Jitterbug Waltz

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Jitterbug Waltz is a jazz song that Fats Waller composed in 1942. It is the first jazz composition that was written in three-quarter time and established itself as the jazz standard . The first recorded jazz waltz, however, is Waltzing the Blues by Benny Carter (1936).

History of the composition

The Jitterbug Waltz was inspired by some piano exercises, allegedly Bach's inventions , which Waller's son Maurice was practicing on the piano at the beginning of 1942. At that time, Fats Waller and his band had a six-week engagement in the Panther Room at the Sherman Hotel in Chicago. Waller is said to have woken his son in enthusiasm for the finished piece. The title of the play came from Waller's manager Ed Kirkeby. The title points back to jazz history : "Jitterbugs" were the jazz fans of the 1920s and 1930s and the Jitterbug was the leading swing dance style, so the title was a joke as the two had nothing to do with each other. The sequence-like eighth note melody is more of a rhythmic motif and steps down the ladder at a quarter tempo with “ upbeat ” upward thirds and is currently being played. Two months later, on March 16, 1942, Waller recorded the piece with his group for RCA Victor , using the Hammond organ melodiously.

The way to the jazz standard

In December 1942 Waller reached # 2 in the new "Harlem Hit Parade" (the forerunner of the R&B charts), but the piece was not particularly successful at first. Regarding the use of three-quarter time in jazz (daring at the time), Duke Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige Suite (with a short waltz) performed at Carnegie Hall in January 1943 made more impression, and overall it was still a long time until the end of the 1950s, until the stigma of the waltz as an element alien to jazz was softened and the Jitterbug Waltz found more interpreters. Erroll Garner took up the play again in 1949. Bobby Hackett interpreted the piece in 1951 (and later recorded it with Dizzy Gillespie and Mary Lou Williams ). This was followed by Art Tatum (1953, Solo Masterpieces Vol.3) and a big band arrangement by Michel Legrand (1958 Legrand Jazz , all-star recording with Miles Davis , John Coltrane , Bill Evans , Phil Woods , Herbie Mann , the real breakthrough as Jazz standard, although in the solos he changes to 4/4 time), Junior Mance (1962), Vince Guaraldi (1963) and Monty Alexander (1965), the Jazz Crusaders and Les McCann . At this time, the musicians of avant-garde jazz had discovered the title; in particular is Eric Dolphy to mention that the piece of 1963 and 1964 interpreted ( Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy: Cornell 1964 ), but also Roland Kirk ( Rip, Rig and Panic , Bright Moments 1973), Dizzy Gillespie ( Dizzy's Big Four 1974 with Joe Pass ). This was not without effect on the next generations: Barry Altschul played a "bizzare" version on his record Irina (1983) and Thomas Chapin 1984 ( Radius ); David Murray recorded the Jitterbug Waltz several times. Greg Osby tore the subject apart in 1999 ( The Invisible Hand , with Andrew Hill ). Also Aki Takase had him. In their Fats Waller Program Bobby Hutcherson often played it at breakneck speed, Randy Weston in a live recording from Marrakech ( Marrakech in the Cool of the Evening , 1992) and Chick Corea on Past, Present & Future 2001.

The copyright has been held by Chappell & Co. (now Warner / Chappell Music) since 1942.

Versions with text

Dinah Washington recorded the Jitterbug Waltz in 1957 for her Fats Waller Songbook album with a large band and a text by Maxine Manners and Charles Grean, which is about the composition itself ("a lovely waltz with syncopation"). Singers like Abbey Lincoln ( When there is love 1992, with Hank Jones ), Cécile McLorin Salvant (WomanChild) or Masha Bijlsma , on the other hand, used the more conventional text that Richard Maltby wrote in the 1970s for the Broadway revue Ain't Misbehavin ' .

Original recording

There is only one recording by Fats Waller: Fats Waller, his Rhythm and his Orchestra, New York City, March 16, 1942. Bluebird Records 11518, as well as Victor 20-2639, Victor LPT 1001, His Masters Voice Swiss (HMV HE) 2976 , Instrumentation: Fats Waller, Hammond organ (no vocals), trumpet: Herman Autrey, John Hamilton, Joe Thomas, Nathaniel Williams, trombone: Herb Fleming, George Wilson, alto saxophone: Georges James, Lawrence Fields, clarinet / tenor saxophone: Gene Sedric, tenor saxophone : Bob Carroll, guitar: Al Casey, baritone saxophone: Cedric Wallace, drums: Arthur Trappier.

Simultaneously recorded and released: We need a little love, You must be losing your mind (Fats Waller sings in both recordings)

In a solo recording by Honeysuckle Rose (á la Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Waller) from 1941, Waller varied the theme in various ways, including a waltz.

Rhythmic theme

The sequence-like motif consists rhythmically of mostly very straight (not swinging) jumping eighth notes and follows the tones of the ladder.

