what are the instruments ?
Trombone, Trumpet, Vocals, Tenor Sax, Guitar, Bass, Drums
what are their roles/what are they doing?
Guitar- Rythem
Bass and Drums- Beat
Tenor Sax- Rythem
Trumpet/ Trombone- solo/ rythem
what is the tune?
Backatown
who are the musicians/soloists/composer/
Troy Andrews (Trombone Shorty)- trombone, trumpet, vocals(Leader)
Tim McFatter - tenor sax
Pete Murano - guitar
Mike Ballard - bass
Joey Peebles - drums
what is the meter/time feel (swing? Straight?)?
Straight
what is the phrase length/structure?
what is the form?
Standard
what do you like, dislike? why?
I like the the riff on the horns in the beginning and then I like how it leaves and the comeback.
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong
Born: August 4th 1901
Died: July 6th, 1971
Nicknamed Satchmo or Pops
Was a jazz trumpeter and singer from Louisiana, New Orleans
Louis had his first jazz recording band led under his name in 1925: Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five
This jazz band was as New Orleans jazz band consisting of trumpet, clarinet, and trombone backed by a rhythm section
New Orleans jazz style leaned heavily on collective improvisation
where the three horns played the lead together
the trumpet played the main melody
and the clarinet and trombone improvised accompaniments to the melody
Louis continued this tradition in the Hot Five but added more trumpet solo passages
Because of these solos, Armstrong developed the basics of jazz improvisation and became its founding and most influential exponent
In the 1920's (Louis' time of jazz prominence), Louis was considered an inventive cornet and trumpet player.
Armstrong was a large influence on jazz and helped to shift the music's focus from collective improvisation to solos.
Not only was Armstrong an influential trumpet player but also an influential singer
He was known for his gravely and unorthodox voice
Armstrong utilized his voice through improvisation by bending lyrics and melody of a song.
He was also a very skilled scat singer.
SONG INFORMATION:
Song: (What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue
Date of Release: 1955
Date of Recording: (New York) April 26th, 1955
Album: Satch Plays Fats
Musicians:
{recording}
Louis Armstrong: vocals and trumpet
Trummy Young: (trombone)
Barney Bigard: clarinet
Billy Kyle: piano
Arvell Shaw: bass
Barrett Deems: drums
{live}
Louis Armstrong & his All Stars live in Berlin 1965(Bass -- Arvell Shaw(Clarinet -- Eddie Shu(Drums -- Danny Barcelona(Piano -- Billy Kyle(Trombone -- Tyree Glenn(Trumpet -- Louis Armstrong(Vocals -- Louis Armstrong
Composed By:
Fats Waller, lyrics by: Andy Razaf, and Harry Brooks
Thomas "Fats" Waller wrote the song for the Bro
Thomas "Fats" Waller wrote the song for the Broadway musical Hot Chocolates (1929) which was performed by African Americans
The song fits is used in the musical as a lament of a black woman who had lost her husband to a lighter-skinned woman.
Louis Armstrong, though, transformed this song into an anthem of protest against racial discrimination.
Armstrong's version of the song was later referenced in the novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The song begins with an overture (introduction)
during this introduction, the band plays very subtly using soulful variations on the melody
The low volume of the introduction adds for a gradual build up of intensity for the song.
Armstrong, in the beginning of the song, uses slides, slurs and one glissando (a continuous slide upward or downward between two notes) during his trumpet solo.
Young, Kyle, and Bigard support Louis solo (comping between Armstrong and Young)
At the end of the main set of vocal choruses, Bigard goes up the scale
Racial Discrimination:
The song came out 11 months after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka
In the months both before and after the release of the song, there were brutal murders of African Americans in Mississippi and other places across America (one particularly famous one: Emmett Till)
And in December of that year, Rosa Parks began a new more active phase of the civil rights movement by refusing to give up her seat on the bus.
Two years later (In 1957) Armstrong spoke out against President Eisenhower's reluctance to act when African-American teenagers were prohibited from going to the Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
SONG FORM:
Meter/Time: swing
4/4 times signature
A A B B A A Grand Pause Coda
8 bar measures
Lyrics
Cold empty bed...springs hurt my head
Feels like ole ned...wished i was dead
What did i do...to be so black and blue
Even the mouse...ran from my house
They laugh at you...and all that you do
What did i do...to be so
