Jazz? Maybe not precisely, but it’s good enough for me. To the extent that you may be a regular visitor to this site, you may have noticed that I’m a nut for the Mississippi Sheiks. They were a sophisticated group of musicians and certainly leaned, in a general sense, toward the pop sounds of the day. Their song “The Jazz Fiddler” was recently featured on the Old Hat Compilation “Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow.” Interestingly, I’ve been asked in a couple of comments and emails about this song, so I thought I’d make a post about it.

“The Jazz Fiddler” was recorded on the 17th of February, 1930 in Shreveport, Louisiana and was listed on the record as being played by Walter Jacobs and Lonnie Carter. To my ear Walter Vincson (Jacobs) is clearly singing to his own guitar accompaniment and Lonnie Chatmon’s (Carter) fiddling. The song was recorded during the same session that produced “Sitting On Top Of The World” and “Stop And Listen.” One interesting thing to note about this session is that the recordings are pitched flat for the entire session, anywhere from one to three half-steps low. Some of this may have been mechanical in nature, but it appears to me that they must also have been tuned somewhat low, maybe to accommodate Walter’s voice, or simply because everything sounded better to them when tuned lower. There is absolutely no reason to suppose that musicians who played vernacular music on stringed instruments must have been tuned to some absolute standard. Anyone who says so clearly has an ulterior motive and cannot possiby be trusted!

At any rate, the song is played out of B-flat, both on the guitar and the fiddle. While this may sound outlandish to current day country blues fans who were weaned on Mississippi John Hurt (not that there’s anything wrong with that), as a group the Sheiks leaned toward flat keys and B-flat was clearly one of their favorite keys. The chords for the song are:

B-flat    D      G     C7      F   B-flat

e -6-  e -2-  e -3-  e -0-  e -1-  e -1-
B -6-  B -3-  B -3-  B -1-  B -1-  B -3-
G -7-  G -2-  G -4-  G -3-  G -2-  G -3-
D -8-  D -0-  D -5-  D -2-  D -3-  D -3-
A -8-  A ---  A -5-  A -3-  A -3-  A -1-
E -6-  E ---  E ---  E -3-  E -1-  E -1-

The progression goes something like this - beats are indicated by a chord name or a “/” - measure lines by a “|” - 4 beats per measure:

B-flat / / / | D / / / | G / / / | G / / / |
C7 / / / | F / / / | B-flat / / / | B-flat / / / |

In theoretical terms, this could be expressed as:

I / / / | III / / / | VI / / / | VI / / / |
II / / / | V / / / | I / / / | I / / / |

That same 8-bar progression makes up the entire song.

All the guys that played backup guitar in the Mississippi Sheiks used a similar strategy - simple bass/strum backup. While it may not sound fancy to guys to whom fingerpicking has become the be-all/end-all of music making, it is an immensely powerful, flexible and supportive way of accompanying melody instruments of any kind. The sound is a bit different than typical old-time guitar accompaniment, primarily in the preference for flat-keys and for closed positions on the guitar. The guitar tends to ring less in these closed positions, although all the Chatmons (and Walter Vincson) tended to play these positions in such a way as to accentuate the treble during the strum. Here are two typical strummed measures of B-flat:

e --------6-----------6-----|--------6-----------6-----
B --------6-----------6-----|--------6-----------6-----
G --------7-----------7-----|--------7-----------7-----
D --------------------------|--8-----------------------
A --------------8-----------|--------------8-----------
E --6-----------------------|--------------------------

The key to the sound is to keep the bass notes tight, and to clearly fret the treble notes so they’re bright - not thuddy.

The guitar accompaniment to most Mississippi Sheiks songs does not strictly follow this pattern, but uses bass runs to connect up chords or provide interest, and “The Jazz Fiddler” is no exception. There are three runs that I’d like to draw attention to: one used during the first measure, one in the 4th measure, and one that is used in the last measures, to end the song and sometimes to connect two verses.

