http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmQe_tFEvz0&feature=related
starting at 1:10
8 bar A
8 bar B
8 bar A
8 bar B
8 bar A
4 bar drum fill
8 bar trumpet solo
....
This is an interesting piece. If we start at time 1:10, it's a 32-bar popular tune with a duple beat. You can hear a piano, a trumpet, drums, bass, saxophone, trombone, accordion, and some type of xylophone, as well as vocalists. The dialogue makes the beat a bit hard to follow but it follows the same basic 32-bar form.
The song has a very New Orleans sounds with an almost polyphony sound during the trumpet solo. It also includes many other types of jazz. Personally, my favorite is the boogie-woogie piano during one of the fills. They also include a sort of jazz ballad with a harp accompaniment.
The solo in this piece is very appropriate for the New Orleans feel, as it is simply a variation on the main themes of the song. The rhythm section keeps things swinging (one could even say groovy) and the instrumentation gives it that New Orleans/marching band feel.
The lyrics of this song make it interesting as well. It shows a great deal about the culture of jazz. they include scat singing which is very typical of jazz vocalists. The use of words like swing, square, dig, gig, and modulate show the writer's understanding of the jazz terminology. The best word they use is simply the word "cat". In this song it becomes a play on words since Louis Armstrong first referred to people as "cats".
The characters of this jazz band also show the diversity of jazz. You have a clearly Oriental cat, a Russian cat, as well as other very distinct and colorful cats.
This song shows an awful lot about the culture of jazz and how we both perceive it and choose to portray it. Jazz has become so ingrained into our media and entertainment that we barely even notice it's there, but we never fail to enjoy it.
What a priceless clip! Very enjoyable! I appreciate you digging it up and enjoyed your comments, too.
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