
was used by a recent jazz cruise as their tune list for jammers
with prefered keys indicated. It is a very basic list, and many
(not all) of the tunes are simple in their structure and easy to
learn. The list includes some of the most popular and fre-
quently recorded compositions of the past hundred years.
Every aspiring dixieland musician should be familiar with
these dixieland standards. A dixieland band could work from
this list and soon be able to play an interesting program.

24
Some Algiers Strut F (Oh) Lady Be Good F
Common Am I Blue F Mama Don’t Allow Bb
Dixieland All of Me C Mama’s Gone Goodbye Bb
Jam Tunes Ain’t Misbehavin Eb Mandy Make Up Your Mind F
Alcoholic Blues Eb Margie F
and Their
Alexander’s Ragtime Band C/F Mecca Flats Blues C
Keys Am I Blue F/Bb Melancholy Blues F
Angry Bb Milenburg Joys Bb
At The Jazz Band Ball Bb Muskrat Ramble Ab or Bb
Avalon F My Blue Heaven Eb
Baby Face C Nobody’s Sweetheart F
Baby, Won’t You Please Oh Baby! F
Come Home F or Ab Once In Awhile Bb
Basin Street Blues Bb Panama Bb/Eb/Ab
Beale Street Blues Bb/Eb Peoria Bb
Big Butter and Egg Man F Ponchartrain Blues Bb
Bill Bailey F Precious Lord Ab
Bourbon Street F/Ab Rosetta F
Bugle Boy March F Royal Garden Blues F/Bb
Bye Bye Blackbird F Runnin’ Wild Bb
Cakewalking Babies From Home Bb San Francisco Bay Blues Bb
Canal Street Blues F Shade Of The Old Apple Tree F
Careless Love F Shake That Thing Eb
China Boy F Shiek of Araby Bb
Dallas Blues Bb Shine Eb
Darktown Strutters Ball Bb/C Some of These Days F
Dinah F/Ab Someday Sweetheart F
Do You Know What It Means South Eb
to Miss New Orleans C St. Louis Blues F
Dr. Jazz Eb Storyville Blues Ab
Everybody Loves My Baby F Sweet Georgia Brown F
Exactly Like You Bb Sweet Sue F
Fidgety Feet Bb/Eb/Ab Sweethearts on Parade F
Five Foot Two Bb That’s A Plenty Bb
Frankie And Johnny Bb Tiger Rag Bb/Eb/Ab
Georgia On My Mind F Tin Roof Blues Bb
Hindustan Bb Tishimingo Blues F
Honeysuckle Rose F Trog’s Blues Bb
How Come You Do Me Like You Do Bb Trouble In Mind F
I Can’t Give Anything But Love F Up A Lazy River F
I Found A New Baby F Wabash Blues Eb
I’m Gonna Sit Right Down Washington And Lee Swing Bb
and Write Myself a Letter Bb/C Way Down Yonder F
Indiana F Weary Blues F/Bb
It’s a Long Way To Tipperary Bb What A Friend We Have In Jesus F
Ja-Da F When I Grow Too Old To Dream F/Eb
Jazz Me Blues Eb When You’re Smiling Bb
Just a Closer Walk Bb Who’s Sorry Now Bb & Eb
Just a Little While to Stay Here F/Ab Yellow Dog Blues Bb/Eb
Just Because Bb You Always Hurt The One You Love Bb

25
 As one might expect, given that many thousands for songs
which are suitable for dixieland performance have been writ-
ten over the past century, every band leader and dixieland
society has their favorites. As a beginning player, you can’t
possibly learn them all right away, but the list above is a
good place to start.
An important word about copyrights. There is a mis-
conception that the “old” songs played by dixieland bands
are in the public domain and may be copied and used freely.
While that is probably true of compositions copyrighted be-
fore 1923, all the later songs do enjoy some degree of copy-
right protection.
When you buy sheet music or fake books from a reputable
publisher which states the authors and copyright holders of
the composition, you are paying a small royalty for the right
to receive the song in printed or electronic form.
Sheet music obtained from underground sources without
payment to the copyright holders is very likely illegal. Yes,
it is true that many dixieland bands ignore the rules, but one
should still be aware of them.
It is also possible that your band, or the organization hir-
ing your band, may be asked to pay a license fee for public
performance of copyrighted songs. That revenue is then paid
to the authors or their heirs through a complex formula by
the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publish-
ers (ASCAP) or Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI). For
example, copyrights on Jelly Roll Morton’s later copyrighted
compositions still generate income to his heirs in a five-fig-
ure amount every year.
If you intend to record a copyrighted song, you should
contact a company such as the Harry Fox Agency (HFA) to
negotiate and pay for a “mechanical license” to do so.

26
CHAPTER 7 Dixieland styles and skills.
Tex Wyndham, noted pianist, cornetist, band leader and jazz
writer, defines seven distinct styles in his 1997 book, Texas
Shout: How Dixieland Jazz Works and I recommend his
book highly as a general introduction to the music and its
history.
However, our purpose in this chapter is to give you, the
new dixieland player, an understanding of what skills you
will need to develop to play in dixieland ensembles today, so
I will symplify Tex’s categories a bit.
Having started several bands myself, I understand that
most bands are driven by enthusiasm rather than by analysis,
meaning that they don’t sit down and write a specific plan
which defines the band, its instrumentation, and its style.
Consequently, some bands play a mix of many different
early jazz styles, either by design, or because “we just liked
that song.” They are, as Duke Ellington always claimed of
his band, “beyond category.”
If one goes to a dixieland jazz festival today, one will find
that the most popular bands fit into five general dixieland
categories.
1. Reading combos and hot dance ensembles. If you are
going to play with a band which uses written arrangements,
you will not need to know much about music theory, nor will
you need to improvise your own harmony lines. All that will
be resolved by the arranger.
The skills you will need include:
1. Very good music reading and interpretation skills.
2. Excellent technique and intonation.
3. The ability to play in different keys comfortably.
4. Some extemporaneous solo skills. (Need varies.)
The Devil Mountain Jazz Band has Hot dance ensembles, such as The Royal Society Orchestra
a huge library of written arrange-
ments, but the players are also ex-
and Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, usually feature short solo
ceptional soloists. This allows them segments, and depend on playing precision for their effect.
to re-create classic jazz recordings In some cases in hot dance bands, solos may be written out
from King Oliver to Lu Watters to note for note.
Duke Ellington. The classic large reading band was The Bob Crosby Band
of the 1930s and 40s. Other popular reading dixieland en-
sembles such as The Devil Mountain Jazz Band and Black
Swan Classic Jazz Band may feature longer solos, but de-
pend on their own arrangements to create their special sound
and texture. The premise is that the band can give a convinc-
ing performance as long as qualified reading substitute play-
ers are available.
27
 2. Chicago style. Today, hundreds of dixieland bands around
the world play variations of the Chicago style even if they
can’t define it. Essentially, these bands play without written
arrangements. A common song routine is: one or several en-
semble choruses clearly stating the melody, then a number of
extemporaneous solo choruses around the band, and finally,
one or more ensemble choruses, culminating in a climactic
“out chorus.”
These bands gather their inspiration from the many groups
that Eddie Condon assembled in Chicago and New York.
They may feature a guitar and string bass in the rhythm sec-
The Buck Creek Jazz Band is an tion, and a 2/4-beat swing feel is common. Dixieland bands
example of a popular band which of this style dominated 52 Street in New York City during
plays without written arrangements the 1940s, and played mostly hot swinging jazz for listening.
in a mannner reminiscent of the
Because in the early days, the musicians were profession-
best of Eddie Condon’s Chicago
style bands. als, working six nights a week, they all learned the standard
harmonies and “routines,” that is, the sequence of special
introductions, verses, choruses, breaks, and endings. They
were a unique collection of highly skilled musicians that the
world has not seen in many decades because of the decline in
live jazz employment.
Chicago style music may include both early New Orleans
standards and pop tunes of the 20s, 30s, and 40s.
The skills you will need to play convincing Chicago style
dixieland include:
1. A very good ear for music.
2. Fluent extemporaneous solo skills.
3. The ability to create ensemble harmony lines.
4. Reasonably good technique and tone.
One does not have to look far to find this style of dixieland
on recordings. Listen to any of the fine Eddie Condon Bands,
those bands led by Art Hodes, bands led by Wild Bill David-
son or Tommy Saunders, or The World’s Greatest Jazz Band.
Even though they are not geographically near Chicago or
New York, Pete Fountain has played this style of music in
New Orleans, as has Bob Schulz’s Frisco Jazz Band on the
West Coast.

3. Uptown New Orleans Archaic. The style of dixieland

which reaches back farthest to the influence of African blues
and folk music is the “jass” played by black and Creole
musicians in the early 1900s in the rougher portions of New
Orleans Uptown, including the Storyville tenderloin district.
In the 1920s many of the more skilled early jazz players
dispersed across the country, and because they played more

28
 sophisticated jazz, this early style was largely forgotten,
sustained by a few traditional musicians in New Orleans.
To modern ears accustomed to the precision of the Dukes of
Dixieland and enhanced recording techniques, the Uptown
style sounds primitive and a bit out-of tune.
This music was revived in the 1940s by a dedicated group
of early jazz afficianados when cornet player Bunk Johnson
was brought out of retirement. Clarinet player George Lewis,
who had been struggling for years in New Orleans, was
finally raised to prominence with Bunk’s all-star and, and
the early uptown style was promoted as “The Real Jazz” by
French jazz writer Huges Panassié.
The style relies on early New Orleans tunes such as Buddy
Bolden’s Blues, My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It, Didn’t He
Ramble, and All the Girls Go Crazy. The music is usually
learned by rote, played by ear, directed by hand signals in
simple routines, and stresses ensemble playing with a minu-
mum of extended solos.
To play with an Uptown New Orleans style group, your
skills should include:
1. An earthy tone, perhaps with vibrato.
There have been several 2. The ability to invent counterpoint, essentially three-
generations of Preservation
Hall jazz bands whch all ex-
part polyphony.
emplify the early archaic New 3. Ability to participate in extemporaneous back-
Orleans style of jazz. Many grounds and riff choruses.
recordings are available. 4. Ability to play the blues with conviction and emotion.
Exceptional technique is not essential, nor are advanced
soloing skills. These bands stay in a few standard keys, sel-
dom modulate, and usually have a straight four-beat rhythm
pattern on the banjo.
Today, the Uptown New Orleans style is most identified
with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

4. West Coast Revival. In California in the early 1940s, the

Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band established the signature
West Coast Revival style. Like King Oliver’s Creole Jazz
Band, West Coast Revival bands usually include two cornets,
a trombone and a clarinet in the front line. The back line
typically includes a tuba, banjo and piano. However, the Lu
Watters sound is significantly louder and more rhythmically
insistent than the older King Oliver approach.
West Coast Revival repertoire includes a mix of early
dixieland standards, many multi-strain, and “new old” tunes
composed in the 40s and 50s such as Big Bear Stomp and
Annie Street Rock.

29
 Another very popular band in California in the early 50s
was the Firehouse Five Plus Two which featured George
Probert on the soprano saxophone. If you play soprano sax,
this gives you an authentic period sound, and also the ability
to complete with a loud brass front line. West Coast bands
sometimes incorporate bass saxophone and alto saxophone
into the mix.
To play with a West Coast Revival style group, your skills
should include:
Seattle’s Uptown Lowtown Jazz Band
plays a powerful West Coast style
1. A powerful tone.
with a mix of four horns, including 2. The ability to learn the West Coast repertoire and
cornet, trombone, clarinet, and a standard harmonies.
variety of saxophones. In the Lu 3. Good technique and solo abilities.
Watters and Turk Murphy tradition, Today, some of the powerful bands which continue this
they do not use a drummer.
tradition in their own ways include the Devil Mountain Jazz
Band, the Uptown Lowdown Jazz Band, and Cornet Chop
Suey.

5. British Trad. After World War II, the English were re-
minded of early jazz once again and began to study the re-
maining old guard of New Orleans musicians who were still
alive. Soon, their own version of Uptown New Orleans jazz
emerged, and spread across the British Empire to Canada,
Scotland, New Zealand, and Australia.
British Trad bands usually have a banjo as the main chord-
al instrument playing in an insistent 4/4 beat. There may be
no piano. String bass is common as the bass instrument. This
gives British Trad bands an open sound, which allows more
room for clarinet harmonies and embellishments to be heard.
Frequently British Trad bands will play a simple tune like
Bye and Bye or There’s an Old Spinning Wheel with many
variations and subtlties, gradually building dynamics and
intensities, ofter giving multiple solo choruses for seven to
The Climax Jazz Band of Toronto, ten minutes.
Canada, is a classic example of For the instrumentalist, the skills needed are very similar to
British Trad, with a back line of those of Uptown New Orleans archaic. A good British Trad
banjo, upright bass, and drums, and
a front line of cornet, trombone, and
player will also have:
clarinet or soprano saxophone. There 1. Superior soloing skills.
is no piano. 2. The ability to invent a long series of choruses with
variations.
3. A sensitivity to dynamics.
The best way to get the difference is to listen to the classic
recordings of Chris Barber, Monty Sunshine, Kenny Ball,
and to the work of The Golden Eagle Jazz Band, Climax Jazz
Band, and Grand Dominion Jazz Band.

30
Other less common dixieland styles. As you begin to dig
into the history of dixieland, you will notice some famous
bands which played in styles that you do not hear played to-
day. Tex Wyndham notes these two styles in his book Texas
Shout:
White New Orleans. Even though white dixieland groups
such as the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, New Orleans
Rhythm Kings, and the Original Memphis Five burst on the
scene, recorded, and enjoyed broad popularity in the Roar-
ing Twenties, today we find few bands that play consistently
in their style. The most prominent is Dan Levinson’s Roof
Garden Jass Band, which is able to re-create live, note-for-
note, many of the classic and obscure recordings of that time,
thanks to Dan’s impeccable arrangements.
Downtown New Orleans. The more advanced black
bands who worked in the classier establishments of down-
town New Orleans were also the first to move to Chicago,
New York, and California as jazz became popular. These
bands were noted for excellent technique and advanced rou-
tines or “head arrangements.” Famous bands in this class in-
clude Joe Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, Ory’s Sunshine Orches-
tra, Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers, Sidney Bechet’s
New Orleans Feetwarmers, and Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five
and Hot Seven (the last two being primarily recording studio
bands.)
Possibly because of the virtuosity and discipline needed
to play in this style, modern bands may play the repertoire
of these great groups, but may not work out every number
as tightly as the orginal bands did. In truth, Louis Armstrong
himself abandoned this style in the 1930s, only coming
back to a looser small group with his All-Stars in the 1950s,
whose routines were then much closer to Chicago style than
Downtown New Orleans.

