“Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You” and “Joy to the Person of my Love”

"Joy to the Person of My Love" 

A few days ago, while listening to the “All Classical” internet radio station, I heard this piece - “Joy to the Person of My Love,” a very pretty 16th- or 17th-century Scottish tune. If you give it a listen, you might notice that the first phrase sounds strikingly similar to “Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You,” the 1929 jazz standard with music by Don Redman, words by Andy Razaf. Here it is:

The obvious question: Is it even a tiny bit possible that Don Redman could have been aware of “Joy to the Person,” and borrowed the theme, either consciously or unconsciously?

After due consideration and some research, I think the answer has to be “unlikely, but possible, and we’ll never really know.”

Don Redman was a sophisticated musician. While he became famous as a jazz composer and arranger, he also had classical training. Redman grew up in a musical household - his father was a music teacher, his mother a singer. Redman studied at Storer College (class of 1920; wrote its alma mater), then at the Boston Conservatory. In the 1920s, there was a fair amount of academic interest in early music. There would surely have been some early music concerts in Boston, at which Redman might possibly have heard “Joy to the Person.” Alternatively, he could have run across it in a music history class.

At that time the available print source for “Joy” would have been William Dauney’s “Ancient Scotish Melodies.” This book was held in a number of college libraries. Dauney’s print version would have been the likely source for any live concert renditions that Redman might have heard. 

Dauney’s book was first published in 1838. It includes re-creations in modern notation of songs that were collected in the “Skene Manuscript” c.1630, originally in lute tablature. Here’s the way "Joy to the Person of My Love" appeared in Dauney’s book:

The first 8 bars in Dauney are a pretty good match for the Ensemble Galilei recording at the beginning of this post. It seems likely that Dauney was the Ensemble’s source for this song.

Comparing Dauney’s print version to modern fake book versions of “Gee Baby,” we can see some definite similarities in the first phrase. Note that “Gee Baby” is written in 4/4, while “Joy” is written in 2/4, so this phrase is 4 bars long in “Gee Baby,” 8 bars in “Joy.”

Here is the way the first phrase of "Gee Baby" appears in most modern fake books. This tune is usually played in Eb, but is here transposed to C for easier comparison:

For the first half of the phrase, the melodic contour is identical. In fact, all but one of the notes are identical. After that, the melodies move towards their tonic - A for "Joy," with an A minor feeling, or C for "Gee Baby," with a C major feeling. What are the odds of the notes, intervals, and phrasing matching up this well, accidentally?

I should mention here that a few previous popular tunes in the 1920s had made use of classical themes. Notably, "Avalon" (1920, music by Al Jolson, Buddy DeSylva, Vincent Rose) used a theme from Puccini, and was the subject of a celebrated lawsuit. "Song of India" was recorded by Paul Whitemen's band in 1921, adapted from a theme by Rimsky-Korsakoff. Could Redman have taken a cue from these?

I thought it might be interesting to check the modern fake book version of "Gee Baby" against Redman’s original sheet music, lead sheets, and/or the original 1929 recording, to see if modern fake book versions accurately represent Redman's original composition. 

However, 1929 copyright records indicate that no commercial sheet music for “Gee Baby” was produced at that time. Redman was required to include a lead sheet in his copyright submission; that would have been handwritten. The U.S. Copyright office has partially digitized their archive, and made it available online, but that unfortunately does not include Redman’s lead sheet (more about this later).

That left the 1929 recording as the only available guide to Redman's original concept.

Here's the original recording by McKinney's Cotton Pickers, led by Don Redman, on the Victor label: 

Redman is the vocalist, but he does not exactly sing the lyrics. It's more like conversational talking. The closest thing to the "melody" in this recording would be the trumpet part at the beginning. It's full of blues inflections, but the basic melody is pretty much like this:

This trumpet melody does not quite match the modern fake book version, but I'd say that if anything, this melodic line is a little closer to "Joy to the Person." 

One interesting feature is the F# in the first measure. In subsequent early recorded versions of "Gee Baby," this note seems to have evolved into the F that modern fake books use. 

The title of the tune has changed too, over time. The 1929 copyright submission was titled "Ain't I Good to You." The label on the 1929 record is "Gee, Ain't I Good to You," The lyrics in Redman's original recording never actually say “Gee baby, ain’t I good to you.” The closest they come is “Aw, baby…” 

Chu Berry’s 1941 version does use the whole “Gee baby…” phrase in the vocal, although the record label still reads, “Gee, Ain't I Good to You.” Nat King Cole's 1943 recording uses the full present title, "Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You," as do his lyrics. Nat's recording was a hit, and the title has stayed the same since then.

The tempo has changed as well. Redman's 1929 recording was a medium tempo "fox trot." Chu Berry played it as a slow, bluesy ballad, with a 12/8 feel. That tempo worked well, and subsequent recordings tended to be relatively slow. Modern fake books specify a slow 12/8 feel.

