C Jam Blues
| C Jam Blues | |
|---|---|
| by Duke Ellington | |
Jam Session | |
| Key | C major |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Form | Twelve-bar blues |
| Composed | 1942 |
"C Jam Blues"" is a jazz standard composed in 1942 by Duke Ellington and performed by countless other musicians, such as Dave Grusin, Django Reinhardt, Oscar Peterson, and Charles Mingus.
Background
As the title suggests, the piece follows a twelve-bar blues form in the key of C major. The song is well known for being extremely easy to play, with the entire melody featuring only two notes: G and C.
The piece typically features several improvised solos. The final solo continues in the upper register as the entire ensemble comes in and the music grows to a climax. The melody likely originated from the clarinetist Barney Bigard in 1941, but its origin is not perfectly clear.[1]
It was also known as "Duke's Place", with lyrics added by Bill Katts, Bob Thiele and Ruth Roberts.
Recordings
- Ellington's original black and white video recording was produced in 1942. The video depicts a jam session, where Ellington begins playing with only a bass, before being gradually joined by other members of his band, among them drummer Sonny Greer and trumpeter Rex Stewart. Correspondingly the film title is Jam Session.
- Western Swing band leader Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys recorded the song sometime between mid-1945 through 1947 as part of the Tiffany Transcriptions.[2]
- Bill Doggett recorded a version on his 1958 tribute album Salute To Duke Ellington (King Records 533).
- "C Jam Blues" was used by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band as the basis of their song "The Intro and the Outro".[3]
- Mulgrew Miller and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen included the song in their 1999 album The Duets.[4]
References
- ^ "C Jam Blues (1942)". JazzStandards.com. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
- ^ San Antonio Rose. Tiffany Transcriptions page 351.
- ^ Tracey, Ed (18 September 2016). "Odds & Ends: News/Humor (with a "Who Lost the Week?" poll)". Daily Kos. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
- ^ "Mulgrew Miller Discography". jazzdisco.org. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
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