Transcription

Death Letter Blues   –   31 October 1939   –   mx 25510-1   (master take)

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.