First, the bass run over the first measure - Walter usually plays this during instrumental verses, and it’s most clearly heard during the introductory measures:

e --------------------------
B --------------------------
G --------------------------
D --------8-----7----8------
A --------------------------
E --6-----------------------

Honestly, it’s dead-simple, but sounds good and gets the job done. From there, you’re on to the D chord, which I talk about later. For now, the bass run over the 4th measure G chord:

e --------------------------
B --------------------------
G --------------------------
D --5-----4-----3-----------
A --------------------5-----
E --------------------------

Again, dead simple - this run tends to get used when going from a chord to a harmonic neighbor who’s a fourth away - in this case from G to C, which is the next chord. By moving the whole thing up three frets, you could use it to connect B-flat to E-flat in a song like “Driving That Thing.” Before we put it all together, here’s the run that closes out the tune, but could be modified to act as a kind of turnaround between two verses:

e --------------------------|--------------------------
B --------------------------|--------------------------
G --3-----2-----1-----0-----|--------------------------
D --------------------------|--3-----0-----------------
A --------------------------|--------------1-----------
E --------------------------|--------------------------

A word about the D chord - every time Walter plays the D chord, he phrases up the rhythm like this:

e --------2-----2-----------|--------------------------
B --------3-----3-----------|--------------------------
G --------2-----2-----------|--------------------------
D --0-----------------s________5-----------------------
A --------------------------|--------------------------
E --------------------------|--------------------------

He stikes the open 4th string, strums the 1st position D chord twice, then slides from about the 3rd fret, 4th string to the 5th fret, 4th string - part of the G chord. If we were to put this all together, it’d look like this:

  B-flat                     D
e --------------------------|--------2-----2-----------
B --------------------------|--------3-----3-----------
G --------------------------|--------2-----2-----------
D --------8-----7----8------|--0-----------------s_____
A --------------------------|--------------------------
E --6-----------------------|--------------------------

  G                          G
e --------3-----------3-----|--------------------------
B --------3-----------3-----|--------------------------
G --------4-----------4-----|--------------------------
D __5-----------------------|--5-----4-----3-----------
A --------------5-----------|--------------------5-----
E --------------------------|--------------------------

  C7                         F
e --------0-----------0-----|--------------------------
B --------1-----------1-----|--------------------------
G --------3-----------3-----|--------------0-----2-----
D --------2-----------2-----|--3-----3-----------------
A --3-----------------------|--------------------------
E --------------3-----------|--------------------------

  B-flat                     B-flat
e --------------------------|--------------------------
B --------------------------|--------------------------
G --3-----2-----1-----0-----|--------------------------
D --------------------------|--3-----2-----1-----------
A --------------------------|--------------------------
E --------------------------|--------------------1_____

  B-flat                     D
e --------------------------|--------2-----2-----------
B --------------------------|--------3-----3-----------
G --------------------------|--------2-----2-----------
D --------8-----7----8------|--0-----------------s_____
A --------------------------|--------------------------
E __6-----------------------|--------------------------

  G                          G
e --------3-----------3-----|--------------------------
B --------3-----------3-----|--------------------------
G --------4-----------4-----|--------------------------
D __5-----------------------|--5-----4-----3-----------
A --------------5-----------|--------------------5-----
E --------------------------|--------------------------

  C7                         F
e --------0-----------0-----|--------1-----------------
B --------1-----------1-----|--------1-----------------
G --------3-----------3-----|--------2-----------------
D --------2-----------2-----|--3-----------------------
A --3-----------------------|--------------3-----------
E --------------3-----------|---------------------1____

  B-flat                     B-flat
e --------6-----------6-----|--------6-----------------
B --------6-----------6-----|--------6-----------------
G --------7-----------7-----|--------7-----------------
D --------------------------|--8-----------------------
A --------------8-----------|--------------8______-----
E --6-----------------------|---------------------1____

Notice that the repeats of the verse are connected with a chromatic modification of the end run. The slide (indicated by the “_”) from the 1st fret, 6th string to the 6th fret, 6th string is very typical of Walter, Bo Carter, and Sam Chatmon - they all used this type of language when playing guitar backup. Notice also that in the last measure there’s a descending slide from the 8th fret, 5th string down to the 1st position so you can pick up the 1st fret, 6th string and slide back up to 6th fret and B-flat to start the next measure.

The complete lyrics and an mp3 file can be found here - have fun!