31
CHAPTER 8 Playing lead in early jazz.
Playing straight lead. Early jazz still values the melody of a
composition, and it is usually appropriate to play a straight,
accurate rendition of the melody during the first chorus of a
tune. That is especially true if the song you are playing is a
venerable favorite of the audience, such as Amazing Grace
or Stardust. This doesn’t mean that you can’t give a familiar
melody your own stylistic emphasis, but you should stay
close to the written melody line, because the audience is
probably singing or humming along with you.
The open or punchy lead. When you are playing lead
and have another horn playing harmony with you, then you
need to think like a hot jazz cornetist. The basic rule is this:
Play with a more “punchy” short style to leave room for the
other horn, or horns, to respond and play fills. In contrast to
concert band syle, you do not need to hold half notes and
whole notes to full value (don’t tell your concert band direc-
tor I said this.) To get a feeling for this style of lead, listen to
recordings with Wild Bill Davison or Ernie Carson on cornet
lead.
Embellishing the melody. After the first chorus in early
jazz, the lead instrument can feel free to move farther and
Dave Tatrow, shown here with farther away from the melody, in many ways. Shown below
Wally’s Warehouse Waifs, plays the is a simple example of the way a jazz lead player might “per-
punchy style of cornet lead that sonalize” the melody to Bill Bailey:
beginning players would do well Notice some of the techniques:
to emulate. • Using pickup notes or runs to enter a phrase.
• Moving the rhythmic emphasis from a strong beat to a
weak beat.
• Shifting the melody forward (anticipating) or backward
(laying back.)
• Simplifying the melody, or recasting parts of it.
• Adding notes within the chords or chordal scales of the
composition.
Embellishing a melody is a very personal skill, and does
not follow any set formula. It is the result of musical experi-
ence, knowledge of chords, a good ear, and the inspiration of
the player.
The primary difference between melodic embellishment
and a pure jazz solo is that the original melody is still delin-
eated in some way.

32
 Jazz Lead Style (Bill Bailey chorus, first half)
4     
As written
 4  
4          
Jazz Lead
1
 4 2 3 4

   
As written
   

   
Jazz Lead
   
5 6 7 8

    
As written
  

        
Jazz Lead
9
 10 11 12

    
As written
  

         
Jazz Lead
   
13 14 15 16
Concert F
Transposed for
Bb Instruments. Annotating jazz. As Gunther Schuller repeatedly men-
tions in his books on jazz, our Western music notation falls
short of giving a good picture of the subtleties of jazz articu-
lation and micro-timing. The suggested jazz phrasing in the
above example needs to be played with a jazz swing feeling
as discussed later in Chapter 13.
Jazz as recorded can be transcribed more precisely, but
it then requires some tricky dotted thirty-second notes and
rests, requiring a very advanced reader to perform it.

33
CHAPTER 9 Ensemble roles in early jazz.
Each instrument has a specific role in the dixieland en-
semble, which varies somewhat depending on the size of the
band and the style of early jazz being played.
There were typically two types of bands in turn-of-the-
century New Orleans: indoor bands and outdoor bands.
Indoor bands were often led by a violinist and were hired
for dancing. Instrumentation might include violin, cornet, Bb
clarinet, trombone, guitar, string bass and trap set. Dynamics
were quieter, and the clarinet could play comfortably in the
low register.
Outdoor bands were normally marching bands with cornet,
trombone, tuba, bass drum, snare drum, banjo and clarinets.
Often the smaller Eb clarinet was used to scream over the
powerful brass ensemble. These were parade bands, and un-
like today, rarely played indoors for dancing.
Despite the common notion that a dixieland band must
have six pieces, small groups have always been a part of
jazz, going back to the earliest days in New Orleans where
they were called “short bands.” The leader, that is, the band
member contracting the job, would hire as many, or few
players as the budget allowed. And because the economics
of live music are always shaky, plenty of short bands will be
found today.
Two-piece bands. Perhaps the finest band of this type
today is that of Guy Van Duser, guitar, and Billy Novick,
The Reynolds Brothers are two
brilliant musicians who can
clarinet, called simply Guy and Billy. These brilliant players
perform as a duo or add horns to make an astonishing amount of music. While the guitar is
make a larger band. playing rhythm and chords, the clarinet is called upon to play
the lead, then to play jazz solos, and finally to play back-up
parts while the guitar is soloing. I recommend their CDs
highly. You might also refer to duo CDs recorded by pianist
Dick Wellstood and clarinetist Kenny Davern.
Three-piece bands. The trio format, with one horn, bass,
and banjo/guitar/piano is another short band option. The
horn player still needs to know the lead to every tune, and
to be able to solo. But the ensemble load is divided between
the string/bass and the chordal instrument. In my regular
performances with the Milneburg Jazz Band (banjo, bass,
clarinet/soprano sax) I found that the soprano saxophone
came in handy to provide a change of texture, to cover the
Sidney Bechet repertoire, and also to provide a punchy lead
The original Milneburg Jazz Band for Louis Armstrong favorites such as Struttin’ With Some
lineup, just three players. Barbeque, Dippermouth Blues, and Mahogany Hall Stomp.
34
 Four-piece bands. When the music buyer can afford four
players, the leader has more options. For example, I regu-
larly play in bands of cornet, clarinet, banjo and tuba. The
horns get many solo opportunities.
If music is being played for dancing, the four-piece combo
might change to one horn (saxophone, trumpet or trombone),
piano, bass and drums. While not dixieland style, the famous
Benny Goodman quartets used clarinet, piano, vibraphone,
and drums.
Five-piece bands. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band,
being the first jazz band to record, defined the early instru-
mentaton: cornet, clarinet, trombone, piano and drums. It
is worth noting that there was no banjo and no tuba is this
archetypal ensemble.
The piano and drums provided all the chordal and rhythm
background, while the horns took on roles which reached
back to Western African music.
The “B” side of their first recording was a tune called Liv-
ery Stable Blues (also Barnyard Blues). In the solo breaks,
the clarinet mimics a rooster crow, the cornet whinnies like a
An historic photo of the Original horse, and trombone moos like a bull. Jazz musicians today
Dixieland Jazz Band. Five pieces, no find this comparison to be unbearably corny, but as Gunther
banjo, no tuba, apparently not a real Schuller writes in Early Jazz, it springs from the traditions of
piano either. But they set the world African music which found their way to New Orleans.
on fire, and no one seemed to miss So there you have it. In dixieland, the clarinet plays the
the shortage of players.
role of the bird. The facile clarinetist can play many notes
quickly, play high notes in the range of bird calls—in other
words, the clarinet can flit about and embellish in ways that
are beyond the average cornetist and trombonist.
By virtue of its power, the cornet (or trumpet) plays the
role of the stallion—strong, dashing, dominating, leading.
Because cornetists tend to have those personality traits as
well, the cornetist is traditionally the band leader in dixie-
land. (Note that there are many happy exceptions to this rule,
because while the cornetist in question may be a fine lead
player and soloist, he or she may not have a good sense of
what tunes to call, or how to set the right tempo.) The cornet-
ist also is usually the “stage director” because he can play
with one hand, and give signals with the other. The trombon-
ist and clarinetist have both hands tied up.
The trombone is relegated to the baritone voice role, and
plays a “tailgate” counterpoint in most styles of dixieland.
But the lower register of the clarinet and the trombone can
blend very nicely, as can be heard often in recordings of the
trio of High Society.

35
 Six-piece bands. It is hard to pinpoint exactly when the
six-piece band became the standard dixieland ensemble, but
today, that is what most people think of when dixieland is
mentioned.
As in the early five piece bands, the front line is usually
cornet, clarinet, trombone. The back line can vary. Indoors it
might be drums, piano, and string bass. Outdoors it might be
washboard, banjo and tuba.
The clarinet is responsible for the high harmonies and busy
The Bridgetown Sextet, show here
with guest vocalist Marilyn Keller at embellishment. It is also traditional for the clarinet to take
the 2013 Seaside Jazz Festival, was, the first jazz solo, although there is no musical reason this
yes, six pieces as the name implies. should be so.
A sensitive brass section will know how to control its dy-
namics so it can blend. The more skilled bands have always
known how to accomplish this so the clarinet part is not
buried.
If the band is inherently loud, or if it lacks dynamic re-
straint, the clarinet should play on a microphone if a sound
system is available.
Seven-piece bands. With the addition of a second cornet,
or an alto or tenor saxophone, a band’s volume increases and
the clarinet must often fight even harder to be heard.
It is also much harder for the fourth horn player to find a
note in ensemble passages that is not already covered, which
explains why when bands get larger than three horns, they
often resort to written charts for the ensemble passages to
avoid complete chaos.
The High Sierra Jazz Band is actu-
Larger bands. Larger ragtime or jazz ensembles, such
ally a seven-piece band. Drummer as James Reese Europe’s Army Hellfighters band of WWI,
Charlie Castro is hidden behind about 30 pieces, apparently memorized their arrangements,
trombonist Howard Miyata. much like a modern college marching band. When a band
reaches that size, written arrangements are essential.

36
CHAPTER 10 Special instrumental jazz effects.
Because many early black jazz horn players were self taught,
and also had a heritage of West African music, there are sev-
eral special effects identified with jazz. However, remember
that using these effects does not suddenly make you a fine
jazz player.
They are most useful when playing the blues, when a
lowdown or dirty effect is desired. Early New Orleans play-
ers possessed an African sense of pitch, and often played the
“blue notes” in the blues a quarter tone flat to European ears.
The most common effects are:
• Vibrato
• The growl.
• The swoop.
• The dip.
• The glissando.
It is best to reserve these effects for occasional, not ha-
bitual, use. (Also remember never to use these effects in a
concert band situation or near your instrument teacher.)
• Vibrato. Jazz horn players often use a little terminal vi-
brato at the longer notes. A few use the continuous and wide
vibrato of Sidney Bechet, but this is out of style today.
• The growl. To growl, simply hum into the mouthpiece
at the same time you blow the instrument. You can hum the
same note your instrument is sounding, or a different one.
Experiment.
• The swoop. In this case, the horn starts the note below
pitch and quickly lips it up to pitch. Use it sparingly.
• The dip. The note is approached on pitch, and then
lipped below pitch and back up. This creates musical tension
and perhaps suggests emotional involvement. However, it
can also become a music cliché.
• The glissando. With practice, cornets and clarinets can
create a seamless portamento glissando of an octave or more,
usually moving from a low note to a high note. There are
different techniques, and it does take some practice and ex-
perimentation to sound like a slide trombone on other instru-
ments.

37
CHAPTER 11 Performance tips, tension and attitude.
There are times for many musicians when playing an instru-
ment becomes a struggle. For me, this has been especially
true when playing in community concert bands and orches-
tras, but it can also happen when trying to master a difficult
jazz solo.
Physically, playing an instrument at a high level requires
hours of practice, which can breed tension in the embou-
chure, neck, arms, fingers, and back. The player must take
regular breaks, and do stretching exercises or yoga to keep
from knotting up.
Psychologically, the player needs to become mentally
and emotionally centered and to cultivate a positive attitude
about performing. Books that I highly recommend are The
Inner Game of Music by Barry Green, Free Play by Stephen
Nachmanovitch, and Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner.
The legitimate classical player becomes seriously engaged
in performing the composer’s intent, with both great preci-
sion and understanding, usually with the filtering interpreta-
tion of a demanding director. If this is your life’s work, then
it can be very fulfilling. I am sad to say that it has not always
been a positive experience for me.
However, playing early jazz has been very liberating and
joyful. Most of the time, it has been downright fun, and it
should be. Some of this comes from the ebullient person-
alities of other jazz musicians. Some of it springs from the
dixieland jazz environment, which usually has a carefree and
party atmosphere. And much of it grows out of the freedom
to create one’s own music.
All music is performed best when the players are prepared,
comfortable, happy, and relaxed, but this is especially true of
dixieland jazz. As you work your way through this book, and
the exercises it recommends, you should find enough little
breakthroughs to keep you enthusiastic.
If learning to play your horn seems too formidable a chal-
lenge, or if the work becomes a grind, then you need to put
away this book for a few days, find a dixieland jazz festival
or jazz society, go meet some experienced dixieland musi-
cians or sympathetic musical friends, and just blow your
horn for a while.

38
CHAPTER 12 Hand signals on stage.
It may seem confusing when a reading musician first joins
a traditional Chicago-style band or jam session, because
the musicians seem to have a secret language and unstated
expectations. It is useful to understand some of the hand
signals and traditional routines that have become embedded
in this type of music. Typically the cornet player leads the
band, and gives the hand signals, simply because he can play
Two flats, Conc. Bb with one hand and give signals with the other.
When playing dixieland, it’s bad to get in the habit of
playing with your eyes closed, either in solos or ensemble
sections, because most of the conducting is done with eye
contact and hand signals.
Common hand signals.
Concert C The concert key of a song (or key change for the next
chorus) is indicated by the number of fingers held out. The
number of fingers held down indicates the number of flats in
a key signature. Two fingers held down indicate Concert Bb.
Concert C is usually indicated by making a “zero” or “C”
with two fingers. The sharp in Concert G would be indicated
by extending up one finger, although that is not a common
Your solo key in most dixieland jams.
Your solo. When the trumpet player points at you, it
means the next solo will be yours. (Don’t jump in immedi-
ately; wait until the current chorus is complete.)
I don’t want one. If you don’t want to solo, just give a
“no” sign with your palm, or shake your head no.
No solo please Take two. When two fingers are held up, that means to
take two complete solo choruses. This occurs usually on fast
tunes in which choruses are very short, so it gives the solo
player a chance to stretch out.
Half solos. The “X” sign, with crossed hands or crossed
fingers means to split the solos in half and share them. In
other words, instead of a 16-bar solo, you play 8 bars and
Split solo choruses pass it on to the next soloist. This happens often in large jam
sets to allow everyone to have a short solo.
Trade fours (or twos). When one player establishes eye
contact with another player, holds up four fingers, and points
them back and forth between the two players, it indicates,
“Let’s trade four-bar solo phrases” or “Trade fours.” Of
Trade fours course, you can do the same thing with two fingers to indi-
cate trading two bar phrases, although this is trickier to pull
off.

