Duke Ellington’s “C Jam Blues” Sheet Music

Looking for the perfect way to get into Duke Ellington’s “C Jam Blues?” Look no further than this sheet music blog post! Here, we’ll give you all the information you need to get started playing this classic tune.

Introduction

“C Jam Blues” is a composition by Duke Ellington. It was first performed in 1941, and was first recorded by Duke Ellington and his orchestra on November 30, 1941, for Victor Records. The piece uses the chord progression of a typical twelve-bar blues, but is otherwise atypical in that chords are not static, instead moving up and down in register. The title refers to the “jam session”- style blues of the 1940s.

Verse

Ellington wrote “C Jam Blues” in early 1942, at the request of Barney Bigard. The piece was published as a lead sheet in April 1942, and first recorded by Ellington and his orchestra on May 6, 1942.[1]

The piece is a popular jam session staple and has been recorded by many jazz musicians. In particular, it has been featured on recordings by Miles Davis, Jimmy Smith, Lee Morgan, Wes Montgomery, McCoy Tyner and Ahmad Jamal.[2][3]

It is based on the chord changes to the theme of “Rosetta” by Earl Hines (which in turn borrows from W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues”).[4]

Chorus

Ellington wrote “C Jam Blues” in 1942. The original version was recorded by Duke Ellington and his orchestra on October 30, 1942 and released as a single. The single became a hit and launched the career of one of Duke Ellington’s most famous sidemen, Ben Webster. “C Jam Blues” has been recorded by many artists over the years, including Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Thelonious Monk.

The chord progression for “C Jam Blues” is very simple: it is just a I-IV-V progression in the key of C. This means that the song is in the key of C major and the chords are: C (the I chord), F (the IV chord), and G (the V chord). The melody of the song is also very simple and uses only those three chords.

Bridge

8 bars of rhythm changes, feel free to ad-lib as you see fit

Ending

Duke Ellington’s “C Jam Blues” ends with a section labeled “out chorus.” This is where the soloist(s) take their final solos before the piece fades out.