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"C Jam Blues" is a jazz standard composed in 1942 by Duke Ellington. One of his most famous pieces, it has been performed by countless other musicians, such as Dave Grusin, Django Reinhardt, Oscar Peterson, and Charles Mingus.

Background

As the title suggests, the piece follows a twelve-bar blues form in the key of C major. The tune is well known for being extremely easy to play, with the entire melody featuring only two notes: G and C.

A performance typically features several improvised solos. The melody likely originated from the clarinetist Barney Bigard in 1941, but its origin is not perfectly clear.

It was also known as "Duke's Place", with lyrics added by Bill Katts, Bob Thiele and Ruth Roberts.

Notable performances

• The song is performed in the "soundie" Jam Session, produced in 1942. The video depicts a jam session where Ellington begins playing with a double bass before gradually being joined by other members of his band, among them drummer Sonny Greer and trumpeter Rex Stewart.
• Western Swing band leader Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys recorded the song sometime between 1945 and 1947 as part of The Tiffany Transcriptions.
• Bill Doggett recorded a version on his 1958 tribute album Salute to Duke Ellington (King).
• "C Jam Blues" was used by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band as the basis of their song "The Intro and the Outro".
• Mulgrew Miller and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen included the song in their 1999 album The Duets.
• The Dave Brubeck Quartet performed this live at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival; the recording appears in their album Newport 1958.
• Tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet performed the song with former President Bill Clinton at his 1993 inagural ball.

References

Citations

1. Schuller 1992, p. 47.
2. "C Jam Blues (1942)". JazzStandards.com. Retrieved April 3, 2010.
3. "C-Jam Blues by Duke Ellington/arr. Rick Stitzel". J.W. Pepper Sheet Music. Retrieved January 11, 2025.
4. Mashon, Mike (December 1, 2015). "Duke Ellington on the National Film Registry: Jam Session (1942)". Now See Hear! (Blog). The Library of Congress. Retrieved January 11, 2025.
5. San Antonio Rose. Tiffany Transcriptions page 351.
6. Tracey, Ed (September 18, 2016). "Odds & Ends: News/Humor (with a "Who Lost the Week?" poll)". Daily Kos. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
7. "Mulgrew Miller Discography". jazzdisco.org. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
8. "Newport 1958". Dave Brubeck Jazz. Rovi Corporation. Archived from the original on August 6, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
9. Dryden, Ken. "Newport 1958: Brubeck Plays Ellington Review". AllMusic. Retrieved January 11, 2025.
10. "Legendary saxophonist dies". Deaths. The Robesonian. The Associated Press. July 23, 2004. p. 8A. Retrieved January 11, 2025.

Sources

• Schuller, Gunther (1992). "Jazz and Composition: The Many Sides of Duke Ellington, the Music's Greatest Composer". Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 46 (1). American Academy of Arts & Sciences: 36–51. doi:10.2307/3824163. ISSN 0002-712X. JSTOR 3824163. Retrieved January 11, 2025.

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• 1942 songs
• Compositions by Duke Ellington
• 1940s jazz standards
• Swing jazz standards
• Songs written by Ruth Roberts
• Jazz compositions in C major