Potato Head Blues is a song that greatly represents the face of early jazz music during the early 1900’s. Many of Louis Armstrong’s roles in early jazz music became the pathway that jazz seemed to take. Iconic pieces such as this one include elements that were unique of Armstrong’s styles.

In the beginning of this song, no time is wasted establishing the texture that is present throughout the whole piece. Granted, the roles of the instruments and the presence of them change throughout, from the first note all instruments are present. In the first verse of this piece, it seems as if 3 or 4 instruments are playing a disjunct tune that almost sets up the melody. Each layer in its own timbre plays the overall melody of the song, which is a disjunct tune where all of the instruments aren’t necessarily playing in the same tune, however they are moving through time as one. This tempo present in the opening of the song is fast paced, with heavy swing to the notes, typical of jazz music. The Syncopation in the beginning also plays a role in the disjunct tune, as each layer is playing with their own sub-division, making notes fall on the off beats of other layers, which is a heavy motive for the disjunct nature. All of these elements including the dissonant nature of the harmonic character in the beginning make up the overall melody being played to establish or set up for the solos present as the piece progresses.

We see a dramatic shift in all elements as the piece moves through time. The piece is set up by this extremely disjunct and wild melody at the beginning, and is almost soothed about 45 seconds into the piece when the first solo begins. When the disjunct tune regresses, the only instruments we hear present for this section are an underlying pulse of a string instrument, accompanied by a melodic tune being played by what seems to be a trumpet. Both of these components seem to move through time at a rather rapid pace with the speed of each layer progressing steadily. One main component in this solo is the progression of timbre in the trumpet playing. There is heavy bending and distortion of the notes, as if they incorporated almost a sass into their trumpet playing. The articulation of this section is also important specifically in the function and timbre of the layers. The function of the trumpet solo playing is to heavily express feeling or relay a specific message through their tone, which is very evident. The range in every layer except for the pulse is extremely variable, and depends on the function of the layer. For example in  the first solo, the progression of the range from start to finish is significant, as the range builds, complimenting the timbre.

As the we move on to the second solo in this piece, we see more of a call and response type action being performed in the song. With the shift in style of music, we see a major shift in roles of the layers which are essential to this piece. I see it as three major shifts in function as the song progresses. The song begins and ends with a disjunct tune, sandwiched by two different types or styles of playing. One is the trumpet solo playing accompanied by the pulse of the string instrument that I previously discussed. The second is the unique solo by Armstrong. Here is when we see the call and response really start to play out, however the bass is almost just an accompanying response, not as detailed as Armstrong. In this piece, as the book discusses, Armstrong’s unique style of playing is shown, as he includes vibrato at the ends of his phrases. Up until the moment of Armstrong’s solo at the end the phrasing of the layers helps to set up or establish a platform for what he relays at the end. the tempo and swing of the notes is present throughout the opening and majority of the first half of the song, then armstrong uses semitones which is a motive to set up the shape of the contour which changes at the end. It is altered by the characteristics developed such as the semitones that resemble Armstrong’s style of music. the Timbre of the harmonic character is dramatically altered at the end as well. When we hear Armstrong’s trumpet playing to conclude the solos in this piece, the function and speed of each layer is changed which seems to alter the message relayed. This piece doesn’t even include text, as most jazz doesn’t, but it is evident that all of the melodic elements specifically character, range, and motives really help to establish timbres that relay a message without text. The power of the musical elements present helps shape the piece and build its character without words.