C Jam Blues

"C Jam Blues" is a jazz standard composed in 1942 by Duke Ellington and performed by countless other musicians, such as Dave Grusin and Django Reinhardt. As the title suggests, the piece follows a twelve-bar blues form in the key of C major.

The piece typically features several improvised solos. The final solo, by Barney Bigard on the clarinet, continues in the upper register as the entire ensemble comes in and the music grows to a climax. The melody likely originated from Bigard in 1941, but its origin is not perfectly clear.^[1]

It was also known as "Duke's Place", with lyrics added by Bill Katts, Bob Thiele and Ruth Roberts Western Swing band leader Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys recorded the song sometime between mid-1945 through 1947 as part of the Tiffany Transcriptions.^[2]

References