The first four recordings

McKinney’s Cotton Pickers

To recap, here is the basic information about Redman's original 1929 recording, discussed above:

McKinney’s Cotton Pickers

title on record label - “Gee, Ain’t I Good to You”

recorded 11/5/29

label - Victor

copyright 11/18/29 as “Ain’t I Good to You”

Chu Berry

Chu Berry's 1941 version was the second commercial recording of this song. 

Chu Berry
title - “Gee, Ain’t I Good to You”
recorded 8/28/41
label - Commodore

Like the 1929 recording, this one starts with the trumpet (Oran "Hot Lips" Page) stating the AABA melody. The notes of the A section are the same as in Redman's 1929 version, including the raised third note (shown as F# in the transposed example above). The B section, though, is interpreted in a way that  resembles the modern fake book version.

This is followed by "Lips" Page’s vocal, which is more melodic and less speech-like than the Redman version. The vocal interpretation does not hit either the F# or F as the third note. This is followed by a piano solo, then a sax solo by Chu Berry. Chu uses an F natural in his first two A sections. The slow "12/8 feel" tempo here probably influenced Nat Cole’s 1943 interpretation, as did the full “Gee baby, ain't I good to you” phrase in the lyrics.

(“Lips” Page recorded the song again in 1945 under his own name. His trumpet playing on the B and A sections at the end is as funky as you can get.)

Nat King Cole

Nat Cole turned this song into a hit. He recorded it in 1943, but it was not released until 1944. 

King Cole Trio
rec. 11/30/43, released August 1944
title - “Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good to You"
label - Capitol Records
Billboard “Harlem Hit Parade” 9/30/44, then 22 weeks more

The piano plays a 4-bar intro and two A sections, then Nat sings AABA. The third note of the A section is never raised in this recording, either in piano or vocal. The vocal melody, including the B section, is very much as shown in modern fake books - in Nat Cole's reinterpretation, the words fit the melody more naturally. This is followed by Oscar Moore's guitar solo, which again uses a natural (diatonic) third note in the first A section. The guitar solo is over the first two A sections. Moore starts with some interesting ideas, but when the piano takes over in the B section, there seems to be some confusion for a few measures between Oscar and Nat, about where they are in the form. By the middle of the last A they are back in sync. The vocal then takes BA, to the end of the song. 

At the end, Oscar plays a subtle "Jingle Bells" quote. Perhaps that was because the recording was made at the very end of November, or perhaps it was in reference to the lyric "Bought you a fur coat for Christmas." Three years later, when Nat made his hit recording of  The Christmas Song, Oscar used the same cute quote at the end, in a more obvious way.

Count Basie with Jimmy Rushing

In 1944, Count Basie recorded "Gee Baby" with a big band arrangement by Don Redman. It was released in 1945 on a "V-Disc."

Count Basie
rec. 5/27/44, live at the Blue Room, Hotel Lincoln, New York City
title - "Gee, Baby Ain't I Good to You"
label - V-Disc

The V-Disc program produced 78-rpm records for release to U.S. Armed Forces personnel; the records were not released to the general public. This was a live performance, featuring vocalist Jimmy Rushing.

Redman's 1944 Basie arrangement comes across as a much more polished update of the 1929 recording, but paralleling it to a large extent. It begins with a 4-bar intro, followed by the AABA melody, played by alternating sections. The melody as stated here is almost exactly as it was played by the trumpet in the 1929 version. 

This is followed by Jimmy Rushing, singing a vocal section that is new material ("Listen, listen to what I've got to say..."). This section seems to me like the "verse" that occurs at the beginning of many "Golden Age" standards, introducing the "chorus," which is the principal melody. Rushing then sings the AABA melody. He sings it fairly straight - with blues inflections and some interpretation, but hitting mostly the same notes as the instrumental melody. Almost every time the melody is played or sung in this recording, the third note of the A section is raised. Just once, in Lester Young’s tenor sax solo at the end, is it played natural. After the tenor solo, there is some brief closing material.

Because the instrumental and vocal statements of the melody so closely follow the version from 15 years earlier, I think it's reasonable to say that this is how Don Redman wanted his song to go. The modern fake book (Nat Cole) version may, or may not, be an improvement.

The Library of Congress Copyright Cards

Until January 1, 1978, the U.S. Copyright Office used double-sided 3" x 5" index cards to store copyright information. The pre-1978 archive of these cards at the Library of Congress has now been digitized, and images are available online. Any lead sheet that might have been included in the copyright submission is unfortunately not part of the digital archive. To view that additional material, one would have to pay a fee of $200 per hour, with a minimum of 2 hours (total, $400+) for a staff member to look through the physical archives and make a physical or digital copy. That's more than I was willing to spend, so I cannot say what was on Redman's lead sheet.

Nevertheless, there is interesting information on the file cards. Below are four cards relating to "Gee Baby," with comments.