39
 Everyone in. When the cornet player holds up one finger
and moves it in a “round-up” circle, it means, “Everyone in,
this is an ensemble chorus.” This is usually the sign to end
Play ensemble solo choruses.
Last chorus. A fist held up means “this is the last chorus.”
Go out at the end.
Go to the top. Touching an open palm to the top of the head
means, “Go to the top,” which usually indicates going back
to the verse, first stanza, or sometimes even to the introduc-
Last chorus tion of the tune.
Get down. A flat hand held down at knee level indicates that
the next chorus is going to be played in a restrained style,
at a pianissimo level. This may also be called a “chatter”
chorus.
One down/one up. As a band is nearing the last ensemble
choruses, the cornet may give a hand signal, pointing down
Go to the top
with one finger, then up. That means to play a quiet and
restrained chorus, followed by a loud and exuberant final
chorus.
Four bar drum break. When four fingers are held up to the
drummer, usually in the final chorus of a tune, that indicates
that the drummer (or banjo, or piano) is to take a four-bar
Get down, quieter extemporaneous solo, followed by the band playing a varia-
tion on the final four bars of the song. It is critical to listen to
the cornet player to catch the shape of these last four bars.
Stop time. One common way to indicate that the band is to
play only on the first beat of each measure, is to hold both
fists up like you are doing a pull-up, then pull them down on
the desired beat. This technique is usually used to accom-
One down, one up pany a drum solo, with the horns playing harmony quarter
notes on the signal.
Sequence of solos. The traditional sequence of solos in
dixieland has been clarinet, cornet, trombone, rhythm instru-
ments. It does not have to be this way, but in general, most
cornet players like to have a chorus to rest their chops after
Four bar break the first ensemble and before their solo chorus, and also
a rest break before the final (out) chorus or choruses. As
mentioned earlier, the sequence is usually indicated by the
cornet player catching the eye of the players during the solo
sequence, and pointing to each of them, and to himself, to
indicate the solo sequence.
Stop time beat

40
CHAPTER 13 Early jazz rhythms and articulation.
Rhythm is what differentiates early jazz from other types of
music. Jazz began as dance music. Even if the Creoles and
African Blacks of New Orleans were marching in a parade,
they were dancing. And to this day, the best dixieland has
drive, a clear dance pulse, and a sense of swing.
European. The European light classical music that jazz
drew from has a much different feeling. In 4/4 time, the em-
phasis is on the strong beats, 1 and 3, and that is where most
people of European extraction will clap their hands along
with music.
Eighth notes in European marches, polkas, and schottisch-
A collection of West African
drums and rattles in the Kura Hu- es are usually well separated, in the dotted eighth/sixteen
landa Slave Museum in Curacao. note pattern shown below.
Early jazz was strongly influenced European Pulse
    
by commerce with the West Indies.

 1 2 3 4
Clapping Pulse Eighth Note Feel
This is the style played by most legitimate reading orches-
tras of the period, and is generally considered stiff, corny, or
“rickey-tick” by jazz musicians.
Ragtime. Ragtime music is misnamed. The term came
from the epithet “ragged time,” but the beat of ragtime music
is not irregular, it is the syncopated figures that are played
over the pulse and across the bar lines that give its rhythmic
interest. Compared to European light classical music, the
underlying pulse of ragtime is comparatively unaccented.
Unaccented Pulse

 1 2 3 4
Clapping Pulse Eighth Note Feel
As Jelly Roll Morton said, “Ragtime is a certain type of
syncopation and only certain tunes can be played in that
idea. But jazz is a style that can be applied to any type of
tune.” If you listen to some of the earliest recorded jazz
examples mentioned in this book, you will notice a progres-
sion from about 1917 to about 1930 from the rather straight
ragtime beat and crisp articulation, to a more relaxed African
feel called swing with a laid back rhythm and legato style.
Swing. So how do we define swing? Gunther Schuller,
the most musically qualified author on the subject of jazz,
discusses swing at length in his important books, Early Jazz

41
 and The Swing Era. Two important elements of swing are
the “type of inflection and accentuation with which notes
are played” and “the forward propelling directionality” with
which notes are linked to gether.
Swing has a strong African influence. An African-Amer-
ican audience, or a knowledgeable jazz audience, will clap
along with jazz music on the off beats, 2 and 4.
Eighth notes in jazz with a “swing feel” are given a 2/3
to1/3 relative value, and usually are played semi-legato.
Swing Pulse
    
 1 2 3 4 3 3 3 3
Clapping Pulse Eighth Note Feel

Still, I recommend listening to bands led by Eddie Con-

don or Count Basie to get a feel for swing. You must feel the
rhythm to be able to play it, or as Louis Armstrong said in
many different interviews, if you have to ask what swing is,
There is no substitute for a drum-
you ain’t ever gonna know.
mer who understands tempo and
keeps the band on track. In this Where’s the beat? In a concert band, it is presumed that
case, the drummer is the popular the center of the beat (1) occurs at the bottom the conduc-
Ron Leach. tor’s baton down stroke, and the second half of the beat (&)
happens at the end of the up stroke.

Beat Subdivisions

1 & 1 &
Anticipation Behind the beat
Center of the beat “On top of the beat” “Laying back”

Jazz players regularly and intentionally violate this rule.

Max Kaminsky, a fine lead cornetist, stated simply that for
jazz to have drive and energy, the lead player must anticipate
slightly, or stay “on top of the beat.”
On the other hand, many jazz soloists and vocalists will
place their notes slightly after the center of the beat, which is
called playing “behind the beat” or “laying back.”
Rushing and dragging. In the above examples, no mat-
ter where the lead player, soloist, or vocalist may be, the
underlying pulse (tempo) of the rhythm section must remain
the same. An inexperienced or unskilled rhythm section may
mistake the anticipation or laying back as a change in the
tempo, and follow the front line player or vocalist, resulting
in speeding up (rushing) or slowing down (dragging) of the
basic tempo. Better rhythm sections understand these prin-
ciples and will not rush or drag.

42
CHAPTER 14 A brief introduction to music theory.
“Wait a minute!” you are saying. “I just wanted to play a
little jazz, not jump into a complex and weighty topic like
music theory.”
The truth is that basic understanding of the structure of
Western music (music theory) is fundamental to playing a
jazz instrument. In the beginning, all music began as folk
music, and was played naturally and intuitively by every
human culture. Then the ancient Greeks began to grasp the
underlying mathematical relationships, and thanks to Py-
thagorus, developed the foundations for the music that we
play today, although there have been quite a few tweaks and
theoretical improvements in the past two thousand years.
The octave. Pythagorus discovered when comparing
plucked strings, that one half as long as his original string
(1:2 proportion) sounded an octave (eight notes) above it.
From modern physics, we know it was vibrating at twice
the frequency. All types of music worldwide recognize the
special similar character of octave tones.
The fifth and fourth. Pythagorus also found that a string
with a 2:3 proportion resulted at a fifth interval, a harmony
which sounded very pleasant to ancient ears. A string with a
3:4 proportion resulted in the harmony note called a fourth.
While we don’t play exactly the same frequencies today as
the ancient Greeks did, these three tonal centers, tonic (also
called I), the fourth (also called IV), and the fifth (also called
V) are important building blocks for Western music, espe-
cially the folk, jazz, and popular music we want to play.
The twelve tone scale. The ancient Greeks divided up
the space between a note and its octave into twelve tones,
based on simple Pythagorean mathematic ratios. However,
as keyboard instruments such as the organ and piano were
developed in the seventeenth century, musicians found that
playing in different key centers resulted in extreme disso-
nances, and ultimately the musical world accepted the tuning
of equal temperment. Today, when we play all twelve tones
in a scale sequence, that is called a chromatic scale, with
twelve half steps, and each half step has precisely the same
harmonic distance between the note above and below. We’ll
discuss the basic types of scales you need learn for jazz in
the next chapter.
As I have said, jazz is a folk music that can be, and should
be, played from the heart by almost anyone. But by the
fourteenth century, music grew into a profession, and like
43
any guild of the time, created its own terminology, methods,
and trade secrets. The conservatory trained musician has ever
since looked down on self-taught folk musicians, including
country folk singers, western fiddlers, blues singers, klezmer
players and dixieland musicians.
Even so, these styles of music do generally adhere to clas-
sical scales, chords and harmonic progressions, even if they
were handed down as traditional tunes rather than as formal,
intellectually formed compositions.
The most friendly and accessible way to grasp the basics
of music theory that I have found is Michael Miller’s book,
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music Theory. I recommend
it very highly, because it will clarify the many questions you
probably have that cannot be covered in this book, and it will
aid your progress to the next levels of performance.
If you try to learn music theory from a first year college
music theory textbook, you will find it filled with jargon,
rules, complex harmonic discussions, and a presumption of
keyboard skills. It almost seems that the writers desire to
keep music theory as arcane and difficult as possible. Still,
as you become more advanced, you may want to pursue the
academic study of music.
I should mention here that some of the most important fig-
ures in popular music, including Irving Berlin, Louis Arm-
strong, Duke Ellington and Paul McCartney, never took a
conservatory class in music theory. They simply played and
composed “their music,” and in the process, violated many
“rules” of music theory.
Keyboard skills. As mentioned elsewhere, if you can play
piano or electronic keyboard, it can be a big help in learning
chords, their relationships, and in composing and arranging.
However, for our purposes, you still must learn your scales
and chords on your instrument to become a fluent jazz solist.
You do not have time to stop and think, “How do I play an F
chord?” The moment you see an F chord indicated on a lead
sheet, you must automatically have the notes F•A•C under
your fingers.
Unfortunately, if you double on instruments, such as clari-
net and saxophone, or cornet and trombone, you’ll need to
learn your chords and practice them on both instruments.

44
CHAPTER 15 An introduction to scales.
“Oh, no! I wanted to play dixieland, and now you have me
learning scales just like my classical teacher!” Sorry, but you
really need some facility on your instrument to play scales if
you hope to play jazz. The good news is that early jazz does
not range into keys with many sharps or flats, so you can get
started by learning a relatively small number of easy scales.
The chromatic scale. This is an important place to start
because it will acquaint you with all the notes on your instru-
ment and their note names. You will need a fingering chart
from a method book for your instrument.
For convenience, I am showing a C chromatic scale below,
in treble clef, and with the enharmonic notes with both flat
and sharp note names.
You’ll notice that in the chromatic scale each note is sepa-
rated by one semitone (one half step) equally throughout.
While this scale contains all possible notes, there is not a
feeling of a strong tonal center as in the other types of scales
we are about to discuss.
I realize that trombone and tuba/bass normally read parts
in the bass clef. However, as a practical matter in early jazz,
it useful to also read in also in treble clef, because the player
is very likely to encounter lead sheets in treble clef.
Chromatic Scale Intervals (C chromatic, lower register)
1 1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 1 1
1
  
          

  
    
(C chromatic, upper register)
     

(C chromatic, lower register, enharmonic)

   
             
   
    
(C chromatic, upper register, enharmonic)
       

Why the diatonic scale? At some point, even though the
chromatic scale is the underlying scale of Western music,
our culture standardized on scales with eight notes (seven

45
 notes plus the octave note.) The most common version is the
diatonic major scale we all know in solfège as do, re, mi, fa,
so, la, ti, do.
Scholars are not entirely sure how Western music arrived
at its present scheme of diatonic scales, although it is prob-
able that under the Pythagorean scale which was based on
perfect fifth intervals, early stringed instruments were natu-
rally easier to tune in a series of fifths. In any case, these
scales now just “sound right” to our ears.
To play early jazz, it is useful to have memorized diatonic
scales in common keys. Pentatonic and blues scales, ex-
plained later, are also useful in jazz improvising.
Major scales. In the gradual development of Western mu-
sic over the past 25 centuries, musical tastes and sensitivies
have changed significantly. In the Middle Ages, the music of
the Christian church relied on eight-note modes as its basis,
sung in unison or very simple harmonies. The church mode
called Ionian became our major scale. It is called diatonic
because of the uneven pattern of half tone steps between the
notes. (See wikipedia.com for a more complete explanation
of diatonic tuning.) Here is a C major scale:
Major Scale Intervals (C major)
2 2 1
2 1 2
2
   
    
I II III IV V VI VII Octave

As the example shows, the notes of a major scale are

separated by semitones in a pattern of 2,2,1,2,2,2,1 pattern.
The scale notes can be numbered for relative reference to the
tonic note of C; either 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 (8 would be the octave),
or in Roman numerals, I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII as I’ve done
here.
Major scales suggest a pleasant and cheery feeling.
They’re the basic building blocks of much of our music, so
you need to learn them first. Fortunately, you can start play-
ing early jazz after you have learned just a few scales.
Minor scales. Here is where music theory can become
both complex and confusing, because there are three types
of minor scales. Fortunately, the beginning dixieland player
does not need to master them all, and I refer you to Michael
Miller’s Music Theory book for a complete explanation of
the Melodic minor and Harmonic minor scales.
It is certainly important to understand the Natural minor
scale, because it is the basis for building the minor chords
46
 that appear in nearly every early jazz composition.
The natural minor scale has the same intervals as the Aeo-
lian church mode, with semitone intervals of 2,1,2,2,1,2,2
between notes.
Our ears are familiar with this scale in the music of the
Middle East and Eastern Europe, as found in Hebrew,
Klezmer and Gypsy music. For whatever cultural reason,
minor scales sound slightly sad to our ears.
Natural Minor Scale Intervals (C minor)
1 2 2
1 2 2
2
   
    
I II bIII IV V bVI bVII Octave

Note in the above example that the third of the scale is now
flatted, are as are the sixth and seventh notes. These notes
will be important as we discuss building chords in the next
chapter.
There are many compositions in jazz which alternate be-
tween a major and minor feel, sometimes between the verse
and chorus, and sometimes within a single strain, so minor
scales should be your second focus of learning.
Pentatonic scales. Many cultures have built scales us-
ing only five notes (penta is five in Latin.) They are found
in Western African music, and likely had an influence on
African-America folk music and early jazz.
We use a version of the pentatonic scale which uses notes
that fit the pitches of a major scale. It includes the first, sec-
ond, third, fifth and sixth notes of the scale.
When you play only the black notes on a piano, you are
playing a pentatonic scale in the key of C# Concert. You will
find notes from the pentatonic scale making up the melodies
of songs such Amazing Grace and Blue Skies. They are also
widely used in country and western music.
The pentatonic scales are especially valuable to a begin-
ning jazz soloist, because if you play any combination of
those five notes against the major scale or chord of the same
key, they will fit well.
Pentatonic Scale (C pentatonic)

  
   
1I II III V VI Octave

47
 As we have said elsewhere, some harmony or solo notes
in early jazz make us comfortable, and some create levels of
dissonance that create tension and discomfort. Knowing your
pentatonic scales (really very easy—you just drop the fourth
and seventh notes of a major scale) will help you play more
“good” notes.
The blues scale. Again, the blues scale is an African-
American invention which is very useful to the soloist when
playing the twelve bar blues that is so common in early jazz.
The blues grew from traditional Black folk songs, and
were usually played on the guitar. Early commentators who
tried to transcribe the music were puzzled by the flatted
thirds and fifths, which seemed strange to European ears.
To build a blues scale in any key, just use the root, flatted
(minor) third, (perfect) fourth, flatted fifth, perfect fifth, and
flatted (dominant) seventh. The flatted third and fifth reveal a
strong African influence, and the flatted (dominant) seventh
is an essential part of most blues chord changes.
As strange as this scale may seem, it tends to give the right
feeling when these notes are played in any combination over
blues chord changes.

