Who’s Your Crawdaddy? Dixieland Jazz Band Live at Barbes Brooklyn
Barbes is a small, intimate space, and in such a setting it’s easy to observe the communication among the musicians. Watching the signals exchanged through eye contact, body language, and hand gestures helps the non-jazz musician finally begin to understand on a practical level how collective improvisation is possible. The atmosphere in the dim, tin-ceilinged club is relaxed and exciting.
The energy of the musicians, already high at the beginning of the evening, feeds off itself and grows throughout the set. The respect and affection among them is obvious. During particularly hot solos, they shout encouragement to each other, and the clarinet player in particular is prone to doing gleeful little dances during rests.
Personally, this is my favorite sort of jazz. I’ve got old-fashioned taste in music, I guess, and Dixieland just makes me ineffably happy. The Second Line music felt particularly appropriate – any momentary melancholy inspired by the constant presence of New Orleans in the room was immediately overwhelmed by the life and joy in what was being played.
In analyzing the performance, I will first make some general observations about the music, then make some more specific observations about each instrument, and finally discuss three of the ten songs that were played in the set. I chose these three both because they stood out in my mind and because they seem representative, in format and techniques, of the performance as a whole.
The horn solos generally start with the soloist playing alone over the rhythm section for eight bars; the other two horns then come in in a supporting role, often playing short two- or three-note comments in unison, at other times playing countermelodies.
There are no fixed roles regarding which horn takes the melody, and generally each member of the horn section (excepting the tuba, which solos occasionally but mostly plays a rhythm section role) solos at least once per song; the banjo occasionally solos as well. This flexibility in instrument roles is typical of Dixieland jazz, as is the high level of collective improvisation that accompanies it. There is frequent call-and-response among the horn section, sometimes with the melody itself and sometimes with short, staccato figures.
On the three songs that have vocals, they are performed on one occasion by Ryan, on another by Anat and Ryan in a duet, and on the third by the whole band, in a call-and-response chorus. Plunger mutes are used on the trombone and the trumpet when vocals are being performed.
Brook Martinez on drums, we are informed at the beginning of the show, is not the regular drummer, but he integrates well with the band, staying in a rhythm role and providing a buoyant beat throughout the set that underpins and supports the music. He does not solo in this set.
Keith Yaun on the banjo does take solos on a few pieces, but mostly provides harmony and rhythm. A distinct classical or flamenco guitar influence – in the form of rapid, precise, percussive strumming – is evident in his banjo technique, especially during solos.
Ron Caswell, playing the tuba in an indoor venue, is forced to play pianissimo, particularly when Anat is playing clarinet (as she does for the majority of the set) rather than soprano sax, or when there are vocals. Nonetheless, he does take the occasional solo – in which the tuba is surprisingly agile – and the rest of the time, he moves fluidly between providing a walking bass line and playing countermelodies with the horns.
Just as they take turns with the solos, the members of the horn section also alternate playing melodic lines and comping, shifting seamlessly from one role to another.
Ryan Keberle on the trombone plays with a rich, earthy tone that has a gleam to it. When providing harmony, the clearest stylistic influences are Dixieland and a trace of Latin jazz; in the flexibility of the melodic line and the verticality of the solos, there is a distinct influence of Lester Young. He moves up and down the scale with an agility which I associate with smaller, higher instruments.
Sam Hoyt plays the trumpet with a tone that is piercing but warm and round – it seems more like a classic Dixieland or Swing style than the squealy assaultiveness of much post-Gillespie trumpet. Quick, disjointed showers of notes in his solos, however, make some Bebop influence clear.
Anat Cohen’s clarinet has a sweet tone that is woody and clear. It does get drowned out by the brass on occasion, but it shines in solos. The sound of this instrument is one of the most appealing things about early jazz to me – there’s a mellowness to it that provides a welcome contrast to the boldness of the horns. There is a Swing influence here, most apparent in the playfulness of the quick chromatic runs in her solos.
The tone of the soprano saxophone is piercing, ringing, and rather cold, but the manner in which it is played here, perhaps because the player is also a clarinetist, makes it seem like a deeper, warmer instrument. I have to confess a bias here – I’m a fan of the lower horns in general, and soprano sax in particular has never been a favorite – but I enjoyed this.
The fourth song in the set is “When You’re Smiling”. All of the horns play the intro, then Ryan sings over the rhythm section, with a muted trumpet adding occasional punctuation. Then the clarinet and the trumpet each take a solo, but their tone is less frenetic and brassy than in the first few (non-vocal) pieces; their playing is more lyrical and more vocal. The horns all play together, and there is a banjo solo with a clear flamenco influence. All of the horns come in at the end, and a flourish of the clarinet ends the piece.
I didn’t catch the name of the fifth song in the set, but it was raucous and upbeat in mood. The horn section plays a brief descending melody; this is then played first by the trumpet, then the clarinet, and then the trombone, and once more in that order. There is a trombone solo with fast, vertical scales and heavy blues influence, and then a clarinet solo that quotes “In the Mood”.
This becomes a call-and-response with the trumpet and the trombone, which answer the clarinet in unison. The trumpet takes a solo, then begins trading two-note bursts with the trombone; they eventually shift into unison. The tuba then solos. The piece ends, once again, with all the horns playing.
The ninth song in the set was “Do You Know What It Means (To Miss New Orleans)?”. The trombone begins by stating the melody over just the banjo and tuba. The drums enter with a light, feathery touch. The trumpet begins providing harmony. The trumpet takes a solo, with the trombone providing harmony.
The clarinet enters and begins to provide harmony while the trombone takes the melody. There is a brief unison in the horn section on a descending melody. The trombone then takes a solo, followed by the trumpet and then the clarinet. The trombone restates the melody and the piece ends.
“Who’s Your Crawdaddy” is authentic Dixieland jazz in many ways, the most striking being the instrumentation and repertoire, the flexibility of the instrument roles, and the high level of collective improvisation. The other influences each of the players brings to the group flavour it delicately with spices from all over the world, just like New Orleans itself.