The first card, with an initial date of 11/15/29, registers the song immediately after its first recording by McKinney's Cotton Pickers on 11/5/29. It shows Joe Davis as the owner of the copyright. Davis was a music producer, prominent in the popular music business in the 1920s and 1930s. He would have set up the record date, and probably would have had a profit-sharing arrangement with Redman. 

The phrase “MUSICAL COMPOSITION NOT REPRODUCED FOR SALE” means that the song was copyrighted, but no commercial sheet music was produced. The fine print specifies that “one complete copy is herewith deposited.” That would be the lead sheet that I chose not to order.

  

The second card, dated 12/7/43, shows a transfer of the copyright ownership to Michael H. Goldsen, immediately following Nat Cole's recording on 11/30/43. According to Google, Joe Davis sold his publishing catalog to Bregman, Vocco & Conn (BVC) in 1939. BVC then sold this song to Goldsen in 1943. Goldsen was the head of publishing at the newly-formed Capitol Records. He later went on to become a major figure in music publishing, as the owner of Criterion Music Corporation.

 

 

The third card, dated 10/18/44, documents the first publishing of sheet music for "Gee Baby," showing Capitol Songs, Inc. as owner (Capitol Songs was the publishing arm of Capitol Records). Although Nat Cole had recorded "Gee Baby" in November 1943, it was not released until August 1944. It almost immediately became a hit, with 22 weeks on Billboard’s “Harlem Hit Parade.” Clearly, Capitol wanted to sell sheet music, to capitalize on the song’s popularity.

Note that this card refers to "MUSICAL COMPOSITION PUBLISHED IN THE U.S." In Copyright Office terminology, "published" meant a print version, rather than a recording.

The fourth card, dated 3/27/45, registers “new copyright matter,” specifically an arrangement for “orchestra” by Don Redman. This covers the arrangement in the 1945 V-Disc release of the Count Basie big band recording. The card indicates that the arrangement was “published” (i.e., printed), and that two copies were filed with the Copyright Office. Does that mean that a set of big-band parts was marketed?

The Sheet Music

As indicated by the 1929 copyright card, there was no sheet music published for this song at the time of its first release, or for many years afterward. There seems to have been a printing of sheet music in 1944. I was unable to find a copy, either for sale or just to view (and again, I don’t want to pay $400+ for the Copyright Office to make me a copy). I would have expected it to show Nat Cole’s interpretation, which seems to be the source for modern fake book versions.

I was able to find a collection of printed charts titled, “Nat ‘King’ Cole All-Time Greatest Hits, Complete Original Sheet Music Edition” (1996, Creative Concepts Publishing Corp.). The charts in this book do seem to be mostly copies of original sheet music, although some songs show chord symbols that appear to have been either edited, or added later. The chart for “Gee Baby” does indeed show the Nat Cole interpretation. However, it includes the “interlude” from the Basie version, which came a year after Nat’s recording. That would indicate that the chart in this collection was created later, and could not have been part of the copyright submission in 1944. 

My best guess is that the chart I found was based on the (missing) 1944 sheet music, but was a revised version created some years later. I’d say that it does give some support to the idea that the first printed sheet music derived from the Nat recording, and that later fake book versions took that as their reference.

Is “Gee Baby” actually Public Domain?

"Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You" is generally regarded as Public Domain, because works written in 1929 passed the legal limit of 95 years as of 2025. But that would apply only to Redman’s original version. What about the 1944 copyright for the sheet music, with Nat’s now-standard reinterpretation, or Redman’s 1944 Basie arrangement, copyrighted in 1945? 

This reminds me of the Mickey Mouse issue: Mickey’s image from the 1928 “Steamboat Willie” cartoon is Public Domain, but later versions of Mickey with a shorter, less rat-like nose are still copyright-protected.

If you are thinking of recording this song, and want to play it safe, I suggest that you take the 1929 trumpet melody as a starting point, then give it your own reinterpretation - just as was done by Don Redman, “Lips” Page, Nat Cole, Jimmy Rushing, and any number of other greats. Why would you want to play it straight out of a fake book? For added authenticity and legality, keep that raised third note.

Billie Holiday (1946) gets the last word:

The Johnny Lampson Orchestra

It was my privilege, and my good luck, to have played in a Bay Area big band, the Johnny Lampson Orchestra, from around 1978 until 2010. It was a special experience - a significant contribution to my music education, and a lot of fun besides. I was at first a sub on tenor, then for many years a regular in the bari chair. I left the band for a couple of years in the early 1990s, then came back as a sub on bari or tenor.

Google and Gemini AI were able to find just a few references to Johnny and to the band, but I thought there was some local music history here, worth preserving and making available.

When I joined, not long out of college, the band was working most Saturday nights, and often Friday nights as well. Most of those gigs were for dance clubs, country clubs, weddings, company parties, or other occasions where the audience was likely to be from the generation that danced to big band music. I suppose you could call it a "society band." Some of our venues over the years were the Little New Yorker (Santa Clara), Castlewood Country Club (Pleasanton), Elks Club (Palo Alto), Menlo Circus Club (Atherton), Pacific Union Club (San Francisco).