Blues Scale (C blues)

   
   
I bIII IV bV V bVII Octave

Are you still with me? I hope the reader has been able to
follow this highly simplified introduction to scales. In Chap-
ter 17, I have included daily practice exercises which show
the scales frequently used in early jazz, .
Meanwhile, go back and play these five types of scales on
your instrument and read the chapter again if it is not clear.
Then we’ll move on to building the common chords you’ll
be using to play early jazz.

48
CHAPTER 16 Building basic chords.
There are several fundamental things you must know about
the construction of folk, early jazz, and many pop songs:
1. They have a melody line, and usually it is one that is
memorable and easily singable.
2. The melody line is usually accompanied by one or more
chords, defined as three or more notes played at the same
time.
3. Most jazz songs have more than one chord.
4. Songs normally start on one tonal center (the tonic chord),
then progress to other related chords (a chord progression) to
create musical tension, and then return to the tonic chord.
5. Most folk, early jazz, and popular songs rely on a few,
relatively simple chord structures.
If the above statements aren’t clear to you, I again rec-
ommend Michael Miller’s book on basic music theory. Of
course, when you are playing a wind instrument, you can’t
play all the notes in the chord at once, so you must play them
in sequence from bottom to top or top to bottom. That is
called a chord arpeggio.
Major chords. Here’s a C major chord triad (three notes)
and the arpeggio notes you can play:

 
Major Chord and Arpeggio (C major)

     
     
  V   
C•E•G III
I
(I realize that the third higher C•E•G may be beyond the
range of saxes and cornets, but they are useful notes to clari-
netists.)
A major chord is constructed by stacking a major third
(four semitones) above the tonic note, and then a minor third
(three semitones) above that, which is magically, a perfect
fifth (seven semitones above the tonic.) Jazz musicians sim-
ply call the notes of the chord the 1, the major 3, and the 5,
or I, III, and V.
Because the notes of major chords are based on notes from
the major scale of the same name, they have a similar cheery
character, and fit nicely with melodies made up of major
scale notes.
Major chords are indicated on lead sheets simply by the
chord name in capital letters, in this case, C.
49
 Minor chords. The other fundamental chord type in West-
ern music is the minor chord. It is similar to a major triad,
but the third is a flatted, or minor third. Even though the
difference is slight, there is a big difference in feeling to the
listener, which is often described as sad or exotic.
A minor chord is constructed by stacking a minor third
(three semitones) above the tonic note, and then a major third
(four semitones) above that. The fifth of the chord is still
a perfect fifth, just as it is in a major chord, so if you have
memorized your major triads, all you need to do is flatten the
third, and you have a minor triad.
Here’s a C minor chord and its arpeggios. It is usually
notated as Cm on a lead sheet.

  
Minor Chord and Arpeggio (C minor)

     
      
   V

   
C•Eb•G bIII
I
Inversions. For some reason lost in the past, chords are
identified by their note names, that is their spelling, even
if the notes are played in a different arrangement as shown
below. So if you are trying to identify a chord name by its
note structure, you have to forget about which notes are top,
middle, and bottom, and just say the note names. These are
the possible variations of a C major chord:
Major Triad Inversions (C major)
C major triad First inversion Second inversion
C•E•G

C•E•G

C•E•G

   

C C/E C/G
The appropriate chord symbols are shown below each
chord. C means normal voicing; C/E means the E is the bass
note, and C/G means the G is the bass note. As confusing
as this may seem at first, it is valuable information for horn
players as you begin to play harmonies and solos. It means
that you can play the arpeggio of a chord with the notes in
any order, an octave above or below their original positions,
and they will still fit in the chord.
[If you are paying attention, you might suggest that the
first inversion above could also be annotated as an E minor
6th (-5), but the music theory world prefers the simpler ap-
proach shown above.]
50
 Major and minor triads provide a change of color to the
chord progression, and they create more interest by varying
the music. But musicians are a restless and inquisitive bunch,
so over the past three hundred years we have added many
additional chord types to improve the texture and richness of
the music.
Fortunately, you don’t need to know all of them at this
point, but there are a few more that you will encounter as
you start to play dixieland that you must understand.
Extended chords. If you as a composer desired even more
coloration in a chord, you could keep stacking thirds on top
of basic triads, to create chords with four, five, six or more
notes, and that is exactly what happened. Thus you could
make chords with additional notes that are the sixth, seventh,
ninth, eleventh, or even thirteenth intervals away from the
tonic note. You can easily try these combinations on a piano,
but to start playing dixieland, you only need to know how to
arpeggiate triads with a flatted (dominant) seventh added.
As you advance in early jazz and swing music, you will also
want to become familiar with sixth, major seventh, and ninth
chords.
Dominant seventh chords. A few hundred years ago,
classical composers began to add a fourth note to basic
triads. The most common of these, called a seventh chord,
stacks a flatted (minor) third on top of the fifth. It is called a
dominant seventh. Here’s a C major chord with a dominant
seventh added, simply notated as a C7.
Dominant 7th Chord and Arpeggio (C major)
   
     
     
bVII
V  
III
C•E•G•Bb I
As a horn player, you will need to memorize the dominant
seventh interval in each chord because it is essential to creat-
ing interesting harmony lines and solos. Seventh chords are
found in virtually all early jazz, blues, and pop compositions.
Minor seventh chords. A dominant seventh note can also
be added to a minor chord triad. While this is a less com-
mon chord in dixieland, if you have memorized your minor
chords, and if you know the dominant seventh major chords,
then you are nearly there. You simply flat the third of a C7
and you have Cm7, as it is normally notated on a lead sheet.
The chord and arpeggio are shown below.
51
Dominant 7th Chord and Arpeggio (C minor)
    
     
       
bVII
V  
bIII
C•Eb•G•Bb I

All the four basic types of chords we have just discussed,

major triad, minor triad, seventh chord, and minor seventh
chord, have a strong tonic center. As chords become more
complex, or deviate from the normal triad structure, they are
more likely to function as passing or transitional chords in
early jazz. Here’s an important example.
Diminished chords. As jazz was being invented in the
early 1900s, progressive composers began using diminished
chords as a “new” coloration. These chords found their way
into jazz as well, often taking the place of a minor chord.
As an example, the classic version of King Oliver’s Dipper-
mouth Blues begins with a series of descending diminished
chord arpeggios.
In fact, the diminished chord is just a minor triad with a
flatted fifth, spelled I, bIII, and bV. In other words, it is a
series of stacked minor thirds. Here’s the C diminished chord
with arpeggios, usually anotated as Cdim or C°.

   
Diminished Chord and Arpeggio (C diminished)

    
       
    bV

   
C•Eb•Gb bIII
I
The diminished chord has a more eerie feeling than a mi-
nor chord, and is used sparingly in early jazz, but when it is
used, it is important to play the correct notes.
One curious feature of diminished chords is that if you
stack another minor third onto the triad, you have a dimin-
ished seventh chord with equal minor third intervals. Keep
adding minor thirds, and you have all the notes which spell
the three basic diminished seventh chords.
You’re almost ready to practice and play. If you un-
derstand this chapter, then you have a grasp of the five most
common chord types you will encounter in early jazz com-
positions. But as I have suggested, there is much more to
learn as you increase your repertoire.

52
CHAPTER 17 Scale and chord daily practice.
As the wise old jazzman said, “You play what you practice.”
In sum, that means that if you want to do a convincing job
of playing the scales and chords found in popular songs, you
must practice them, preferrably on a daily basis.
Your brain will then be able recall patterns of notes you
regularly practice— melodies, arpeggios, chord sequences—
and to retrieve them when you perform. It is that simple.
The daily practice exercises that follow should not be the
only thing you work on. Certainly you will want to learn
melodies to popular dixieland songs. You may want to work
on technical exercises from your instrumental method books,
especially in your weakest areas. You should certainly prac-
tice blowing long tones at varying dynamic levels, while
watching your pitch with an electronic tuner. But these
exercises will help you get common dixieland arpeggios and
chord changes “under your fingers.”
Scale-based chords. If you start with a diatonic scale such
as C Major, and use only scale notes to build triads on each
note of the scale, you arrive at a group of chords which look
like this:
Scale-Based Chords (C major)
C Dm Em F G
 
Am

B° 
C

    
     
1I ii iii IV V vi vii° Octave
The specific chord name is noted above each triad, and the
relative roman numeral name is below, upper case for chords
having a major third, lower case for chords having a minor
third.
Right away, you’ll notice that the I chord, the IV chord,
and the V chord are the only major chords which result from
this construction. They are also the primary chords, and as
we will see, are the most important chords in popular songs.
The 2, 3, and 6 chords are minor chords, while the 7 chord
turns out to be a diminished chord, which is simply a reflec-
tion of the underlying mathematical structure of the diatonic
scale. Trust me on this, or see Michael Miller’s theory book.
If you practice these chord sequences in various keys as
arpeggios on your instrument, while studying the chord
names, you will begin to learn a lot of chords, develop finger
patterns, and at the same time, you will develop your ear and
sensitivity to basic triad sounds.
53
 About the daily practice exercises. The following four-
teen pages are copies of my daily instrumental practice
sheets. These have been extracted from various instruction
sources so I can’t claim authorship.
I’ve called them “chords plus” because they not only help
you learn chords on your instrument, but also related scales
and basic chord sequences.
To get you started, I am just including sheets for the most
common dixieland keys, which are: Concert Bb, Concert F,
Concert Eb, Concert Ab, Concert C, and Concert G, both in
treble clef and bass clef versions
Noted in the upper left corner is the transposition informa-
tion for various instruments. I would refer you to Michael
Miller’s book on music theory for a complete explanation
of why various instruments, because of their design, must
transpose from the concert key. Saxophones may need to
transpose some scales up an octave, but no matter what in-
strument you play, practice each key.
As with all exercises, you should practice them at various
speeds, from slow to very fast. If you have one, use a metro-
nome while practicing to improve your rhythm. You can also
vary the articulation.
Line 1 teaches the I•IV•V chord progression which is
found throughout blues, jazz, and rock music.
Line 2 is the major scale in that key.
Line 3 shows the notes of the common ii7•V7•I chord pro-
gression which is frequently found near the end of jazz and
popular songs.
Line 4 shows the scales built on the ii7•V7•I chord pro-
gression. As it works out, the ii7 scale is in the dorian church
mode, the V7 is in the mixolydian church mode, and the I
scale is the common diatonic major scale, in the ionian mode
as already mentioned. (You can throw these Latin terms
around to impress your fellow musicians.)
Line 5 is a blues scale in that key. Please note that blues
scales are normally notated in flats only, even when the tonic
key is one with sharps in the key signature.
Line 6 is a pentatonic scale in that key.
Line 7 shows the chord sequence built on the major scale
of a given key, as we discussed on the previous page.
I can assure you that these are practical exercises, and you
will have many immediate uses for the skills you gain from
them. For example, when a dixieland march moves into Ab
Concert, you will be able to cope. The same is true when The
St. Louis Blues is called in the original key of G Concert.

54
 Chords Plus Daily Exercises - Key of C
Concert B¨ for Bb horns
Concert E¨ for Eb horns

C F G C
I IV V I
   
  
       
 


        
       
ii7 V7 I


D‹7 G7 C

    
   
      
Dorian Mixolydian Ionian

       C
  
D‹7 G7
            
  

C Blues Scale
1 3 4 5 5 7 5 5 4 3 1
          
 

C Pentatonic Scale
1 2 3 5 6 5 3 2 1
       
   


C D‹ E‹ F G A‹ Bº C

     
     

I ii iii IV V vi vii  I

55
 Chords Plus Daily Exercises - Key of G
Concert F for Bb horns
Concert B¨ for Eb horns

G C D G

     
I
 I IV
 
V
       


G
       
        

ii7 V7 I

     
   
A‹7 D7 G
 
     

Dorian Mixolydian Ionian

 A‹7
  
G
      
D7
            
  

G Blues Scale
3 5 7 5 3
 1 4
 
5
  5
 
4

1
     

G Pentatonic Scale
1 2 3 5

6
 
5 3 2 1
        

G A‹ B‹ C D E‹ F©º G
   
       
   
I ii iii IV V vi vii  I

56
 Chords Plus Daily Exercises - Key of F
Concert E¨ for Bb horns
Concert A¨ for Eb horns

F B¨ C F

   
I
I IV  V
 
           

 
F
     
        

ii7 V7 I

 
G‹7 C7 F
        
 
    
Dorian Mixolydian Ionian

       
G‹7 C7 F

           
     

F Blues Scale
3 5 7 5 3

1 4 5 5 4 1
          


F Pentatonic Scale


1 2 3 5 6 5 3 2 1
         


F G‹ A‹ B¨ C

D‹
 
Eº
F
     
    
I ii iii IV V vi vii
 I

57
 Chords Plus Daily Exercises - Key of B¨
Concert A¨ for Bb horns
Concert D¨ for Eb horns

B¨ E¨ F B¨
I IV V I

    

 
   
   
 


B¨

        
       

ii7 V7 I

  
C‹7 F7 B¨

        
     
Dorian Mixolydian Ionian

      B¨
               
C‹7 F7

    

B¨ Blues Scale
3 5 7 5 3

1 4 5 5 4 1
        
   

B¨ Pentatonic Scale

 1 2 3 5 6 5 3 2 1
 
     
   

B¨ C‹ D‹ E¨ F G‹ Aº B¨

     
      
 
I ii iii IV V vi vii  I

58
 Chords Plus Daily Exercises - Key of D
Concert C for Bb horns
Concert F for Eb horns

D G A D
I
  I IV V
 
    
        
 


D

        
       

ii7 V7 I

 
  
E‹7 A7 D

     
   



Dorian Mixolydian Ionian

 E‹7      D
              
A7

    

D Blues Scale
3 5 7 5 3
 1 4 5

5 4 1
         
 

D Pentatonic Scale
 1 2 3 5 6 5 3 2 1
          


D E‹ F©‹ G A B‹ C©º D
    
    
    
I ii iii IV V vi vii  I

59
 Chords Plus Daily Exercises - Key of A
Concert G for Bb horns
Concert C for Eb horns
I IV V I


A D E A
      
  
       

        
A
    
   

ii7 V7 I

   
  
B‹7 E7 A


        

Dorian Mixolydian Ionian

 B‹7 E7
  
A
    

        

