For No Reason at All in C

1927 78 single release on Okeh, 40871.
Columbia 78 reissue, 35667, "For No Reason at All in C", Bix Beiderbecke with Frankie Trumbauer and Eddie Lang.

"For No Reason at All in C" is a 1927 jazz instrumental by Bix Beiderbecke, Frankie Trumbauer, and Eddie Lang.[1] The song was released as a 78 single in 1927 on Okeh Records as by "Tram, Bix and Eddie (In Their Three Piece Band)".[2][3]

Background

Bix Beiderbecke plays piano and cornet, Frankie Trumbauer plays a C melody saxophone, and Eddie Lang is on acoustic guitar.[4] The song was composed by Beiderbecke and Trumbauer. The instrumental was recorded in New York on May 13, 1927.[5] Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer had earlier worked together as members of the Jean Goldkette Orchestra. The song was released as a 78 single on Okeh as 40871, Matrix #81085, on Columbia as 35667, and in the UK on Parlophone as R3419. The flip side of the Okeh single was "Trumbology".[6]

The recording was reissued in the 1940s on Columbia Records as a red label 78, 35667, as part of the "A Hot Jazz Classic" series, Matrix #81085.

The instrumental appears on the album Bix Beiderbecke, Volume I: Singin' The Blues on the Columbia Jazz Masterpieces series, Bix Beiderbecke: Riverboat Shuffle (1924-1929) on Naxos, and the 2011 album The Best of Bix Beiderbecke on the Gralin Music label.

Reception and Influence

In "The Birth of the Cool 1927", Len Weinstock showed that Bix Beiderbecke's collaborations with Frankie Trumbauer resulted in the emergence of "cool jazz":[7]

Who was the father of Cool Jazz? Miles Davis? Lester Young? Stan Getz? Gerry Mulligan? The answer, is none of the above. Cool Jazz has its roots as early as 1927 in the wonderful collaborations of cornetist Bix Beiderbecke and C-melody saxman Frank (Tram) Trumbauer! Bix and Tram were closely associated as early as 1925 and developed a tight musical rapport. They both used a linear, relaxed and lyrical style and were the first to offer an alternative to the searing, passionate and extroverted music that characterized the Jazz Age. ...
This really constituted the birth of Cool Jazz. The most important recordings of these groups include Singin' the Blues, Way Down Yonder in New Orleans, I'm Coming Virginia, For No Reason At All in C, Wringin' and Twistin' and Bix's legendary piano solo In a Mist. Somewhat hotter but still very much laid back were Clarinet Marmalade, Ostrich Walk, and Riverboat Shuffle.
These works were not simply recorded and then forgotten, to be rediscovered as an oddity at some later date. These records caused an immediate sensation in the Jazz community and sent a shockwave through Jazz history that can still be felt today.

Notable recordings

Marty Grosz and His Honoras Causa Jazz Band recorded it on the album Hooray for Bix!. Scott Robinson recorded the song on his 2000 album Melody from the Sky. The Bix Beiderbecke Fabulous band performed the song at the 2003 Bix 100 Project in the Netherlands in the Jazz Club Delft in March, 2003. The project was initiated and directed by multi-instrumentalist Ad Houtepen. The instrumental was also recorded by Julio Remersaro (piano & cornet) during a performance at the AMIA Auditorium on August 4, 2013 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The song was also performed in concert in 2003 at the JVC Jazz Festival in an arrangement by Dan Levinson.[8]

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Lion, Jean Pierre. Bix: The Definitive Biography of a Jazz Legend. New York: Continuum, 2005. ISBN 0-8264-2754-5.
  2. ↑ Evans, Philip R. and Linda K. Evans. Bix: The Leon Bix Beiderbecke Story. Bakersfield, Calif.: Prelike Press, 1998. ISBN 0-9665448-0-3.
  3. ↑ Sudhalter, Richard M. and Philip R. Evans with William Dean-Myatt. Bix: Man and Legend. New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1974. ISBN 0-02-872500-X.
  4. ↑ Bix Beiderbecke with Frankie Trumbauer and Eddie Lang: For No Reason at All in C. jazz.com.
  5. ↑ Judy, Ned. "Origins and Early Development of the Jazz Piano Trio". April 14, 2004. Internet version October 15, 2007.
  6. ↑ Bix Beiderbecke: A Discography by Jean Pierre Lion.
  7. ↑ "The Birth of the Cool 1927" by Len Weinstock. Red Hot Jazz.
  8. ↑ The Tribute to Bix at the JVC Festival by Albert Haim.
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