“I Figure Singing and Playing Is the Same”: Louis Armstrong and Barbershop Harmony

Abstract

ABSTRACT Recent research has shown that the counterpoint of New Orleans jazz derives from the application of the principles of barbershop harmonization to the instruments of a jazz ensemble. This essay argues that what have become known as “blue notes” are the result of tenor and baritone voice leading in a barbershop quartet. When these principles are applied to an improvised solo a blues inflected solo results. I explore how Louis Armstrong used barbershop principles in 12-bar-blues recordings of the 1920s in relation to dominant harmony, and that by the application of these principles, Armstrong introduced altered intervals (ninths and fifths) to his solos.