17. Lu Watters’ Yerba Buena Jazz Band, “Sage Hen Strut” (Lu Watters)

For use with Lessons #20 and #21.

 

Style: San Francisco

Personnel: Lu Watters trumpet, Bob Scobey trumpet, Bob Helm clarinet, Melvin “Turk” Murphy trombone, Wally Rose piano, Harry Mordecai banjo, Dick Lammi tuba, Bill Dart drums. Recorded in 1946.

Issued on West Coast 116.

Reissued on Good Time Jazz 4GTJCD-4409-2 Disc 3.

San Francisco brassmen Lu Watters and Turk Murphy, weary of the dance band routine in the late 1930s, decided it was time to return to the King Oliver model. In forming the hugely popular Yerba Buena Jazz Band, they recast the Oliver approach, infusing it with added brassiness and a chugging, 2-beat feel. “Sage Hen Strut” is one of a number of multi-strain original compositions Watters penned for the YBJB. Signature stylistic elements to listen for include Classic New Orleans Style clarinet (2:00), gruff trombone (2:08), and ragtime-style piano (2:45). Drummers will hear extensive use of woodblock, as well as backbeat toms at 2:00, changing to choked cymbal at 2:27. The “leaning” tuba (emphasized beat 4) appears in various places but is prominent in the “double ending”, which occurs at 3:10.

Sequence for this track

0:00 Ensemble intro, arranged (4 bars)

0:05 First strain: ensemble

0:22 Second strain: ensemble (with clarinet break)

0:41 Second strain repeat: ensemble (with clarinet break)

1:00 First strain reprise: ensemble

1:18 Ensemble interlude (stoptime), 4 bars (trombone/tuba play melody)

1:23 Third strain (key change): ensemble

2:00 Third strain: clarinet solo 8 bars, trombone solo 8 bars, clarinet solo 8 bars, trumpet solo (Scobey) 8 bars

2:36 Third strain: ensemble 8 bars, piano solo 8 bars, ensemble 6 bars, “double ending”

Lu Watters’ Yerba Buena Jazz Band