West End Blues

Artist

Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five

Release date

1928

2 other songs

Gut Bucket Blues and Come Back, Sweet Papa

Genre

Dixieland Jazz

Characteristics of Genre

Collective improv, swung, 12 bar blues, blues scale, based around (clarinet, trumpet, trombone), uses accompaniment (banjos, washboard, milk bottles etc), heavy use of Rhythmic syncopation (emphasises off beat)

Instrumentation

Trumpet, Clarinet, Trombone, Banjo, Drums, Piano, Voice, Auxiliary Percussion

Form/Structure

intro - 5 choruses of 12 bar blues, last of which breaks off after 8 bars and leads into coda. Intro (trumpet cadenza) - C1 (Trumpet) - C2 (trombone solo) - C3 (Clarinet/voice solo) - C4 (piano solo) - C5 (collective), Coda (blues on piano)

Describe the intro

fanfare cadenza, startling and thrilling to audience due to boldness and rhythmic freedom. Just armstrong solo signalled collective was ending. harkens back to marching bands where cornet is star.

opening phrase sweeps down then up (13th range), around Eb add 6 chord with an F and F#

second phrase has wider range (2 octaves and tone) swooping down in swung rhythm

diminuendo on last few notes and hushed vibrato on Ab anticipates melancholy tone of blues melody

describe chorus 1

trumpet plays accompanied by clarinet, trombone, and rhythm section. (piano and banjo strong chords on each beat).

main theme intro on trumpet

then embellishes, including blues notes, chromatacism, arpeggiated figures

describe chorus 2

vocal quality of solo, accompanied by auxiliary percussion

Describe chorus 3

played in low clarinet range, call and response with scat singing

describe chorus 4

solo piano, favours more linear approach inspired by wind players rather that busy, two handed ragtime

describe chorus 5

trumpet spotlight, begins as recap but holds high Bb before virtuosic improv.

Describe the coda

without steady rhythm, begins with rubato piano solo, final trumpet flourish

Pitch/melody

Uses Major and Blues Scale (1, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7, 8) as well as some chromaticism, Virtuosic intro with large range of notes and rhythms, call and response between clarinet and vocals C3,

Harmony

12 bar blues with variation (particularly during piano solo) with last two bars being turnabout instead of I x2, Eb Major (Bb, Eb, Ab)

Rhythm

4/4 common time, not swung, intro in free metre, andante (moderately slow), steady crotchet accompaniment

Texture and Timbre

Monophonic: Trumpet Cadenza, Homophonic: Coda, Trombone solo, piano solo, Polyphonic: Clarinet/voice solo, first and last chorus

Context (jazz)

originate early 1900s New Orleans, mixture of multiple styles (African, European, Latin American, and American, Accompanied dancing during prohibition (played at venues serving alcohol), early jazz improvised (dixieland)

Context (west end)

Original released 2 weeks before by Joe "King" Oliver, mentor and colleague, Louis's had more success

Wife context

Lil Harding married 1924