Now for a old timey, down off the bayou Creole tune. Snake Rag by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. When I listen to it, I can picture a black and white cartoon at a construction site with a lot going on. Lots of bodies bouncing up and down with the beat, all working in time with the music. On the long glissando, when the trombone slides his in and out without tonguing, I can picture some thing (like a characters neck or arm) being stretched and then brought back in. Go ahead and give it a listen.
It is very up beat, vaudeville inspired. The vaudeville is really apparent in the two trumpet descent with the trombone gliss. The band consisted of two trumpets, a trombone, a clarinet, a bass, a piano, a drum set, and a banjo. This is your classic Creole Jazz band. Can't you just see the flappers flapping their little arms and legs right off, the band sitting on the back of a truck as it rolls down the street.
The song is in a 12 bar blues set up with a 2 bar trumpet fall and a 1.5 bar gliss. This gives it a almost stumbling feel when it comes off the gliss, because it isn't an even 16 bars. They play the head twice and then go into a section where it sounds like each instrument is kinda soloing, but with the others. Each instrument has its own idea, and it coincides with all the other instruments. The drums are steady and the piano/bass combo is a constant, but the horns and the clarinet are all over the place, but a methodic all over the place. This takes a lot of focus from the players as well as a great sense of time. They go back to the head and then back into the cluster cuss of organized notes. It ends with each instrument simultaneously ending their phrases and a bass drum hit.
This music makes one want to get up and dance. Or at least that's what I did.
An interesting selection!
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