A Blues Scale
3 5  5 3
 1 
4
  
5
7 
5

4
 
1
   

A Pentatonic Scale
 1 2 3

5
 6
 
5 3

2 1
      

A B‹ C©‹ D E F©‹ G©º A

    
       
  
I ii iii IV V vi vii  I

60
 Chords Plus Daily Exercises - Key of E
Concert D for Bb horns
Concert G for Eb horns

E A B E
  I IV
  V
 I
 
        
   


E

                

ii7 V7 I

  
F©‹7 B7 E
  
  
        

Dorian Mixolydian Ionian

F©‹7   
B7
 
E

          
 

E Blues Scale
3 5 7 5 3
 1 4 5

5 4 1
           

E Pentatonic Scale
 1 2 3 5 6

5 3 2 1
          


E F©‹ G©‹ A B C©‹ D©º E
     
    
  
I ii iii IV V vi vii  I

61
 Chords Plus Daily Exercises - Key of A¨
Concert G¨ for Bb horns
Concert C¨ for Eb horns

A¨ D¨ E¨ A¨
I IV V I

    
  

 
   
    

A¨

         
       

ii7 V7 I


B¨‹7 E¨7 A¨

            
   
Dorian Mixolydian Ionian

 B¨‹7      A¨
    
E¨7
       
   
A¨
Blues Scale
3 5 7 5 3

1 4 5 5 4 1
        

   
A¨ Pentatonic Scale

 
1 2 3 5 6 5 3 2 1
      
     

A¨ B¨‹ C‹ D¨ E¨ F‹ Gº A¨

    
     
   
 
I ii iii IV V vi vii  I

62
 Chords Plus Daily Exercises - Key of B¨
Concert A¨ for Bb horns
Concert D¨ for Eb horns
I IV V I

       
B¨ E¨ F B¨
         

       
B¨

        

ii7 V7 I
 
        
C‹7 F7 B¨

    

Dorian Mixolydian Ionian

    F7    
       
C‹7 B¨
     
    

B¨ Blues Scale
1 3 4 5 5 7 5 5 4 3 1
       
     

B¨ Pentatonic Scale
1 2 3 5 6 5 3 2 1
         
  

B¨ C‹ D‹ E¨ F G‹ Aº B¨
    
       
  
I ii iii IV V vi vii  I

63
 Chords Plus Daily Exercises - Key of F
Concert E¨ for Bb horns
Concert A¨ for Eb horns
I IV V I
   
   
F B¨ C F

       
 

         
 
F
    


ii7 V7 I
        
    
G‹7 C7 F
  


    C7 Mixolydian
Dorian Ionian
   
        
     
  
G‹7 F

F Blues Scale
3 5 7 5 3
1 4
  
5
 
5

4

1
    
 

F Pentatonic Scale
1 2 3

5

6
 
5 3

2 1
      


F G‹ A‹ B¨ C

D‹
 
Eº
F
       
   
I ii iii IV V vi vii  I

64
 Chords Plus Daily Exercises - Key of E¨
Concert D¨ for Bb horns
Concert G¨ for Eb horns
I IV V I

      
E¨ A¨ B¨ E¨

          


    
E¨
       
   


ii7 V7 I

      
   
F‹7 B¨7 E¨
    
 

   
Dorian Mixolydian Ionian
  
           
   
F‹7 B¨7 E¨

E¨ Blues Scale
3 5  5 3
1 4
 
5
  7 5
 
4

1
     


E¨ Pentatonic Scale

1 2 3 5 6 5 3 2 1
       
   


E¨ F‹ G‹ A¨ B¨ C‹ Dº E¨
      
      

I ii iii IV V vi vii  I

65
 Chords Plus Daily Exercises - Key of A¨
Concert G¨ for Bb horns
Concert C¨ for Eb horns

A¨ D¨ E¨ A¨

   
I
   
I IV  V
 
         

       
A¨
 
        

ii7 V7 I

   
B¨‹7

E¨7
  A¨
      
    
Dorian Mixolydian Ionian

         A¨  
         
B¨‹7 E¨7
  
 
A¨
Blues Scale
3 5 7 5 3

1 4 5 5 4 1
          
  

A¨ Pentatonic Scale

  
1 2 3 5 6 5 3 2 1
         


A¨ B¨‹ C‹ D¨

E¨

F‹

Gº A¨ 
         
   
I ii iii IV V vi vii  I

66
 Chords Plus Daily Exercises - Key of C
Concert B¨ for Bb horns
Concert E¨ for Eb horns
I IV V I

 
C F G C
  
            

 
C
         
    

ii7 V7 I
  
 
     
D‹7 G7 C
     

Dorian Mixolydian Ionian

     
          
D‹7 G7 C
    
   

C Blues Scale
1 3 4 5 5 7 5 5 4 3 1
        
   

C Pentatonic Scale


1 2 3 5 6 5 3 2 1
          

C D‹ E‹ F G A‹ Bº C
    
      
  
I ii iii IV V vi vii  I

67
 Chords Plus Daily Exercises - Key of G
Concert F for Bb horns
Concert B¨ for Eb horns

G C D G
V I
  
I IV
    
      
   

G
          
     

ii7 V7 I

   
A‹7 D7 G
     
      

Dorian Mixolydian Ionian

       G
           
A‹7 D7

    
 

G Blues Scale
1 3 4 5 5 7 5 5 4 3 1
        
   

G Pentatonic Scale


1 2 3 5 6 5 3 2 1
      
   

G A‹ B‹ C

D
 
E‹

F©º

G
      
 
I ii iii IV V vi vii  I

68
CHAPTER 18 Chord progressions and songs
Now that we’ve discussed the basics of scales and chords,
it is time to discuss the structure of popular songs and their
chord progressions.
Early folk music. If we start with the earliest of European
folk music, we find that the chord progressions were very
simple because of limitations in instruments and musical
technique. Also, because the music was handed down from
generation to generation, there was probably an emphasis on
keeping the traditional chords. Today, this is still true of Ap-
palachian folk music and bluegrass.
One chord songs. If you were playing a bagpipe with
drones pitched in the key of F, then all the melodies you
played would have to fit within that key center. Likewise,
there are plenty of early folk songs which stay in a single
key. Here’s a simple lead sheet for the French folk song
known as Frère Jacques, or Brother John.
Brother John (One chord round)
C (I)
4
 4    
1 2

  
3 4

You’ll notice that all the notes of the melody fit in the C
major scale, and most of the melody notes are also part of
the C major chord, spelled C•E•G, ghosted in light gray.
Because this song is designed to be sung or played as a
round in four parts, the melody line is simple, the I chord
(C major in this case) can be strummed easily by beginners,
and all the musical interest comes from the staggered perfor-
mance of the four sections. More on this in the next chapter.
In modern times, we may also encounter one chord songs
in rock music, rap music, and even modal jazz. In these cases
the musical interest comes from bass rhythm “grooves,”
catchy lyrics, or in the case of modal jazz, playing many
variations on the scale of the key center mode.
Two chord songs. As you will recall from our previous
chapters on Pythagorus and building chords, after the tonic
or I chord, the second strongest chord in a song is the V, also
called the dominant.
69
 Most North Americans immediately recognize our com-
mon Scots/Irish/English childhood folk songs with the I-V
chord. There are many variations of the I-V-I progression
in country music as well. In the example below, Skip To My
Lou, the dominant seventh has been added to the V chord to
add musical interest.

Skip To My Lou (Two chord folk song)

4
C (I)
G (V7)
  
 4 
1    2 3
  4


C (I) G (V7) C (I)
     

5   6 7 8  
Get out your instrument and play along. You can arpeg-
giate the two chords ghosted in gray notes, and experiment
with playing them in various sequences and in various
octaves. You should practice with a metronome until you can
play along with chord arpeggios, and fill the measures with
quarter notes, then eighth notes, and more varied patterns.
This is a basic skill in jazz, called “playing over the chord
changes.” Your choice of notes may not be called a brilliant
jazz solo yet, but if you are playing only chord notes in an
interesting pattern, then you are on your way to making your
own pleasing jazz statement.
Again, in simple folk songs, most of the melody notes fit
within the chords. You also notice that in measures 3 and
7, the dominant seventh note (F) that has been added to the
chord also functions as a melody note.
While this is a simple little tune, it was thoughtfully con-
structed. Sometimes the most effective early jazz starts with
such basic material.
Three chord songs. The next strongest chord type in a
song is the chord built on the fourth note of the scale, which
we’ll call the IV chord (also called the subdominant in music
theory.) Three chord songs are everywhere around us, in folk
music, early jazz, rock and roll, and importantly, the blues.
The blues have African roots, and were originally vocal
music accompanied by a guitar. There are also blues in eight-
bar and sixteen-bar versions, but the most common is called
the twelve bar blues and is found in jazz, country, blues, and
in later rock and roll. The basic blues chord progression is:
I-I-I-I-IV-IV-I-I-V7-IV-I.
70
 However, there are many possible variations on these
changes. Here’s the chorus sketch for an old New Orleans
standard called Canal Street Blues which I’ve harmonized
with standard blues chords.

Concert F Canal Street Blues (Chorus, Three chord blues chords)

4  
Transposed for
G (I)
  (I7)
G7
  
Bb Instruments

4 
1 2 3 4

 
C (IV)
   
G (I)
 
   
5  6 7 8

 D7
    
(V7) C (IV)

G (I)

     
9 10 11 12

You will notice that in measure 4, a seventh has been

added to the I chord, which adds richness and prepares the
ears for the change to the IV chord. In fact, the seventh chord
can be substituted for any chord in blues variations.
You’ll also notice that the melody in measure 10 contains
a Bb, which is a blue note that is really the dominant seventh
of the IV chord. Again, the use of blue notes throughout the
blues is a common part of their African origins.
If you are asked to play a solo on a twelve bar blues, the
blues scale from the previous chapter (1, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7) that
you have been practicing daily will come in handy, because
the notes will sound right and “bluesy” when played with the
chord of the same root name.
Thirty-two bar A-A songs. The next step up in complexi-
ty of dixieland songs are those based on popular songs which
have two similar 16-bar sections, usually called A-A, or A1-
A2 to indicate the slight variation of melody and chords in
the second half.
Familiar songs of this type include All of Me, Indiana,
Hello Dolly, and of course, Bill Bailey, the most well-know
of all dixieland songs. Unlike the pop songs we will discuss
next, these songs do not have a varied section in the middle,
or bridge.
The basic chord changes to Bill Bailey have proven so pop-
ular that many other songs have borrowed them, including
Bourbon Street Parade, Tiger Rag (chorus), Just Because,
Ciriciribin, and Around the World.

71
 Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home?
Concert F, Bb Horn Lead Hughie Cannon, 1902

A1
(I)

(I) (V7) (V7)

(V7)

(V7) (I)

A2
(I)

(I) (I7) (IV)

(IV) (I) (VI7)

(II7) (V7) (I)

Pencil in your own As you can see, the chord changes are slightly more in-
chord notes per the teresting than our previous examples, and the most unusual
previous examples
as an aid to learning
chord comes at the climax of the song, the VI7 chord in
all the chords in this measure 29. The sixth chord shows up in many pop songs.
song. In measures 6 and 26, I have not numbered the diminished
chords. They are passing chords, and when you spell them
72
out you will see that the composer has simply raised the root
note one-half step, so the major chord C•E•G becomes the
diminished chord C#•E•G. This transition is also common
in early jazz. If you know the major chord, then don’t be
stunned when you see it followed by a sharp diminished ver-
sion— just raise the root a half step, and you are in business.
In the early 1900s, the thirty-two-bar A1-A2 popular song
chorus format was the most common, often with a verse.
There were also a number of multi-strain compositions
with ragtime influences. Jelly Roll Morton persisted in
writing the more complex compositions in the older style
throughout most of his career.
Thirty-two bar AABA songs. In the middle 1920s, the
popular song began to change to the A-A-B-A popular song
format. These are the songs that we think of as “standards”
from Broadway musicals and movies of the 20s, 30s, and
40s. Most of these songs are still covered by copyright, and
are readily available in commercial anthologies, so they are
not included here.
These songs usually feature an eight-bar theme (A1) which
is repeated exactly or with slight variation (A2), followed by
an eight-bar bridge or release (B), usually in a different tonal
center, followed by the final eight-bar section (A3).
Chicago-style dixieland bands particularly play dozens of
these pop tunes, such as Oh, Lady Be Good, Blue Skies, Oh,
Baby, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Love Is Just Around the Corner,
and I’m Beginning To See The Light, and on and on.
Not only did the song form change, but chord progressions
became more varied. The reason should be obvious: there
were thousands of popular songs being written in the section
of New York City called Tin Pan Alley, and they could not
all sound the same— like Bill Bailey— they needed different
melodies, different words, and different chordal colors.
I have chosen one of the earliest and more interesting of
the AABA tunes, (perhaps really an ABCA tune) that has
become a dixieland standard, the chorus of China Boy, illus-
trated on the following page.
Immediately, you will notice that it uses more chords than
simple dixieland songs, and in unexpected sequences. It does
not follow the simple I-IV-V pattern, and the bridge [B] ef-
fectively modulates to the key of Bb. Part of this may be due
to the desire to give an exotic “Chinese” feeling to the song,
but the interesting chord changes to this popular song are
probably why it was recorded by so many early jazz bands,
and why it is still played today, in spite of its insipid lyrics.

73
 China Boy
Concert F, Bb Horn Lead Winifree/Bouteljen, 1922

A1
(I)

(I) (VI7)

A2
(II7)

(iv) (I) (VII7)

B
(bIII) (VII7) (bIII)

(bIII) (VII7) (bIII) (V7)

A3
(I) (VI°)

(I) (V7) (I)

Pencil in your own Other song structures. Many early dixieland tunes are
chord notes per the multi-part ragtime or march compositions. They may in-
previous examples
as an aid to learning
clude introductions, several thematic strains, interludes, trios,
all the chords in this and tag endings, often with key changes. You will need to
song. analyze each individual part of the song as we have above.
You may also find a few songs longer than thirty-two bars in
the great American songbook, but those are rarely played in
early jazz.
74
 How to analyze and study a complex song. When I am
asked to perform a song that is new to me, I first sit down
with a soft pencil and write in the chords, similar to the light
gray notes you found in the earlier examples in this chapter.
That forces me to spell and learn every chord in the song if I
don’t already know them.
Then I look carefully at the structure, and lightly indicate
with pencil the roman numeral relationships of the chords.
Here’s a sample from one of my working band books. Yes,
it is a little cluttered and messy, but the important thing is
that it works for me. The long hash marks indicate the end of
melody phrases.

Then I get out the clarinet and practice the song melody
and go over the chord arpeggios. If I had a friendly pianist or
complete rhythm section available, I would use them to prac-
tice the song’s chord changes, just as Benny Goodman did
in his heyday. But unfortunately, I do not have those friends
around the house each day, so I do the next best thing.
Using Band In A Box. I use the computerized music
program called Band In A Box (www.pgmusic.com) as an
aid to learning new songs, practicing chord arpeggios, creat-
ing clarinet harmony lines, and developing clarinet solos. It
is also useful for transposing lead sheets for various instru-
ments and vocal keys.
Band In A Box may not have the flexible human feel of a
live jazz rhythm section, but it still one of the best learning
tools available.
I personally recommend that you use a simple jazz style
and turn off some of the advanced chord substitution features
until you have learned the material well.

75
CHAPTER 19 Creating extemporaneous harmony lines.
In the prevous chapters you have begun to learn your instru-
ment’s scales, chords, and how to analyze the structure of
a popular song. Now we come to the first reason for all this
work: so you can begin to create harmony lines.
Of course, if you are playing in a reading band in which all
your harmony parts are written out by an arranger, then this
chapter holds limited interest for you.
More likely, if you are playing in a dixieland band which
works from simple lead sheets and head arrangements (so
called because you make them up and keep them in your
head), then this chapter is critically important to you.
As you can hear by listening to dixieland recordings, there
are many personal approaches to playing jazz harmonies,
and in skilled hands it is a high art rather than an exact sci-
ence. In the classic dixieland band front line of cornet, clari-
net and trombone, the clarinet is the most important voice in
creating the the overall “sound” of the band, and outlining
the harmonic structure of each song.
This is partly true because the clarinet part in the high
clarino register stands out more than the trombone. If the
clarinet plays a bad note (clam or clinker) the audience will
hear it. The trombone blends better, and experienced players
are good at “slipping and sliding” off a bad note quickly.
Types of dixieland harmony. There are two basic ap-
proaches to harmonizing in dixieland.
The first is called polyphony, (from the Greek “many
tones”). It is familiar to us in folk song rounds and the re-
markable fugues of J.S. Bach. Each voice, or instrument, is
playing a different rhythmic phrase. When they are overlaid,
the result is a complex pattern of harmonies.
The second is called homophony, (from the Greek, “same
tone”) or hymn style, which is familiar to most of us in the
vocal harmonies used in church hymns. The harmony parts
move over a very similar rhythmic structure, creating chords.
Harmony note assignments. As a terribly broad gener-
alization, when playing ensemble passages, most dixieland
bands assign the melody note to the cornet, a harmony that
is a third away from to the melody to the clarinet, and the
trombone is normally assigned a harmony based on the fifth
of the melody. I know the beginning horn players are hoping
that this is a pat formula, but it is not. We must learn to play
what “sounds right” to the individual and to the group. Most
important, we must learn to stay off other player’s notes.
76
 This means first and foremost when playing dixieland
ensemble passages, the clarinet and trombone should never
double the melody at any point. No, no, no! Leave the melo-
dy to the cornet or other assigned lead player.
If the trombonist is adept at playing the “tailgate” New
Orleans style, he will normally be playing notes that do not
conflict with the clarinet.
As you can hear from listening to dixieland recordings,
and from examples in this chapter, sometimes the clarinet
plays a harmony that is a third above the cornet, and some-
times a harmony that is a third below the cornet works better.
Also, as explained in Michael Miller’s book on Music
Theory, sometimes the relationship between the melodic
line and the underlying chord causes a clash, and the clarinet
must move to a harmony note that fits better in the chord,
perhaps a fourth or even an octave if all else fails.
Polyphony in dixieland. In his lengthy chapter on West-
ern African music in Early Jazz, Gunther Schuller empha-
sizes the polyphonic nature of that music. Each player, of
larger drums, small drums, gourds, bells, etcetera, is assigned
a rhythm, which does not necessarily align to the bar lines of
Western music. When these polyrhythms are played togeth-
er, the result is an ever rotating and evolving series of inter-
relationships, even though none of the individual rhythms is
particularly complex. In other words, a very interesting and
complex ensemble results from a few simple musical lines
when they are all played together.
This is not unlike what would happen if we were to play
the round Brother John with a dixieland band:
Concert pitch Brother John (Interaction of polyphony)
C (I)
4
4 

Cornet
1 2 3 4

Clarinet
 

Trombone
 

Saxophone

77
 Notice that in the example above, by bar 4 the interaction
of simple musical lines has resulted in a rather interesting
musical statement.
In other words, the sum of polyphonic music, be it African
drumming or a dixieland ensemble, is often highly interest-
ing music, and at times surprising.
It is not the result of one controlling musical arranger, but
the outcome of the collaborative work of a group of indi-
vuals, either tribal members, or dixieland players.
No individual knows how it will sound in advance, but
each individual is listening to the ensemble and playing his
or her part. That is the essence of the collective early jazz
ensemble playing that was typical of New Orleans jazz one
hundred years ago.
A few basic principles of dixieland polyphony. If you
should study a music theory text at this point, you will find
that the rules of counterpoint and polyphony are very com-
plex. But we are simply trying to help people play the folk
music of dixieland. It is not rocket science, but it does help to
mention some useful principles.
A quick polyphonic sketch. The following example is
a sketch suggesting what a journeyman jazz clarinet player
might do when playing an ensemble chorus on Bill Bailey
(first half). You will learn to do this in real time, using mostly
your intuitive and subconscious abilities, but there are a few
points to keep in your conscious mind as you study it.
• Moving lines. It is important for the clarinet player to
listen to the melody (usually cornet) line, and play lines that
complement it. Then, when the cornet has a long note, or
when the melodic phrase is finished, the clarinet can create
more complex moving lines, as in Measures 4, 8, 12, and 16
in the example.
• Rhythmic propulsion. The clarinet has the facility
to provide forward propulsion with interesting counter-
rhythms, which can help create drive in an ensemble pas-
sage. Examples are in Measures 2, 5, 6, 10, 13, and 14.
• Define the chord structure. I have included the underly-
ing chords in light grey so you can compare how the clarinet
harmonies relate to the underlying chord structure and to the
melody. Some notes are properly defined as passing tones
and some are leading tones, preparing us for the next chord
or melody note. But in every case, it is important that the
non-chord notes you choose sound right to you. It is cer-
tainly acceptable to play unusual notes of short duration that
create interesting musical tension. That is part of jazz.

78
Concert F Clarinet Polyphonic Harmony (Bill Bailey chorus, first half)

4 G
Bb Instruments

    
(I)
Cornet Lead
 4  
 4     
Clarinet Harmony
 4
  
1 2 3 4

 G (I)
 
G#°

D7/A (V7)
Cornet Lead
  

           
  
 
Clarinet Harmony
    
5 6 7 8

 D7 (V7)
   
Cornet Lead
  

            
Clarinet Harmony
9
 10 11 12

 D7 (V7)
   
G (I)
Cornet Lead
 

             
     

Clarinet Harmony

13 14 15 16

• Keep it clean and simple. The short example above was

designed to demonstrate some possibilities for the beginning
jazz instrumentalist, but it may also be more complex than is
desireable. When you are developing your own polyphonic
parts, if you feel that the ensemble is getting muddled and
too busy, then listen more and play less. Funny, the best jazz
horn players always seem to also have the best taste in these
matters.
Four-part polyphony. For simplicity, I have not shown
the trombone part that might be played in counterpoint to the
two horns above, but in general it will stay well below the
clarinet and cornet lines and not conflict. However, when a
fourth moving part is added, typically played by a tenor or
79
alto saxophone, there is a great potential for confusion. The
clarinet must stay in the clarino register. The tenor sax must
find notes and rhythms that don’t encroach on the trombone
part. All horns must play a little less and leave more open-
ings to avoid a cacophonous mess.
To hear how four horns can be used well, listen to record-
ings of the fine Eddie Condon bands with Bud Freeman on
tenor sax, or to the Bob Crosby Band with Eddie Miller.
When a second cornet is added to West Coast style bands,
that horn rarely plays a fourth polyphonic line, but usually
plays a homophonic hymn-style harmony a third below the
lead cornet.
Communication is the key. The most important ingredi-
ent for polyphonic success is the communication between
the clarinetist and the trombonist. If they each understand
their respective instrumental roles, then they will naturally be
playing in different rhythm patterns, and selecting different
notes.
When a problem occurs, they need to be able to stop the
band in rehearsal and work it out: “You take the third, I’ll
take the fifth here.” It does not help to growl: “Get off of my
note!” Sometimes weak or beginning players are so insecure
in their musicianship that they cannot discuss these issues
without getting defensive. Better jazz bands are able to
quickly resolve matters, make a note of it, and move on.
Homophony in dixieland. As polyphonic music reflects
the African influence on early jazz, so our European musical
hertige is filled with homophonic or hymn style harmonies
which follow a similar rhythm pattern.
Because our ear is accustomed to hearing the “right” har-
monies and chord progressions, this style of jazz is harder to
fake. It demands that front line players understand the chords
of the song, and have the ability to select the right note.
For that reason, homophonic harmonies are either written
out for each part, or learned note-for-note in rehearsal.
Bands which have used homophony to great effect include
Billy Maxted’s Manhattan Jazz Band, The Bob Crosby
Band, and the Buck Creek Jazz Band.
Change in feeling and texture. When a dixieland band
has the ability to move between tight block harmonies and
loose polyphonic moving lines, it can offer a much wider
emotional range than a band which can only play polyphonic
harmonies.
The following short and simple arrangement was created
by John Skillman of the Buck Creek Jazz Band, and dem-

80
 onstrates the basic principles of homophonic playing. When
played with controlled dynamics, a harmonized chorus,
perhaps at the beginning or end of an arrangement, can be a
welcome change of pace.

Concert F Blues (Arranged harmonies, John Skillman, arr.)

4  
Transposed for
 
G (I) D7 (V7) G (I) G7 (I7)
Instruments
Cornet
 4
   

1 2 3 4

Clarinet
       
       
Trombone
 
 C (IV) G7 (I7)

E°

Cornet
    

5 6 7 8

Clarinet
     
       
Trombone

 D7 (V7) D7/C (V7)

G (I) C7 (IV7) G (I) D7 (V7)
Cornet
     
 9 10 11 12

Clarinet
       
        
Trombone

Turnaround
A beginning dixieland band should be able to play this ex-
ample without much work. Notice that the ensemble phras-
ing is much more like concert European music, and depends
on precise note attacks and endings. The last V7 chord is
called a turnaround chord, and leads back to the I chord
when the tune is repeated. This is common practice.
When your band plays the second chorus with the cor-
net line as the lead (melody) and the clarinet and trombone
break into polyphonic harmonies, the effect gives an imme-
diate boost of energy to the music.
Train your ear. In the end, the player with the best ear
training for intervals, chords, and scales will be best able to
fake, or write out, harmonies. These simple examples are
merely a starting point. Listen to what other other players do,
practice, jam, and play.
81
 A word about the rhythm section. Up to this point, I’ve
focused on the horns, often called “the front line” and I’ve
ignored the rhythm instruments, usually known as “the back
line.” I apologize, because a solid rhythm section is critical to
the success of a band.
As we mentioned earlier, the rhythm instruments in an
early jazz band may vary, depending on the type of music
one is playing. An outdoor strolling band might have tuba,
banjo, bass drum and snare drum (or washboard). Mellow
restaurant music might dictate string bass and guitar only.
A band playing for dancing indoors will probably include
a trap drum set and piano. A successful jazz festival band
might have the budget for four rhythm players: bass, banjo/
guitar, piano, and trap drums. And, in the early days of jazz
recording, the bass saxophone often substituted for the tuba.
The big picture. In general, we can say three things about
a good dixieland rhythm section: First, the playing should be
simple and uncluttered. Second, it must be able to maintain
the desired tempo without rushing or dragging, and most im-
portant, the players must work well together. This last point
means that the bandstand should be arranged so that the bass,
banjo, drums and piano are close together, that the players
can hear one another, and it is helpful if the other players can
see the piano keyboard.
Two beat style. Early dixieland tunes such as High Society
and 1919 originated as street marches, and therefore many
songs are played in a two-beat style, with the tuba on beats
one and three, and the banjo playing a “back beat” chord
on beats two and four. When done fluidly, this can impart a
rocking, swing feel.
Likewise, the drummer and pianist play what is called a
“boom-chuck” figure, with the bass notes on one and three,
and answering snare drum and right hand on two and four.

Two Beat Rhythm (Typical)

F F F F
Banjo  4
 4
     
1 2 3 4

Tuba
 
I V I V I V I scale V
Typically, the tuba creates a bass line with notes on the
tonic of the chord (I) and the fifth of the chord (V). The tuba
may also play “walking” lines as in bar 4, above, which fit
within the scale of the chord.
82
 Four beat style. The string bass, which has been used in
jazz since its very beginnings, has the ability to play much
longer phrases of bass notes when compared to the tuba,
because there is no need to stop for a breath.
This ability results in more interesting “walking” bass lines
which usually stay within the scale of the chord. This opens
up many creative options for the bass player. When the banjo
or guitar plays four beats to the bar, the result is a more driv-
ing style which is also typical of later swing music. Here is a
simplified example for comparison to two beat style.
Four Beat Rhythm (Walking Bass Line)
F F F F
Guitar  4
 4
        
1 2 3 4

String Bass 
 
I scale V V I V I V
The role of the piano. There are two types of jazz piano
player: 1) the solo piano player, who plays all the notes
of the composition, including the melody, harmony and
rhythm,; and 2) the band piano player, who complements, or
“comps” the front line horns with simple rhythm and chord
statements.
The first rule is this: The dixieland pianist should never
double the melody on ensemble passages. The “comp” piano
part for the above passages might look something like this:

Piano Comping (Two Beat Style, typical)

F F F F
Right Hand  4
 4 1 2 3 4

Left Hand
 
I V I V I V I scale V

The above sketch is simplified and conceptual. An ad-

vanced band pianist might not play a standard F chord with
the right hand, but might play it in the first or second inver-
sion, or create a more open voicing.
Band piano playing is an art, and you might listen to
recordings of players such as Jelly Roll Morton, Art Hodes,
Joe Sullivan and Billy Maxted to get a feeling to the range of
possibilities, which are beyond the scope of this book.
83
 The early jazz drummer. In the early 1900s, the trap
drum kit was still being invented. Photos of early bands
such as the Original Dixieland Jazz Band show small drum
kits consisting of a large bass drum with foot beater, a snare
drum, one or two suspended cymbals, a small Indian-style
tom tom, a cow bell and a wood block. Innovations such as
the foot-operated high-hat cymbal, and the array of large tom
toms came much later, in the swing era of the 1930s.
The best dixieland drummers play lightly and sparingly,
adding a minimum of fills and frills. Many New Orleans
drummers are noted for their good taste, playing subtle press
rolls on the snare drum or playing choked cymbal lightly.
We can say generally that drummers who play in a busy
swing style or loud rock and roll style rarely fit in with a
dixieland band. In most cases, the drummer is asked to play
nothing more challenging than the example below, but to do
it with a steady, swinging tempo.