I'm not from that generation, but the Lampson band got me in on the tail end of that musical era. 

My high school jazz band class in the 1960s was still called "Dance Band." It was kind of a misnomer at that point. We were a big band in instrumentation, but we did not play for dances. Dance music, to my classmates, meant rock, not big band swing. We did play classic swing charts, but also some more “modern” charts, not geared to dancing. For example, I recall a “Night in Tunisia” chart that featured our trumpet soloist, Tom Harrell, who was a year or two older than me. Another term that came into use in the schools was “stage band,” a term that more accurately described the current role of that musical format. Nowadays, the preferred name for school groups is “jazz band,” though the bands still have the traditional big band instrumentation.

Later on, after college, I played in some "rehearsal bands" - big bands that exist to provide musical recreation for the players, and help to keep their chops in shape, but that do not necessarily gig much. Those bands weren't much interested in being commercial.

John Lampson had a commercial formula that worked. He had a relatively small book of charts, maybe 150 or so. The arrangements were easily playable, mostly well-known tunes, often transcriptions of classic recordings by Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, etc. John hired some very good players - some were old pros, some were music teachers, some were jazzers just out of college, others were Silicon Valley engineers who played well. We were all good readers. If we ever rehearsed, I don't remember doing so. 

With this combination of good players, a limited book, easy charts, and gigs most weekends, the band was pretty tight. We provided a quality product, that appealed to dancers and to a somewhat older “society” demographic. It helped that John Lampson was a good salesman. In fact, his day job was in sales at Syntex, the pharmaceutical company.

Here’s a promo tape that the band recorded in 1977 (thanks to Joe Doll for providing this!). It was probably recorded right before I joined the band:

Before Johnny took over as leader in 1971, the band existed as the Greg Harrison Band. "Greg Harrison" was the stage name of Harrison Peeck. According to trombonist Joe Doll, when Peeck passed away, the band members decided that John would be the logical person to lead the band, since he had previous experience as a leader. Thus, it became the "Johnny Lampson Orchestra."

Note: Google AI found a reference to a 17-piece "Harrison Peeck" band in a 1963 issue of the Oak Forest Times (that's in Illinois). It would seem that Peeck came to California from there, at some point in the 1960s.

Google also found this interesting bit of Johnny Lampson trivia: When John was a young musician in Beaumont, Texas in the 1950s, the guitarist in “The Johnny Lampson Combo” was J.P. Richardson, better known as The Big Bopper. Richardson had a few early rock and roll hits (Chantilly Lace) before he died in a plane crash with Buddy Holly and Richie Valens in 1959. I think this info is probably correct, as I know that Johnny was from Beaumont. I don't know what kind of music his combo played in those days. Johnny’s instrument was trumpet. 

John and his family moved from Texas to the Bay Area in the 1960s, taking over the Harrison Peeck (“Greg Harrison”) big band in 1971. In about 1991, after 20 years of big band gigs, Johnny turned over the band's leadership to trombonist Adrian Davis, and it became the Adrian Davis Orchestra (aka “Adrian Davis Presents”) - but with the same players, pretty much the same repertoire, and the same kind of gigs. Adrian kept the band going until 2010, but by that time the number of gigs had dropped off a lot, as the older generation of the band’s audience was disappearing. The band's last gig was at the Castlewood Country Club in Pleasanton, on October 30, 2010.

I have previously posted a few gig stories from the Johnny Lampson/Adrian Davis Orchestra: 

That's Sophia

Auld Lang Syne 

The Ballad of Davee Duckett.

The band members

Below is a list of musicians that I can recall who played with the Lampson band, either as regulars or as subs. An asterisk indicates that they were with the band around the time I joined in the late 1970s. I'm sure I've missed more than a few names of the fine local players who subbed. The instrumentation was always typical big band: 5 saxes, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, piano, bass, drums, vocalist, sometimes guitar. 

Many of these musicians are no longer with us. John (JJ) Lampson passed away in February 2020 in Reno, age 89.

Corrections, additions, or stories are welcome; just let me know in the comments. If you played in the band, I'd love to hear from you!

Saxophone

Emil Trojak* (alto)

Leo Stan* (tenor) 

Jerry Caron* (tenor)

Johnny Partal* (bari, tenor)

Peter Spitzer* (tenor, bari)

Art Gallegos* (alto)

Jerry Zis (alto) 

Bill St. Pierre (tenor)

Ann Merrell (bari)

Mark Russo (alto)

Kevin Deibert

Doug Miller

Trumpet

Ralph Bach*

Bob Runnels*

Bill Stadfeld* 

Terry Tresemer*

Greg Lampson* (Johnny's son)

Johnny Lampson*

Bruce Haag 

Dean Boysen

Tom Brozene

John Capobianco

John Worley

Stan Soroken

Tony Enfantino

Trombone:

Joe Doll*

Vince Percent

Bill Robinson

Barbara Sigler

Adrian Davis

Frank Prins

Ken Wirt*

Piano:

Reed Struppa*

Galen Smiley

Suzy Potts

Bass:

Miroslav (Merle) Swyryd*

Jon Ward

Drums:

Bill McAllister*

Guitar

Jack Herschkorn 

Vocals

Lorna Davis (Adrian's wife)

Jack Herschkorn

Camille Mendoza

Lynn (last name?)

