The Hot Five and Seven

Abstract

This chapter explores some of Armstrong’s twelve-bar blues recordings in the 1920s, and how Armstrong’s use of barbershop practice and swipes gave rise to II-V substitutions (“Gut Bucket Blues”), altered harmony (“Gully Low Blues” and “Savoy Blues”), and chord substitutions (“Have You Ever Been Down?”). The chapter shows how a number of melodic features in Armstrong’s playing that have defied explanation through conventional theoretical models can be explained in the light of barbershop practice.