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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">http://www.network54.com/Forum/27140/message/1256184011
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">Vince alerted us to the importance of arrangers. In another recent posting,
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">http://www.network54.com/Forum/27140/message/1255271315
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">I copied a letter from Arthur Smith about the key role of arrangers.
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">From time to time, other Forum contributors, in particular Frank v, have emphasized the crucial role of the arranger. Some bands had their own full-time arrangers (Bill Challis with Goldkette, Challis, Grofe, etc with Whiteman). Other bands (California Ramblers, notably) used stock arrangements, but they doctored them (I stole this expression from Vince) to suit their particular styles and strengths.
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">I was reading The Jazz Age, Popular Music in the 1920 by Arnold Shaw and learned that Red Nicholss Ida, Sweet As Apple Cider, recorded on <span>August 15, 1927</span><span></span>by <span>Red Nichols, Leo McConville, Mannie Klein, t / Miff Mole, tb / Pee Wee Russell, cl / Fud Livingston, ts, a / Adrian Rollini, bsx, gfs / Lennie Hayton, p, cel / Dick McDonough, g / Vic Berton</span><span>, <span> </span></span>was arranged by Lennie Hayton. I listened to the recording again and it is a magnificent jazz ballad. Listen
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIN6C9MT33A
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">The tune was written by black-faced minstrel Eddie Leonard in 1903. Eddie Cantor, whose wife was named Ida, had a big hit with it.
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">You will notice that the arrangement of Ida as played by Red Nichols amounts to a sequence of solos. First, the great Adrian Rollini plays some variations on the melody with the two clarinetists in the background. Then we have improvised (?) solos by Red, Miff and Pee Wee. The recording ends with a coda where a sequence of five notes is repeated four times.
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">The structure of<span> </span>Nicholss Ida is similar to that of Bix and Trams Singing the Blues, a sequence of improvisations by Tram, Bix, Jimmy, <span> </span>and a coda that consists of a sequence of two notes by the brass plus two notes by the guitar repeated three times, followed by an additional ca dozen notes.
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">Note the similarity in the codas (these are wave files, between 1and 2 MB).
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">Singin the Blues <span> </span><embed src="http://bixography.com/SinginTheBluesCoda.wav" autostart="true" width="144" height="72" style="background-color:inherit">
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span>Ida <embed src="http://bixography.com/IdaCoda.wav" autostart="true" width="144" height="72" style="background-color:inherit"></span>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">These arrangements, which feature basically a sequence of solos, contrast dramatically with the arrangements of the early 1920s New Orleans/Dixieland jazz recordings, (ODJB, King Olivers Creole Jazz Band) which feature ensemble work. In 1923 and 1924, the innovative minds of Bix and Louis introduced the solo, but aside from their solos, the main part of the recordings still consisted of ensemble work.
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">Early jazz was characterized by ensemble work (collective improvisation); contemporary bands use a formulaic structure: a statement of the tune by the ensemble, followed by a sequence of improvisations (often, too long for my taste) by several of the musicians (sometimes each one takes a solo), and then the ensemble comes back to wind up the number.
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">Now, my question. In between the early jazz ensemble style and the contemporary formula of a sequence of solos, things changed. At first, we had occasional solos (Wolverines 1924, King Oliver 1923), but as time went by, some of the bands went into the structure of a sequence of solos. I gave two examples above, Singin the Blues and Ida.
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">When did the change come about, what artists were mostly responsible for the change, and what are the earliest examples of arrangements consisting of sequences of solos?
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;">Albert