W. C. Handy's 1914 blues was one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song. Its twelve-bar verses sit beside a contrasting 16-bar strain in habanera rhythm. Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong and Art Tatum recorded it, and jazz players still use it.
The path runs from Bessie Smith's 1925 vocal to a 1963 Brubeck concert. It shows the song sung with a cornet and an organ, played by a swing band, a solo pianist, a string group, small bands and a piano trio.
Bessie Smith (with Louis Armstrong, cornet) · 1925
Columbia 14064-D single
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Bessie Smith sings with only a cornet and an organ behind her. Follow how the cornet answers her between lines.
Try this
Play a slow twelve-bar blues in G on piano or guitar: G7, C7, G7, G7, C7, C7, G7, G7, D7, C7, G7, D7. Hum Smith's vocal line against it. If that is too much, play only the first four bars.
Duke Ellington (issued as Warren Mills and his Blue Serenaders) · 1928
Victor 35962
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
A chorus of voices joins the band on this record. Listen for where the band plays alone and where the voices come in.
Try this
Play the twelve-bar blues in G at a medium tempo: G7, C7, G7, G7, C7, C7, G7, G7, D7, C7, G7, D7. Count each chorus aloud, and mark where the band changes texture.
Tatum plays alone, so one pair of hands carries the melody, the chords and the bass line. Notice how much he adds to each repeat of the blues chorus.
Try this
Play only the left-hand roots of the twelve-bar blues in G under the recording: G, C, G, G, C, C, G, G, D, C, G, D. Matching Tatum's right hand needs transcribing and is a much larger project.
Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli (Quintette du Hot Club de France) · 1935
Decca 23032
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Three guitars and a bass supply the rhythm while the violin and Django Reinhardt's guitar carry the solos. Listen for the steady strummed pulse under them.
Try this
Strum the twelve-bar blues in G with a steady down-up pulse: G7, C7, G7, G7, C7, C7, G7, G7, D7, C7, G7, D7. Aim to keep the strum as even as the rhythm guitars on the record.
Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars (vocal: Velma Middleton) · 1954 · Early jazz
Louis Armstrong Plays W. C. Handy
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
The track runs almost nine minutes, so the band takes many choruses. Listen for who solos and how the band comes back together.
Try this
Play along with the recording using the twelve-bar blues in G: G7, C7, G7, G7, C7, C7, G7, G7, D7, C7, G7, D7. Count the choruses and note which instrument plays in each.
Conga drums join the piano, guitar, bass and drums behind Gillespie. Listen for how the extra percussion changes the feel of the blues choruses.
Try this
Play the twelve-bar blues in G and sing or play a simple riff over it: G7, C7, G7, G7, C7, C7, G7, G7, D7, C7, G7, D7. Soloing over these changes in earnest is a bigger step; a one-note riff is the small version.
The track runs nine and a half minutes, so the trio takes many choruses. Listen to how the bass and drums keep the same twelve-bar cycle going under the piano.
Try this
Play the twelve-bar blues in G as block chords with the bass and drums on the recording: G7, C7, G7, G7, C7, C7, G7, G7, D7, C7, G7, D7. Keep your place by counting the twelve bars.
“St. Louis Blues (Live)”, The Dave Brubeck Quartet at Carnegie Hall
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
The quartet opens a concert with it and plays for almost twelve minutes. Follow Paul Desmond's alto saxophone and then the piano through the choruses.
Try this
Count twelve-bar choruses as you listen: G7, C7, G7, G7, C7, C7, G7, G7, D7, C7, G7, D7. Note where the feel changes, and write down the chorus number for each change.
The iReal Pro chart gives one chorus of twelve-bar blues in G. Bar 1 is G7, bar 2 moves to C7, and bars 3 and 4 return to G7. Bars 5 and 6 stay on C7, and bars 7 and 8 return to G7. Bar 9 is D7, bar 10 is C7, bar 11 is G7, and bar 12 is D7 as a turnaround into the next chorus. The song as Handy published it has three strains: a 12-bar blues, a 16-bar strain in a habanera rhythm that Handy called a tango, and a closing 12-bar blues. The chart as played covers only the blues strain, so the 16-bar strain is not part of the form shown here.