Radiohead and all that jazz

It's generally accepted that Radiohead take influences from different genres. Unless this is your first time reading this blog you probably already know I'm going to talk about jazz.



Life In A Glass House (Full Length Version) by Radiohead feat. Humphrey Lyttelton. This is the version from the B Side to Knives Out and is probably as close to outright jazz that Radiohead have ever got in the studio. They worked with veteran trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton and his band to add a trad jazz sound to the song.



Humphrey Lyttelton had one chart hit in the UK, Bad Penny Blues made the Top-20 in the UK and stayed for six weeks.

Bad Penny Blues by Humphrey Lyttelton

Humphrey Lyttelton - trumpet
Johnny Parker - piano
Jim Bray - contrabass
Stan Greig - drums

Humphrey Lyttelton had a pretty full life. The descendant of one of Guy Fawkes' co-conspirators he was a performing musician from demobbing (he had served in the Grenadier Guards) in 1945 until his death in 2008 and also found time to work as a cartoonist for The Daily Mail, presented The Best Of Jazz on Radio 2, hosted I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (a comedy show) on Radio 4 and served as the president of The Society for Italic Handwriting. From landing in Italy to calligraphy via jazz.

Humphrey Lyttelton was inspired by Louis Armstrong and Nat Gonella. Louis Armstrong you'll already know as the first superstar of jazz. Nat Gonella was an English trumpeter and singer and was himself heavily influenced by Louis Armstrong with whom he later became close friends.



Hesitation Blues by Nat Gonella



Tiger Rag by Louis Armstrong

Of course Louis Armstrong influenced countless musicians but he wasn't without influences himself, notably Joe Oliver. Best known as King Oliver, he invited Louis Armstrong to Chicago to play in his Creole Jazz Band. Louis Armstrong played with King Oliver from 1922 until 1924.



Riverside Blues by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band.

King Oliver - cornet
Louis Armstrong - cornet
Johnny Dodds - clarinet
Kid Ory - trombone
Johnny St. Cyr - banjo
Lil Hardin - piano (later Louis Armstrong's second wife and sometimes referred to as Lil Hardin Armstrong)

King Oliver was influenced by Buddy Bolden, the band leader who invented jazz, if anyone person did. Sadly no recordings of Buddy Bolden survive so instead I'll finish with another jazz musician that has influenced Radiohead, Charles Mingus.



Freedom Part 2 (Clark In The Dark) by Charles Mingus.

There are well over 30 musicians on the album this comes from, The Complete Town Hall Concert, and I'm not going to list them all here. If you're interested you can see the list here. I'm just going to identify Eric Dolphy, who plays the saxophone solo, and of course Charles Mingus on contrabass.