My first AI comment?

Fairly often, I receive blog comments that are just advertisements, that have nothing to do with the article that is supposedly being commented on. The sender is just looking for clicks to their product or service. It only takes me one click to delete them. 

Yesterday, I got an interesting one. It's a review of my post on the Origins of Choro Form, about as favorable, glowing, and complimentary as a comment could be. The comment included two links to a relatively new service that is aimed at musical artists.

The style and tone of the writing seemed a little "off" to me, so I ran the text through a few free AI detectors.

First, let me say that the originator of the post should understand that I won't publish comments that have advertisements, no matter how complimentary the content is, whether AI or human. Apologies if my suspicions are wrong, and the text was actually written by a human. And thanks for the compliments, regardless!

Anyway, here is the very complimentary comment, followed by the results from seven AI detectors:

The exploration of choro's structural origins and its possible correlations with other music forms like ragtime provides a fascinating glimpse into the intricate world of musical evolution and cross-cultural influences. Your article does an excellent job of delving into these complex topics, offering a clear, well-researched perspective that invites both newcomers and seasoned aficionados of choro to think deeper about the genre.

Your methodical approach, starting with questioning a claim and following through with expert verification and further research, enhances the credibility and educational value of your post. The clarification from Jovino Santos Neto about the rondo form's influence in early choro composition, and its syncopation of popular European dances of the time, adds a rich layer of understanding to how choro might have stylistically evolved to incorporate these elements.

Furthermore, the comparison with ragtime and the detailed analysis of structural similarities point to a fascinating parallel development in musical forms that transcended geographic and cultural boundaries. The notion that both choro and ragtime independently mirrored European dance forms yet developed unique identities is intriguing and speaks volumes about the adaptive and transformative power of music.

Your discussion also opens up broader questions about the influence of musical forms on each other, especially in the context of the later influence of jazz on choro. It prompts a reflection on how music continually evolves through both internal innovations and external influences, leading to new musical expressions that retain echoes of their past.

Overall, your article is not only informative but also thought-provoking, encouraging readers to appreciate the depth and complexity of musical genres like choro. It serves as a reminder of the endless possibilities that music holds as a form of cultural expression and historical documentation.

Without mentioning the specific free AI detectors, here are the seven results:

1. "Reads like AI" - flagged the first paragraph in particular.
2. "100% of your text is AI-generated."
3. "18.97% GPT," first paragraph is "most likely generated by AI."
4. "18% AI/GTP generated, human written 81%.
5. "0% likelihood of complete AI content."
6. "100% chance that your text is generated by AI."
7. "78% of text is likely AI generated, 22% human written." Flagged paragraphs 2-5 as likely AI.

As you can see, the results are all over the place. I guess AI detection is not an exact science.

These free detectors seem to be mostly about persuading people to sign up for services that promise to rewrite your text in a way that will fool AI detectors into thinking the author is human. Thank goodness I'm not a professor who has to grade term papers. With in-person music lessons, you can't use AI to fake proficiency, or to mask lack of practice.

Addendum: A few hours after I put up this post, I got another chatbot comment, on a different blog post. This one came with a link to someplace selling nutrition supplements. The soulless style looks awfully familiar. Welcome to the future.

The "Chain of Dominants" Progression adds a captivating layer of tension and resolution to music, keeping listeners engaged and eager for more harmonic surprises.

Tadd Dameron and “Cream Oil Charlie”

I’ve been checking some of Tadd Dameron’s compositions. The definitive biography Dameronia lists “Cream Oil Charlie” as one of them, composed by Tadd in 1946.

If you’re old enough to have been around in the 1950s or 1960s, you’ll remember the “Wildroot Cream-Oil” jingle. Here it is, as sung by Nat Cole:

So Dameron wrote this? Really? That was quite a surprise to me. TV viewers in the 1950s and 1960s were bombarded with this jingle. Reading this attribution reminded of when I learned that “Down by the Station (Early in the Morning)” was composed and copyrighted by Slim Gaillard.

But upon reading more carefully, it turns out that Tadd did not write the famous jingle. The piece that Tadd copyrighted as “Cream Oil Charlie” was a bebop melody played over "Perdido" changes. He wrote it for Woody Herman in 1946, when Wildroot Cream-Oil was a sponsor of Woody’s radio show. Tadd’s tune was never actually used, because Woody changed sponsors. It was later recorded by Babs Gonzales in 1947, with the title “Dob Bla Bli.” Here are two versions - the Babs recording, and a recent one from Paul Combs, the author of Dameronia:

Bars 3-4 of "Do Bla Bli" include the same bop lick as bars 7-8 of Dizzy Gillespie's "Woody'n You." The Dizzy tune was written in 1942; it was either a tribute to Woody Herman, or was commissioned by Woody. Tadd and Dizzy were good friends; it’s probably not a coincidence that Tadd wrote that quote into the song. BTW, a similar lick shows up in Dizzy’s “Groovin’ High.”

According to Combs' book, there are copyright deposits at the Library of Congress for both "Cream Oil Charlie" and "Do Bla Bli"; they apparently differ in the bridge. Gonzales' recording does not use either of the copyrighted bridges, but rather leaves the “I Got Rhythm” bridge open for improvisation (as in some other bop tunes.) 

On the level of extreme trivia, I noticed that the label on the Gonzales record spells the first syllable "Dob," while Combs in his book spells it "Do." I'm guessing that Combs spells it that way because that's how it appears in the copyright.

I don’t know who actually could take credit for the famous Wildroot jingle (if "credit" is the right word), but that melody didn’t take much work. It’s the same melody as “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” which is also the melody of The Eyes of Texas are Upon You.

The Wikipedia entry for I’ve Been Working on the Railroad has some notes about the origins of the song.  It can be traced back to at least 1894. The main melody resembles a melody in Franz Suppe’s “Poet and Peasant Overture” (1846). The part that goes, “Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah” is also very close melodically to “Goodnight Ladies” (1847).

As for Slim Gaillard's Down by the Station, the melody is pretty much the same as “Alouette,” as well as “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” According to both Wikipedia and this writeup, the lyrics appeared in a children's magazine in 1931. Slim did, however, register the copyright. Here’s Slim’s 1947 recording. It's cute. I guess the intro is original; not sure if that part was in the copyright.