Bob Grant

Some miscellaneous notes about the musicians

Emil Trojak - Emil was the band's long-time lead alto player. He was born in 1915, and was a lifelong saxophonist and student of jazz, always interested in self-improvement. Before Emil passed away in 2012, he gave me quite a bit of saxophone gear, including mouthpieces going back to the 1930s and 1940s, and a 20-year collection of issues of "Saxophone Journal" magazine. In his day job, he was an engineer at Ampex.

Jerry Caron - He was the tenor soloist when I started with the band. Jerry played Getz-like solos, that showed me what a tenor sax should sound like. Jerry and Jon Ward contributed at least one arrangement to the band's book.

Art Gallegos - A perfect 2nd alto player. A fine reader, very precise, knew how to blend, and didn't take solos. Art taught elementary school music in Mountain View, and my daughter was in his 3rd-grade music class, where the kids played kazoo.

Jerry Zis - Active in other local big bands, while keeping up his day job in tech. When Jerry retired from tech, he started a sax repair business in his home. Silicon Valley exec at Precision Monolithics and Analog Devices, Inc.

Bill St. Pierre - Bill had been a longtime pro musician in Southern California; he composed the scores for several movies and TV shows. He was the sax player and band leader at Clint Eastwood’s Mission Ranch nightclub in Carmel for 7 years. Bill was a fine tenor player. A couple of times, when I was playing bari and Bill was taking a solo, I got so caught up listening to what he was playing that I missed my entrance. Bill once gave me a definitive answer to a question that had been bugging me for years: In a swing piece, where eighths are just understood to be swing, sometimes charts will show a dotted-eighth-sixteenth figure for no apparent reason. I asked him if there was any actual logic to this, if I should play that figure any differently. Bill said, "Just play swing." That was, for me, a definitive answer.

Ann Merrell  - Did some arranging for the band. Ann also played bari with the Nuclear Whales Saxophone Orchestra. She was also a dedicated quilting artist.

Mark Russo - Currently active as a Bay Area teacher and performer.

Kevin Deibert - Kevin is a respected long-time local teacher of sax, clarinet, and flute.

Ralph Bach - NASA engineer and dedicated jazz trumpeter, now retired from both. For many years, Ralph played in an adult combo/improv class that I taught. He pulled some strings to get us rehearsal space at the Navy Rec Hall at Moffett Field.

Tom Brozene - Taught public school music. Middle-school music teachers are heroes, in my book.

Bob Runnels - Currently assistant conductor of the California Pops Orchestra; plays trumpet with  the Black Tie Jazz Band.

Bruce Haag - Currently a trumpet teacher and performer in Cincinnati. Bruce played with Stan Kenton, in Las Vegas show bands, and with Elvis Presley.

John Capobianco - Click the link for a long and impressive list of his educational background and performance experience. Active performer and educator.

John Worley - Jazz soloist with a number of local groups; has played with or backed up a multitude of major jazz artists.

Joe Doll - Joe occasionally directed the band, when Johnny couldn't make it. He was the band's financial and personnel manager. Joe is currently leader of the South Bay Stompers, a "trad-jazz" band. Joe and  bassist Merle Swyryd were my sources for info about the "Harrison Peeck" origin of the band. And many thanks to Joe for his help in remembering the musicians listed here!

Barbara Sigler - Freelance musician; bass trombonist in a number of local classical and brass ensembles.  Click the link for a list of Barbara's recent and current musical activities.

Frank Prins - Frank is currently owner/president of Excursion Music Group in Nashville, providing musical management and production services.

Reed Struppa - Longtime stalwart with the Johnny Lampson Orchestra; pianist for most of my years with the band. Reed did some arranging for the band. Here's a Reed story, from one of my earlier blog posts:

Years ago, I was on a big-band gig for a corporate event. Eddy Arnold, the country singer, was at the event for some reason, and was scheduled to sing "September Song," accompanied by our pianist, Reed Struppa. Before the gig, when we were setting up, Eddy asked Reed to find the key where he would be most comfortable. They rehearsed a little, and came up with some little-used, awkward key. After the gig, Reed told me, "When they do that, I tell them OK, then when the time comes I just play it in the nearest easy key, C or F or whatever. They never notice the difference."

Miroslav (Merle) Swyryd - Merle was the band's bass player for I think the entire time that I was with the band. Merle also had a day job with Ampex.

Jon Ward - In the 1980s, Jon played bass in the "Solar Plexus" jazz-fusion band, along with some other top local players.

Bill McAllister - Another stalwart band member; Bill was the drummer for nearly all of my years with the band.

