This week we have the companion to Hyena Stomp, the ridiculous and hilarious Billy Goat Stomp! This was on the other side of the original record, and once again represents a (fortunately) little remembered fad of early jazz relating to animal dances and noises. This actually goes way back to pre jazz days and dance crazes such as the Bunny Hug and Turkey Trot, and of course the famous Fox Trot. And there are also other examples of animal themed entertainment back in the Vaudeville days, portrayed to us by Morton’s Anamule Dance as well as, of course, the first ever piece of recorded jazz by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, the Livery Stable Blues, full of barnyard sounds. This whole craze also tied into the idea of jazz and African-American music as being “low-down” and risqué (with obvious racist undertones as well). For this one, we once again enlisted the help of Michael McQuaid and Nicholas D. Ball, our compatriots from the Vitality Five, for which Nick had already written a great arrangement of this tune. The original features a dedicated sound effects guy making the goat sounds, but we figured we’d just do it ourselves. Plus a cameo from me on cornet!
Secondly this week, something much less manic, the final tune from the interesting late 20s session in which Morton was reunited with some of his old New Orleans buddies in New York where they were working with Luis Russell. The tunes are not compositional masterpieces, but this one has a nice verse and we hope you enjoy:
Andrew Oliver 