One O'Clock Jump
One O'Clock Jump is a jazz composition by Count Basie that was initially played in the arrangement by Eddie Durham and Buster Smith and became a hit and jazz standard . In 1945 Lee Gaines, a singer with the Delta Rhythm Boys , wrote a text for the piece.
History of origin and first recording
The swing number "One O'Clock Jump" in the form of a 12-bar blues was written in 1937 by Count Basie. The piece was the Count Basie Orchestra's first major success ; the original arrangement was by Eddie Durham and Buster Smith. Carlo Bohländer rates the song as “a very effective big band blues with riff melody”, which “was created from a blues motif by Buster Smith and Head arrangements of the basie band and has contributed a lot to the good reputation of the band”. The blues became the signature tune of the orchestra at the Reno Club while in Kansas City . David Rickert sees the main characteristic of the “One O'Clock Jump”, which is actually a quite simply structured piece, in its “rhythmic intensity”. It is based on a series of three riffs, the first carried by the saxophones, the second carried by the trumpeters and the third carried by the trombones, each followed by a series of solos.
Regarding the question of the originality of the title, Rickert notes that the final riff comes from a Fats Waller recording called "Six or Seven Times" and that arranger Eddie Durham is certainly the main person responsible for the swinging orchestration. David Rickert counts “One O'Clock Jump” among the best examples of Kansas City Jazz .
Basie later told author Nat Hentoff how the name of the title came about. Shortly before the final number at a performance in Kansas City, Basie was asked by the announcer what else they were going to play: “Well, the piece just had no title, as if someone had to come up with one very quickly. I looked around the studio and my eyes fell on the clock. It was shortly before one ”. Later authors deviate from this representation: Originally the title was still called "Blue Ball", but a nervous radio presenter did not dare to announce the vulgar title on a broadcast for Radio W9XBY; so he was finally called "One O'Clock Jump" because he had regularly formed the final number in the Reno Club .
The original recording of the title took place on July 7, 1937 in New York for the Decca label . It appeared as a 78 with the B-side "John's Idea". The main soloists were the two saxophonists of the Count Basie Orchestra at the time , Herschel Evans and Lester Young , trombonist George "Rabbit" Hunt and trumpeter Buck Clayton . In the rhythm section , Basie Walter Page played on bass and Jo Jones on drums.
Although Buck Clayton also played an inspired solo in the original version, “One O'Clock Jump” became a stage for the fiery tenor battles between Herschel Evans and Lester Young in live concerts . Evans traditionally had the first solo, followed by Young. These tenor battles became a long-standing tradition for the Basie band, later Paul Quinichette and Eddie Lockjaw Davis fought these battles.
Other versions
In later years Basie recorded other versions of the title, so on his later albums in the 1950s for Roulette Records such as Breakfast Dance and Barbecue (1959) and Basie at Birdland (1961) and on his 1957 album with the singers Joe Williams and Ella Fitzgerald on the album One O'Clock Jump . Most recently in 1977 he played the title on the Pablo album Kansas City 5 with Milt Jackson and Joe Pass .
After the original version by Count Basie and his orchestra reached number 15 on the American charts in 1937, the hit potential of the song was clear. The popular title was immediately taken into the repertoire of band leaders such as Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington . Other performers also had economic success with their cover versions:
- Harry James and His Orchestra (1938, # 7)
- Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (1938, # 8)
- Metronome All-Star Band (1941, # 13)
Count Basie came in 1947 with the title again at number 12 in the American charts. The "One O'Clock Jump" had been recorded around a dozen times by 1940 and was by Sidney Bechet / Kenny Clarke , Don Byas , Les Brown , Lionel Hampton , Ernst Höllerhagen , Harry James , Oscar Peterson , André Previn , Chick Webb and Gerald Wilson played. It was also part of the repertoire of the Bennie Goodman Carnegie Hall Concert in 1938 . In the 1950s he was interpreted by the vocal trio Lambert, Hendrick & Bavan .
"One O'Clock Jump" was also used as the soundtrack in a number of feature films, such as Die Ehre zufly , Die Grasharfe , Harlem Nights , Enigma - The Secret and The English Patient .
Impact history
Count Basie then wrote "Two O'Clock Jump" and " Jumpin 'at the Woodside " in a similar style. "One O'Clock Jump" was added to the Song of the Century series.
literature
- Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 5th, revised and supplemented edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-15-010464-5 (1977).
- Nat Hentoff, Nat Shapiro: Jazz tells. Hear me talkin 'to ya. JAS, Frankfurt am Main 1984, ISBN 3-923396-05-8 .
- Stanley Dance: The World of Count Basie. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1980.
- Henry Daniels Douglas: Lester Leaps. In: The Life and Times of Lester "Pres" Young. Beacon Press, Boston 2002.
- Albert Murray: Good Morning Blues: The Autobiography of Count Basie. Random House, New York 1985.
- Gunther Schuller: The Swing Era. Oxford University Press, New York 1989.
Web links
- Representation of Basie version of David Rickert , All About Jazz
- Song portrait (jazzstandards.com)
- One O'Clock Jump on PBS Jack Burns Jazz