Johnny Lampson's memoir

After the band was disbanded in 2010, Johnny sent around an email with this wonderful memoir:

Memorable Music Moments

Music has had a profound effect on every aspect of my life. I have been involved with music, in one way or another, for the past seventy years. Though there were many events that were memorable in nature, two particularly phenomenal experiences remain in my memory as “once in a lifetime occurrences”.

The first occurred shortly after moving to the San Francisco Bay Area where we, my wife and five children, were attending our first cultural event in the state of California. The year was 1968. It was a perfect day (the locals called it just an average day in paradise). The setting was magnificent. We were seated on the grass in the spectacular Amphitheater, on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto. The entire theater was ringed with towering Eucalyptus trees with a canopy of spotless, brilliant blue sky. The mood was festive, with an enormous crowd eagerly anticipating the beginning of a concert featuring the San Francisco Symphony conducted by guest conductor, the inimitable Arthur Feidler.

The performance proceeded with the highly talented musicians of the orchestra putting unusual energy into their efforts to provide a memorable afternoon of music. The selection of music was light in nature, playing some of the songs for which The Boston Pops were noted, along with a sprinkling of semi classical arrangements working up to Respigi’s “Pines Of Rome”.

The music progressed through the frenetic sounds of the city of Rome, then on to the tranquil, peaceful sounds of the Appian Way. The music is written with bird whistles inserted to further enhance the peacefulness that exists as you leave the city and drive through the woods and countryside. The audience was taken up with the beauty of the music and they were responding as if they were an extension of the orchestra. Suddenly, as if on cue, the birds in the trees circling the theater all began singing. The audience and the musicians were spellbound. It was a perfect melding of music and nature. Every person was in total synchrony with the music. For a moment it all became one. Everyone knew that something very rare had happened. You could not have found a bad thought or bad feeling among the fifteen hundred people there. The overwhelming feeling of oneness and peace cannot be described. I felt privileged to have had such an experience.

Yet, some years later, a similar event occurred. I was conducting the Johnny Lampson Orchestra at an Elks Club dance, again, in Palo Alto, California. The dance was exciting with a very happy and responsive audience of approximately 400 dancers. The last song of the first set was an arrangement of Glenn Miller’s “In The Mood”, always an eagerly anticipated number. About half way through the song, everyone suddenly became totally synchronized with the music. The rhythm of the song permeated every person in the room. No one said a word. It was silent, except for the music and the sound of feet on the floor, all in perfect rhythm. For almost a minute, the entire audience was held in suspension, every vibration of the body in perfect vibration with the music. When the song ended there was silence for a few seconds, then the audience burst into applause and accolades. The musicians, normally a “tight” sounding group, knew that a special moment had occurred. The intonation, attacks and releases of notes, balance and feeling had reached an apex. Eighteen musicians were playing as one. Never had any of the musicians ever experienced such a feeling. It was absolutely my most exciting moment of a sixty-five year career in dance bands.

Though that experience was never repeated, every dance we played was a spiritual success. The exhilaration you get, bringing groups of people together with music, is unlike any other activity. Every sporting event is competitive, with people choosing sides and pulling against each other. Music brings all people together as one. There is no hatred, bitterness, or disappointments. In music, everyone wins.

JJ Lampson

 

Here are some pictures of the Johnny Lampson Orchestra in 1972, and the 1971 rhythm and trumpet sections. These were taken before I joined. 

I still have one of those blue jackets. I wonder if they wore those same jackets in Harrison Peeck's band, maybe even back in Oak Forest, Illinois?

The rhythm section in 1971 - Bill McAllister, Suzy Potts, Jon Ward, unknown guitar.

The trumpet section in 1971 - John Lampson (standing), Greg Lampson, Bill Stadfeld, Tony Enfantino.

 

Mystery bop/choro diminished lick, and a Bird story

Once upon a time, way back in the 1970s, before the Real Book, before the Omnibook, and even before the internet, I was a music major in Portland, Oregon. My classes were pretty much all classically-oriented, so my jazz studies were mostly self-directed. 

I discovered that a good source for solo transcriptions was the "Music Workshop" column in back issues of Downbeat magazine. The Portland Public Library had an archive of Downbeat issues, going back quite a few years, and for several weeks I spent my spare time reading through them. The two transcribed solos that grabbed me the most were of Coleman Hawkins' 1939 "Body and Soul" recording, and Charlie Parker's 1953 "Now's the Time" recording, which later appeared in the Omnibook as "Now's the Time #1."

The Parker solo transcription ends with this lick (here transposed to the key of C):

I've wondered about this lick since those college days. From its placement in the form (m.12 in a blues), the lick would have been played over a II V I, Dm7 G7  C. If you look at the notes in the lick, though, the F# note would theoretically be a "wrong" note over a G7 - although it sounds just fine in Parker's solo. 

This lick actually fits a diminished chord better than a dominant chord. Perhaps Parker was "hearing" Dm7 to D#dim7 here, rather than a II V.

