DB Hall of Fame

SOLO  FLIGHT

THE  CHARLIE  CHRISTIAN  LEGACY

DB Hall of Fame


 

 

DEATH LETTER BLUES
 
mx  25510-2
 
OCTOBER  31,  1939     Tuesday  AM LIEDERKRANZ HALL
  58th Street & Lexington Avenue,  NYC
  ( VOCALION Records )
 

 
  12-Bar BLUES Key of   B♭ Quarter Note =   78 Time:   2:42
 
 
  4-Bar Intro  +  4  CHORUSES:
 
      4  bars  –  muted trumpet [Intro]  
 
  •   1  chor  –  vocal (over CC obbl)  
 
      2  chor  –  vocal (over ens)  
 
  •   1  chor  –  vocal (over CC obbl on last 6 bars)
 
 

 
Personnel:
 
  Ida Cox and her All-Star Band
  CHARLIE CHRISTIAN Guitar
  HOT LIPS PAGE trumpet
  JAMES P. JOHNSON piano
  ARTIE BERNSTEIN bass
  IDA COX vocal
 
 

Composed by: Ida Cox
 
©   VALDΙS   5/20/20
 

 

Transcription

Death Letter Blues   –   31 October 1939   –   mx 25510-2   (take 3)

Obbligati

 



C
&A:

Whereas the band accompanying Ida Cox was a septet on the other songs of these Vocalion sessions, the second song to be recorded, Death Letter Blues, had only a quartet backing the blues singer.  It was a rather atypical instrumental assembly with Charles on guitar, Lips on trumpet, James P on piano, and Artie on bass.


mx 25510-X  (take 1 – complete:  five choruses)

mx 25510-Y  (take 2 – complete:  five choruses)

mx 25510-z  (breakdown)

mx 25510-2  (take 3 – complete take:  four choruses)
With the ensemble pared down to a quartet on this song, one would expect Charlie Christian to get more work here but all it has for the guitarist is some obbligati behind the singer on the first and last choruses.  The first chorus has a good amount of guitar; the last chorus much less so.

mx 25510-1  (take 4 – master take:  five choruses)
This master take goes back to five choruses – the previous chorus, for whatever reason, had only four – but in any case all complete takes have the same amount of guitar space allotted.  The guitar on the first chorus is essentially the same as on the earlier takes; the last chorus is different but just as audibly sparse.

 


 
Issued Recordings:
 
  [ LP ] Collector’s Classics CC 56 (side A, track 2) [ 25510-4 ]
  Meritt # 5 (side B, track 2) [ 25510-2 ]
 
  [ CD ] Affinity / Charly AFS 1015 (track 13) [ 25510-4 ]
  Document DOCD-5651 (track 4) [ take 4 ]
  Mosaic MD6-262 (disc 6, track 26) [ take 3 ]
 



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