Simple Drum Rhythm (Typical)

4
4        
Snare Drum
Bass Drum
1 2 3 4

Yes, many drummers think this is hopelessly boring. But it

does not have to be, if the drummer is thoughtful and inven-
tive, playing with dynamics and different colorations. The
aspiring drummer should listen to recordings of the old cats
like Ray Bauduc and Zutty Singleton, and to contemporary
players like Hal Smith and Danny Coots.

A good drummer like Danny Coots,

right, can elevate a band’s playing,
by holding a steady tempo and driving
the band forward when needed.
Unfortunately, a loud or erratic drummer
can be worse than no drummer at all.

84
CHAPTER 20 Early jazz riffs.
A riff in early jazz is a one- or two-measure repeated motif
of harmonized notes. There are generally two types of riffs.
(Note that in contemporary jazz, some people confuse riffs
with solo jazz phrases or patterns. This is not a historically
correct usage of the term.)
Backing riffs. Early New Orleans bands rarely played ex-
tended solos. It was more common for every player to blow
ensemble harmonies all the time. To make the music more
interesting, musicians would make up short harmonized mo-
tifs such as this, as heard on a recording of the Preservation
Hall Jazz Band:

Concert Bb Background Riff (Just A Closer Walk With Thee)

Transposed for C C° G7
4
     
Bb Instruments
Lead 4
  
mp
Two Horn Riff         
3 3 3 3
3 3 3 3
1 2 3 4
p

These riffs are intended to be background figures, and

should not be played as loud as the melody. Controlled dy-
namics are critical.
Riff choruses. It is also possible to abandon the melody
completely and play an entire chorus consisting of horn
harmony riffs at full volume. Listen to Billy Maxted’s Man-
hattan Jazz Band riff choruses on When the Saints Come
Marching In, a 9-minute arrangement which works in many
different ensemble riff patterns, such as a four-bar riff similar
to this:
Concert F Riff Chorus (When the Saints Go Marching In)

4          

, ,

Transposed for G

4 
Bb Instruments
Horns

Good riffs rely on your band’s musical creativity, and the

ability to suggest and execute them on stage. Most other
types of music do not give the players this freedom to invent,
and play what comes into their minds. In other words, when
playing with most dixieland bands, you become an integral
creative part of the arrangement, for better or worse.

85
CHAPTER 21 The early jazz solo.
Before we go into the jazz solo in detail, let’s step back and
look at the big picture. The first question to ask is, “Why
take a jazz solo at all?” In a previous chapter we mentioned
that several styles of dixieland historically had very few
solos, if any.
The ragtime composer Scott Joplin maintained that ex-
tended solo choruses simply grew from the need of dance
bands to lengthen a given song to yield a three or four min-
ute dance. This would suggest that in the beginning, jazz
solos were not an esthetic decision, but merely an easy and
functional way to stretch the music.
The early New Orleans players, both white and black,
focused their energies on ensemble playing, broken by solo
breaks. Arranged hot dance bands tended to allow slightly
longer solos, but very carefully placed within the ensemble
structure, as 16-bar or 8-bar solo statements. So it is possible
that you can be a successful player in these dixieland band
styles without developing advanced solo skills.
However, as Chicago-style jazz evolved and grew in
popularity, the jazz solo became to be an expected skill for
all players. This not only presumes the soloist can navigate a
full 32-bar chorus, but two, three, or more, as “extended jazz
choruses.”
What is the purpose of the jazz solo? Today, the jazz
Two excellent jazz soloists: Chris
solo provides a change in voice, texture, color and style. It
Tyle, cornet, leader of the Silver provides an opportunity for jazz players to express them-
Leaf Jazz Band; and listening, Pat selves and be creative. And if the clarinet or saxophone is
O’Neal, trombonist and leader soloing, it gives brass players time to “rest their chops,” that
of Pat O’Neal’s Riverboat Jazz is, rest their embouchure.
Band.
Does the player have something to say? A good jazz
soloist will have something inventive, something fresh,
something exciting, to state with his instrument. It may be a
modification of the melody, or an entirely new statement, but
the listener will find it musically interesting, perhaps even
exciting.
Note that there may be times when, as a potential soloist,
that you feel you have nothing to say, nothing to contribute
to a given composition. This can happen when you don’t
know the melody or chords well, when the tune is in an un-
usual key, or when the song is one you happen to dislike. At
that point, you should smile and give a sign to the leader that
you don’t want a solo on that piece.
Does it tell a story? Many great early jazz soloists ap-
86
 proached each solo based on the mood of the song, and
their personal feelings at that moment. So the solo might be
cheery and frivolous, or it might be heavy and sorrowful.
Emotion and sensitivity are the important elements here, and
that will vary greatly depending on the soloist’s personality.
Sidney Bechet once said, “You have to have a balance
between technique and the ideas you are trying to express. If
one has too much to say and no technique, one ‘stutters’, but
if one has lots of technique and nothing to say one will bore
the listeners to death.”
Does it have a dramatic shape? A really fine early jazz
solo will have a beginning, a middle and an end. And it will
have a dramatic progression, that is, it will vary in volume,
complexity or intensity and build to a climax.
Types of jazz solos. As the above comments suggest,
there are many different ways to approach an early jazz
solo. I recently overheard the father of a high school stage
band student say, “She can’t solo, because her teacher hasn’t
taught her the chords and scales. That’s what it requires to
be able to play a solo, chords and scales.” Of course, I wish
it were that simple, but it takes much more than just chords
and scales which we’ve discussed in the previous chapters to
be good at jazz solos and improvization.
Two jazz legends perform at the The written solo. If a player simply stands up and plays a
2011 Sacramento Jubilee. Ed straight rendition of the melody backed by the rhythm sec-
Polcer was a player at Eddie
tion, that is a solo. It may not be very creative, but if that is
Condon’s club in New York City,
and Pete Christlieb was an im- all you can do as a beginner, it is a place to start.
portant part of the Tonight Show Some years back, a PBS television special featured the
Orchestra. Both can solo in any work of Benny Goodman. The orchestra was an excellent
style music, over any chords. group of studio musicians, and they were every bit as precise
and swinging as the best Benny Goodman groups. Benny’s
solos had been transcribed and were played with fidelity by
Henry Cuesta. In this case they were excellent solos, they
certainly sounded like jazz solos, and yet they were not im-
provised or extemporaneous by Cuesta.
Since the beginning of jazz, players have been memoriz-
ing other solos, usually by listening to recordings. Dixieland
clarinetists should be able to pay reasonable honor to Al-
phonse Picou’s solo on the trio of High Society and Matty
Matlock’s low clarinet solo on South Rampart Street Parade.
Early jazz cornetists should know such classics as Bix
Beiderbecke’s version of Singin’ The Blues, and Louis Arm-
strong’s virtuoso performance of West End Blues.
And trombonists certainly should be familiar with Ory’s
Creole Trombone and Lassus Trombone.

87
 If you need a written-out solo when you start playing
dixieland, and if you play it well, the audience will probably
prefer it to weaker improvised solo.
Transcribing recorded solos will be much more useful than
buying books of transcriptions because it will force you to
critically listen to pitches and rhythms, and learn to write
musical notation. This will improve both your solo playing
and your reading of music.
The “framed” solo. Also since the beginning of jazz,
players have been building their solos in increments, practic-
ing the component phrases; improving them; rearranging
them; until after many performances, they became set so-
los, small compositions in themselves which the musician
“frames” just as one would a finished oil painting.
Historically, many famous solos were fluid and chang-
ing on the live bandstand, but once they were recorded, the
player was expected to repeat them note-for-note by adoring
audiences.
This expectation to repeat “extemporaneous” solos as-re-
corded came to annoy all the great jazz soloists, from Louis
Armstrong to the present day. I can only hope that someday
a young person reading this book will create a jazz solo so
memorable that he or she is forced to repeat it thousands of
times in front of enthusiastic crowds.
Sketching a written solo. On the following page, I’ve
sketched out a modest slow blues solo based on the I•IV•V
chord changes in the same way that you might do it.
Before you start, you should think a moment about what
mood and texture you are trying to create in your solo. In this
case, I wanted a relaxed, loping feeling with some space in
the solo. I did not want a busy or aggressive feeling. Beyond
that, I had no preconceptons of the solo structure.
First, take a sheet of music paper and pencil in the bar
lines and chord changes. If you don’t know how to spell the
chords, pencil in the notes as I have indicated in gray.
Second, use your instrument to play the chord arpeggios
until you are familiar with them. You might also enter the
chords into Band In A Box in your computer, and play the
chord changes as a music bed in a continuous loop.
Third, play some music phrases or motifs that fit well
within the chords. This is a matter of trial and error, based on
what sounds good to you. Don’t try to make it perfect as a
composition, just play what is in your heart.
Fourth, take a pencil and jot down the pitches you play as
little dots or note heads without stems. You don’t have to as-

88
 sign rhythmic values to the notes yet.
Fifth, when you have a pitch outline that seems right to
you, give time values to the notes, erase, and move them to
the desired place on or off the beat.
Finally, play your solo on your instrument, edit it, add
expressive markings and phrase endings as you need them.
If your music reading and writing skills are not developed,
you might also decide to place the notes into the melody line
of your Band In A Box file. Then, you can hear your nota-
tion played back, and you can correct it, or edit it to make the
solo more interesting.
Remember that in an early jazz solo, notes are more likely
to stay on the underlying chord changes than in later swing
or bebop styles of soloing. If you study the solo example
above, you’ll find that most of the notes fit within the chord
changes.
Patterns for jazz. Sidney Bechet frequently used the anal-
ogy of speaking compared to the jazz solo. He is reputed

Concert F Blues Chords (Chorus, Three chord blues)

Transposed for

4   G7

Bb Clarinet G (I) (I7)

4 
1 2 3 4

 C (IV) G (I)

  
5  6 7 8

 D7

(V7) C (IV) G (I)

   
9 10  11 12

A Clarinet Blues Solo (Chorus, Three chord blues)

 
= 100

G 
4         
 G7
  
 4 

1 2 3 4

       G       
  
C

5
  6 7 8

 D7
     
C

G
  
  
 


9 10 11 12

89
to have told a young French clarinetist who played a rather
halting and lame solo, “You wouldn’t talk like that. Com-
plete the phrase as you would speak a sentence.” In other
words, make a statement. To carry forward the analogy,
notes are the alphabet, and patterns or licks are the words;
put them together effectively and you have a complete
phrase, or even a long flowing sentence.
As you listen to jazz recordings, you will learn the lan-
guage of jazz patterns. Every jazz soloist has favorite per-
sonal licks, which show up throughout their career in various
places. As examples I have jotted down some patterns that
reappear in the lifetime works of Sidney Bechet, Louis Arm-
strong and Benny Goodman. If used too often, they become
jazz clichés, but there is no harm in learning the patterns that
make up jazz. For extensive practice on patterns, see Jerry
Coker’s book, Patterns for Jazz.
Unfortunately, just memorizing a lot of jazz patterns in
various keys and stringing them together does not automati-
cally make a superior jazz solo. That is where your individu-
al artistry must enter in.

Familiar Early Jazz Patterns

4       
Sidney Bechet
4
    
4      
Louis Armstrong
4

 
Benny Goodman 4
4  

Jazz quotes. In contemporary jazz, it is considered witty

to insert portions of popular song melodies, or quotes, into
jazz solos. This practice is generally frowned on in early jazz
circles. As leader Bert Barr of The Uptown Lowdown Jazz
Band has been known to growl to a soloist, “If I had wanted
to play that song, I would have called it.”
Hot or cool. When you are developing solos for early jazz
it is important to understand the difference between hot jazz
and cool jazz.
Early jazz is hot because it shows exuberance, emotion,
enthusiasm, and intuitive performance. It values showman-
ship. Both dixieland jazz and swing music found space for
the hot soloist, such as Bix Beiderbecke in the Paul White-
90
man Band and Jimmy Dorsey in the Dorsey brothers bands.
Cool jazz, on the other, beginning in the bebop era of the
1940s and continuing to this day, values the intellectual
approach to jazz solos. Extended chords and chord substitu-
tions are common. Showmanship is, well, not cool.
For many skilled cool jazz players, making the transition
back to hot, early jazz solos is difficult. It must be said that
both early jazz musicians and audiences find a solo in the
style of Charlie Parker or Miles Davis to be out of place.
The extemporaneous solo. Jazz critics place a high value
on the extemporaneous solo, one that is a totally new combi-
nation of notes, created on the spot, in real time, based on the
inpiration of the moment and the genius of the jazz player.
Indeed, all jazz players aspire to this level of creativity, and
we hope that the muse will strike us each time we solo.
The truth is that only the most brilliant of jazz soloists
come up with a totally new invention each time they play a
solo chorus. Most professionals will build the solo using the
component patterns and phrases that they practice.
How to practice extemporaneous solos. Sketching out
all our jazz solos is obviously impractical. For many years, it
was possible to practice extended improvisation with Jamie
Aebersol’s excellent play along books with recorded accom-
panyment, although early jazz tunes were not prominent.
Today, one can use Band In A Box software and quickly
program the early jazz song chord changes and set up a loop
to practice them as long as you want.
What makes a good early jazz solo? It is my observation
that dixieland jazz solos depend on four interrelated factors:
• Inspiration.
• Melody awareness.
• Chordal awareness.
• Instrumental technique.
If one listens to individual instrumentalists and their solos,
one can place them at different points on this graphic. For
example, solos by Bix Beiderbecke and George Lewis are
long on emotion. Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong
are strong on range and technique. Sidney Bechet and Artie
Shaw had a special ability to imply the melody, or create
new melodies, while soloing. Larry Shields and Buddy De-
Franco were more likely to arpeggiate chords vertically. The
ultimate soloist might show a perfect balance but we are all
different.
The intuitive approach. If the instrumental student stud-
ies the many excellent books on jazz improvisation recom-

91
mended later in this chapter, he or she will look very hard to
find mention of the intuitive approach to jazz soloing. The
unstated question is, “can superior jazz soloing be taught, or
is it a matter of individual genius?”
The 1920s were filled with early jazz musicians like Bix
Beiderbecke, and Pee Wee Russell who relied on their musi-
cal instincts, their ears, bootleg liquor, and other performance
enhancers, to guide their solos. These musicians delighted
in the “freak players” who found unexpected and shocking
intervals and effects when they soloed. At a very early stage
in jazz, they were playing “outside the chords” without really
knowing it, in a small way predicting what was to become
free jazz in the 1960s.
The old fashioned approach requires personal interac-
tion, and one can still find it in dixieland jam sessions, jazz
camps, or private studies with a jazz clarinetist. Just remem-
ber that it is a slower process, not very efficient, and random
rather than systematic.
The intellectual approach. Obviously, I believe that the
fundamental principles of playing jazz solos can be taught
or I would not bother to write this chapter. Here are some of
the most popular components of jazz instructional programs
today, and you may find all of them valuable:
• Study and practice of chords and arpeggiations.
• Study of scales and interval etudes.
• Study of jazz note patterns.
• Playing with music bed recordings and software.
• Study and transcription of noteworthy jazz solos.
• Playing along with jazz recordings.
• Learning to read music with jazz articulation.
Ten steps to pure inspiration. This technique of devel-
oping jazz lead lines and solos has been credited to many
people, including the saxophonist Lee Konitz. The idea is to
play a composition through ten times, beginning with the ex-
act melody as written, and departing from it more with each
successive chorus, until on the tenth chorus, you are playing
an entirely new jazz composition or countermelody.
Here’s one way to describe the possibilities:
Chorus 1. Play the melody as written, very straight with no
embellishments.
Chorus 2. Play the melody with more personal feeling.
Chorus 3. Play the melody with more slight variations in
note values.
Chorus 4. Play the melody with the addition of more scalar
runs or passing notes (notes not in the chord or scale.)