Parker did this sort of thing frequently - he played lines that made perfect musical sense, regardless of whether or not the lines were an exact fit for the rhythm section’s chords. But the lines always had logical continuity. The point was to create beautiful and interesting music. Little clashes like this were not important, and not perceptible to the listener.

In his book Hearin' the Changes, Jerry Coker discusses this exact lick (though he does not mention Parker). Coker views it as outlining Dm7  D#dim7  Em7, which he considers a substitute for II  V  I . His logic is that the D#dim7 is acting as a B7b9, preparing the Em7. The Em7 is a substitution for Cmaj7. Thus, Parker would have been outlining a variant of II V I. Coker speculates that this progression may have originated with Art Tatum in the 1930s.

I can agree with Coker's analysis in this case, but these two pages in his book are concerned more with composers' use of this chord progression, and not so much with the lick itself. The lick can also be used in different contexts, that are not a substitute for II V I.

In addition to looking at usage, I have wondered about the origins of the lick.

Inteestingly, the lick turns up in Brazilian choros and bossas too. Following is a list of 11 songs and solos where the lick appears. I'm not saying that this is anything like exhaustive research. The examples are mostly from Parker and from Brazilian tunes, because that's where my personal interests are centered, and that’s where I have noticed the lick.

I did listen to some early Louis Armstrong, to see if the lick shows up there. Louis' musical vocabulary was state-of-the-art jazz in the 1920s. I didn't hear the lick, but again, that was by no means deep research. I checked some Art Tatum too, but didn't hear this particular lick in any of the tracks I listened to. 

The 11 examples below are all transposed to the key of C for easier comparison. The earliest of these examples is from a Brazilian tune written in 1937, predating any of Parker's recorded work.

1. Espinha de Bacalhau (Severino Araujo, 1937) - A section, m.2. Recording is here. 

This is a classic choro, composed in 1937, though some sources say 1945. It's just barely possible, though unlikely, that Parker might have heard a recording of "Espinha de Bacalhau.” But where might Araujo have gotten this lick?

The phrase is used here over a diminished chord, but not in a way that suggests Coker's II #IIdim III template.

2. Scrapple from the Apple (Parker, 1947) - solo, Omnibook p.17, line 11, m.2. Lick is at 1:08 here. 

Chords shown here are from the Omnibook, but I think are correct. The Dm shape in the lick fits the F7 just fine.

3. Perhaps (Parker, 1948) - head, Omnibook p.72, line 2, m.3. Lick is at 0:10 here.

This lick is certainly a similar shape, and similarly fits a diminished chord, but does not match Coker's template. I hear it as implying an Fdim7 - a passing diminished chord in this case, not one with dominant function. This is a blues in C, bars 7 and 8. I have added the Fdim7; the Omnibook does not show this chord.

4. Au Privave (Parker, 1951) - solo, Omnibook p.24, line 8, m.1. Lick is at 0:45 here.

This is bars 4-5 of a blues. It would be common to have one bar each of F7 and F#dim7 here. It looks like Parker is getting to the F#dim7 a bar early. This sort of harmonic displacement was something he did often. Again, it works fine, as there is logical continuity, even if the line doesn't precisely "fit" the original chord changes.

5. Anthropology (Parker, rec. 1951) - solo, Omnibook p.13, line 25, m.4. Lick is at 1:25 in this recording.

 Here the note F# is left out. The remaining notes fit a G7#5 in a perfectly conventional way.

6. Funky Blues (Johnny Hodges, rec.1952) - 2nd chorus of Parker’s solo, m.7 of the blues form. See solo transcription here (m.19 in the transcription). Lick is at 3:10 in this track.

Parker here seems to be interpolating Dm7 D#dim7 over the C7 in m. 7, to prepare an Em7 in m.8, which he follows with an Ebm7. The Em7 to Ebm7 is a normal blues variation, but interpolating the lick in this way is quite creative. The implication of Dm7 D#dim7 Em7 matches Coker's template, although the Em7 is not substituting for Cmaj7.

7. Now’s the Time #1 (Parker, rec. 1953) - solo, Omnibook p.75, line 15, m.4. Lick is at 1:44 in this recording.

This is the solo mentioned at the beginning of this post. It's exactly the example in Coker's book. His explanation is at the beginning of this post.

8. The Serpent’s Tooth (Jimmy Heath, 1953) - head, m.1 and m.3. Recording is here.

The diminished chords here are like secondary dominants A7b9 and B7b9. Not exactly Coker's template, as there is no implication of a II V I variant.

9. Chega de Saudade (Jobim, 1956) - B section, m.10. Lick is at 1:18 in this recording.

Like in Perhaps, here the lick follows a passing diminished chord.

10. Beliscando (Paulinho da Viola, 1976) - C section, m.3. Lick is at 1:45 in this recording.

Same usage as in Chega de Saudade, over a passing diminished chord.

