Curtis 8 Duos on early american jazz classics

Down By The Riverside
Little Brown Jug
Bill Bailey
Peg O' My Heart
A Tisket, A Tasket
Take Me Out To The Ballgame
Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen
Frankie And Johnny

These well-loved tunes have been around for a long time. Perhaps the
oldest is Nobody Knows the Trouble I´ve Seen, a Negro spiritual that
may have been written by slaves. Others come from the latter half of
the 19th century and from the turn-of-the-century era that produced
the precursors of jazz. The unifying factor in selecting these
particular tunes, apart from the fact that every American seems to
know them, is that they have been constantly recreated by jazz
performers, from the birth of jazz to the present day.There is an
immediate link from the improvisor to the mood, structure, or chord
structure (sometimes all three!) of these tunes that allows for a
free-flowing personal variation on these timeless themes.
DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE was written in 1865. It´s hard to imagine how
this tune went back then, because it´s had an unassailable swing ever
since the jazz players discovered it. In this collection, the fourth
chorus takes us back to the roots of jazz (à la Burlesca), with a
suitable quotation of There´s a Place in France.
LITTLE BROWN JUG was written by J. Winner in 1869. The composer was
well-named, as Glenn Miller had a mega-hit with this number in the
40s. Its jaunty syncopation sets up a lot of ready rhythmic interplay.
BILL BAILEY was a hit for Hughie Cannon in 1902. It has been one of
the most recorded Dixie numbers of all time. The treatment in this
book makes it a jazz march, with a Roaring 20s ending.
PEG O' MY HEART IS the youngest of the lot, written by Alfred Bryan
and Fred Fisher in 1913. Although it predates the establishment of
jazz per se, its elegant foxtrot beat and famous break have given it a
permanent, popular place in the repertoires of countless lounge bands.
A TISKET, A TASKET is a children´s song from 1879. It likely would
have remained so, but for Ella Fitzgerald's unforgettable 1938
recording. In this version, the saxes encounter a transposition to
seven sharps, but for a sax player any number of sharps beats flats
every time!
TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME, from 1905, is the signature tune of
baseball, America´s pasttime . It gives an opportunity for an
unorthodox little jazz waltz, with the development coming before the
theme, and a use of hocket (hiccups) along the way (maybe from too
many peanuts and crackerjack...).
NOBODY KNOWS THE TROUBLE I'VE SEEN is the aforementioned Negro
spiritual. Nobody knows how old it is. Call and response and a shout
chorus seem appropriate in this arrangement.
FRANKIE AND JOHNNY, from 1840, is perhaps an unlikely candidate for a
jazz treatment. The lyrics, however, give us a clue, moving
dramatically from Oh Lordy, how they could love to but he done her
wrong. This old tune gets the newest treatment in the book, with
angular, modern lines in the fourth chorus.