\ version "2.18.2" << \ chords {es2.:6} \ relative c '' {\ key es \ major \ time 3/4 r8 es8 \ noBeam g8 [d] \ noBeam fc es [bes] d s4 . ^ \ markup {sim.}} >>


\ version "2.18.2" << \ chords {es2.:6 s es2.:6} \ relative c '' {\ key es \ major \ time 3/4 r8 \ override NoteHead.color = #blue es8 \ noBeam g8 [\ override NoteHead.color = #green d] \ noBeam f \ override NoteHead.color = #red c es [\ override NoteHead.color = #yellow bes] d s4. ^ \ markup {sim.} \ time 3 / 4 r8 \ override NoteHead.color = #red es8 \ noBeam \ override NoteHead.color = #black g8 [\ override NoteHead.color = #red d] \ noBeam \ override NoteHead.color = #black f \ override NoteHead.color = #red c \ override NoteHead.color = #black es [\ override NoteHead.color = #red bes] \ override NoteHead.color = #black d s4. ^ \ markup {sim.}} >>


This course is continued almost unchanged (from the octave es' it is pushed) over four bars to the lower decime C, repeated over a cadenced twist and modulated with a second almost identical twist to F. Because of the bars in the notation you can see plagal downward “fourths” (there are tritoni of the ladder underneath), rhythmically and tonally, however, the upward thirds and the course of the lower notes of the intervals are emphasized in tone steps downwards at a quarter tempo. The accompanying stride of the accompaniment emphasizes beats one and two (practically delays the chord), the third beat has a break or is quiet. Likewise in Waller's brass section on his 1942 recording or there with his guitarist in the broadest sense. A classic stride, in the absence of a recording by Waller, can be found, for example, with Dick Hyman , or musicians and pianists in swing / stride style, continuously from then until now. Both swing musicians and modern musicians influenced by bebop play the eighth notes more straight than syncopated or shuffled, which allows fine rhythmic delays or anticipations.

\ version "2.18.2" << \ chords {f2.:7 s as: m6} \ relative c '{\ key es \ major \ time 3/4 r8 c8 \ noBeam es8 [c] \ noBeam es c es [ c] es s4. ^ \ markup {sim.} r8 ces8 \ noBeam es8 [ces] \ noBeam es ces es [ces] es s4. ^ \ markup {sim.}} >>

Here later, in the second half of the piece, the same rhythmic motif appears on the spot and ends with a standing sound (held g '), differs slightly in terms of sound, and actually only suggests a change of tone gender. After A minor 6, F7 follows again with the same motif and is led to the turn in the repetition or the plagal end. (Waller uses this harmonic phrase in a similar way in other of his compositions, e.g. 'Ain't Misbehavin'.)

Mainly plagal elements stand out harmoniously with three functional dominants.

The rhythmic motif works like a very slowly played element of a “Fats Waller Drive” when interpreted in such a way that the upper voice is looked up with the thumb in the chord of the left hand. A typical style element of the Stride is (conversely) when the right hand plays a chord, it sets a single voice by anticipating the beat of the right hand chords.

Note the right middle finger

This can be achieved, for example, by lowering a finger of the hand that is playing the chord before the stop, i.e. the middle or index finger. You can see this in the picture and Waller also shows this gesture of the hands in other photos.

The motif can also be played intermittently in thirds, so to speak without delay. It is reproduced by Waller himself in 1942, his brass section and many interpreters in a playfully enriched way.

literature

  • Hans-Jürgen Schaal (Ed.): Jazz standards. The encyclopedia. 3rd, revised edition. Bärenreiter, Kassel u. a. 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1414-3 , pp. 264f.
  • Ted Gioia: The Jazz Standards, Oxford UP 2012, pp. 210ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ There was already Jerome Kern's Waltz in Swing Time (1936), but the orchestra did not interpret it as a swing waltz. See Dan Fox The Rhythm Bible , p. 114
  2. ↑ a b c Hans-Jürgen Schaal Jazz Standards , pp. 264f.
  3. ↑ Ted Gioa, Jazz Standards, 2012, p. 209
  4. ↑ Maurice Waller, interview in the British TV documentary by Howard Johnson: Thomas "Fats" Waller - This joint is jumping , 1987
  5. ↑ An earlier appearance there led to the Waller composition Pantin 'at the Panther.
  6. ↑ Cf. Ed Kirkeby Ain't Misbehavin ': The Story of Fats Waller 1975, pp. 209f. That is the only short passage where Kirkeby mentions the piece.
  7. ↑ Ted Gioa, The Jazz Standards, 2012, p. 209: Jazz fans of the period would have laughed at the idea of ​​merging them.
  8. ↑ a b song portrait (Jazzstandards.com)
  9. ^ Billboard November 28, 1942
  10. ^ Hal Leonard, Real Book Jazz, C Edition, p. 191
  11. ↑ Lyricsplayground , text by Maltby
  12. ↑ Information based on the Discography of the Storyville Team in Ed Kirkeby, Fats Waller, Da Capo 1985, p. 248
  13. ↑ Barry Kernfeld, Encyclopedia of Jazz, Fischer Scherz 1993, section on Waller.