Charles Franklin Blues

Thought it might be interesting to have a slightly more in depth look at some of our tunes, starting with Paul Towndrow's composition 'Charles Franklin Blues'

The tune was written by Paul in 2008 and subsequently recorded on the album Deal With It (click here to buy this album)

The piece was originally intended to be a tribute to both soul singer Aretha Franklin, and the great bassist and bandleader Charles Mingus, hence the creation of the fictional amalgam 'Charles Franklin'. However, further research (i.e. Google search) by The Beauv, revealed that Charles Franklin (Kettering) actually existed as an inventor, engineer and head of research(i.e. a bit more than Google search) for General Motors.

The piece itself is a blues influenced tune in 6/8 time. Although it doesn't adhere to a traditional 12 bar form, the harmony is fairly typical of music written in this genre. Each instrument takes it in turn to state the melody and to improvise a solo break. On the final time through the tune everyone improvises together. When we play this live - we often take creative liberties with the melody, the harmony, and (occasionally) the form.

Here is what Charles Franklin Blues sounded like when we recorded 'Deal With It'

http://soundcloud.com/paul-towndrow/charles-franklin-blues

Here is Paul's alto guide part:



This recording is from our end of tour gig at Glasgow City Halls in 2009

http://soundcloud.com/paul-towndrow/charles-franklin-blues-live-1

And here is our recent reworking of the tune to feature trombonist Chris Grieve at one of our gigs at the 2011 Lagavulin Islay Jazz Festival

http://soundcloud.com/paul-towndrow/charles-franklin-blues-live

If you have any questions about any of our music or recordings, or if you'd like to see scores or lead sheets for any of our tunes, please get in touch.

ENJOY!