Deb Dicembre Music

One Of My Favourite Trad Jazz Standards

Here’s a snippet of last Saturday’s gig – Honeysuckle Rose

This is one of my favourite jazz standards .
Written by Fatts Waller I particularly love the way Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong perform this great song – absolutely enjoyable whilst being a masterclass in musicianship. The song itself is straight enough to go straight ahead and wide enough to leave a lot of room for improvisation. I’ve learnt this song from the album below. Yes my copy !

It is what’s known as Trad Jazz – or Traditional Jazz ie the roots of this art form . “Honeysuckle Rose” is a 1929 song composed by Thomas “Fats” Waller , seen below, with lyrics by Andy Razaf. It was introduced in the 1929 Off-Broadway revue “Load of Coal” at Connie’s Inn as a soft-shoe dance number. Waller’s 1934 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

Now jazz has been thru many transitions , mingled with soul and fusion – some modern jazz musicians steer away from trad jazz in its purest form as it’s just not their bag – but make no mistake – this is the foundation of the art form and done well in any of the jazz genres , it’s a killer tune.

Here’s my live version from Saturday 28th December 2024. I hope you enjoy it !