Novelty Jazz tunes

**edward74** · 10-02-2018, 03:44 PM

I've been digging Slim Gaillard's guitar/piano playing as well as the Nat King Cole Trio with Oscar Moore lately. When I'm not in my head about "serious" jazz listening, I really enjoy light-hearted tunes like Slim & Slam's Jump Session and Slim's Laguna. And from the Nat King Cole Trio's I Like To Riff and Are You Fer It. Hit That Jive and Frim Fram Sauce, too. Anybody get hooked on fun/corny/cheesy jazz numbers once in awhile?

**neatomic** · 10-02-2018, 03:49 PM

love that slim g jive..slim & slam...great stuff...check out babs gonalez, the mills brothers, fats waller & harry the hipster gibson

cheers

**edward74** · 10-02-2018, 05:54 PM

Originally Posted by neatomic

love that slim g jive..slim & slam...great stuff...check out babs gonalez, the mills brothers, fats waller & harry the hipster gibson

cheers

Yeah, I think I have one of his tracks. He's pretty kooky. I was also thinking about Louis Jordan. He's got a lot of great funny jazz tunes.

**Steven Herron** · 10-02-2018, 07:30 PM

I remember seeing Slam Stewart (The Singing Bassman) play "Flat Foot Floogie With The Floy Floy" back in the late 70's which I think is a Slim Gaillard tune.

Does that qualify?

**cosmic gumbo** · 10-03-2018, 01:10 AM

Blossom and Mose each had a brand of humor that was a big part of their musical persona that I always enjoyed.

**MarkRhodes** · 10-03-2018, 10:14 AM

**MarkRhodes** · 10-03-2018, 10:16 AM

**MarkRhodes** · 10-03-2018, 10:17 AM

**MarkRhodes** · 10-03-2018, 10:20 AM

**MarkRhodes** · 10-03-2018, 10:31 AM

**MarkRhodes** · 10-03-2018, 10:34 AM

Not jazz, I know, but I classic novelty record.

**Hep To The Jive** · 10-03-2018, 10:45 AM

Yea, the times when jazz had some good rhythm to it... Here's the song about myself

**edward74** · 10-03-2018, 10:50 AM

Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive

Yea, the times when jazz had some good rhythm to it... Here's the song about myself

I was just thinking about Cab Calloway. I bought a great compilation in the early 2000s of his Okeh recordings that included this tune and Everyone Eats When They Come To My House.

**edward74** · 10-03-2018, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by MarkRhodes

Not jazz, I know, but I classic novelty record.

I used to listen to the Dr. Demento show and learned about this tune. Add a little swing to it and I'd bet it'd be more fun to play and sing

It's a classic!

**edward74** · 10-03-2018, 11:04 AM

Originally Posted by MarkRhodes

YES! When I first saw this clip I was really impressed with his entertainment skills and piano chops. Love his opening line about playing his "2nd number"!

Would've like to see him bust out his Charlie Christian-like guitar chops, but it seems like this was a period to show off early rock-n-roll strumming. Great performer!

**joe2758** · 10-03-2018, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by neatomic

love that slim g jive..slim & slam...great stuff...check out babs gonalez, the mills brothers, fats waller & harry the hipster gibson

cheers

this guy looks like he’s doing his best fats wallet impression. the result makes very uncomfortable haha

**edward74** · 10-03-2018, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by Steven Herron

I remember seeing Slam Stewart (The Singing Bassman) play "Flat Foot Floogie With The Floy Floy" back in the late 70's which I think is a Slim Gaillard tune.

Does that qualify?

Regards,
Steven Herron
Learn To Play Chord Melody Guitar

Of course!! I would've enjoyed seeing him or Slim Gaillard live. It would've been something else to see them both as their hep duo!

**edward74** · 10-03-2018, 11:14 AM

Originally Posted by MarkRhodes

Mercer has got some great tunes that I need to learn on guitar! I mean Nat King Cole singin' My Sugar Is So Refined. That's a rare classic!

**whiskey02** · 10-03-2018, 01:47 PM

**MarkRhodes** · 10-03-2018, 05:20 PM

I love this stuff. (And country novelty tunes too, but that's another subject.)

Rhythm changes (and related vamps) seem to be the backing for many such tunes.

Blues and boogie-woogie too.

**Perdido** · 10-03-2018, 07:13 PM

Wow, that Long John Baldry clip brought me back. Used to love that tune, and even caught LJB performing in a small church in New York City back around 1970. (I didn't question at the time what the hell LJB was doing performing in a church, but I certainly am now.)

When my brother and I were kids, we used to crack up over a collection of 78 rpm records we inherited from some uncle or other, which had such great tunes as Louis Jordan's "Open the Door, Richard," Mary Clooney singing "C'mon-a My House," and somebody or other singing "Miami Beach Rhumba" (a tune, as best I can recall, about someone starting out to go to Cuba [back when it was legal!] and somehow ending up in Miami Beach). But it was "Open the Door, Richard," that really got us the most.

**neatomic** · 10-03-2018, 09:08 PM

that baldry cut actually got some local nyc airplay at the time...it was deemed as a bit of a comeback...long john was the namesake of elton john

combination of long john and great saxman elton dean

and now for something completely different- here's babs

cheers

**MarkRhodes** · 10-03-2018, 10:14 PM

These guys always seemed like they were having a helluva lot of fun, and they could really play. The dancing was the thing. A lot of Western Swing (and bluegrass and folk and blues) tunes have silly lyrics.

Hotclub of Cowtown's Whit Smith is a fine guitarist.

**sgosnell** · 10-03-2018, 11:54 PM

Here's 4 or 5 Times, sung by not the greatest singer of all times. One of the greatest clarinetists, though. And if it ain't jazz, then I don't know jazz.

**Stuart Elliott** · 10-04-2018, 10:08 AM

"Four or Five Times" was originally a black song, a hit for Jimmy Lunceford, iirc, though recorded by many.

On the other hand, western swingster Hank Penny wrote and first recorded Wynonie Harris's huge r&b hit "Don't Roll Those Bloodshot Eyes at Me." Cincinnati-based King Records had strong rosters of both CW and RB artists and frequently cross-fertilized.