11. For Toddlers Only (Ron Carter, 1994) - head, m.1. Recording is here. 

In the first bar of the head, our lick is again used over the F#dim7. This diminished chord is a dominant substitute, in that it acts like a D7b9, targeting the bass note G in the next measure (chord is C/G). This interpretation does not suggest Coker's concept of a II V I variant.

Looking at it as Coker might, you could consider the F chord to be replacing a Dm7, and F#dim7 to be replacing a B7b9, with the C/G to be equivalent to Em7. 

Summing up, I’d say that this lick is a part of bop and choro vocabulary, used over (or implying, or interpolating) a diminished seventh chord. Coker’s explanation covers some instances of usage, but not all. 

The origin of this lick is still a mystery to me. If any reader knows of an antecedent, from Tatum, classical music, ragtime, marches, polkas, or anywhere else, please let me know!

To close, here is the Bird story. Back when I was looking through old Downbeats in the Portland Public Library, I met another student who was also doing some music homework. We chatted a little, and he told me that his dad had been an aspiring trombone player in New York, in the 1940s. His dad went to a jam at a club, but was intimidated by all the great players who were on stage. So he went backstage, into a corner, and played his trombone quietly along with the band, where he thought no one could hear him. Then somebody grabbed him by the collar from behind, and marched him onstage. It was Charlie Parker.

Tunes published in 1930 will be entering public domain in 2026

 As of January 1, 2026, U.S. copyright will expire for works published in 1930, including the following songs:

Beyond the Blue Horizon

Body and Soul

But Not for Me

Dancing on the Ceiling

Embraceable You

Exactly Like You

Fine and Dandy

Georgia on My Mind

Get Happy

I Got Rhythm

I'm Confessin' That I Love You (music 1929, new lyrics and title !930)

Just a Gigolo (music and German lyrics 1928, English lyrics possibly 1930 or 1931)

Get Happy

Love for Sale

Memories of You

Mood Indigo

On the Sunny Side of the Street

Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone

Rockin' in Rhythm

Ten Cents a Dance

Them There Eyes

Three Little Words

Time on My Hands

Walkin' My Baby Back Home

You're Driving Me Crazy

2026 is another very good year for public domain! Some of the most significant works are "Body and Soul," "But Not for Me," "Georgia on My Mind," "I Got Rhythm," "Love for Sale," and "Mood Indigo."

This list includes mostly jazz-oriented and jazz-adjacent songs, and was selected from lists found on Wikipedia and on Jazzstandards.com. Please let me know of any errors.

Further detail on most of these songs is available on Wikipedia.

For more popular, jazz, and classical pieces entering the public domain, see the Wikipedia article 1930 in Music.

United States copyright law is quite restrictive as compared to many other countries. According to the provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976 and the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 (aka "Mickey Mouse Protection Act"), works published or registered before 1978 remain under copyright for 95 years.

With the passage of the 1998 law, the cutoff date for works entering the public domain became 1922, with any works published in 1923 or later remaining under copyright. Beginning in 2019, however, the clock began running again, with each new year bringing one more year of songs and other works into the public domain. Over the next 20 years or so, most "Golden Age" jazz standards will lose copyright protection.

Many other countries have shorter terms of copyright; one common formula is the life of the author plus fifty years (see this list of copyright duration by country). For example, in Canada you can record pieces written by Wes Montgomery (d. 1968) John Coltrane (d. 1967), Igor Stravinsky (d. 1971), Louis Armstrong (d. 1971). Lee Morgan (d. 1972), or Kenny Dorham (d. 1972).

1n 2024, Mickey Mouse entered the public domain. Below is an excerpt from a previous post on copyright expiration, regarding the Mickey question.

 

However, if you are thinking of utilizing Mickey's image in 2024, you should consider that copyright will only expire on images from cartoons released in 1928, such as Steamboat Willie. In those early images, Micky had a somewhat different visage, with a longer, rat-like nose. He did not not yet have his white gloves or red shorts; they came later. If you want to use the white gloves or red shorts, you will have to wait a few more years.

Here's an interesting article on the subject, with an image of Mickey as submitted for copyright in 1929. It looks to me as though Mickey's nose had been altered a little by then, closer to its current look. He has his white gloves, too. The image is in black and white, so I don’t know about the red shorts. 

By the way, Minnie Mouse also appears in the 1928 cartoons, though I don't think she is credited by name.

In addition to copyrighting Mickey, The Walt Disney Company has also registered him as a trademark. US trademarks can be renewed every 10 years, potentially going on forever. Disney has a strong case for Mickey as a trademark, but less so for many of their other characters, who will be falling out of copyright in the next few years. Here is an article from the Western New England Law Review that covers in depth the legal standing of Mickey and other Disney characters.

 

Here's an article on the evolution of Mickey's image through the years. Anything through 1930 should be fair game. 

This 1928 image from an advertising poster would seem to indicate that the red shorts are PD now, but better do your own legal research:

More links:

Copyright Law of the United States (Wikipedia)

2022 NYT article on Mickey copyright