Blues March

You usually don't see blues and march smashed together, but this song is an exception.

 

I suppose with jazz, there are a lot of exceptions. I'll explain that later in this post, but first I'll tell you a little bit about the song.

So, this song is, quite clearly, a blues march. I should thank Benny Golson, the composer of this song, for coming up with such a descriptive name. I've already told you what I think about some song titles - in case you haven't read my previous posts, I usually say that titles like "Sonata in A Major," that get used all the time, aren't really on my list of favorites, but neither are things that seem really out of the blue.

However, I now know the reason for these title problems that I always complain about.

2025 update: I don't remember who taught me this, so I don't know for sure. It could just be an idea that I speculated.

Some musicians had a lot of time to spend on their music. For example, I heard that a jazz saxophonist named Charlie Parker practiced for 15 hours a day. Whether those were 15 hours of effective practice I don't know, but if they were, he could have theoretically become one of the world's best in a mere 2 years. (No wonder he played music that was fast and complicated.)

But some had a really tight schedule. A lot of classical composers wrote music for noble people, who wanted to hear new music every week. The composers would have to write hours of music in a single weekend. I'm pretty sure I can't do that.

So these composers didn't have the time to think of an original title. They'd simply label the song "Sonata", hand it to the performers and tell them to get it ready for whatever day they were playing. That's why there are multiple songs on my blog with the same title.

Meanwhile, others could spend a few days asking people for suggestions and thinking about what to call the song. The audience didn't care as long as there was something new eventually. Plus, with jazz everyone gets to take a solo, which they make up on the spot. The musicians could also play the song a little bit differently at each performance. So, there will always be something new even if it's not the actual song. This gave them more time to get the songs ready.

You might have already noticed some of the exceptions I was talking about. You get to take solos, you can play the song differently.... and besides that, no one minds if you change the key or play it on a different instrument. You could even write your own melody for the song and say, "This song is Red Ball and it's based on I've Got Rhythm."

But there are a couple things that you can't make an exception to. One is that December is starting in a few days. In fact, my next post will be in December. So, I'm going to be having a Christmas celebration! All of the songs that I post for the month of December will be Christmas songs so we can all celebrate together. I hope you'll be there to hear what I'm playing!

So, back to what I was saying. In music, there are a lot of things that might seem "different," but they really just help to make it more unique and original. Isn't that what music is supposed to be?

Have you noticed anything in a song that seems strange but really makes it more original? Please respond by leaving a comment!