twelve-bar blues
The 12-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly based on ...
composition by
Joe "King" Oliver
Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver (December 19, 1881 – April 8/10, 1938) was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of Mute (music), mutes in jazz. Also a notable c ...
. It is most commonly performed as an
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...
, although it has
lyrics
Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...
added by Clarence Williams.
King Oliver and his Dixie Syncopators made the first recording for
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916.
History
From 1916
Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing produ ...
on June 11, 1928.Laird, Ross. ''Brunswick Records: A Discography of Recordings, 1916-1931'', Greenwood Press (2001), p. 592. Clarence Williams later added lyrics to the instrumental tune. He recorded the song several times in 1928, first with vocalist
Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her not ...
, then with Irene Mims, aka Hazel Smith (with King Oliver playing trumpet), then again with
Katherine Henderson
Katherine Henderson (born June 23, 1909; date of death unknown) was an American classic female blues singer. Most of her recording sessions took place in Long Island City, New York, in October and November 1928.
Career
Henderson was born in S ...
.
The " West End" of the title refers to the westernmost point of
Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from west ...
78 rpm
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove ...
recording made by
Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five Louis may refer to:
* Louis (coin)
* Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name
* Louis (surname)
* Louis (singer), Serbian singer
* HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy
See also
Derived or associated terms
* Lewis (d ...
on June 28, 1928.
Gunther Schuller
Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician.
Biography and works
Early years
Schuller was born in Queens, New York City, ...
devoted page after page to it in his book ''Early Jazz'', writing, “The clarion call of “West End Blues’ served notice that jazz had the potential capacity to compete with the highest order of previously known musical expression.”
Gary Giddins
Gary Giddins is an American jazz critic and author. He wrote for ''The Village Voice'' from 1973; his "Weather Bird" column ended in 2003. In 1986 Gary Giddins and John Lewis created the American Jazz Orchestra which presented concerts using a j ...
wrote that this tune “came to symbolize more than any other the ascendancy of a classic American music.”
Armstrong plays trumpet and sings, backed by a band including pianist
Earl Hines
Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, " ...
Zutty Singleton
Arthur James "Zutty" Singleton (May 14, 1898 – July 14, 1975) was an American jazz drummer.
Career
Singleton was born in Bunkie, Louisiana, United States, and raised in New Orleans. According to his ''Jazz Profiles'' biography, his unusual ...
on hand cymbals. Armstrong's unaccompanied opening
cadenza
In music, a cadenza (from it, cadenza, link=no , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvisation, improvised or written-out ornament (music), ornamental passage (music), passage played or sung by a solo (music), sol ...
is considered to be one of the defining moments of early jazz, incorporating a rhythmic freedom that anticipated many later musical developments. In addition,
Lil Hardin Armstrong
Lillian Hardin Armstrong (née Hardin; February 3, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader. She was the second wife of Louis Armstrong, with whom she collaborated on many recordings in ...
later explained that this introduction stemmed from trumpet exercise books that she and Louis had drilled. Also notable is Armstrong's tender scat vocal chorus in a duet with the clarinet in its low register played by Strong. Hines takes a "beautifully crafted" piano solo, which was praised as a "perfect... example of originality in harmony, phrases, and general style." The final chorus is dominated by a four-bar (12-second) high B played by Armstrong. The number is closed by the metallic click of drummer Zutty Singleton's cymbals.
This recording was inducted in the
Grammy Hall of Fame
The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...
in 1979. Billie Holiday cited listening to "West End Blues" as her first experience with scat-singing.
Armstrong recorded several later versions of "West End Blues", including for the 1947 film ''
New Orleans
New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
'' and with his All Stars in the 40s.
King Oliver's recordings
Joe "King" Oliver wrote "West End Blues", and was the first to record it on June 11, 1928, with his band The Dixie Syncopators. This recording established the basic form of the song that Armstrong's later recording followed. On January 16, 1929, Oliver recorded the song again, borrowing from the Hot Five arrangement, though at a quicker tempo. The opening trumpet cadenza (based heavily on Armstrong's 1928 recording) has frequently been incorrectly credited to Oliver, but was in fact played by trumpeter
Louis Metcalf
Louis Metcalf (February 28, 1905 - October 27, 1981) was an American jazz trumpeter who played for a short time with Duke Ellington.
Early life
Metcalf was born in Webster Groves, Missouri, United States. As a youth he first trained on the drums ...
. Pianist Luis Russel also takes a solo, in turn basing it on Earl Hines' solo from the Hot Five recording.