Jam Logs, the Podcast of The 1937 Flood

 Have you ever notice that there’s magic in folk melodies, that they are both ancient and stunningly contemporary at the same time? But the magic’s more than that. Besides this wonderful timelessness, these well-worn melodies also seem to be almost universal in their emotional appeal. About a year ago when Vanessa Coffman first heard us noodling around with an old song called “Dink’s Tune,” which is quite deeply rooted in the American folk tradition, she heard a compatible twin from the other side of ocean, Scotland’s venerable ballad, “Loch Lomond.” Ever since then, we’ve been inviting these stately cousins to dance with each other. Here, from a recent rehearsal, listen as everyone in the band provides the setting for Randy Hamilton’s lovely, haunting vocals.

 A long time ago, sitting in his hilltop home near Ashland, Ky., Doug Chaffin started noodling around with some ideas he got from the great Django Reinhardt in his classic "Minor Swing” recording of 1937. Well, over time, as these things do, the melody has grown and changed into something distinctly Chaffin-esque. Doug’s never given it a name, but his band mates in The Flood have taken to calling it “Django Doug.” The piece is not finished yet. Oh gosh, far from it! It keeps on evolving. Just listen to what Veezy Coffman’s tenor sax has brought to this rich mix of ideas, as recorded here at a jam session at the Chaffin house just a couple of weeks ago.

 A good song sometimes seem like a train, with people getting on and off all along the way. And kind of like a distant train whistle, it might resonate differently with everybody who hears it. Here’s a tune I started doing 40 years ago with Dave and Rog and Joe soon after it was released on a Red Clay Ramblers album. Doug and Sam met the song probably 20 years ago, Randy 10 years after that. And for Veezy? Well, last night was the first time she’d ever hear the song. So, here’s our latest ride on one of late Tommy Thompson’s poignant modern Appalachian laments.

 One of the coolest rooms we’ve ever played in Huntington is the beautiful, historic B&O depot downtown at Heritage Station. And so we are awfully pleased that our old buddy Tyson Compton, who runs the Huntington Area Convention & Visitors Bureau is that building, has invited us back to play there tomorrow morning at the November edition of the monthly Second Saturday Market. The Flood will be on hand from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Come on down and party with us. Here, from last night’s rehearsal, is a tune we’re polishing up for the day.

 Last night we got to meet another member of Vanessa Coffman’s saxophonic family — a sexy silver soprano sax that Veezy’s has named “Savoy.” And what an excellent moniker that is for this lovely instrument, which is a refurbished 1920s sax that was in its infancy when New York’s great Savoy Ballroom for which it was named was just starting to showcase the century’s greatest jazz musicians. Well, so in honor of this venerable guest, you know we had to come up with an evening of appropriate tunes which would let it rock but also roll, like this, an alternately rollicking, then prancing rendition of the 1930s classic, “Blue Moon.”

Last night was not a great evening for our Veezy Coffman. No sooner had she arrived for the rehearsal at Doug Chaffin’s house near Ashland than she discovered one of the tires on her truck had been punctured and was growing flatter by the minute. Well, inside and out of the rain — oh yeah, it was also raining last night — Vanessa waited for a rescue in the form of her dad, Gary, driving in from home with the spare. Meanwhile, being the empathetic lot that we are, we switched the night’s musical menu to match her mood, meaning heavy on the blues. But after an hour or so of that, we realized that perhaps the blues might not be the best therapy, so we eased on over the jollier side of our spectrum. Now, we can’t say the operation was a complete success — it turns out even the most rigorous application of “Bye Bye Blues” won’t pull a nail out of a tire — but as illustrated here when Veezy’s sax just rocks the concluding choruses, it did manage to raise her spirits for at least a few minutes. Not surprising, that. After all, this old jazz standard has been generating grins and giggles for nearly a century now. And that’s good medicine.

 You wonder if songs you hear today will still be around a century from now. Well, if Walter Donaldson wondered that about the song he penned back in the 1920s, he needn’t have worried. His tune — “My Blue Heaven” — was a hit for crooner Gene Austin when the ink was still wet on Walter’s pages, selling five million copies worldwide. That was pretty much unheard of in 1928. Then, over the next 90 years, the song has gone on to be hits for everyone from, oh, Frank Sinatra and Coleman Hawkins to Fats Domino. Here in Floodlandia, we sometimes use the song to start the weekly jam session, being a kind of barometer. If it rocks, then the whole evening’s gonna rock. Last night, it did — and it did.

 We say it all the time — music is as much about listening as it is about playing — and here, from last night’s weekly Flood affair, is a lovely example of what we’re talking about. Now, midway through the evening, Doug Chaffin quietly picks a few notes from our all-time favorite Hoagy Carmichael song, and within seconds, Vanessa Coffman is right there, weaving in and out of Doug’s opening statement with her own memorable replies. Yeah, we say it all the time: listening to Doug and Veezy’s musical conversations makes you glad you have ears. Come on along and just listen to them listen to each other.

 We were so pleased that our newest band mate, Vanessa Coffman, chose last night to spend part of a very big birthday — her 21st — with us. It’s also her first anniversary as a member of The Flood, and, to celebrate, she also brought a special guest. Now, ordinarily in the Floodisphere, Veezy plays “Blue,” her sweet and mellow tenor, but last night it was Blue’s big brother, the bari, that tagged along with her. All evening that the baritone sax, which Veezy named “Viper” (for its reptilian tubing), rocked the walls of the Bowen house just the way they love to be rocked. Listen the magic Veezy and Viper bring to this century-old Blind Blake tune midway through last night’s jam. Happiest birthday, Miss V, from your Family Flood!

 One of our heroes — the great jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke — died 90 years ago this summer. His was a short but brilliant time on the planet; he was just 28 when he died, but even before he was gone, he was already a legend, and still today, his music is loved and imitated by players around the world. Some tunes we play always have us thinking of Bix, especially this one, which The Flood started fooling around with, gee, probably 40 years at those crazy, smoky music parties of the 1970s where the band was born. The song was a decade old when Bix and his buddies recorded it in 1928.  A Leo Wood composition, it had already been a million-selling for Ted Weems and his Orchestra in 1924. It would go on the be recorded by everyone from Cab Calloway and Fats Waller to Count Basie and Benny Goodman. Jim Kweskin even made a cool jug band version in the ‘60s.