92
 Chorus 5. Add more chordal arpeggiations to the funda-
mental melody structure.
Chorus 6. Depart further from the melody, incorporating
notes which fit in the chord progression.
Chorus 7. Continue this process, experiment and take more
chances.
Chorus 8. Continue to listen to your own inventions, and
develop the themes that you have played.
Chorus 9. Push your own solo discoveries farther.
Chorus 10. This chorus is your own song, “pure inspira-
tion.” It may not be perfect, or the best solo ever played, but
it is yours.
Of course, to accomplish this well, it helps to have ac-
companiment which states the underlying rhythm and chords
to the song, either human, recorded, or electronic. As men-
tioned elsewhere, the Band In A Box computer program is
very helpful when developing and practicing solos.
Some resource books. At the beginning level, Michael
Miller’s Complete Idiot’s Guide to Solos and Improvisa-
tion is the most understandable and comprehensive book I
have found. As you progress, Jerry Coker’s books Improvis-
ing Jazz and Patterns for Jazz contain a wealth of advanced
information on soloing, song structure, and jazz chords.
Play what’s in you. No matter what you study, your goal
should always be to play the music which is inside you.
You’ll get more satisfaction from performing, and our audi-
ence will respond more warmly.

Here’s your goal: to solo like these guys, Bob

Draga, clarinet; Bob Schulz, cornet, Jim Fryer,
trombone. You can do it, but it takes commit-
ment to your instrument.

93
CHAPTER 22 Study, practice, rehearsal.
By this point in the book, you’ve been presented with a large
amount of information to learn. It is important for the jazz
player to understand the difference between studying, prac-
ticing and rehearsing.
Study. This is the process of learning a passage or com-
position critically. It may involve playing your instrument,
for example if you are learning a melody or solo by playing
along with a record. But more often, it involves looking criti-
cally at the music. What is the chord progression? How can
I best finger this run or arpeggio? What notes make the best
harmony? What notes of this phrase need to be emphasized?
What are the dynamics?
You’ll want a lead sheet and soft pencil. When you finish
studying a piece, it may be heavily marked up, but you will
be able to remember what you’ve learned when you practice
it.
Practice. For our purposes in dixieland, practice means
gaining, and maintaining, fluency on your instrument. Prac-
tice presumes repetition— playing a passage, composition,
or solo over and over until it comes out the instrument the
way you have studied it and intend it to sound. This does not
mean blindly playing a piece over and over while making the
same mistakes. Instead, practice should be undertaken with
focus and seriousness, while listening critically to the results.
An electronic recorder can be useful here. Play and record,
then listen critically. Repeat as needed.
On the one hand, practice is physical, maintaining your
airstream, embouchure, tongue and finger coordination. On
the other hand, practice aids the mental aspects of playing,
helping to get the music into your subconcious so it becomes
nearly automatic. Musicians talk of “getting the music under
your fingers” and occasions when “the music played itself”
after they arrive at a full understanding of a compostion.
Study and practice are individual pursuits that each player
in a dixieland band can, and should, make time for each
day. If you are in a band in which the individual players
don’t practice daily, then the players are not keeping up their
“chops, ” which can be a serious problem with both reed and
brass players.
Here’s the familiar old saying about practice, one more
time: “When I don’t practice for a day, I know it. When I
don’t practice for two days, the other musicians know it.
When I don’t practice for a week, everyone knows it.”
94
 Rehearsal. When two or more band members get together
for practice, you have a rehearsal. By my definition, rehears-
al for a dixieland band is a collective group event.
Of course, the rehearsal of a tightly arranged hot dance
band is much like that of a concert band. It is primarily a
matter of playing the charts with accuracy and style.
The other dixieland styles we’ve discussed use their re-
hearsal times to work out their arrangements collectively,
and so rehearsal becomes more of a creative act.
In my experience, the value of rehearsal time varies with
each dixieland band. Some weaker players don’t like to re-
hearse, and their bands reflect the lack of rehearsal with poor
beginnings, endings, and a generally uncoordinated, ragged
feel. Better bands enjoy rehearsal, remember the arrange-
ments that are developed, and give tighter performances
because of it.
Rehearsal goals. Getting together a band to socialize
and run through the same old tunes does not produce much
improvement. It is far better that the band leader or musical
director plan a specific list of tunes, passages, transitions, or
arrangements that need to be learned or polished. A focused
band can rehearse introductions and endings without playing
an entire composition, and accomplish a great deal in a few
hours.
There are three primary reasons to hold a rehearsal: 1. Pre-
paring for an upcoming performance; 2. Building a polished
repertoire; and 3. Learning new material.
Every player should arrive at the rehearsal having studied
and practiced the material, with their equipment and “chops”
in good shape. This is no time to try out new clarinet reeds.
Retaining what you rehearsed. A reading dixieland
band, working with lead sheets and simple “roadmap” direc-
tions, should be able to pencil in the important points of an
informal “head arrangement” and refer back to it at the next
rehearsal, and on the bandstand.
A non-reading band must rehearse more frequently, be-
cause the players must memorize everything. To give a tight
performance, a non-reading band will require many more
run-throughs, and often needs to rehearse the complete tune
from start to finish.
A rule of thumb about rehearsal. Here is Campbell’s
Rule about rehearsals for jazz band: The better the individual
players, the less rehearsal time is needed; the weaker the
individual players, the more rehearsal time is needed.

95
CHAPTER 23 Joining or starting a dixieland band.
So at this point, if you’ve taken this book to heart, you are
a budding jazz player ready to join an established dixieland
band, or to start your own. Over the past twenty years, I’ve
had the opportunity to play with a wide variety of dixieland
bands at various levels, and I offer these tips in the hope that
they will help you avoid some of the mistakes I have made.
Joining an established band. When a player is called to
join an established band, or to substitute with one, there is a
special need to study the band style through its book or re-
cordings, practice them, and sometimes to transcribe existing
solos.
At the highest professional level, there are a handful of
players nationally who have the skills to substitute on short
notice. These are players who know many early jazz songs,
can play in a variety of styles, have excellent technique, and
who are willing to prepare extensively to fit into the band’s
style.
Will the band work out for you? Whether you join an
existing band, or start your own, here are some important
points to consider.
Local is better. There is a major advantage in playing in a
band with members who live in the same town, both in terms
of gathering for a performance, and holding rehearsals. Be-
lieve me, I have seen what can happen when band members
are spread out. In the case of the Oregon Jazz Band some
years ago, we had players spread across four hundred miles
of the state. A short rehearsal turned into a 12-hour day for
some players.
Only one leader. Bands which have a single strong leader
have many advantages over cooperative bands. They can
make decisions quickly. The leader, or his musical director,
can define and rehearse the band more efficiently. And there
is much less time debating how to do things.
Players who get along personally. I cannot stress this
point enough. It does not help to have fine musicians if they
can’t get along with the rest of the band. There are many
parameters— age, marital status, gender, use of substances,
smoking, diet, religion, social attitudes, politics— which
can divide a band. So you might as well find people who are
compatible. You will enjoy your travel, rehearsal, waiting,
and performance times much more.
Players who can communicate. The ideal band member
would be a secure and sensitive personality with good social
96
skills, a degree in music and psychology, plus the ability
to speak, sing, read and write music, and conduct. As you
might guess, most jazz musicians fall short of this perfect
mix. But at the very least, you need people who can take
criticism, respond to suggestions rationally, and express their
musical thoughts, either by discussion, playing, or by notat-
ing them. A band of players which can’t communicate their
feelings about the music is best to be avoided.
Players with musical skills. Most of us have played in
dixieland bands at some time where skills were rudimentary.
If the players are young, then we hope that the skills will im-
prove. Some will, and some won’t. So if you have a choice,
pick the best musicians possible for your band. It makes the
band immediately better, and also will elevate the playing of
the other musicians.
Players who enjoy early jazz. There are many skilled
musicians today who are are not the right fit for a dixieland
band. Some who are swing and bebop or contemporary pop
players at heart, may take a gig with your band out of eco-
monic need, all the while hating early jazz. Most trumpet
players today are more inclined to the “cool” style of Miles
Davis than the “hot” style of Louis Armstrong, so they will
always be a bit out of place in a hot band. It is always better
to find players who feel and enjoy early jazz, because they
understand it and know more of the repertoire.
Amateur or pro. If you are playing for your own enjoy-
ment and to perform at community events, there are few
legal issues to worry about. If you play for money, there are
many business, legal, and tax issues that will crop up. You
should consult your tax advisor on how to account for in-
come earned through casual music performances.
Have a business agreement. All bands start with great
hopes and fine intentions. Most bands eventually change
personnel, or fall apart entirely. Therefore, it is always useful
to have a letter of intent, or a written contract, that explains
the legal status of the band and your position in it. There are
a number of affordable paperback books on practical music
law that are worth consulting, both to secure any legal rights
or monies you might be entitled to, and also to avoid any
liabilities that might crop up from being a part of the band.
I cannot give any legal advice, but I recommend that you
do your diligence at the beginning, when you join or form a
band. It is always too late to think of these things at the end
of a band relationship.

97
Some final thoughts.
If you have read your way through the book to this point,
you understand that the subject of performing early jazz is
extensive, and perhaps larger than you anticipated. That is to
say, this book is merely a starting point on your journey. The
music is in you; I am just trying to help you express it.
In our jazz improvisation workshops at the Portland Dix-
ieland Jazz Society, we get a number of persistent questions,
especially from skilled reading musicians who are used to
playing the notes on the page. The transition to listening,
hearing, learning the chords, and playing notes spontane-
ously is very difficult for many well-trained musicians,
especially the most intellectual and thoughtful ones.
For example, we get questions like: It appears that as the
chords in a song change, the song also effectively changes
keys? Why? How do I bridge the gap between the written
notes or chord symbols that I see, and what I want to invent
on my instrument?
I had these same questions, and I have only partially ex-
plained the answers here, but in my quest, I have become a
better jazz player. The answer for me was practice, jamming,
performing, analyzing the structure of songs, and listening to
other, better musicians. There is always something to learn.
If you don’t play your instrument on a daily basis, your
progress will be very slow.
If you try to understand everything about jazz intellectual-
ly, you will be frustrated, because you have to feel the music.
When playing in a concert band a few years ago, I came
across the notation for a certain passage which was marked,
“With Feeling.” I impolitely raised my hand and asked the
conductor if that meant that the rest of the arrangement was
to be played “Without Feeling?” He was not amused.
The important benefit of our electronic era is that this book
can be continually revised and updated, and then provided
free via the internet.
The next page lists just a few of the many resources avail-
able to you. An internet search will reveal many more. I hope
this book gets you started on your jazz journey, and also
hope that the next edition will be even better.

98
APPENDIX Suggested reading and resources.

Some of these resources are out of print, but can still be

found by searching used books on Amazon.com.
ON EARLY JAZZ
Early Jazz, by Gunther Schuller
The Lost Chord, by Richard M. Sudhalter
The Swing Era, by Gunther Schuller
The Best of Jazz, by Humphrey Littleton
We Called It Music, by Eddie Condon
Texas Shout, How Dixieland Jazz Works, by Tex Wyndham
EARLY JAZZ AND SWING NEWS
The Syncopated Times, 1809 Whitesboro St., Utica NY,
Early jazz fans have revived the 13502-3719 Web: syncopatedtimes.com
New Orleans tradition of the ON BASIC MUSIC THEORY
“second line” in which enthu-
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music Theory, by Michael
siastic listeners marched along
with their favorite jazz bands, Miller
using parasols to shelter from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Solos and Improvisation,
the hot sun. Today, such outra- by Michael Miller
geous enthusiasm is foreign to
more modern types of jazz. ON JAZZ PERFORMANCE
Improvising Jazz, by Jerry Coker
Patterns for Jazz, by Jerry Coker
ON PERFORMANCE
Music, The Brain, and Ecstasy, by Robert Jourdain
The Inner Game of Music, by Barry Green
Free Play, by Stephen Nachmanovitch
Effortless Mastery, by Kenny Werner
The Two Second Advantage, by Vivek Ranadive and Kevin
Maney
PRINTED MUSIC
The Real Dixieland Book, Hal Leonard publisher
Authentic Dixieland Original Arrangements for Dixieland
Band, The Big 3 Music Corporation, NY, NY.
INTERNET ELECTRONIC RESOURCES
The Creole Jazz Band Fake Books, www.creolejazzband.com
Simply Early Jazz, arrangements, www.simplyearlyjazz.com
Facebook page: Dixieland Jazz and Our Kind of Music.
University of Chicago Library, Guide to the Charles B.
Anderson Fake Books Collection 1870-1998
ON BUSINESS AND LEGAL ISSUES
All You Need to Know About the Music Business,
by Donald S. Passman

99
Four bass saxophones performing with the Uptown Lowdown Jazz Band at the 2010 Seaside Oregon Jazz Festival.
Left to right: John Goodrich, Peter Meijers, Jim Buchmann, Paul Woltz

Introduction to Playing Early Jazz

A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS OF ALL AGES
by Rick Campbell
This ebook may be distributed and used free of charge in the non-profit cause of teaching early jazz.
100