Re: [Harp-L] Re: Juke

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

billrossoll@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
The  story I have heard/read about Juke is that it was simply a jam that 
<the  band used as a break lead-in. Little Walter originally called it 
<something  like "Your Cat Will Play". He reportedly got the theme from 
<something that  Sunnyland Slim was doing. The rhythm "irregularities" are 
<simply  mistakes.

I heard that Walter heard Junior Wells play the tune in a club one night, and made sure to record it as soon as possible after.  But whatever.   

Walter came out of the rural blues tradition, and changes to the meter of a bar or the structure of a 12-bar chorus weren't unusual in that tradition.  Apparently what mattered most was a strong pulse, not the number of bars in a chorus.  Listen to the live recording of pianist Champion Jack Dupree at the Montreaux jazz festival--his sidemen, great musicians all, are constantly surprised by what he's doing to the form.

We hear that stuff as a rhythmic irregularity or a mistake.  I'm sure that to Walter and his bandmates in late forties/early fifties Chicago, it was just the way the music was played.  

Regards, Richard Hunter
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp